Distilling tradition

The foundation of thang-ta, a martial art form from Manipur, is “spiritual”, says Gurumayum Biseshwor Sharma, a thang-ta practitioner and trainer, as he talks about how he intends to preserve and nurture this ancient form…

Almost ritual-like

In Keirao Awang Leikai, a village away from the hustle and bustle of Manipur’s capital, Imphal, that is soaked in history and comprising people of all religions, where the air is clean, and the atmosphere full of harmony, a group of teenagers — mostly girls and a handful of boys — are busy in a thang-ta class. The students are done with the opening routine that involves saluting the god and the guru, and having offered a prayer for the welfare and well-being of their land and the society at large, begin a warm-up routine that involves a series of stretches and moves that prepare the body for the more intense workout that is to follow.

When they are done, they pick up a spear each and set off to practise a move they’ve learnt just a week ago. The movements are slow, deliberate but intense, demanding from every practitioner physical strength and mental awareness. Suddenly, the skies open up and there is a downpour. The students rush indoors and without wasting a moment, get on with their practice.

When one class ends, another begins. Overseeing them all is Gurumayum Biseshwor Sharma, son of legendary (late) Padma Shri Gurumayum Gourakishor Sharma, and the first recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from Manipur. He is known equally in the world of martial arts and in the performing arts for his vision and prowess to transform thang-ta from a warfare-based art and bringing it to centre stage, allowing people to appreciate it for its technique, flow and aesthetics.

In May this year, the Sangeet Natak Akademi awarded Gurumayum Biseshwor Sharma the Ustad Bismillah Khan Puraskar in recognition of his contribution towards carrying forward his father’s legacy and for finding interesting avenues to preserve and nurture an ancient martial art form. At the end of a long day, full of teaching and training sessions, and spending an hour or two on discussing academic matters pertaining to the institute his father founded way back in 1958 — the Huyen Lallon Manipur Thang-Ta Cultural Association — Biseshwor takes time off to talk to us.

In his village, mobile connectivity is often a concern, but that afternoon, we get lucky. “I wish I’d received this award when my father was around,” he begins, responding to our question on the Bismillah Khan Award. “Nonetheless, I’m very happy to receive it. I intend to do my level best to promote this art form.”

Biseshwor had the good fortune of learning thang-ta in the exact way that it is meant to be — the guru-shishya parampara; his father was his guru, “great guru”, as he likes to call him. “The learning was a combination of theory, practice, exposure and experience,” he remembers. “I had the opportunity of constantly hearing him speak about the history and practice of thang-ta and we practised every day, relentlessly, without ever looking at the clock.”

But Gurumayum Gourakishor Sharma was a man of foresight, who recognised that the guru-shishya parampara may become obsolete or impractical in a modern-day context. So, he set up the institute, developing for thang-ta, a crystal-clear six-year programme that included a year-long certificate course, a three-year diploma followed by a two-year-long degree course. To ensure for it a wider and a varied audience, he worked on adapting it as a performing art form and travelled with it to an array of countries across the globe. “That’s the beauty of thang-ta,” says Biseshwor, “Its scope is endless. People tend to think of it merely as a martial art form that teaches you the art and technique of self-defense, but I think of thang-ta as milk; from milk, you can make so many things, right? Curd, ghee, paneer, butter… Thang-ta is like that; it can be a form of sport if you’d like, an exercise routine, a survival technique, a performance art form evocative of the culture of Manipur, a spiritual form ideal for the larger cause of society and its good. Its possibilities are endless.”

Evolving with the times

Thang-ta in Manipuri comprises two words — thang means sword and ta means spear. Therefore, this martial art form is the art of using these two weapons. But even though thang-ta finds its genesis in warfare when survival was integral and self-defense was crucial to protect the land and its people, in today’s context, thang-ta has acquired more spiritual and emotional connotations. “We use it today to develop our inner strength, our personality and character, find a sense of harmony and balance, celebrate our cultural legacy,” he says. Towards unravelling the potential of thang-ta, Biseshwor wears many hats in addition to helming the institute founded by his father. He remains one of the youngest expert committee members in the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is a visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi, and is an expert committee member, textbook syllabus committee of thang-ta in the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur.

“For preservation, documentation is imperative,” he says. “Our forefathers haven’t left too much academic content for us to use as a reference; my focus amongst other things is to create an academic repertoire for thang-ta that becomes an integral manuscript of sorts for the future generation to use and follow.”

And even though thang-ta is open for anyone and everyone to practise and perform learning it isn’t exactly a piece of cake. It demands from a student enormous amounts of discipline and sacrifice. “It’s a very deep, profound art form and the rigour it requires, equally so. A thang-ta practitioner has to, for instance, watch what she/he eats, things she/he does, to ensure the body,mind and spirit are constantly in harmony. Because, after all, only a healthy body and mind can contribute towards building and nurturing a healthy society, right?” he asks.