Manipuri Sankirtana is a form of performing art involving ritual singing, drumming and dancing performed in the temples and domestic spaces in Manipur State in India. Through the performances which exhibit unparalleled religious devotion and energy, the performers narrate the many stories of Krishna often moving the spectators to tears.
It is practiced primarily by the Vaishnava community in Manipur and by the Vaishnava Manipuri population settled in the neighbouring States of Tripura and Assam.
“Sankirtana: Ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur” was inscribed on the Representative List of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the eighth session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, held in December 2013.
Sankirtana is maintained by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. It encompasses an array of arts performed to mark religious occasions and various stages in the life of the Vaishnav people of Manipur plains.
It is practised at the centre of a temple, where performers narrate the lives and deeds of Krishna through songs and dance. In a typical performance, two drummers and about ten singer-dancers perform in a hall or domestic courtyard encircled by seated devotees. The dignity and flow of aesthetic and religious energy is unparalleled, moving audience members to tears.
Sankirtana brings people together on festive occasions throughout the year, acting as a cohesive force within Manipur’s Vaishnav community. It establishes and reinforces relationships between the individual and the community through life-cycle ceremonies. It can also be regarded as a vibrant practice promoting an organic relationship with people. The whole society is involved in its safeguarding, with the specific knowledge and skills traditionally transmitted from mentor to disciple. Sankirtana works in harmony with the natural world, whose presence is acknowledged through its many rituals.
The viability of the element has been ensured by social support that has kept the art alive through centuries.
Sankirtana is offered as prayer at all life-cycle ceremonies, such as the ear-piercing ritual (for both males and females in childhood), the donning of the sacred thread (for adolescent males), marriage, and the rites of passage at death. Thus pervading the life of the Manipuri Vaishnava, Sankirtana is regarded as the visible manifestation of God.
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