Pung Cholom

Understand

Where Pung Cholom comes from

Pung Cholom (literally 'roar of the drum') is the classical drum-dance form of Manipur, the soul of the Manipuri Sankirtana music and of the Manipuri classical-dance tradition. The dance is a unique classical art — combining the percussion of the pung (the barrel-shaped hand-drum) with the dance of the performers. The dance is one of the four ritual-based Manipuri dance forms (along with the Lai Haraoba, the Huyen Langlon and the Raas Lila) and is part of the broader Manipuri classical tradition. The Pung Cholom was developed within the Vaishnavite court tradition of 18th century Manipur and has been performed in the temples and at the cultural programmes of the state.

How it's practiced

Pung Cholom is performed by men and women of the Manipuri community in a circle, with each performer playing the pung (the barrel-drum) while dancing. The dance is acrobatic, with the performers executing turns, jumps and stylized hand-movements while striking the drum in coordinated rhythm. The dance begins in a gentle rhythm that builds to a thunderous climax, with the performers' eyes playing a crucial role in the dance vocabulary (the three standard distances of the gaze being the anakpa, the mayāi and the arāppa). The Pung Cholom draws elements from the Manipuri martial arts (the Thang Ta and Sarit Sarak) and from the Maibi Jagoi ritual dance. The dance is performed at the temples and at the cultural programmes of the state.