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Thang-Ta

Also known as	Huyen Lalong
Focus	Weaponry
Country of origin	Manipur, India
Olympic sport	No
Meaning	Sword-spear

Thang-ta or huyen lallong is a weapon-based Indian martial art created by the Meitei of Manipur.¹ In the Manipuri language, thang means sword and ta means spear, referring to the art's primary weapons. The spear can be used in its non-missile form while in close or thrown from afar. Other weapons include the shield and the axe.

Because of Manipur's cultural similarity, geographic proximity and ethnic ties with Myanmar, thang-ta is closely related to banshay. Both can be practiced in three different ways: ritual, demonstration and combat. The first way is related to the tantric practices and is entirely ritualistic in nature. The second way consists of a spectacular performance involving sword and spear dances. These dances can be converted into actual fighting practices. The third way is the true combat application.

The earliest record of thang-ta and its sibling Sarit Sarak dates back from the early 17th century. Warriors would arrange to fight one-on-one as a way of settling feuds or disputes. The day before a duel, fighters might eat dinner together. While thang-ta involves using weapons against one or more opponents, Sarit Sarak is the art of fighting empty-handed against armed or unarmed opponents, but on many occasions there is a combined approach to the training of these two systems. Martial arts were banned during the British occupation of the region, but the 1950s saw a resurgence of the traditional fighting systems. Today thang-ta is the most popular of Meitei martial arts,² practiced by both men and women. It is most often seen through demonstrations in cultural programs.² In recent years thang-ta has been promoted as a sport all over India and also as a self-defence tactical subject. Every year thang-ta competitions are held at school, district, state and national level. The promotion of thang-ta as a sport helped in the cause of its promotion and spread from Manipur to the whole of India, particularly Jammu and Kashmir. Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir are currently the strongest contenders at the national level.

In 2009 Gurumayum Gourakishor Sharma, a leading exponent and teacher of thang-ta, received the high Padma Shri honor award from the Indian Government for his contributions to the preservation and advancement of the art.³⁴

See also

• Indian martial arts
• Mukna
• Sarit Sarak
• Banshay

References

External links

• Thang-Ta from ManipurPage.com
• THE MARTIAL ARTS TRADITION OF MANIPUR
• Martial Arts in India