Many play significant roles in the different elements of Meitei culture, including but not limited to Meitei cuisine, Meitei festivals, Meitei folklore, Meitei folktales, Meitei literature, Meitei mythology and Meitei religion (Sanamahism) of .
Perspective of Mother nature
The "Hijan Hirao" (), an ancient Meitei language narrative poem, mentions that King Hongnem Luwang Ningthou Punshiba of Luwang dynasty once ordered his men for the cutting down a tree in the forest for crafting out a beautiful royal Hiyang Hiren. In accordance to the story, his servants found out a big tree growing on the slope of a mountain and by the side of a river. They performed traditional customary rites and rituals before chopping off the tree on the following day. In the death of the night, Mother nature started weeping in the fear of losing her dear child, the tree. The painful lamentations of mother nature is described in the poem as follows:
Plants used in rites and rituals
is used by the Meitei people for decorations during the Sajibu Cheiraoba (Meitei Lunar Near Year Day) celebrations.
is also used by the Meitei people for decorations during the Sajibu Cheiraoba (Meitei Lunar Near Year Day) celebrations. In Meitei culture, Kombirei flower represents love, life and death. It is frequently mentioned in the Meitei folktales and folk songs. In honor of this flowering plant species, the Government of Manipur, organises the "Kombirei Festival" every year, in the aim to preserve and conserve the natural habitats of ethnic flowers like Kombirei.
Real plants mentioned in old texts
Cape jasmine description
Giving reference to Meitei King Khagemba and the Manipur Kingdom, the beauty and grace of Lei Kabok flower, also called (, cape jasmine), is described by Meitei King Charairongba, in his book, the "Leiron", as follows:
Real plants mentioned in folklore
Colocasia/Taro plantation folktale
In Meitei mythology and Meitei folklore of , plants are mentioned. In the Meitei folktale of the , an old aged lonely couple, who have no youths in their family, were deceived by some trickster monkeys, regarding the planting of the Colocasia/Taro plants in a very different unusual style of plantation. The old couple agreed to do the monkeys' advices, peeling off the best tubers of the plants, then boiling them in a pot until softened and after cooling them off, wrapping them in banana leaves and putting them inside the soils of the grounds. In the middle of the night, the monkeys secretly came into the farm and ate all the well cooked plants. After their eating, they (monkeys) planted some inedible giant wild plants in the place where the old couple had placed the cooked plant tubers. In the morning, the old couple were amazed to see the plants getting fully grown up just after one day of planting the tubers. They were unaware of the tricks of the monkeys. So, the old couple cooked and ate the inedible wild Taro plants. As a reaction of eating the wild plants, they suffered from the unbearable tingling sensation in their throats.
Meitei language films named after plants
Kaboklei
Leipaklei
Nobap
Orchids of Manipur (film)
See also
Hills and mountains in Meitei culture
Birds in Meitei culture
Animals in Meitei culture
Vegetation deity
Trees in mythology
Sacred garden
Sacred tree
Floral emblem
Plant epithet
Nongmaiching Reserved Forest
Flora (mythology) Greek garden Roman garden