{"id":61893,"date":"2024-12-20T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?post_type=ground_up_stories&p=61893"},"modified":"2025-09-03T17:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:44:07","slug":"can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument","status":"publish","type":"ground_up_stories","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"a<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
The instrument has two main parts: the pena cheijing<\/em> (bow) and the pena maroo<\/em> (body). | Picture courtesy: Anupam Sharma<\/figcaption><\/figure>

I am a pena<\/em> player residing in Gournagar, a village in Tripura’s Khowai district. The pena<\/em> is a traditional musical instrument that is deeply rooted in our Meitei culture and is an integral part of Lai Haraoba, the traditional harvest festival of the Meitei community.<\/p>

The instrument has two main parts: the pena cheijing<\/em> (bow) and the pena maroo<\/em> (body). The cheijing<\/em>, held in the right hand, is considered the epudhou<\/em> (godfather), while the maroo<\/em>, pressed against the chest, is regarded as the ebendhou<\/em> (godmother). According to our ancestors, the sound produced by the friction of the cheijing<\/em> and maroo<\/em> symbolises the creation of the world and living beings.<\/p>

To my knowledge, I am the last pena<\/em> practitioner in Tripura. Sadly, the others have passed away. Even though I am now 84, I continue to play the pena<\/em> because I do not want the art to disappear in the state.<\/p>

I learned to play the pena<\/em> as a child from my father, the late Chandra Babu. We lived in Sylhet district, Bangladesh, my birthplace and formerly a part of East Pakistan. Back then, a few people in our village played the instrument, and they would gather at our house to learn from my father.<\/p>

Over the years, I have learned and taught several musical instruments used in other Meitei festivals, and there is demand among students to learn those. But I have not found a single student willing to learn the pena<\/em>.<\/p>

Currently, one major challenge in preserving this art form in Tripura is the difficulty of accessing the pena<\/em> itself—it is not available in Tripura. To get one, we have to travel to Manipur, which costs thousands of rupees. Recently, I travelled to Manipur to buy the shamei<\/em> (strings) for my pena.<\/em> The shamei<\/em> cost only INR 500, but the trip cost me INR 10,000–15,000. Such expenses are difficult to bear, especially for young artists. This has significantly contributed to the decline of pena<\/em> artists in Tripura.<\/p>

Every year, Lai Haraoba is celebrated in Tripura. Lakhs of rupees are spent to bring pena<\/em> artists and amaiba<\/em>s and amaibi<\/em>s (priests and priestesses) from Manipur to perform the rituals and ceremonies. While these efforts keep the tradition alive, I believe we need a more sustainable solution.<\/p>

I have always advocated for establishing a dedicated Lai Haraoba team in Tripura to train local artists. Relying on artists from another state is not practical, especially with the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur<\/a>. Road travel is no longer safe; the only alternative is planes, and flight tickets are very expensive. If we truly want to preserve our ancient rituals and festivals, we must become self-sufficient.<\/p>

I hope that my call to action will inspire future generations to learn the pena<\/em> and ensure that this sacred tradition continues to thrive in Tripura.<\/p>

Ningombam Bir Singha is a pena player based in Tripura<\/em>.<\/p>

As told to Anupam Sharma<\/a>, IDR Northeast Media Fellow 2024–25<\/em>.<\/p>

—<\/p>

Know more: <\/strong>Learn why<\/a> selling a pig in Tripura is more difficult than selling one in Assam.<\/p>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":61897,"template":"","categories":[20,2892],"tags":[3581,3601,3666],"series":[],"meta-filter":[],"schema-filter":[743],"no-display":[],"class_list":["post-61893","ground_up_stories","type-ground_up_stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity-inclusion","category-ne-media-fellowship","tag-agriculture","tag-community-participation","tag-marginalised-communities","contributor-ningombam-bir-singha","states-tripura","schema-filter-article"],"yoast_head":"\nCan the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument? | IDR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An integral part of Meitei festivals, pena is now losing popularity among the youth in Tripura and bearing the brunt of the ethnic conflict in Manipur.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"kn_IN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The instrument has two main parts: the pena cheijing (bow) and the pena maroo (body). | Picture courtesy: Anupam Sharma I am a pena player residing in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"India Development Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T11:44:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument? | IDR","description":"An integral part of Meitei festivals, pena is now losing popularity among the youth in Tripura and bearing the brunt of the ethnic conflict in Manipur.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/","og_locale":"kn_IN","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument?","og_description":"The instrument has two main parts: the pena cheijing (bow) and the pena maroo (body). | Picture courtesy: Anupam Sharma I am a pena player residing in","og_url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/","og_site_name":"India Development Review","article_modified_time":"2025-09-03T11:44:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":680,"url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/"},"author":{"name":"Saba Kohli Dave","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ccb64a6d6d87260392d7095cd72c3eb9"},"headline":"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument?","datePublished":"2024-12-20T09:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T11:44:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/"},"wordCount":532,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp","keywords":["agriculture","community participation","Marginalised communities"],"articleSection":["Diversity & Inclusion","NE Media Fellowship"],"inLanguage":"kn-IN"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/","name":"Can the Meiteis in Tripura save their beloved musical instrument? | IDR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp","datePublished":"2024-12-20T09:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-03T11:44:07+00:00","description":"An integral part of Meitei festivals, pena is now losing popularity among the youth in Tripura and bearing the brunt of the ethnic conflict in Manipur.","inLanguage":"kn-IN","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"kn-IN","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/ground-up-stories\/can-the-meiteis-in-tripura-save-their-beloved-musical-instrument\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Untitled-design-1.webp","width":1024,"height":680,"caption":"a man playing the pena"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/","name":"India Development Review","description":"India's first and largest online journal for leaders in the development community","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"kn-IN"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#organization","name":"India Development Review","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"kn-IN","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/idr-logo-without-tagline-sm.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/idr-logo-without-tagline-sm.webp","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"India Development Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ccb64a6d6d87260392d7095cd72c3eb9","name":"Saba Kohli Dave","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"kn-IN","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55bfc9dd47e8e646bab9abefb9f4cf13b1162f71c41e255f9e9ec10915f95ad4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55bfc9dd47e8e646bab9abefb9f4cf13b1162f71c41e255f9e9ec10915f95ad4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/55bfc9dd47e8e646bab9abefb9f4cf13b1162f71c41e255f9e9ec10915f95ad4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Saba Kohli Dave"},"url":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/author\/skohlidave\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_up_stories\/61893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ground_up_stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ground_up_stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"meta-filter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/meta-filter?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"schema-filter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/schema-filter?post=61893"},{"taxonomy":"no-display","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/no-display?post=61893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}