Imphal : Hundreds of people mostly women attired in traditional Manipuri mourning dresses coming from different places of the Manipur valley thronged at the Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple, inside the first Manipur Rifles campus, Imphal, and paid floral tributes to the martyrs who lost their lives for the protection of territorial integrity of the state on Sunday.

The ritual ceremony – Langban Chara Tamba – was organized by the Lainingthou Sanamahi Temple Board (LSTB) at its shrine with hundreds of people paying floral tributes to martyrs. The photos of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in the ongoing communal clash between the Meiteis and Kukis were put on display on the edge of a pond atop its fences where people paid tributes.

On this day, people offered royal tributes apart from food and other items to the departed souls. “From this year onwards, each and every Meitei clan would start performing this rite every year,” Secretary of the LSTB Shivadutta Luwang told the newsmen. Reconstructed during the reign of King Kulachandra Singh of Manipur (princely state) in 1891 AD, this temple is one of the oldest temples in Asia. It is built in a Gothic style for the roof.

KRC TIMES | Promotional