IMPHAL, September 11: The Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy in collaboration with the Sahitya Akademi organised a programme on Loka: Wari Leeba at the Mandap of the Academy.
Giving a lecture on Wari leeba, JNMDA, vice chairman, N Tomba Singh elaborated that ‘Loka’ means public, while ‘Wari Leeba’ means story telling.
In the old days, such story telling sessions were conducted by lower class Brahmins, he said.
He continued the art form of ‘Wari Leeba’ is related to Assam.
He continued that Tamphajao was one of the most famous narrators of the state, he can make his listener weep and smile at the same moment with his story telling.
Tamphajao lived in the era of Churchand Maharaj.
One can see certain changes in the art form today. Now there are two narrators in the same sitting and sometimes one see female narrators, he continued.
Continuing his lecture, he said the art form plays an important role in the development of the society in the old days. Uneducated villagers of the time were taught about the great epics of Ramayana and the Mahabharata through the art form.