Wangkhei Phee

What is Wangkhei Phee?

Wangkhei Phee is a white cotton cloth from Manipur, in northeast India. Women weavers make it across the state. Very fine yarn goes into it, and the warp and weft threads are set widely apart, which leaves the cloth thin, airy and see-through. Woven design panels sit on its body, and both long borders carry the Moirang Phee pattern. The source calls it a luxury cloth. Women of Manipur wear it for marriage ceremonies and other festive occasions, and it is also judged suitable for chadors, saris, skirts and girls' school uniforms.

Where does Wangkhei Phee come from?

The cloth began as a muslin made for the royal family of Manipur. Its weavers were stationed at Wangkhei Colony, close to the palace, and the fabric is now made in many places across the state. In December 2011 it entered India's Geographical Indications register under the 1999 Act, class 25, clothing, as application 372, together with two related Manipuri cloths, Moirang Phee and Shaphee Lanphee, both also woven by women. The state government was expected to enrol 5,000 Wangkhei Phee weavers within six months of registration, and an inspection agency was set up to check quality.

How is Wangkhei Phee made?

The yarn is fine cotton: warp threads of 80s and 100s count, weft of 2/80s, and an extra weft of 2/80s mercerised thread that carries the motifs. Fibre comes from the cotton ball, called Lashing, from Kabrang, the mulberry cocoon, and from the bark of a tree known locally as Santhak, Urtica sp. It is spun locally, dyed with extracts of plants, bark, leaves and flowers, stiffened with a rice-based starch, stretched on a bamboo stick, then wound onto bobbins and pirns. Two loom types are used: a fly shuttle loom gives one complete piece, a throw shuttle loom gives two lengths that are stitched together. Motifs are added by hand.

Colours, motifs and borders

The cloth is white. Designs are woven into the body as patches, in patterns the source names: Kheiroithek, ThangjingTangkhai, KabokChaiba and several others it leaves unlisted. Whatever the body pattern, both longitudinal borders are always worked with the Moirang Phee design. These woven panels are the cloth's ornament, read against a sheer ground. The sources name only white for the finished cloth, though the yarn itself is dyed with extracts of plants, bark, leaves and flowers before weaving.

How Wangkhei Phee is worn

Wangkhei Phee is worn by women of Manipur, chiefly at marriage ceremonies and other festive occasions. It is a cloth rather than a single fixed garment. The source lists it as suitable for saris and chadors, and also for skirts and school uniforms for girls, so the same weave can be draped, wrapped or tailored. Nothing in the sources describes a particular drape, blouse or petticoat for it. What they do stress is how it behaves when worn: porous, airy, see-through and thin.

When Wangkhei Phee is worn

The sources place Wangkhei Phee at marriage ceremonies and other festive occasions among the women of Manipur. No festival is named, and no religious rite is attached to it. The same cloth is also thought fit for quieter uses: the article lists skirts and school uniforms for girls alongside saris and chadors. It was once a royal cloth, made in muslin for the Manipur royal family, so its later life in ordinary and ceremonial wardrobes is part of the story.

Styles of Wangkhei Phee

Two ways of weaving give two forms of the cloth. On a fly shuttle loom it is woven as one complete piece; on a throw shuttle loom it comes off in two lengths that are stitched into a full fabric. Body designs vary, from Kheiroithek and ThangjingTangkhai to KabokChaiba and others not listed, though the Moirang Phee border stays constant. Related Manipuri cloths, Moirang Phee and Shaphee Lanphee, were registered alongside it in 2011 and are also woven by women. The sources say nothing of powerloom copies.

What Wangkhei Phee means

Wangkhei Phee is one of three Manipuri cloths registered as Geographical Indications in December 2011, which fixes its identity to the state and to its women weavers. Registration brought an inspection agency for quality control and a plan to enrol 5,000 weavers within six months. The cloth also carries the memory of palace patronage, when it was woven in muslin for the Manipur royal family and its weavers worked from Wangkhei Colony near the palace. Its standing rests on that record and on the fineness of its yarn.

Questions people ask about Wangkhei Phee

Good reading and sources

• Wangkhei phee on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data