ABSTRACT
This chapter compares the symbolic value of the Kombirei flower to the Manipur Meiteis and the shift from burial to cremation due to space constraints. The Meitei community associates Cheiraoba, a cyclical year-changing ritual, with the unusual bluish-purple iris flower. Kombirei is associated with the romantic tragedy Mainu-Pemcha, in which the pregnant woman hangs herself on the tree where the lovers were to meet before dawn. Pemcha’s body was buried in the nearby foothills, as was customary for suicides. Today, suicide victims are cremated, and these sites are used for human settlement due to land scarcity. However, sightings and disembodied voices seem to testify to its past. The flower was nearly extinct until gardening enthusiasts revived it in Yaralpat and Lamphelpat. The chapter delves into the flower’s domestication, the dispelling of curse beliefs, the flower’s reawakened ritual and folkloric significance, and Imphal’s evolving mortuary practises in the city’s urban landscape.
