The Shirui on the North and the Mapithel on the South, as assumed by the Tangkhul Naga community of Manipur, are endowed with natural resources of their own kind. On the Northern side, the Shirui Mountain or ‘Shirui Kashong’ is an abode to the unique and rare Shirui Lily. The foothills of Mapithel Mountain, or ‘Mapithel Kaphung’, is the refuge for the Mapithel Dam.
Agriculture has been the primary livelihood practice for the community living in these mountains and their foothills. Different forms of agriculture have taken place over the centuries of settlement, with practices such as jhum cultivation, wet rice or paddy cultivation, and other small and large-scale farming still prevalent among the villages. Resource management in these ranges may differ from one another, sustaining its people in their way. Privatising natural resources such as forests or ‘Thingkhamlui’ was a mutual practice in both ranges. Still, it has somehow shifted or changed in some of the villages of the same community—In the Shirui range, privatising natural resources is still prevalent among the villagers. Most forests have ancestral owners who care for or utilise these resources. Agricultural lands may be given on lease by the owners to any individual or family who don’t have enough farmlands in the village for short-term cultivation.
However, there are selected spaces that are not privatised and serve as common property on which multiple villages are dependent; such as water sources and patches of forests in specific seasons. . One of the prominent villages in the Shirui range is the Lunghar village, which practises varied forms of agriculture, growing paddy for households at the foothills, small-scale vegetable farming on the higher altitudes, and long-term agroforestry on private lands. People in the North are engaged in other activities besides agriculture or integrated with agriculture. Cattle rearing is considered an essential act within the community. For centuries, the famous grassland of the Phangrei Hills on the extended side of the Shirui Hills has been serving as pasture land for cattle.
Earlier, the villages on the Mapithel range also practised privatisation. But this practice has now been abandoned by most villages, who have converted it into common property under the governance of the village council and the headman. The foothill and mountain villages practise wet rice and Jhum cultivation at different levels. The streams that flow down the foothills of the Shirui hills are joined by more flows southward to form the ‘Yangwi Kong’ or the Thoubal River. This river then flows through the foothills of the Mapithel hills to make its way downward into the Loktak Lake. The Mapithel Dam, otherwise known as the Thoubal Multipurpose project is built on this river. This wave of development has forced new livelihoods among the foothill villages of Mapithel.
Resource competition, demand and market interventions are rising among the villages of both ranges. Despite this, the Tangkhul Naga community living in these two ranges has retained its rich cultural and traditional practices.
(Sonim Kasar is a student intern at Azim Premji University. This work was conducted as part of Mountains of Life, a large climate change festival being organized by the University. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the organisation they represent)
