Poubi Lai invades Delhi

A refreshing inter-museum collaboration of National Museum and Indra Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), focussing on the fascinating heritage of North-Eastern region, brought a 21-foot-long wooden sculpture of a dragon-like <g data-gr-id="32">Poubi</g> Lai artwork to the national Capital for display. The exhibition, which focuses on this <g data-gr-id="33">one-object</g> was formally inaugurated on Tuesday evening by K.K Mittal, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Culture in the presence of National Museum Director-General Sanjiv Mittal and Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri the head of IGRMS.

<g data-gr-id="34">Poubi</g> Lai, as the giant reptile is called by the ethnic group who speak a Sino-Tibetan language, is on a 42-day display at NM, with the cooperation of Bhopal’s Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) which owns the work having its origin around the sprawling Loktak Lake off 

Moirang city, 45 km south of Manipur’s capital.

The display, where the brown <g data-gr-id="38">Poubi</g> Lai, a scaled reptile with a pair of horns above its head, is placed on a green turf spread across a longish off-white pedestal. The gallery also features two dozen recent paintings essaying various tales about the myth along with a related short film that runs on a loop in an adjacent chamber. 

Inaugurating <g data-gr-id="42">Poubi</g> Lai: The Story of a Giant Python, <g data-gr-id="47">K K</g> Mittal said, “the collaboration would be a turning point in the inter-museum dynamics in India. It will bring about great synchronisation and interesting opportunities to unveil several archives of the country.” The NM Director-General, welcoming the gathering, <g data-gr-id="46">said</g> “Inter-institutional collaborations aim at taking community heritage to people across the country. This one-object exhibition is a wonderful example of such an initiative.”

A 30-minute dance-drama by 22 Manipur <g data-gr-id="40">artistes</g> who essayed the story of  <g data-gr-id="39">Poubi</g> Lai was also performed here. As for the <g data-gr-id="41">Poubi</g> Lai sculptor, Karam Dineshwar was one of the successors of the royal family-associated Karigar craftspeople of present-day Bishnupur district. The artist had a dream of the mythical reptile one night in 2003, following which he worked on the image and completed it in six months.

The sculpture had its inaugural exhibition the same year at the Manipur State Museum at Imphal. 

At IGRMS, it was subsequently slotted as an ‘Object of National Importance’.