EVOLUTION OF PUNG IN MANIPURI NATA SANKIRTANA

Abstract [English]

‘Time/Hour’ is Pung to the Meitei and it is Wanglen archaically and also the percussive instrument of rhythm in dance and music is also known as pung. Definitively a Pung is a percussion made of a cylindrical object covering its face end or ends with leather. On the other hand, affixing different sylleptic term to the Pung denotes different types of Pung; e.g. (Tyanyei+Pung) Tanyeipung, (Langte+Pung) Langtepung, etc. However, in present days the term Pung simply denotes only the kind of Pung used in the Manipuri Nata Sankirtana as it is named Nata Sankirtana Pung. This may be reason of the Pung in the Manipuri Nata Sankirtana becoming so popular. The Meities have been using Pung in festivals rituals since earlier day. So the origin of Pung may categorized in two definitive forms as:- (1) Prehistoric, and (2) Historical. In protohistoric or prehistoric days where conventional Pung was not known to be made of, when men used logs for percussion purposed may be termed as the first kind of Pung; e.g. Khong and Howon to the meities. After the event of this type of percussion, Meitei developed Pung using cylindrical wooden log covered in hollow side ends with leather to fasten with cane. Afterward the fastening cane was replaced with leather strips with rings: Chago. Different types of Pung used by the Meiteis in the earlier days are- Lagtepung, Tanyeipung, Khunpung, Laipung, Lanpung, Haraopung and Paujelpung. As per the history, Bhagyachandra Maharaj reascended the throne of Manipur with the help of Ahom King Swargadeva. The king ordered his artisan Hao Chaoba who was a resident of Nungba Village to bring wooden log for making Pung for using in the worship of Lord Krishna. The said man brought a log Wang, a special kind of tree. The log was given to one Lakshman Singh and entrusted to make Pung especially for Nata Sankirtana. Forwarding thus, in 1779 A.D. SriSriGovinda was initiated and installed at Canchipur with five days performance of Ras Dance at the Rasmandal. In the Nipa Pala of that Ras Dance, Maharaja Bhagyachandra himself led the part of playing Pung with Ojha Premananda, where Ngoubram Shai and Dhar Shai participated in the opening Nata Sankirtana respectively as the lead singer and second lead singer. Thus the type of Pung used in the Nata Sankirtana became to be commonly known as Nata Sankirtana Pung, Meitei Pung or simply Pung. Sometime at different places the Meitei Pung is also known as Mridanga. Alongside the Meitei Pung has become to play an important and big role in the day life of a Manipuri Gaudiya Vaishnavas from its birth to death. Likewise consecutive successors after Maharaja Bhagyachandra like- Chourjit, Chandrakirti, etc. also worked to contribute to the development of Meitei Pung by introducing new rhythmic forms of Taals. Further, Meitei Pung has taken big roles in introducing our state Manipur and its peoples in India and abroad after introduction of its stage performances since 1939 A.D.