NATA SANKIRTANA AND MANIPURI SOCIETY

The Nata Sankirtana style of singing which was introduced during the reign of Rajarshi Bhagyachandra (1763-1798 A.D.). The great masters and scholars of that period composed and sang the padavali strictly after the Bhagavata tradition and other major Vaishnavite text and based the composition also on the traditional Ragas and Raginis of classical music tradition. Modern research has discovered a lot of regional overtones in the architecture of the particular Ragas and Raginis. The Manipuris call the Nata Sankirtana singing their own and it is clearly a form of collective prayer, a Mahayajna as they call it, lasting for about 5 hours at a stretch with a lot of rituals, movements and rhythmic pattern, strictly after the vaishnavite faith. Nata Sankirtana is a composite version of music, dance and tala; a Sangeet in the true sense of the term. It is also Drishya Kavya, a poem made visible. Nata Sankirtan is a very important aspect in the lives of the people in Manipur. It is because when our end is near, people listen to Hari-naam to relieve us from all the wrong doings that we have done before, so that we die peacefully. After death the family members would take the dead body for the last rites. In the shraddha ceremony, the Nat Sankirtana will start with raga. Before the invocation of the god and prayers start, Pinda- dan cannot be offered. After offering the Pindadan, the owner of the ceremony will have a bath and wear washed clothes. He will then come and offer his respects towards the end of the Sankirtan when Raga Bijay is being performed. The Shraddha ceremony comes to an end with the guardian of the Mandap sending the departed soul to beikuntha dham.