Waree Leeba: first North East festival of Manipur's storytelling art opens in Imphal

Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Monday, 2 November 2026 inaugurated the first North East Waree Leeba Festival at the Irom Meijrao Mamang Community Hall in Imphal West. Waree Leeba is a traditional art of solo storytelling from the Meitei community of Manipur. The five-day festival was organised by the Repertory of Waree Leeba, Manipur, with the Irom Meijrao Women for Cultural Centre, and was funded by the Union Ministry of Culture under its Cultural Function and Production Grant scheme. At the opening, the Governor heard a Waree Leeba rendering of an episode from the Mahabharata by the artist Shyamkanhai Singh and called for the art to be preserved as part of Manipur's identity.

In Waree Leeba, a single performer sits before an audience and narrates, using only voice, expression and gesture to bring characters and events to life. Unlike many other Manipuri performing arts, Waree Leeba uses no musical instruments at all. Its stories include episodes from epics such as the Mahabharata, as performed at the opening, and for centuries it has served as a way of passing on a community's memory.

Speaking at the opening, the Governor described the art as a living store of human wisdom through which a community's beliefs, ancestral knowledge, myths and historical chronicles are handed from one generation to the next. He said preserving Waree Leeba was essential to safeguarding Manipur's cultural identity and collective memory.

Like many oral traditions, Waree Leeba faces a simple problem: it lives only as long as there are performers and listeners. Television, films and phones now compete for the evening hours when such stories were once told. The tribute paid to three departed gurus at the opening was a reminder that each generation of masters that passes takes some of the repertoire with it, unless it has been taught on.

That is why the "North East" framing of this first festival is significant. By honouring gurus from Assam and Tripura alongside those of Manipur, the organisers are presenting Waree Leeba as part of a wider regional heritage of storytelling, and building a network of practitioners rather than leaving each community to keep the art alive on its own. Central funding through the Ministry of Culture's grant scheme shows that the art has official recognition as a heritage worth supporting.

Peepals timeline: Waree Leeba is traced to the reign of the Meitei king Khagemba, who ruled from 1597 to 1652, which makes it a tradition of more than four centuries. On 2 November 2026, the first North East Waree Leeba Festival opened in Imphal West for five days, with gurus from Assam and Tripura joining Manipur's practitioners.

Short-term: Audiences in Imphal get five days of performances of a rarely staged art, and practitioners from three states meet on one stage.

Long-term: Regular festivals and recognition of gurus can encourage young people to learn the art and help record its stories before they are lost.

Who is affected: Waree Leeba performers and gurus in Manipur, Assam and Tripura, cultural groups that teach the art, and audiences interested in Manipur's heritage.

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