Enaphi - Traditional cloth

According to my understanding, a traditional cloth is a piece of cloth that has some cultural value to it. Whether in terms of the way it’s been made, what significance do the motifs have and what story do they depict of a particular culture or region or a specific time period. A cloth can be called traditional also because of the fact that it has been passed on from generation to generation. I know a saree in my family that has been passed on by my great grandmother, which will one day be passed on to me. That particular saree has great value because every time not only a piece of cloth is being handed down but also a whole lot of memories, stories which would not have exited if it was not for that saree. So what I mean to say it that traditional cloth binds people together with unspoken messages and brings them closer in a way that even technology today cannot.

The cloth that I have chosen is called enaphi and it comes from Manipur. It is a stole and is worn with a traditional lahing (a wrap skirt) and an angei (blouse). In the small districts of Manipur weaving is only done by the women and the art of weaving is given much importance in the region.  

When I took this cloth in my hand the first few things i noticed were that it’s a pure cotton, plain weave fabric with a simple border running along the sides and motifs on the ends. Extra weft and extra warp have been used to show the border and the motif more distinctly. I could also notice ink like marks along the motifs by which I could tell that the weaver had first transferred the design from paper on to the warp before weaving the cloth. The weavers refer to the motif as kangla in the meetei language. All i knew before was that the motif looks like an entrance gate. What entrance gate, where is it located or why an entrance gate at all on a stole i had no clue. But now I know the importance of it. The Palace of Kangla is an old palace at Imphal in Manipur (Kangleipak). It was situated on both sides (western and eastern) of the bank of the Imphal River. But now it remains only on the western side of the bank. Only the ruins remain now. Kangla means "dry land" in old Meetei. It was the traditional seat of the past Meetei rulers of Manipur. This is where the kingdom of Manipur is said to have established. In olden days this was the official place to conduct erat-thouni (coronation ceremony). According to the result of prayers King decided for how long he will be able to rule the state.  The ruins is an archaeological site and is known to host political meetings and gatherings. I also figured that the site is given a lot of importance by the local people of manipur by looking at the motif. Which has figures of men standing in a line under the kangla gate and it looks they are holding it up over their heads as a sign of respect.

This assignment has already given me enough insight about the culture, history and people of Manipur. And this is exactly what i think a traditional cloth stands for.