COSTUMES OF MANIPUR

Abhishek mandal Department of fashion design .Nift , new delhi

MANIPUR IS ONE OF THE SEVEN SISTER STATES OF NORTH EASTERN INDIA.

MANIPUR MEANS “THE JEWELLED LAND”. MANIPUR IS RICHLY ENDOWED WITH NATURAL

SPLENDOUR AND GRANDEUR. ITS CAPITAL IS IMPHAL. IT BECAME FULL-FLEDGED STATE OF INDIA IN 1972. IT IS AN OUTLYING AREA OF RUGGED HILLS AND NARROW

VALLEYS. MANIPUR HAS SUB-TEMPERATE CLIMATE. THE POPULATION CONSISTS OF

NAGAS,KUKIS,MEITEIS,PANGAL AND BHAMOUS. PEOPLE OF MANIPUR ARE CALLED MEITEIS,AND THEIR

LANGUAGE IS CALLED MEITEILION.

TOPOGRAPHY

Women wear a PHANEK i.e. a colorfully striped wrap around,like that of a sarong.

The phanek is still hand woven.

There are phanek that are worn when they go out which is called MAYEK NAIBI(they MUST have horizontal stripes).

KANAP PHANEK is womens skirt that is made stitching the tornout traditional cloth of meitai women.

Amongst the dresses used at the time of rituals, the main is ‘Chin-phi’ (an embroidered Phanek) and ‘Lai-phi’ (a white cloth with yellow border).

Costumes for women

The maibies(priestess)wear dresses of white color.

The INNAPHI covers the upper body . It is a rectangular piece of cloth.

The innaphi is woven in fine cotton yarns.since the warp and weft threads are loosely woven,the cloth is transparent.

The meitai women team up the phanek and innaphi with a saree blouse .

Blue innaphi and striped phanek

Maibie girls dressed in white

Men generally wear a WHITE DHOTI on ceremonial occassions and put on a PAGRI.

KHAMEN CHATPA is a ceremonial dhoti that cannot be worn by any common person.it was presented as a token of reward by the king to brave persons.

Costumes for men

Groom in manipur wearing white dhoti kurta and pagri.

Zamphie: war cloth worn by warriors at the time of war .

Ningthoupee: kings cloth .Saijomba:long coat worn by trusted

courtiers,which had special embroidery.Phirananba: small flags delicately embroiderd

and used by worriers as plumes on their turbans .

ROYAL COSTUMES

In manipur handloom weaving had its genesis in need to clothe the family,it is only recently that the concept of commercialization and marketing of handloom products has gained momentum,and has become a means of providing employment to people.

Weaving is entirely the work of women in manipur.

The material used for weaving clothes is mainly cotton and kabrang(mulbery silk).

Weaving in manipur

EMBROIDERY

AKOYBI EMBROIDERY:SNAKE like pattern, akoybi means circular in manipur.

Traditional patterns on womens innaphi.

The manipuri people named their designs as TINDOGBI which is inspired from a silk caterpiller sitting on a castor leaf and eating it.

KIYAM LIPHANG is a very common manipuri jewellery worn by the meitei women.

Manipur is a paradise on earth when the nature has been extra generous in her beauty. love of art and beauty is inherent in the people of the land from time immemorial.