Wangpulen (also, Wangpuren or Wangbaren or Wangbren) is the god of water, rain, flood, disease and sickness in Meitei mythology and religion of Ancient Kangleipak (Antique Manipur).
He is the ruler of the underwater world. He is the Lord of the rivers. The guardianship of the south eastern direction is alluded to Wangbren and the other directions to Koupalu (north west), Marjing (north east) and Thangjing (south west). He is one of the Umang Lais.
Wangpulen | |
---|---|
God of water, rain, flood, disease and sickness | |
Member of Lainingthous and Maikei Ngaakpa Lais | |
Other names |
|
Ancient Meitei | |
Affiliation | Meitei mythology (Manipuri mythology) and Meitei religion (Sanamahism) |
Major cult center | Sugnu |
Abode | underwater world |
Weapon | Polo stick |
Texts | Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok Puya |
Gender | Male |
Region | Ancient Kangleipak (Antique Manipur) |
Ethnic group | Meitei ethnicity |
Festivals | Lai Haraoba |
Consort | Shangnu (alias Shangnulembi) |
Offspring | Lok Ningthou |
Greek equivalent | Poseidon, Oceanus |
He has a strong connection with the Anal tribe (Anan tribe) for marrying a lady of the Anal Khullen village. Among the cult centres dedicated to him, the one at Sugnu is the most significant in Meitei pantheon.
In the Wakoklon Heelel Thilel Salai Amailon Pukok Puya, Wangbren is mentioned as "Khana Chaopa Wangpulen". According to the text, He is one of the 7 Laipungthous and one of the manifestations of the Supreme God, Ipung Loinapa Apakpa.
Once God Wangbren went to the village of the Anal people, disguising Himself as a human. He fell in love with a beautiful girl, Shagnu. The maiden was also attracted to His good looks. The girl's affair with a stranger angered the community. The young men of the village challenged Wangbren to fight. There were competitions in race, stone throw and archery. If He failed, He would be killed. But He won all the challenges. As He won, He took Shangnu, the maiden away with Him to His divine abode.
Whenever one gets drowned, Wangbren is worshipped according to the traditional rites and rituals. They did so in a belief that there will be no further deaths in water. Whenever unusual flood water currents are seen, especially in rivers, He is worshipped by people to save them from drowning and other mishaps.
If a drowned person's dead body is not found, then a portion of the trunk of palash tree (Butea monosperma) is cremated. It is done in a belief that Wangbren might have kept the corpse at a sacred place.
Wangbren is worshipped by offering fruits, flowers and kabok. The rites and rituals are performed by the maibas. It is to ward off the diseases, illness or sickness caused by the water god. Examples include skin diseases, cold and cough, diarrhoea, etc.
In the planning,
A sacred shrine dedicated to Wangbren still exists today in the Sugnu village. Annually, the non-Christian Anal villagers give offerings to their priest. The priest took and offer the articles to the God in Sugnu.
Inside the Kangla, the State Government is to renovate and reconstruct the holy altars dedicated to God Wangbren and other deities.
In 2010, a temple dedicated to God Wangbren was constructed at Wangoi, Manipur. The temple building construction costs ₹ 8 lacs INR ($10,000 USD).
This article uses material from the Wikipedia Simple English article Wangpulen, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki Simple English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.