Naba Meetei Nupi Sahnpujarramagica - Mathu

Manipuri women are master weavers. The Mathu Naba woman embroiders protective patterns (phin motifs) into shawls and phanek. These geometric designs are believed to confuse malevolent spirits. In this tradition, a loom is a magic wand, and each thread is a sung spell.

If the term is fictional or lacks documented sources, frame the paper as a speculative mythography, constructing a narrative around Mathu Naba Meetei Nupi as a symbol of resilience, sovereignty, or ecological harmony. This could engage with themes like:

By The Sangai Express (Cultural Desk)

In the lush, rain-fed valleys of Kangleipak (present-day Manipur), where the Loktak Lake floats like a mirror and the hills guard ancient secrets, there exists a concept rarely spoken in textbooks but whispered among elders, ritualists, and keepers of the Puya (traditional texts). That concept is “Mathu Naba Meetei Nupi Sahnpujarramagica.”

Though the term sounds formidable, it breaks down into a poetic and powerful image: Mathu Naba Meetei Nupi Sahnpujarramagica

Taken together, it describes “the magical, indomitable inner power of a Meetei woman who walks between worlds.”

Long before Hinduism arrived in Manipur (c. 15th–18th centuries CE), the Meetei people practiced a form of nature worship led by priestesses called Maibis. These women performed Lai Haraoba (pleasing of the deities) – but some lineages were known for khuring nupa (left-hand or nocturnal rites), which involved invocations of wild spirits (lam-lai) and magical healing. Manipuri women are master weavers

The Sahnpujarra appears to be one such forgotten sub-tradition. Oral songs collected by Manipuri scholar Dr. L. Kunjeswori mention:

“Sahnpujarra cheksil lepakta – Mathu Naba nupi amagi khut ta”
(“In the copper-offering magic’s ritual ground – by the hand of a Mathu Naba woman.”) By The Sangai Express (Cultural Desk) In the

Mathu Naba Meetei Nupi Sahnpujarramagica