Gender Identity and Performance: Feminist Discourses in the Northeast⁽¹⁾
By N. VIJAYLAKSHMI BRARA

THE PERFORMANCE: CHANTS OF THE WOMEN

The present study begins with two apparently different, yet connected spheres of society: one belongs to the sacred domain, in which the Meitei priestesses give the religious messages during the religious rituals of Lai Haraoba, (literally, the appeasement of the deities); and another in the routine earthly world, in which the Meitei women are engaged in a protest demonstration in the heart of Imphal. A maibi, the traditional priestess, chants during an invocation:

I (the maibi) am holding my bell in my hand and moving in a circle.
It is I, who serve you,
I, who cause the river (of your message) to spread out,
I, who is engulfed in the fire (of your words);
I, the daughter of the mother goddess, and not others, who have learnt this skill,
I, the Maibi, who is yet to receive the oracle.
Give me a message like new clothes
Do not give me a message like an old cloth or like a faded flower
Give me message like the fresh flowers in your hair.
The gracious words of the Mother must not ascent to the heaven
They must fall upon the ground,
I, the mother’s daughter will utter your message.

Notice the repetition of the word “I.” It is she who feels has the right and the capacity to deliver the message of the goddess. Such optimism, such confidence and such a sense of responsibility!

The second chant is a part of the Lai Haraoba festival where the principal Maibi calls the names of the seven Lairembis (goddesses). Seven women come forward as Khullong Nupi Taret and sing.

Ho Hailo Hoya Hairo
We are digging our father’s paddy field,
Let us dig for the peace of the land
Let us dig.
Our digging will bring long life to the king
Let us dig.
Let us dig to expand our village land
Let us dig.
To produce more crops
Let us dig.
To make the lives long
Let us dig.
To get the Furel Fouja
Let us dig.
To grow coriander leaves, Pakhol,
Let us dig.
To grow shingkha singtham,
Let us dig.⁽²⁾

A minute reading of this chant indicates that it was the woman who spread the message of the ancestors. It was she who brought fecundity and fertility to her land. It was she who was responsible for the peace on her land. She as a citizen was regarded as ensuring the prosperity of her state actors and the state apparatus. This was the extent of her empowerment.

And now let us see another chant, which followed the brutal killing of Manorama Devi that triggered a massive protest against the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in Manipur⁽³¹⁾. The Meitei women went to the gate of the Kangla (where the Assam Rifles was stationed at that time), stripped themselves in front of the gate and gave a soul piercing cry – these were their wailing and cries with a resonance of chants (of the Maibis) in their naked bodies;

Come rape us;
Shoot us;
Kill us;

The accompanying gestures were aggressive to say the least and sym-bolizing extreme helplessness. Their nakedness symbolized extreme hopelessness, desperation and disempowerment. Ironically, it also unleashed the power which shook the whole world. They used their extreme deprivation as strength and a belief that they are capable to awake the whole cosmic forces. Although one can argue that these utterances (chanting) belong to the two opposing worlds of the sacred and profane respectively, but one cannot doubt the intensity with which their spectacular, theatrical display has had momentous impact on the social fabric of the society. Just like the maibis in trance, these mothers/women were laying bare their predictions about our future. The overwhelming emotions could be seen as coming out from a trance just like the priestesses. The argument put forth will revolve around the concepts of these ancient and modern chants of our women to understand the issues of identity and the gender roles.

WOMEN IN THE NORTHEAST

To say the least, the women of the Northeast are the most productive. They have been producers and seller from ancient times. They may not be big entrepreneurs but are economically self-sufficient. Every traditional household in the villages has a loom, a small or big kitchen garden and a pukhari (pond) with plenty of fishes. Traditionally women all over the Northeast weave. Their visibility is distinct and is present in the public domain to sell their produce in the markets. It is also these very markets, their physical economic base, which also serves as their political and intellectual base. The religious groupings in the form of the priestesses of the traditional religion, not only in Manipur but also in other parts of this region has helped these women to acquire the strength which very few dare to challenge. The present women pressure groups derive this unchallengeable mundane (earthy) strength from this sacred tradition. Their strength lies in such collectives – socio-economic and religious.

There is a conglomeration of patrilineal, patriarchal, and matrilineal societies in the Northeast. There are also traits of strong patriarchal structures in matrilineal societies at the same time matrilineal elements in patrilineal/patriarchal societies. In this region, there is no purdah, sati, or such anti-women and repressive practices seen and experienced in other parts of India. In fact, the women in Northeast India share a lot of commonality in their social ethos with their sisters in the South East Asian region. But there is lack of any proper or systematic study in this field.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to study the feminist discourses of the entire South East Asian civilizations to give the world an alternative to the so called mainstream feminist paradigm which is mainly based on western values and systems. There is urgency to this endeavour because of the fact that growing trend towards globalization has impacted with changing values in this part of the world.

To give strength to this appeal, there is the need to cite examples of empirical commonalities between most of the South East Asian societies, specially the Burmese, the Javanese and the Malaysian on one hand and that of the Northeast India on the other. The collective strength of women in these regions offers material self-sufficiency and ensures a degree of co-operation with men in the social sphere. It is, in other words very different from the anti-men feminist critiques of the west. A woman’s self-image in the Northeast, just like her counterparts in the Javanese and the Burmese societies generally speaking, is very much influenced by her role as a mother, which provides her a superior status and stable security compared to her wifely role. Although, in most of the cases, this kind of security will arise only if she has a son. Therefore, the miserable plights of widowhood as perceived in the other parts of India are absent here. Another aspect, which is refreshingly similar, is that the daughters remain an integral part of her parents’ family, even after they get married. For example, A Meitei girl/woman (in Manipur) never breaks her ties with her parents; she remains their Ningol (daughter). A particular part of the house is always kept reserved for the daughters of the house. This is very similar to what we see in the Javanese society. According to H. Geertz, a divorced girl in Javanese society always has a place in her parents’ family⁽⁴⁾.

The women’s position in the religious sphere also has a South East Asian paradigm. The similarity between the Korean priestesses, their way of conducting rituals and the Manipuri maibi is another area of study craving to be investigated. There are also evidences of women who were dedicated to the God, in Assam, who perform a dance called Deo-Dhwani.

Not so refreshing though, there are other similarities with the South East Asian societies of sharing the common grounds of identified conflict zone. Anybody with a little insight will tell that Burma’s (Myanmar’s) situation is very similar with that of the Northeast. Indonesia and Malaysia also had their fair share of political turmoil. Needless to say, that its impact on the women of this whole region is also similar. Their wailing must be as heart rending as that of the women of the Northeast.

PARADIGM SHIFTS

Let us now take a look at the evolutionary journey. The identity of women folk has been greatly affected by certain social processes. These processes are not only seen in the realm of socio-political, economic and religious but also at the level of performance.

Religion
The Northeast has seen major religious conversions like no other part in the rest of India. Being predominantly a tribal society, most societies were traditional nature worshippers. The cosmos was built around the father sky, the mother earth and all the paraphernalia structured around them, like the mountains, the rivers, the forests, the clouds, the thunder and other natural phenomena. Therefore, the regeneration cycle, what a Manipuri scholar Lokendra Arambam calls the “fertility principle” was the dominant belief system. Therefore, it was only natural that the messengers of our gods on the earth, the priestesses, enact and symbolize this fertility cult time and again. In this sense, sexuality was seen as a totem, a symbol on which depended our prosperity. But no sooner did we turned into mainstream religion such as Vaishnavism, for instance, first thing it tried to do was to marginalize the existing indigenous belief system and bring forth the male Brahmins. Sexuality, which was a totem, then became a taboo after the advent of Hinduism. Although, how much this ancient order was really fractured and broken is for everybody to see⁽⁵⁾. Since incidents such as Sati and concepts such as Pativrata though initiated could not continue for long. But a shift had taken place without doubt, whereby the women’s hegemony on religion was replaced by men. This shift of female power was well entrenched in Manipur in the 18th century when the king who never moved a step without consulting the maibis started obeying the Brahmin priests who were by then given the royal patronage. Initial attempts by the Brahmin priests to remove the maibis to the backstage could not bear fruits. Even with the advent of Hinduism, they could not hold the women at the backstage. They came back in the form of gopis in Raas Lila, the Ningonpali (the daughter’s group songs) and khubak ishei (religious songs sung by the women accompanied by clapping) in the Rathyatra (religious procession of Lord Jagannath). But just like the modern state scenario the directorial chair was taken over by the men (the Brahmin priests).

In the post-Christian era of the tribal world of the Northeast also one can see the ideological changes taking place. There is a slow but steady move from matriliny to patriliny and consequently patriarchy. Therefore, this religious doctrine was also stealing away the powerbase. The Christian families are expected to have a male head and the woman of the house, a subservient. Apart from this patriarchal notions, Christianity did usher in modern education and an exposure to the outside world.

Socio-political
Even before the British landed on this soil, women had a major role in the affairs of governance, in economy and in the civil society barring some tribal societies where women were a taboo in the political space of the village. In one such state, Manipur, the king’s rule was marked by an exclusive court for women called the pacha court. Here the queen conducted the trials. While in the king’s court where the king was the ultimate authority, even his order of death penalty, could be converted to life sentence only by a woman. This woman used to be the wife of the chief of the place called Sugnu where the offender was sent to be executed. If this wife of the Sugnulakpa (the Chief of Sugnu) covered the condemned with her phanek (women’s lower garment) the condemned person was considered to have been given a fresh lease of life. He was symbolically considered to be born again and therefore, his death sentence was converted to life sentence.

Historically speaking, the Northeast society has been marked by inter-tribal war-fares and in some cases series of invasions and conquests by outside forces. Therefore, the male members of the society were always out in the war, from which there was also no certainty of their return. In such a scenario the women took upon them the tasks of bringing up their children, take care of their economy and at the same time ensure that the social order is maintained. This role was amply demonstrated particularly when the Burmese invaded and occupied Manipur. That period of occupation and havoc wrought by them is called Chahi Taret Khutakpa (the Seven Years Devastation) from 1819 to 1826. These seven years were marked by huge demographic shift. The population of the able bodied men was a marked low. Most of them were either killed or captured and taken away to Burma. History therefore compelled the women folk to bear the responsibility to produce as well as nurture the future generation. It was mainly at this time that the Motherhood as an identity of women became their social responsibility.

A lot of water has since flowed down the river and yet, even today the women are toiling to bring up their families. Today, what have changed are the names of the warring tribes. Now there is the emergence of ‘revolutionaries’ and the armed forces. But the women are now even more impoverished, more vulnerable and struggling more. The women in trying to save their children’s and their men folk’s lives have not yet been able to focus their attention to the crude as well as the subtle violence meted out to them, even though they are the worst victims in such a situation. They are targeted both by the state and the armed outfits. They have been victim of mental, physical and sexual violence. It has been estimated that three to four out of ten rape cases go unreported. Imagine the extent of mental torture these women undergo when their children are simply picked up and disappear. In their list of priorities, probably peace comes first and the egalitarian concepts, encompassing dignity and respect will probably come much later.

However, the issues relating to rape, molestation and other forms of sexual abuse against women are not seen as gender violence per se, but seen as violation of human rights and assault on the society as a whole. Violence of such kind is not genderized in Manipur. Even in the protest arising from the death of Manorma, the agitation has revolved more around the greater issue of demand for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the State of Manipur. The women have, not yet got time to concentrate on their own plight. They have only parenthetically, looked at themselves and their inside worlds.

Therefore, there has been a shift in the power base. In the years before, the women, when they took up the responsibility, were also given power as stated in the beginning, but today, there is a growing trend to ignore them especially when it comes to the decision making. Today they remain in the background ready to strike the moment situation demands. The patriarchal modern ‘democratic’ political system is permeating in all our ideologies – be it revolutionary or adhering to the social order. The women even when they make a global impact today as stated above have been reduced to being pressure groups. That is why today even in formal political arena we have a least impressive number of women who are Members of the Legislative Assembly, what to talk about the Members of Parliament.

Economy
As stated earlier women in the Northeast are a productive lot. They are weavers, agriculturalists, fisher-folk and retail sellers. There were those golden times when the women, not out of their need but out of their desire also used to sit in the market to earn and remain economically independent. But, now the situation has reversed. The women today sit in the markets due to the sheer necessity. Today their economic power is corroding due to the modern economic forces and market mechanism. The predominance of our women in the subsistence economy is trailing behind in the market economy. At the same time due to increasing elements of patriarchal structures in our society, their so called economic independence is not being accompanied by greater control over household decision making, reproductive control and physical security.

Women are mainly driven towards economic pursuits not for their emancipation and their need to get empowered but mainly due to poverty and conflict situation. The number of female-headed household is increasing, whereby they are the sole means of support. According to Davaki Jain, “The poorer the community, the higher the work participation rate of females and children.” Today, one needs to do a small survey of the markets where women are the vendors as well as their other job profiles to realize as to how many women among them are the sole bread earners of their families. Therefore, one needs to ponder whether the existence of Ima Keithel or the high work participation can be an index to measure our women’s empowerment or inversely are they today the least empowered? While sitting in their stalls, today, are they formulating strategies for nation building or are they thinking of how to arrange the next meal for their children.

Performing Arts
Here I want to put a note of apology as I have very little account of the aspects of performance in other Northeastern states. Therefore, the descriptions will be only that of Manipur.

Any discussion on performance in Manipur starts from the Lai Haraoba. Here as stated above the maibis (the traditional priestesses) were the main actors and directors. Lai Haraoba was not only the religious festival enacted regularly though the nook and corner of the Meitei society since time immemorial, it also provided the most important form of public entertainment which both the royalty and public could enjoy alike and also participate. Legends, folk tales are enacted through dance forms, songs etc. In fact, the present day Manipuri proscenium theatre as well as Shumang Leela (Courtyard/Street Theatre) could be traced back to the Lai Haraoba festival.

There are about forty theatre groups spread all over the Manipur valley. But out of these how many have women as directors? In this theatre conscious territory where are our women?
It was mainly after the 2nd World War, the female artists began to increase in number and also started gaining social acceptability. Even in Sumang Leelas, earlier there were only male artists. In recent years all women Sumang Leela has come up but they only present their plays in the yearly festivals. They are mostly based on the traditional religious and mythological plays like ‘Moirang Parva’, and stories like Khamba and Thoibi (the eternal lovers). Lately though, they have started taking up issues such as drug addiction, alcoholism etc. It will be not be wrong to say that they have become today, an extension of the MeiraPaibi⁽⁶⁾ movement. The women artists are mainly the Ima market women, who after their long and tiring hard work, collect in the evening and release their creative energies through this medium. There is very little intellectual intervention and the theme revolves around maintaining good social order⁽⁷⁾.

Many of the Meira Paibi leaders of today, whom this writer talked to are sumangleela artists of yesteryears. On being asked as to why they felt the need for all women Sumangleela, they answered that in mythological plays women looked aesthetically more pleasing than men dressed as women. They lament that they could not continue as actors as other issues gained priority over a period of time.

There has also been no recent recruitment of young women, and not many people want to pay and come to see old artists. They feel that they have a peripheral status in relation to the patronage given to the male artists of Sumangleela and the artists from the proscenium theatre. Therefore, they have chosen to put their points across through the medium of Meira-Paibi movement. Although as said earlier, they continue to present their leela in the yearly festivals. Therefore, attempts are there to put their points across, but except in their major “productions” (like the Manorama issue as stated in the beginning) who really listens to them? At least not the men sitting in the power at either side.

Identity
Women in this trouble torn region have been able to build their power base within the patrilineal/patriarchal systems. The Identity of the women lies in their collectivity in all aspects of their lives. They work collectively in theirs’ and others’ fields, in the market area and as mothers in protecting their children from various atrocities meted by various state and the non-state actors. According to Sircar, “In societies with strong polarity of sexes, women’s bonding develops as an ‘insulation’ from male interference in a male-dominated social system.”⁽⁸⁾

This power base springs from a collective spirit and from their economic activities based on their age groups in their respective community and reinforced by their own kin group and their respective mother. Again this bonding is very similar to the Chinese system where the young married women form a group along with some subservient women to protect themselves from the dominating mother in law and other men.

CONCLUSION
On the evolutionary scale therefore, it can be seen that starting from transformation from traditional faith to larger religious faith, from federal structures to feudalism to modern day “democracy” there has been increasing marginalization of women. There are conscious and unconscious processes, which sideline this collective spirit. There is an urgent need to give some teeth to the women collectives. To enable this, there is a need to pick up the threads from the past.

To be able to do this we need to first and foremost study the past more rigorously and evolve a major structural formulation on feminist discourses incorporating and encompassing the ethnographies of other similar societies.

It is in this background lies the ability to bring out the traditional power bases. The situation is not entirely pessimistic. Since even in the present zig-zaw puzzle of our modern democracy there are spaces, which can be filled by our strong matri-structures. In other words, there is a need to bring all the powerful performances of women back, with complimentary modern paradigms in the world “stage” today. These complimentary modern paradigms are:
First, there is a need to form a joint front of the women from all the ethnic groups in the whole Northeast region. Till now all these women’s groups are working extensively but also exclusively. To form such a front they need to come out of their “nationalist/ethnic” agenda. The coming together in itself will be the first major step towards the resolution of various ethnic conflicts and will enable them to build a power block for the feminist discourses all over the world to emulate. Secondly, efforts should be made by the intellectuals of the region, especially women intellectuals to provide inputs. Education is another very effective means of empowerment. Women’s groups should be educated, not in the sense of schooling but in the sense of exposure to the wider and distinctive worldviews.