Moirang Phee

What is Moirang Phee?

Moirang Phee is a woven cloth from Manipur, in northeast India, recognised by one design: the MoirangPheejin. It runs along both long edges of the fabric, worked inward toward the middle in cotton or silk thread. The cloth began in Moirang village and is now made across the state. Women are the weavers. The design is planned so the same piece can become a sari, a half sari, a stole, a sarong, a lungi, a skirt or a school uniform. It is worn at marriages and other festivities, and it holds protection as a registered Geographical Indication.

Where does Moirang Phee come from?

Moirang, the village where the cloth started, sits in Bishnupur district, about 46 km from Imphal. Myth ties the place to Khamba of the Moirang Kangleirol epic. The manuscript Loiyumba Silyen records that King Meidingu Loiyumba, who ruled from 1074 to 1122, gave Moirang's villagers the task of weaving Yarongphi, the local name for this cloth. They made it as tribute for the Meitei royal family. The same village is where the INA flag was raised in 1944. In 2011 the design was registered under India's Geographical Indications Act.

How is Moirang Phee made?

The yarn begins with Lashing, cotton ball, and Kabrang, mulberry cocoon, and is also taken from the bark of Santhak, a tree of the Urtica genus. Weavers spin it locally, dye it with plants and bark, then size it with rice starch. The sized yarn is stretched on a bamboo rod and wound onto bobbins. The cloth is woven in two stages on a loin loom, a throw shuttle loom or a fly shuttle loom, with the throw shuttle loom rated the most suitable. Weft counts run from 2/40s to 2/80s. A nine-member inspection agency checks quality.

Colours, motifs and borders

Everything comes back to Yarongphi, the motif itself. The word splits into ya, tooth, rong, long, and longba, pronged. It stands for the thin, pointed teeth of Pakhangba, the python god of Manipur mythology. The shape is triangular and stepped, with a sharp top edge, set in odd counts of steps such as 3, 5, 9 or 11, and drawn out toward the centre of the cloth. It sits on the longitudinal border woven in the first stage and runs parallel to the weft. Colour comes from plant and bark dyes.

How Moirang Phee is worn

The records describe the cloth more than any drape. What is clear is the range of garments it is cut for: sari, half sari, stole, sarong, lungi, skirt and school uniform. Lengths, blouse pieces and petticoats are not discussed. What the sources do say is that women weave the fabric and wear it for marriages and festivities, so the cloth passes from the loom straight into family celebration.

When Moirang Phee is worn

Marriages and other festivities are the occasions the records name. The women who weave the cloth are also the women who wear it, which keeps the design inside the community that makes it. Beyond festive use, the same fabric is tailored into school uniforms, so a child in Manipur may wear the stepped tooth motif to class. Historically the cloth had a courtly role too: Moirang weavers gave designed pieces to the Meitei rulers as a form of tribute.

Styles of Moirang Phee

One motif, many garments. The MoirangPheejin is planned to suit a sari, half sari, stole, sarong, lungi, skirt or school uniform without losing its character. Looms vary as well: a loin loom, a throw shuttle loom or a fly shuttle loom will do, though the throw shuttle is preferred. Two other Manipur cloths, Wangkhei Phee and Shaphee Lanphee, were registered as Geographical Indications at the same time, numbers 372 and 371.

What Moirang Phee means

Registration came through the Geographical Indications Act 1999, with the Controller General of Patents Designs and Trademarks confirming Moirang Phee as application 373, Class 25, clothing, on 19 December 2011. The Consultative Committee expected the Manipur government to enrol 1,000 weavers within six months. A nine-member body of officials, society members and craftspeople was set up to inspect quality. Underneath the paperwork sits an older meaning: a cloth carrying a god's teeth, woven by villagers for their rulers.

Questions people ask about Moirang Phee

Good reading and sources

• Moirang phee on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data