The Third Eye Zone

Maram Khullen was the first among those villages I got to visit during my stay in Manipur. The journey was an uphill one and it added more scenic flavours as we went up covering each curve. The season was so dry that I couldn't enjoy much greenery and the day we visited the village was misty and cloudy too. Highly unfavourable for someone who wishes to capture good frames! Even then, the thought of having a live experience of being there in the village boosted the thrill.  Maram Khullen is the biggest and the oldest village which is home to the Maram Nagas. They speak the Maram language. The village continues to be the epitome in preserving the tribe's socio-cultural norms and its ethnicity. The village follows the Lunar Calendar, and its traditions and customs are dated based on it. The Maram Khullen still maintains the age-old tribal tradition of Kingship. The Maram Nagas were the only tribe among the Nagas who didn't consume pork till the advent of Christianity am...

Entering Willong Khullen. On the way to Yang Khullen is Willong Khullen, another small village in the Senapati district of Manipur. I heard about this village from some friends of my friend as they were explaining to me about the history and peculiarities of the region. The village is famous for its presence of the Megalithic Stonehenge which is similar to that of England. While we go to the English land to have a first hand experience of the Stonehenge, unfortunately, we are totally ignorant of our own rich heritage sites. Except for the people from the vicinity of the village who always lived with these stone structures, nobody knows about the presence of a Stonehenge in this area. The Stonehenge of Willong Khullan. Northeast India is one of the major locations in the archaeological map of India for its prominent presence of Megalithic remains distributed around. What makes the case of the Stonehenge in Willong  Khullen curious is the myste...

Earlier this year when we were planning a trip to the North Eastern part of India, all I had in mind was to visit some well-known locations (if possible) as the trip was not merely a travel-focused one, but more of a stay. I was staying at my friend's place experiencing the Maram culture from a close watch (of which I will talk in detail in a separate post later). After some 10 days, she told me that we will visit some of those villages and I readily agreed. I didn't even ask her the names or peculiarities of the places, but was all set for an exploration as visiting certain villages in this part of the country is a golden chance. An outsider is not permitted to enter there easily. Even if you are from another tribe of the same state, you may need permission to enter some villages. The case of Yang Khullen is also the same. We started in the morning in a Scorpio from Maram Centre and reached Yang Khullen by afternoon 2:00 p.m. It took almost 3and half hours to re...