Threads That Hold a Civilisation

Manipur’s GI-tagged textiles embody cosmology, matrilineal knowledge, and sustainability, yet face generational decline and imitation markets that threaten both livelihoods and cultural memory

- SOPHIA LISAM THE AUTHOR IS A SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT BHARAT KI SOCH

GI-tagged textiles such as Shaphee Lanphee, Wangkhei Phee, and Moirang Phee embody sacred knowledge, ecological wisdom and matrilineal heritage

In the heart of Manipur, the loom does not merely produce cloth; it breathes with the pulse of a civilisation. Its rhythm forms a sacred cadence, weaving an ancient cosmology into tangible fabric. This enduring art stands as one of the state's deepest cultural and economic testaments, rooted not in mere craftsmanship but in the sacred.

For the Meitei community, weaving is not a mechanical act but a divine enactment, a ritual in thread that mirrors the creation of the universe itself. Meitei belief holds that the supreme goddess Leimarel Sidabi, along with her incarnations, first bestowed this knowledge, enabling humanity to echo cosmic order through warp and weft. This sacred inheritance is inscribed in the Leinunglon Puya, one of the revered ancient manuscripts of the Meitei, written in the Meitei Mayek script. The text solemnly records the divine origin of weaving and the mythological discovery of cotton from which fabrics were born. Here, cloth is not a commodity but cosmology.