The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Indian Youth (SPIC MACAY) will be organising a series of performances of the Manipuri martial arts Thang Ta and Manipuri drum dance Pung Cholam in various educational institutions in Dehradun from Monday. According to Vidya Vasan of SPIC MACAY, the performances will begin on Monday with shows at the Carman School in Dalanwala and Premnagar. A performance will be staged at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) on the following day. On July 26, the show will be held at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) followed by performances at the Universal Academy on July 27, at Ecole Globale School on July 31 and the Scholar’s Home and Welham Girl’s schools on July 31.
It should be mentioned here that Thang Ta is a popular term for the ancient Manipuri Martial Art known as Huyen lallong. Thang Ta (the art of sword and spear), thus became an expressive art form which however retained its fighting character at the secret home schools of individual teachers or Gurus, after being prohibited during the period of the colonial Raj (1891-1947). It survived during the period of Manipur’s integration with the Indian Union in 1949, where the art was shown in festivals and performance platforms abroad since 1976. Unfortunately, the internal system of meditative practices and its essential spiritual character is at risk of being lost through lack of knowledge and committed practice by the present generation. It is at an exploratory stage that this new culture is being re-examined. The other art form to be performed in Dehradun, Pung Cholam is also known as Mrindanga Kirtan or Dhumal. This dance is performed with a drum- Mrindanga. This dance is performed only by males either in as part of a Nata Sankirtan or independently in front of social gatherings.
In the Nata form, two players participate in its performance, but as an independent dance performance at least 14 players follow the sequence of Nata Sankirtan. In this series with more than 40 complicated tala (beats) and sanchars that represent particular compositions of rhythms are presented.
The performance is full of various types of body movements that are executed with great artistic skills and excitement. Sometimes, Mrindanga is also used to create the sounds of thunder, voice of birds and animals. The movements at initial stage are gentlet, but later on become momentous and vigorous.