Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

Sacred Space, the Maibis of Manipur

Posted on July 19, 2019July 19, 2019 by Dharma Documentaries
A film about the female shamans of Manipur In India.

Sacred Space  the Maibis of Manipur

This is a documentary by Kaushik Gupta Ray from 2011 about the shamanistic/animist religion that prevails amongst the Meitei in Manipur, which culturally is Tibetan, but politically is now part of India. The film is about the largest ethnic group in Manipur, the Meitei, and their traditional religious practices which have seen a revival in recent years, and are now flourishing in the state.

The religion is a mix of shamanism, with female shamans in the forefront of the ritual proceedings; and animism, which holds all of earth, and especially the waters, sacred. This latter outlook has seen to the preservation of large areas of the country as sacred lands which cannot be harmed in any way.

The film follows and speaks to some of the prominent shamans, the Maibi, by looking at their ritual life, the induction of new candidates, and their training in established centres. There are also male practitioners, the Maiba, who play a lesser role and who need to impersonate women if they want the gods to speak to/through them.

The film is quite fascinating as giving a glimpse into what many societies in the ancient east must have been like, before being subsumed by male dominated religions during historical times. As such it presents some lessons for the modern world, in giving women a greater role in society on the one hand, and making the relationship to nature central on the other.

 

if the video does not appear on the page, please first try reloading the page, and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Culture, Anthropology, Himalayas, India, Shamans

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/41h

Donations

This site has taken more than a dozen years and 1000s of hours to build, and has 800+ documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Random Posts

  • A New Beginning, Bhikkhunis in America
  • The Celestial Dance of Bhutan
  • HH 17 Karmapa – The Years of his Youth
  • Uranium, is it a Country?
  • Baraka by Ron Fricke
  • The Silk Road Series 14/16: The King’s Road
  • Roots of Paradise (Sri Lanka)
  • Sky Caves of Nepal
  • Cosmopolitan India In Ancient and Medieval Times
  • The New Pinnacle on the Ruwanweli Maha Seya

Recent Posts

  • Ajahn Punnadhammo, 01 India in the Time of the Buddha
  • Buddhism in China (1972)
  • Ancient Superstructures, Angkor Wat
  • The Secret File of Marco Polo
  • Chasing Buddha (Robina Courtin)
  • Master Sheng Yen
  • The Story of the Weeping Camel
  • Kailash, the Path from Life to Life
  • Tours of the Caves of Dunhuang
  • Angkor Wat, Ancient Hydraulic City

Related Posts:

  • Secrets of the Sacred Lake
  • Prajna Earth, Journey into Sacred Nature
  • Ellora, Faith Religion Art
  • Bon, The Light of the Golden Sun
  • Amnye Machen Mountain Circumambulation
  • Lost in China 1, Gansu and Xishuangbanna
  • A Young Shaman's Quest Across Mongolia
  • Drupchen, A Visual Journey
  • The Heart of Taoism 5, The State Religion
  • The Revival of Buddhism in China
© 2023 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme