The Lore of Lai(ren): Of Archetypal Origins, Collective (Un)conscious, and the Pakhangba Tradition in Manipur.

Pakhangba is considered to be one of the foremost deities in Meitei pantheon. This deity, especially in his lairen (serpentine dragon) form, is integral to the cultural sensibilities and rituals of the Meiteis in Manipur. Taking the centrality of Pakhangba in Meitei politico-cultural space into perspective, this paper presents a reading of (Lai)ren Pakhangba lore beyond the cosmological and cultural underpinnings. Simultaneously, it examines if the lore of lairen -- ensconced in the collective ethos of the people -- and the symbolic presence of this deity in both spiritual and secular space be explained as an expression of the 'collective unconscious'. This paper establishes Pakhangba and his lore as a psychocultural connective that binds and evokes the indigeneity and identity of the people. At the same time, it foregrounds the centrality of nurturing and promoting such psychocultural connective in -- beyond evoking a shared ancestry and pasts -- imagining a more viable and tangible polity that veers away from a single-ethnicity based or territory-oriented politics and polity that undermine the centuries-old politico-cultural history of Manipur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]