The Ritual of Saroi Khangba: An Ethnography on Saturdays of Lamta

Abstract

The contemporary religious life of the Meiteis of Manipur manifests a beautiful syncretic fusion of the two religious traditions: the Vaishnava and their pre-Vaishnava systems. It entails rituals and festivals from both the systems. In other words, their religious life continues to have many elements of their traditional religion. In order to explore elements of their pre-Vaishana elements in their contemporary religious life, the paper attempts to provide an ethnographic account of the ritual of Saroi Khangba. This ritual, which is performed to propitiate the evil spirits, in the Meitei localities of Manipur, particularly on the Saturday of the month of Lamta reflects the expression of the solidarity or the coming together of the collectivity. By taking part in the ritual, every family shares the bond with the collectivity. With this ritual, they make the annual offerings to the evil spirits through the four guardian deities in the last month of the ongoing year in order to have a peaceful New Year.