Panthoibee: the multifaceted Goddess of Manipur

Abstract

Manipur is an Indian state, situated in the extreme north-eastern border, bound on the east by Myanmar and is virtually the meeting point of India and South-East Asia. It is a culturally rich state. The Manipuri Society has the doctrine of polytheism from early times. It has not only dual male-female forms of Divine but also some single feminine aspects. Among them, Panthoibee is one of the most popular, powerful, unique and widely worshipped Goddess. The Manipuris have been using the accounts of Panthoibee simply as tales and also in other utterances like rites, rituals and religious worships etc. Not only this, the accounts of Panthoibee is also attributed to the written forms of ‘Puyas’ (the old Manipuri Scriptures)- Panthoibee Khongul, Panthoibee Naheirol, Thirel Meiram Liba etc. Thus, to recognise the religion and society of this region, it is very necessary to rediscover and honour the identity of this multifaceted Goddess. This paper is based on the data collected from the oral utterances, the Puyas-the old Manipuri Scriptures and some other related sources.