Trans women in Manipur’s ritual spaces

Blog post by Heisnam Olivia Devi and Hashik Nadukkandiyil, Tezpur University, India
 
When cultural tradition is invoked, who gets to belong? This question is central to our research on trans women in Manipur, India, known locally as nupi maanbi. Their presence in festivals and rituals is both visible and contested, showing how tradition can act as a tool of inclusion or exclusion.
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One of the most important sites where this tension unfolds is the Lai Haraoba festival, a pivotal event in Meitei society. Lai Haraoba celebrates creation, deities and community life through ritual dance and music. The performances are led by maibis (Meitei shamans, including nupi amaibis and nupa amaibis) accompanied by maibas (male shamans) playing the pena, a traditional musical instrument. Within this linguistic and cultural framework, amaibi refers to a priestess figure in the Meitei tradition, encompassing both nupi amaibis (female priestesses) and nupa amaibis (individuals assigned male at birth who represent femininity in their priestly functions, including nupi maanbis). In recent years, cultural organizations in Manipur have restricted the participation of nupi maanbi, arguing that the celebration must adhere to a rigid male-female binary, and justifying this exclusion in the name of preserving tradition. In practice, however, this exclusion narrows who counts as culturally legitimate.

During our fieldwork, participants described the deep impact of these restrictions. Some explained that they had chosen not to participate at all, emphasizing that self-respect was more important than entering a space where they were not welcome. Others spoke of being pressured to change their attire during the festival, compelled to downplay their femininity by avoiding makeup or symbolic clothing in order to be tolerated in ritual space and to avoid threats. Yet there were also those who refused to step back, insisting that their role as amaibis was sacred and could not be surrendered, since it was part of a spiritual calling. These experiences illustrate the constant negotiation of dignity, faith and belonging in the face of cultural exclusion.
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The significance of these resistances becomes even more visible against the current national backdrop. Across India, transgender people continue to face violence, discrimination and social erasure despite the progressive legal recognition granted by the 2014 NALSA judgment. Manipur’s case thus offers a vivid microcosm of how culture, law and belonging intersect, showing how a community can be visible in law, yet invisible in tradition. The exclusion of nupi maanbi from Lai Haraoba reminds us that inclusion on paper does not always translate into inclusion in spirit.

Our Identities article, ‘Beyond binaries: ritual, space and trans women in Manipur’, situates these struggles within larger questions of identity and space. The article draws on Amartya Sen’s (2006) notion of plural identities, which emphasizes that individuals cannot be reduced to a single, fixed category. Nupi maanbis experience marginalization through the interaction of multiple identity markers, not through Meitei or transgender identity alone. At the same time, Gopal Guru’s (2012) idea of spatial hierarchies helps to reveal how exclusion is enacted through cultural space. When nupi maanbis are banned from rituals, their exclusion is written onto cultural space itself.

Yet, marginalized groups also create alternative spaces of belonging. The prohibition of nupi maanbi from ritual space inscribes their exclusion onto the cultural landscape. But as Guru reminds us that the marginalized groups also create alternative spaces of belonging. Similarly, trans women in Manipur have built subcultures around beauty parlours, festivals like Thabal Chongba and Ningol Chakouba, and events such as the Miss Manipur Trans Queen pageant, among others. These are not merely refuges but acts of cultural imagination where new forms of belonging can flourish.

What arises, therefore, is not merely a narrative of rejection but also one of ingenuity, reminding us that tradition is not static but ever shifting. The challenges faced by nupi maanbi in Manipur extend well beyond the locality. They emphasize how culture can facilitate exclusion, while simultaneously illustrating how communities counteract such exclusion by affirming diverse identities and reconstructing cultural spaces. Beyond the rituals, what truly matters is the right to exist fully, to be visible without fear, and to be treated with respect. This has raised questions regarding the simplification of the complex nature of gender in India, potentially compelling communities with their own traditions and terminologies into a Western-centric framework.

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Image credit: Author’s own (Heisnam Olivia Devi).

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Read the Identities article:
Devi, H.O. & Nadukkandiyil, H. (2025). Beyond binaries: ritual, space and trans women in Manipur. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. DOI: 10.1080/1070289X.2025.2569972

Read further in Identities:

Aesthetics of arrival: spectacle, capital, novelty in post-reform India
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