YAOSHANG,disguising as a festival brings us marvelous things.The scale of marvel is so great that the initial impact upon us on first contacts with them is the feeling of shock.
To lessen that shocking sensation let us to go Yaoshang in a round about way--by starting our discussion with 'Ya'.The main discussion was in the post entitled,'Mirror image and exaggerated state',dated 9th Feb 2021.I will reproduce a portion from that post:
----------
a) We are familiar with 'Ya' when we have the incantation in 'Lai Haraoba'--Ho ya ya ya ya.
b) But the most commonplace(and hence,escaping our attention) 'Yahouba'.It is getting up from bed,signifying morning.
c) Reading the above with 'Yachangba',it is clear that 'Ya' means the world as we see with our eyes.(The corollary here is that the night,when there is no light making our eyes,more or less,useless is not the part of 'Ya').
----------
So far so good.
We also know that 'Ya' is also teeth.The defining characteristic of teeth is their whiteness,which is the combination of all the primary colours.The seven colours act on our eyes and then, the 'Ya' is intelligible to us.
The same logic applies to 'Yaang'--the spine.
But the shock comes in when we come to "yaangba'--the speed.There is not a single logical co-relation between speed and bones.With the progress of medical science,we now know there are spinal cords within the spinal bones and it carry any stimulation to our body to our brain almost instantaneously.
The keyword is 'instantaneously'--which is,of course,our 'Yaangba'--speed.
It is not too difficult to deduct that anybody who sees only the bones in the spine bones would not coin a term,'Yaangba' to denote speed.
So,the architects of our language should,logically speaking,have the knowledge of spinal cords and their functions.Given that our architects lived some two thousand years ago,should we conclude that the people living in a geographical area,now,known as Manipur,had the knowledge of spinal cords and their functions?
Simple act of asking this question shakes me to the core.
Now let's go to our YAOSHONG--the shocking landscape!
1)
a) In my post,entitled,"The soul of a 'paat' and the experiments in pictorial syntax',dated 10th Feb 2021,we had discussed the term 'Le'. I will reproduce a portion of that discussion:
----------
.......'Cha' should be on the x-axis and 'Che',on the -x- axis.Why do we visualize the journey of 'Cha',along the positive plane towards the negative one? One possible way of visualization is to make the 'Cha'(the nutrient) to coalesce and the, beaten flat.That,of course,produce our 'Che'--the paper.This deduction is easy because 'Che' is 'Ya' stuff.The exercise becomes more complex when we try our hands at the stuffs which are not in the domain of 'Ya'.Suppose,'La'(the expanse) is on the x-axis and 'Le',on the -x- axis.Following the path taken by 'Che',how we let the 'La'coalesce into itself and then,we beat it to make flat?Of course,this makes our heads spin.For us,lesser mortals,the best escape route is to find some clues in our common usage.The first one that comes to mind is 'len',which is hailstone in English.As was discussed in several of earlier posts,'Len' is either small 'Le' or an individual 'Le'.If we replace the 'Na' in 'Len' with 'E',we get 'Le-e'.If we take 'E' in its anatomical facade,we have a 'Le' which is flowing.This makes us to think of 'Le-e-cha',which might have corrupted to 'Laija'.I am not yet sure of this deduction.But this deduction holds,we have 'Laija' to mean potable water.
----------
I have already thought through the above deduction and concluded that it is a good deduction.
b) Now,lets' introduce a term 'Lek',which denotes the process of making the 'len'.
We use the k(a) as in 'Heekok'--the colour blue.When the 'Hee' is in 'kok' state,we see a colour which is called blue.In another words,when the boat is still and balanced,the colour we see on the water is blue.
In my monograph I have deducted that 'Kek' is a balanced state inclined to the left(from which the term 'Kengba' might have derived).In the same logical deduction,'Kaak' is, inclined to the right(from which the term 'kaakpa' might have derived).
So,k(a) in 'Lek' makes everything in 'Le' domain balanced or stable.
c) Now,we should come to 'Lik'.'Lik' is a 'length' made balanced( or orderly) or stable.
If we re-locate the 'K(a) as prefix,we have 'Kali'--the most commonly used term 'kari'.We had discussed such type of formation in a post,entitled,'Two rotations--one inside the another',dated 18th Feb 2021.I will again reproduce a portion of that discussion:
----------
'Ipa' comes from the term 'pai'--from which the term to denote 'to fly'(metaphorically,the oscillating movements of the eyelashes) comes forth.
Now,re-allocating the 'I' as the starting letter,we have 'Ipa',which,in effect,denotes the actor who physically obstructs the oscillating movement of the eyelashes.
Deploying the logic of sexual analogy,father is the one who penetrates.
In the same way,'Ima' comes from 'Mai'.For brevity,we can rush in to say 'Mai' as to mean a face.So,'Ima' is faceless.'Ima' is a mystery.Nobody,in particular,the male population,would ever come near to the vicinity of that metaphysical real estate of trying to decipher what motherhood is or what femininity is.Looking from that context, the word formation of 'Ima' is super elegant.
----------
From the reproduced portion,we can deduct that 'Kali' is the 'lik' which is made unbalanced or disorderd or unstable.Graphically,all the parts of the 'Lik' are lying scattered all around.
We use 'Kari' every minute of the time to denote 'asking'--the deeper meaning is like--'Which one of those scattered parts are you referring to?'.
d) In the same logical steps,we must form 'Kale' from 'Lek'.
Just like 'Kari','Kale' is like--'Which one of the scattered parts are you referring to?'.
For simplicity,let's take up 'Le-e-ja' part (as mentioned in the reproduced part of 'a').
e) Now,the YAOSHANG proper--'Kale,kale--mo mo'.
So,we have a rotating circle in the form of 'Thaabal chongba'.
Conducting this 'Thaabal chongba',one group is singing--'Kale kale..'.They are singing --'Know the process of bringing forth 'Le-e-ja' from thin air?'
Another group sing back--'Mo mo...' They are singing back--'Look to the structure of matter'.
f) To lessen the intensity of the shock,let's make a quick digression to my monograph.
In the last section,entitled,'Makha kari yari' I tried playing with coining numerous terms.There I propose that 'Ammak' be used to mean a quark.From there I go to'Yaakammakei' to mean a proton and 'Yekammakei',an electron.I was just playing around.Then,why the trouble of mentioning them here at this crucial juncture?
My point here is that there is the same logical steps involving 'M(a)' to go to the structure of matter.
Actually,I was left stunned when I first got a glimpse of what they mean by 'Kale,kale... Mo mo'.
2)
a) Then comes 'Yaangen Sambal siyayo siyayo'.
I was happy but,at the same time,stunned when I came to know 'Yaangen' is 'Elei' and 'Sambal','Lei-e'.{ As discussed in (1) b,'Yaangken' is the 'Yaang',the spine bent to the left ie a curved line and it is a common knowledge a 'Sambal' represents straight line}.We had also discussed them in the post,entitled,'Mirror image and exaggerated state',dated 9th Feb 2021.I will the relevant part.
----------
In the course of the writing of my monograph I have found out that 'Elei-Lei-e' should be starting point of our logical steps to follow in trying to decipher our language.
What I had found on the early morning of 16th Feb 2021 helps to formulate the premise that the 'the five thawai' is blocked from our grasp in being locked up by 'Elei'.( Finding the pictorial rendering of the 'thawai ma-nga' is like unveiling the holy grail of the Meitei worldview),Going upto that point,my natural tendency is to negate the 'Elei' puzzle by using the power of a 'Lei-e'.
To my surprise,the resulting picture is a straight line piggybacking a circle.
Instantly,I came to know that I stumbled upon the pictorial rendition of the term 'Tatpa'.
----------
b) Our architects are saying 'zero' is to be found in interaction between 'Elei' and 'Lei-e'.(There will a detailed discussion,together with diagrams, on this subject, on my monograph).
c) So,according to them,zero is defined as the point where the transition between 'Mi' and 'Thawai ma-nga' happens.
d) In the reproduced part of this section,we noted that we had found a straight line piggybacking a circle.So,the zero is at the point where the circle touches the straight line,diving it into two.Now,we can safely take the two lines as representing x and y axes at the angle of 180 degrees.
3) The final part.It says--
"Tokpaga Kaambaga
Keiga Yenga
Yenkhong phatte chasillu
Laigi yenni chaphade".
I am still examining 'Tokpa' and 'Kaamba'.But I had already decoded 'Kei' and 'Yen'.We cannot deduct any animal from 'kei' which is mainly to do with space or balance.But with 'Paamba' we see that the architects are pointing to the defining characteristic of a tiger--patience.Nowadays,researchers have found out that a tiger can wait for a prey in a still position for a straight eight hours at one go.Everybody know the constantly moving chickens--the 'Yen'.
Here, we can take them to mean the 'negative' and the 'positive'.
Our architects say if the 'negative' happens to devour the 'positive',the universe will collapse. The same thing will happen if the 'positive' devours the 'negative'.They may circle one another but,at any given condition,they should not be made to 'devour' each other.
By some enigmatic coincidence,today the 'quad' countries are meeting--in a virtual conference.The 'quad' countries,namely,the US,Japan,Australia and India fancy themselves to be the 'positive' and they want to 'devour' the 'negative'-- Chinese Communist Party(CCP).The subtext of all of their steps is like--'We are not moving against China and Chinese people but against the CCP'.
But our architects say they should not try to devour what they think as a 'negative'--the CCP
If they happen to be in an in-person conference,we should have chosen six persons--three males and three females--from different parts of Manipur and went to the place with placards in their hands inscribed with "Tokpaga Kaambaga;Keiga Yenga;Yenkhong phatte chasillu;Laigi yenni chaphade".
We must ask them to get enlightened with our 'Thaabal Leerol'.
POSTSCRIPT
13/03/2021
1) Yaoshang,as such, fails to carry our desired meaning.
But, we can try re-phrase it as follows:
--Yayo Shang Mei(thaba)--
Thus re-phrased,we find it as another way of saying 'Kale kale...Mo mo'.
It is the another facet of 'Kale kale...Mo mo'.
a) 'Ya' is macro-world.
b) 'Yo' is micro-world.
c) 'Sa'--We have discussed it in many of my posts.The most prominent among them is that it denotes the populist.Deducting from that,all ideas,things,persons residing inside the transition state comprise 'Sa'.
d) 'Sang' is 'Sa' to which life is bestowed.Something which successfully make its transition from one state to another.
e) In our case,it is the 'La' making its successful transition to 'Le' state.
f) This process must undergo the wrenching experience of the change in the structure of matter.This wrenching experience is symbolized by the 'Mei(Thaba)' ie,burning down the 'yaoshang'.
Our architects are wise in keeping this narrative wrapped inside a festival of young boys and girls.Any festival involving giving social sanction to the meeting of young boys and girls should remain popular through the ages and hundreds of generations.With it,our 'Thabal leerol' have the chance to live upto this generation.
In case it was kept in a written form,like a book,book burners(of Puya-meithaba type) and book burners of present time (Remember the Central Library episode) might have already destroyed it.In that scenario,we would have zero chance to interact with 'Thabal leerol'.
Wise old architects!
2) If I am successful in decoding the 'Thabal leerol',I should feel elated and lighten.
But,on the contrary,I feel tormented.
I am being constantly tormented by the following questions:
--How,our architects,living thousands of years ago,come to posses these three elemental knowledge?--
--Are the set of rules they had followed in pursuance of these elemental knowledge still exist in our society? Are they still good for utilization by the present generation?--
3) By now,we know that anything connected with our architects have an unsaid part.We also know that the unsaid part has more significance.
Here,'Thabal leerol' is the said part.
Where is the unsaid part?
Our architects,themselves,might be waiting for us,this present generation,to come out and search for the unsaid part.
I am thinking.