Manipuri Full Moon Dance ‘Thabal Chongba’ performed at Malugram

April 17: The ground near Panchanan Sib Bari Temple at Malugram, Silchar wore a festive look on 17 April as dozen of floodlights lightened it up in the summer night even as tantilising drumbeats echoed throughout the whole time. The scenic display was made even more hauntingly unforgettable with young girls and boys held hands and danced together akin to what every Manipuris had been doing for hundreds of years.

It was the ‘thabal chongba’ or the dancing ceremony which forms a part of Yaosang festival for the Manipuri community.

Organised by the Manipuri Youth of Malugram in collaboration with Seven Colours Club and Jupiter Club, the event kickstarted its pitch from 6 pm onwards when the orchestral LLB Band at the centre of the venue got immersed in dancing admist their own rhythmic beats.

Video Credit: Arindam Chowdhury

Thabal Chongba literally means ‘the full moon dance’ and is performed on roads and grounds in localities inhabited by the Manipuri community during the five nights of Holi or Yaoshang festivities. Young men and women hold hands and dance in a big circle. In the dance, participants join hands in a circle, hop on one foot and swing their free legs across, slowly advancing. Traditionally, conservative Kangleicha (Meitei) parents did not allow their daughters to go out and meet young men without their consent. Thabal chongba provided the only chance for girls to meet and talk to boys.

In earlier times, this dance was performed in the moonlight accompanied by folk songs. The music is rhythmic  beating of drums accompanied by other instruments. It is performed in every locality on all the five days of the festival. As soon as the moon rises over the hills, the flute, drums and cymbals start. The boys and girls in a circle clutch each other’s hands with rhythms of music slow and fast, high and low, up and down. If the number is great they may form two or three rows so that everybody and anybody can participate in the dance.