Heisnam Kanhailal’s contribution to Manipuri drama and Kabui Keioiba: A brief Ecocritical study of the play

Abstract

Any discussion on the theatre of Manipur is impossible without reference to the stalwart of modern Indian theatre-  Heisnam kanhailal. The plays of these Kanhailal are replete with politics, history and a quest for a distinctive Manipuri identity against the larger idea of a national identity. Regarded as one of the most innovative theatre practitioners of post-independence India, Heisnam Kanhailal  belongs to a rare band of playwrights and directors who have consistently refused to classify aesthetics from politics, myth from modernity, and environment from culture. His Kabui Keioiba (1973) which adapts a tribal myth of a half-man, half-tiger creature stands out as theatrical articulations of indigenous worldviews under siege.  The present article would explore Heisnam Kanhailal’s contributions to the strengthening of Manipuri theatre and  also study his play Kabui Keioiba in the light of some of the ecocritical dimensions. By analysing the play in terms of mythic hybridity the study will attempt to discuss how it foregrounds the themes of symbiosis, spiritual ecology and environmental justice and form a profound interconnection between nature and culture. The theoretical inputs of Cheryll Glotfelty and Lawrence Buell would further be taken up to understand the play as a site of ecological thinking.