Numit Kappa
Manipuri literature) | |
Genre | Epic poetry |
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The Story is based on the shooting of one of the two Suns to create Night[1] |
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Meitei mythology |
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Numit Kappa (
The epic work is still considered to be the oldest known epic account in Meitei literature.[7]
Synopsis
In the epic, there are two
Two survived out of the five sons of the Celestial Goddess
"O my Mother, O Mother of the Sun who is the Father of the world, O Mother of all the Gods. She who was the Mother of the World gave birth one day to three sons. The first-born son was destroyed like withered paddy, and became like old dry paddy, and entered into the earth, and became even as the ant heaps. Thereupon the Lairemma (Meitei for 'goddess') paddy and the great paddy were turned into Morasi and Iroya paddy. Her second-born son became rotten even as chicken's eggs, he became as the darkening rainbow. His eyes became like unto the eyes of a deer. Her third-born son was called Koide Ngamba, the younger brother of the Sun. He was of a haughty temper and quick in spirit. He fell into a fishing weir and was killed. Thereupon his teeth became like the teeth of a wild beast, his rib-bones became the long dao of the Gods. The hairs of his head became like the flowers that men offer to Pureiromba and all the other Gods."[11] They became even as the flowers that men fasten on the ends of their spears to catch luangs (small hill fish) in December, or like to the flowers that the King's wives and children present to the fields, such flowers as the Angom Ningthou daily offers up, even as such became the white hairs of the God.[11][12]
The exploitations of slave Khwai Nongjengba and his reactionary plots
"Now the Sun and his brother Taohuirenga rose and set alternately. There was a man Khowai Nongjengba who had a slave, a lazy churl named Ekma Haodongla, who was wroth because the suns rose and set alternately. He said, 'I am a slave and twice have I to fetch wood, twice to bring in my master's paddy on my head. I cannot rear my children. I cannot see my wife. So he said to his wife, 'My dear, go, get a bamboo from your father.' But her father would not give her a bamboo. 'Go to your uncle and beg a bamboo from the Thongkhongkhural, a bamboo that grows on the Khural King's Sokpa Ching.' Thus he said, and sent her off. The Khural Lakpa gave him a bamboo from the hill. The slave of Khowai Nongjengba Piba in five days made a bow and arrows, and when he had dried them, he smeared the tips of the arrows with poison, and put the arrows in the quiver and rested. Then he said, 'Dear wife, Haonu Changkanu, my pretty one, go draw water and put the pot on your head. Then as his wife came from the water, he aimed and hit the pot on her head. One day he aimed and hit the hole in her ear. One day he aimed and hit a sparrow sitting on a heap of dhan. 'Wife, make food ready. A big boar has entered the field, a great python has come into the field. I will combat those strong things. I will kill that boar.' He slept by the side of the things he was going to take to the field, and for this reason the place is called "Thongyala Mamungshi".[12]
Shooting of one of the two Suns and the hiding of the surviving Sun in a cave
The Great Sun set at Loijing. His elder brother Taohuireng arose in his splendour, and Ekma Haodongla the slave of Khowai Nongjengba Piba, a lazy churl, drew the string to his cheek and though he fired the arrow carefully at the sun, he hit the sun's horse on the leg, and it fell near the great
Efforts of Goddess Thongak Lairembi to call the hiding Sun back
Request to the hiding Sun by Goddess Panthoibi
"O Sun, by reason of your hiding, in the land of the
Return of the Sun due to prayers
The great village also made prayers to the Sun, and its priests sang and prayed. The women also of the great village have crossed the river and have gone to the fields. The
Analysis
The Numit Kappa shows the political scenario in an allegorical element. It is considered by many scholars to be an all the time apparent. When the female priest sang in her melodious voice in admiration of the younger sun, she was narrating the sufferings of the people to the sun.[16] The sun could no longer resist and his first response is as follows:
“Addressing her, Nongpok Touring Leimacha (the younger sun) points out that his mother, the Goddess Korou Nongmai Hanpi, first raised a son who was still-born; the second too did not last long as an unhatched egg; the third one fondly called Sană Khommat on Numit Kaite Ngampā when yet a frolicking child met with his watery grave in a fishing trap, his luxuriant hair turning into the white flower of the tall wild grass and his pearly teeth taking the form of bright cowries; his brother Tauhuireng Ahanpa and elder to him also fell a victim to the sharp arrows of Khwai Nongchengpam Näicha Pongparacha Atanpa; his mount too, fatally wounded, rolled down the slopes of Khunbirok and his elder brother a scion of the blood royal and resplendent like an incandescent flame had wandered off into the other side of the firmament. "Therefore, O Chakpa Amãipi," he further says, "I cannot yield to your call and come back alone. To think of the piercing arrows--they still fright me. Nor do have I the desire like my brother to head for the other world, nor be amidst mankind again, but would rather pass the rest of my life here quietly.”[17]
The secondary meaning of the lines in the text was very clearly written, especially in the episode of the event when Sana Khomadon, a sadder and a wiser man, left his place of hiding. The priests of the
The last lines in the final part of the text, in a loud and forceful manner, extol the rare excellencies of Sana Khomadon whom the poet, in happiness, compares to the flame that shines throughout eternity.[19]
In Meitei religion
- The archaic terms in Meitei language is still chanted by the priestesses during Chupsaba ceremony (a ritual associated with the special kind of death in Meitei cosmology), in the form of hymns.[9]
English translation
- The first English translation of the epic poetry was published in the book The Meitheis, written by T.C. Hodson in the year 1908.[20]
In popular culture
- Recently, the epic is reenacted in the form of play, at Delhi based National Institute of Performing Arts (NIPA) under the directions of Sarungbam Biren.[21]
Comparative myths
- Chinese mythology - Archer Hou Yi shooting the 9 out of 10 suns
- Japanese mythology - Solar deity Amaterasu hiding inside the Amano-Iwato cave
See also
- Binary star - a system of two stars
- Khamba Thoibi - another epic of Meitei literature
- List of epics in Meitei language
- Multiple suns
Further reading
Bibliography
Sources
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under out of copyright (license statement/permission). Text taken from The Meitheis, Thomas Callan Hodson, David Nutt.
References
- ^ "Indian Literature". Sahitya Akademi. 10 November 1979 – via Google Books.
- ^ The Oriental Anthropologist: A Bi-annual International Journal of the Science of Man. Oriental Institute of Cultural and Social Research. 2005.
- ^ Problems of Modern Indian Literature. Statistical Pub. Society : distributor, K. P. Bagchi. 1975.
- ISBN 978-81-260-0365-5.
- ^ Islam, Mazharul (1982). A History of Folktale Collections in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Panchali.
- ^ Man. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 1913.
- ISBN 978-81-7099-543-2.
- ISBN 978-81-8370-081-8.
- ^ JSTOR 25663656.
- ^ Roy, Jyotirmoy (1973). History of Manipur. Eastlight Book House.
- ^ a b T.C. Hodson (1908). "NUMIT KAPPA (THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SUN)". The Meitheis. David Nutt. p. 125.
- ^ a b c T.C. Hodson (1908). "NUMIT KAPPA (THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SUN)". The Meitheis. David Nutt. p. 126.
- ^ a b T.C. Hodson (1908). "NUMIT KAPPA (THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SUN)". The Meitheis. David Nutt. p. 127.
- ^ a b c T.C. Hodson (1908). "NUMIT KAPPA (THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SUN)". The Meitheis. David Nutt. p. 128.
- ^ T.C. Hodson (1908). "NUMIT KAPPA (THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SUN)". The Meitheis. David Nutt. p. 129.
- ISBN 978-81-260-0086-9.
- ISBN 978-81-260-0086-9.
- ISBN 978-81-260-0086-9.
- ISBN 978-81-260-0086-9.
- ^ T.c. Hodson (1908). The Meitheis.
- ^ "Film showcase for Manipur play - Young theatre director?s drama to be preserved on celluloid".