Cane and Bamboo Crafts of Manipur
- Part 8 -
By: Mutua Bahadur *
STORAGE BASKETS
To make the basket water-tight, the whole of the basket is oiled thoroughly with Khe, a waxy substance extracted from the Khe tree. This safeguards the documents kept inside. The lid is made inseparable from the body of the basket by means of a strap attached to the basket.
Meiteis use a grain storage basket without lid, which has a small width but is lengthy and tall. After making these baskets, the usual practice is to apply cow-dung on both the inner and the outer surfaces, so as to strengthen the basket.
The Mao, the Maram, the Paomai and the Chakasang tribes residing in the Districts of Senapati and Ukhrul use a grain storage basket with lid. It has a narrow mouth with an inflated body. The size ranges from a waist-high basket to a head-high basket, and even taller or bigger baskets. This particular basket has Double-Weave: an inner weave and an outer weave.
The first structure is a construction with bamboo as the basic form. Over and above this first layer, another variety of stiff bamboo is woven as the second layer or the outer weave. After completing the basket, the inner surface is appropriately lined with cow-dung. Then, the basket is put to use.
The number of such grain storage baskets kept in a particular house ranges from one to six or seven. In the Headman's house at Jessami, grains that had been stored for as long as six to seven years was observed stored in such baskets.
See a gallery photo of Cane and Bamboo Crafts of Manipur here.
To be continued ....
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* Mutua Bahadur contributes to e-pao.net regularly. This article was webcasted on December 12, 2011.
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