Sandrembi and Chaishra I Manipuri Folktales- PHUNGA WARI

Sandrembi and Chaishra I Manipuri Folktales- PHUNGA WARI

This is the third and final episode of a three-part podcast series- Phunga Wari, each featuring a folktale narrated by an elder in Manipuri to capture the authentic beauty of oral storytelling. Each Manipuri narration is immediately followed by an English translation in Rajkumari Reekiya's voice. 

The term “Phunga” refers to a fireplace, usually placed in the kitchen and “Wari” means tales or stories in the Manipuri Language. In the evenings, the children of a household gather around the fireplace while their grandparents share traditional stories. When the individual terms “Phunga” and “Wari” are put together, they translate to “Folktales”, stories passed down from generation to generation. 

Rajkumari Reekiya, a 5th Semester student of the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English at The Assam Royal Global University produced this podcast series as part of her Summer Internship with NEZINE. 

English narration of this episode begins at [5:21] 

See the Transcript for English translation of this folk tale

Credits: 

Special thanks to Thingbaijam Ibobi Singh for his contribution.

Music: 

Harish Kangjam

Transcript

Episode 3 (Sandrembi and Chaishra): Manipuri Folktales- PHUNGA WARI.

Once upon a time, in a village in Kangleipak, now known as Manipur, there lived an official in the king’s court, along with his two wives. Yangkhureima was his first wife and Shangkhureima his second. Yangkhureima had two children, Sandrembi and her younger brother. Shangkhureima, on the other hand, had a daughter named Chaishra. Sandrembi grew up to be a kindhearted, loving, and beautiful woman. In contrast, Chaishra became a selfish and envious person whose soul was as ill-favored as her appearance.

 Yangkhureima and Shangkhureima often went out together early in the morning to catch fish. One day, while they were fishing, Yangkhureima was blessed with plentiful fish while Shangkhureima’s basket continued to fill with snakes. Her jealousy and bitterness towards Yangkhureima’s abundance planted the seed of her evil plan to get rid of Yangkhureima. Shangkhureima suggested that they take a break, and after spotting a nearby fig tree, she climbed to pluck some ripened figs from it. Yangkhureima, who couldn’t climb, stayed behind. As she rested in the shade, Shangkhureima called down to her, convincing her the tree was full of ripened figs and that she would throw some down to share. She threw down two figs, which Yangkhureima relished. But the third time, it wasn’t figs she intended to offer. She had something far more sinister planned. She instructed Yangkhureima to tightly close her eyes and widen her mouth, for the fig she was about to offer was the largest and sweetest of all. Yangkhureima, unaware of the wicked scheme, opened her mouth wide with her eyes tightened. At that moment, Shangkhureima poured the basket full of snakes into Yangkhureima's mouth, resulting in Yangkhureima's instant death.

Meanwhile, back at home, night had fallen as Sandrembi and her little brother stood waiting by the gate for their mother, unaware that she would never return home again. Their faces lit up when they saw their stepmother return home. The little boy asked, “Ematon, where is my mother?” to which Shangkhureima replied, “It seems your selfish mother hasn’t yet satisfied her greed, so she stayed behind.” As dusk slowly gave way to midnight, Sandrembi dreamt of her mother. In the dream, her mother revealed that Shangkhureima had killed her and that she had now taken the form of a turtle. She asked Sandrembi to come to the lake at dawn and explained that if the turtle was placed in a pot for seven full days, she would return to her human form. The next morning, Sandrembi woke up crying and did what her mother had told her in her dream. At dawn, she went to the nearby lake and fetched the turtle, which she brought back home carefully. To her misfortune, Chaishra had seen Sandrembi bringing back the turtle and began to insist to her mother that she had seen Sandrembi bring back home a turtle and that she wanted to eat it. Shangkhureima ordered Sandrembi to cook the turtle for Chaishra. Sandrembi consistently begged her to not be forced into committing such a terrible sin, but her cries fell on deaf ears. Overwhelmed by fear and helplessness, Sandrembi starts to boil the turtle, with tears streaming down her face. Her mother’s soul starts crying out in agony, “Ebemma, the heat has reached my waist… Ebemma, the heat has reached my neck.” Eventually, Yangkhureima loses her life the second time while Chaishra’s family thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Years passed, and both Sandrembi and Chaishra grew into young women. One day, as they went together to fetch water from a nearby lake, a prince came riding a horse. Enchanted by Sandrembi’s beauty, he asked her if he could have a sip of water from the pot she was carrying. Sandrembi gladly helped him quench his thirst. On the other hand, Chaishra turned green with envy witnessing the scene. Once they returned home, she demanded of her mother that her fine clothes and golden pot be given to Sandrembi and Sandrembi’s worn-out clothes and simple pot be given to her. Sandrembi, as always, obeyed without protest. The next time they went to fetch water, the new clothes and the golden pot, paired with Sandrembi’s beauty, made her look almost ethereal, while Chaishra’s appearance seemed worse than ever. They met the prince once again, and bewitched once more by Sandrembi’s grace, he drank water from her hand and asked her to become his wife. He took her away on horseback to the palace. The prince soon ascended the throne, and Sandrembi gave birth to a child a few years later. Together, the family merrily lived ever after.

But after some years, Chaishra and Shangkhureima invited Sandrembi for a meal at their house. Sandrembi, holding no resentment towards them, happily accepted the invitation. When she reached there, Chaishra asked her if she could try on Sandrembi’s ornaments and clothes, which she gladly handed everything over without hesitation. As the day came to an end, Sandrembi asked for her clothes and ornaments back so she could return home. But Chaishra refused to do so. When asked constantly to give her belongings back, Chaishra grew furious and threw everything below the bed. Left with no choice, Sandrembi bent down to retrieve them. While she was busy reaching under the bed, Chaishra and her mother poured boiling water over her, which made her lose her life and transformed into a wild pigeon. Shangkhureima dressed up Chaishra as Sandrembi and sent her to the palace, where she began living in disguise, pretending to be the real queen.

One night, the King had a dream of Sandrembi revealing to him that she had turned into a wild pigeon and asking him to keep the pigeon in a cage for seven days in order to regain her human form. A few days later, the same wild pigeon flew right around the court gardener and sang a haunting tune to him: 

“Ha Ningthou tukaoba…

Nacha ningthou sigani,

Phige eyong tatkani. 

Hada pangal sajikloi nabungo da tamjaru.”

Hearing this, the court gardener wasted no time and went straight to inform the king. The next day, the king, with a handful of rice grains, came to the place where the wild pigeon had visited the previous day. When he saw the pigeon, the king called out to the pigeon to come sit in his arms and eat until its stomach was full. Remembering the dream he had the other night, he brought the pigeon back to his place and kept it in a cage, hoping to bring Sandrembi back. But before the seven days were complete, Chaishra, consumed by wrath, took the pigeon out of the cage and cooked a meal out of it. Upon learning what had happened to the pigeon, the king furiously threw away the meal so that not even a morsel could be eaten. Weeks passed, and at the very spot where the pigeon’s meat was discarded, a beautiful lime tree grew. The King, realizing it was Sandrembi in her new form, plucked the fruit and carefully stored it away. Chaishra, having caught wind of what was happening, secretly gave the treasured lime to the court gardener when he asked for some fruit. The gardener took it home, but unable to find his knife, he placed the lime inside his pot of rice grains. Seven days passed, and Sandrembi had transformed into her human body. One day, when the court gardener came back home, he saw a woman preparing food for him…it was none other than Sandrembi. Seeing this astonishing sight, he hurriedly went to the king and told him everything. The king came at once and found Sandrembi at the gardener’s house. He brought her back to the palace, where she was rightfully crowned queen once more. Chaishra, on the other hand, was given a death sentence as punishment. Justice was served.