INDIA BEATS
Keeping tradition alive
NILOSREE BISWAS
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The Keithel, the traditional market run and managed by women in Manipur, is under attack again...
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PHOTO: S. MATOULEIBI
Vibrant colours of a culture: Manipuri women at the Keithel.
STACKS of bright hand woven "Phaneks" (wrap-arounds) adorn the small benches in the market. The reflection of the hanging lamps falling on the coloured clothes make them look all the more magical. This is the women's market in Imphal, Manipur, a market totally run and managed by women, historically and culturally crucial, tinted with layers of memories.
So, how did it all begin? As Apanbi, trader of traditional clothes, says, "this market has an age-old history. It has been there from before the colonial period. And always women had played a major role in promoting trade and indigenous products. Hence the name `Ima Keithel' (market run by women)."
They've always faced challenges from rival markets, controlled by men. Sometime in 1948-52, some local male merchants even tried to demolish the existing shed. Another major incident occurred in the early 1990s, when the women received an eviction notice from the State urban development authorities.
Targeting a way of life
An assault on the "Keithel" is not just an assault on a system of trading, it is a systematic attempt to destroy a way of life. All over the Northeast, forces of globalisation and privatisation, backed by the State's hegemony, are ousting indigenous women's markets and production centres. Poverty is being created, intensified and deliberately entrenched. In its new avatar, it is feminised poverty that is being sought to be perpetrated.
The global market is neither abstract nor intangible as it is often projected. It can be demarcated by real space: physical, economic and cultural. Where such space is already occupied by traditional and indigenous systems and practices, it must be cleared to make possible a smooth entry for the global market.
In Northeastern India, women have traditionally been managing trade and commerce. They are also producers of many goods for consumption, local exchange and even for regional markets. They are the most active conservers of biodiversity (agro, wetland and forest), both through their farming practices, and through their active promotion of the local gastronomic cultures.
These markets are an example of this sophisticated system of trade. The term "market" is highly inadequate to describe what a Keithel is and the role that it plays in the local economy, culture and society. It is a site for the affirmation of women's control over the production, use and management of consumption patterns. It represents the attempt of communities to assert their food sovereignty, economic self-determination and cultural diversity. It is for this reason that the Keithels of Manipur have been under attack through history. Without control over the Keithel, the subjugation of communities that live around it can never be complete.
Ironic turnaround
During the famous "Nupi Lan" (wars) of Manipur, on three celebrated occasions during the 19th century, the women confronted artillery of the British forces with sticks. The colonial power recognised that this system had to be brought under a more pliable economic system that could be more easily infiltrated. Ironically, the struggle has been acknowledged by the Government of India, which has built a memorial dedicated to these women. Yet it has not hesitated to replicate the tactics of its predecessor.
Sorojini, another veteran craftsperson says, "The incomplete flyover has been one of reasons for the government to oust the women traders. We were forced to shift to the new market premises." The reasons for the State onslaught are primarily because many sites devoted to these markets are located in the centre of towns. Soaring real estate prices make them vulnerable. For neo-liberal market forces, it is difficult to see the land as anything other than a piece of real estate, waiting to be "developed" into shopping malls. They cannot see these as not just hubs of commerce, but also of socio-political processes.
Living legend
Starting July 13, 2003 the women of "Ima Keithel", the second largest women's market in Asia, maintained a 24-hour vigil to defend the Keithel from demolition. On November 24, 2004, the State Government of Manipur demolished the old district Hospital to pave the way for construction of a multi-storied complex. The women of the three markets located next door were shifted to the hospital premises temporarily for construction of the new market complex under financial assistance from the Union Urban Development Ministry.
The cry to preserve the Keithel as a museum has gone unheeded so far by State authorities. The "market woman" of Manipur is a living legend, an inimitable figure of Imphal city. Is she a petty trader, as classified by the municipal authorities? Could she have started two wars against the might of the British if she were merely a petty trader?
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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