Thang-Ta (Huyen Langlon)
The Meitei martial art of Manipur in India; sword and spear, unarmed sarit sarak, plus ritual and competitive levels.
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About Thang-Ta (Huyen Langlon)
Thang-ta is the martial art of the Meitei people of Manipur in north-eastern India. The tradition's own name is huyen langlon, the knowledge of war; thang means sword and ta spear, so thang-ta denotes the armed part, while unarmed fighting is called sarit sarak. The system rests on footwork along marked lines and on the principle that the body and the weapon move as one: the sword is driven not by the arm alone but by the turn of the torso, and attack and evasion tend to be a single movement. Besides the sword and spear the shield, the axe and the noose are practised, and from the unarmed side punches and elbows, kicks and takedowns. The art has three levels distinguished by purpose: the ritual, in which movement is bound to ceremony and to the mythology of the god Pakhangba; the demonstrative, in the form of sword and spear routines; and the competitive, where under the name cheibi gad-ga contestants fight with a leather-covered club, the cheibi, and a small shield. After the British annexed Manipur in 1891, public practice was restricted and the tradition moved into private hands; revival began in the 1930s and gathered strength after Indian independence. No year of origin is documented, so this page does not state one.
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