In conflict-scorched Manipur, Shirui Lily festival kicks off: All you need to know about the festival and the flower
What is the festival, what makes the Shirui Lily special, and what are the threats both the festival and the flower are facing?
The Shirui Lily Festival is organised by the Manipur government's Department of Tourism. First held in 2017, it is one of two major tourism festivals organised by the state government. While it is named after the Shirui Lily, or the Lilium mackliniae, recognised as the state flower of Manipur, the other major festival is named after the Sangai, or the Manipur brow-antlered deer, recognised as its state animal.
The Shirui Lily festival coincides with the blooming season of this rare flower. Held in Manipur's Ukhrul district, which is home to the Tangkhul Naga community, the event is designed as an eco-tourism festival to raise awareness about the Shirui Lily and to promote tourism to the hills of Ukhrul.
The festival includes cultural performances, music concerts, a beauty pageant, a trash collection marathon, and a cooking competition. This year, it will be held from May 20 to May 25.
What is special about the Shirui Lily?
The Shirui Lily is endemic to the upper reaches of the Shirui Hill range in Ukhrul district at an elevation of 2,673 m above sea level. While locals had long been familiar with the plant — calling it the 'Kashsong Timrawon' after Timrawon, the daughter of mythical goddess Philava who resides and protects the hills of Shirui — in 1946, botanist Frank Kingdon-Ward identified it and gave it its scientific name. The name, Lilium mackliniae, draws from his wife Jean Macklin's name.
Over the years, this already endangered species has faced further threats to its habitat. A 2015 paper led by scientists from the ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Manipur Centre, lists changing climatic conditions, human encroachment and exploitation of natural resources as factors that have 'driven the lily population to the verge of extinction.' They also observed that its habitat had been invaded by the dense root system of a wild dwarf bamboo species.'
The team, led by Dr Manas Sahoo, had in 2015 transplanted 375 in vitro-generated plantlets of the Shirui Lily at Shirui hill peak as part of an effort at lab-to-land genetic micropropagation and genetic conservation of the plant. Dr Sahoo later said the plantlets had grown and bloomed and the protocol was found to be valid.
What are the conditions under which the festival is being held this year?
The festival is being held just a couple of weeks after the conflict in the state crossed the two-year mark. It is also being held three months into President's Rule in the state, and the organising coordinating meetings have been led by Governor Ajay Bhalla.
While the state has not seen active violence between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities since a massive cycle of violence in November last year, and the festival is being held in 'neutral' Naga territory, there are still concerns surrounding it.
Travelling from the state capital of Imphal in the Meitei-majority valley – where the bulk of festival goers have been from in past years – to the festival site requires passing through three Kuki-Zo settlements. Given that neither warring community has been able to safely move in areas dominated by the other since the start of the conflict, this will be the first such major movement of people from the valley to hill areas of the state in two years.
There have been stray instances of threats against Meiteis travelling through these parts, but the Manipur police have repeatedly assured the public that they will ensure safe transit, with significant security deployment.
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