Mythology

"Numit Kappa is a book which has religious significance in the Meitei society."

"Old literary texts like Numit Kappa and Chakpa Khunda Khunthak recorded that Numit Sana Khomdon later known as Pakhangba fled to Moirang and settled here for many years after his defeat in the hands of Khwai Nungjengba Peba."

"There is a tradition to the effect that formerly there were ten clans and that two, if not three, have been extinguished (mut-khre). In support of this tradition, reference may be made to the favourite ballad of Numit-kappa or the man who shot the sun, where mention is made of the ten kings of the land."

"Other genres include allegories such as Numit Kappa (Shooting the sun) which is reproduced with interlinear translation in Hodson (1908),..."

"The Lois continued to be worshippers of nature and natural forces, eg, sun and moon (as were the Meiteis during their pre-Vaishnav days), as revealed by the Numit Kappa, a legendary Loi book in the genre of the Epics."

"There are books like the Numit Kаррa, narrating some old Manipuri legends, and there is a rich literature of chronicles as well as works on the movements of the tribes, in Manipur, which are all preserved in the Old Manipuri language."

"Numit Kappa is a legend and an allegory. The story mentions that there were two brothers; the younger was the sun and the elder a star. The sun shone in the day and the star in the night blazing brilliantly as the sun. Consequently there was no darkness of the night in the kingdom. The younger brother was the Chief of the Kangleis, one of the seven principalities of Manipur, and his brother the star assisted him as a nobleman. The people under them had to work hard all the day and they were deprived of any respite. Khwai Nongchengpam Piba shot down the star. This frightened the sun and he fled from Kangla abdicating the throne. But peace was brought about after a settlement was made between the Chief and the subjects."

"In the myth of Numit Kappa (Shooting Down A Sun), it is re-emphasized that the kingship is the divine right of the kings and their descendants. The mythical story narrates the revolt of an ordinary person who could not change the power relation of the state. The act of Ningthou Pongba Tara (Ten Great Men) in the story is what the political culture of the society aims to inject in..."

"Ballet or dance drama is also present in Meitei culture. The famous ballet Numit speaks of the story of two suns. It is a wonderful ballet which can match any ballet of the world having rhythm, expression and lyric."

"In earlier literary works like Poireiton Khunthok, Panthoibi Khongul, Numit Kappa, Nungsamei Puya, Naothingthong Phambal Kaba, etc., the presence of loan words has not been noted, but with the introduction of Vaishnavism, the flow of loan words, mainly from Sanskrit and Hindi, increased to a considerable extent with the passage of time."

"Numit Kappa, a long narrative verse, with addresses to the Sun god represents one of the oldest specimens of early Manipuri poetry. The recital of the poem before king Taothingmang (264-364 A. D.) to the accompaniment of Pena is recorded in the work Tutoulon."

"Their traditional ballet, Numit Kappa, tells the story of two suns, who in due time became the sun and moon."

"In the ballad of Numit Kappa (shooting the sun) goddess Panthoibi is described as an errand girl. She was sent by the gods to request the sun god to come out of hiding."

"During the old period we get, inter alia, two very important works, viz. Poireiton Khunthok (Emigration of Poereiton) and Numit Kappa (Shooting the Sun)."

"As described above Meiteis do have beautiful songs depicting their highly philosophical thinking. The song associated with their ballet Numit Kappa is probably the best example of a song representing entire Meitei culture proving rich heritage of Meitei Civilisation since ages."

"In the early 1920s Grierson, having examined Hodson's version of Numit Kappa in 'old Manipuri' as well as some of Damant's papers, suggested to Pettigrew that he investigate, in cooperation with some Meetei scholars, the archaic Manipuri language and script, since no other Tibeto-Burman language was known to have a literary corpus."

"Numit Kappa, a Meitei text from the 1st century CE, is particularly relevant and insightful in examining this peculiar relationship between power and violence. The text is recited as incantations during chupsaba, a cleansing ritual for 'violent' death."

"However, binary star systems, as depicted in Numit Kappa, are quite common in nature. Astronomers estimate that around half of all stars in our galaxy have at least one companion. Most stars in the universe are born with a brother and our own sun is likely to be no exception. ... Thus, scientists believe that our solar system once had two suns. They called the second sun as either Nemesis or Primary sun at the Asteroid belt. In Numit Kappa, the two bother suns were called Tauhuireng (elder) and Yoimayai Taudanba (younger) and Tauhuireng (elder sun) was shot down. This means that Tauhuireng was equivalent to the lost sun i.e. Primary sun or Nemesis. And Yoimayai Taudanba (younger brother) is equivalent to the Secondary Sun which is presently shining in our solar system. ... Today, nobody could ever find the second sun either Nemesis or Primary sun. Scientists believe the brother sun could have either split up over time like Nemesis or shrink to form tight binary systems like Secondary sun."

"According to Numit Kappa, the ancient epic of the Meiteis, nupi amaibi priestesses as we know now came much later, when after the creation of the universe, we reached a time when there were two suns in the sky. In this mythological story, Goddess Panthoibi was the first to take the form of a nupi amaibi."

"As for the spells practised by the women to bring young men under their control, they are infinite. Of such a nature are they that any such youth becomes mad, nor is he given any respite to think of anything else. ... Let this serve as a warning to our Europeans who intend to travel in India, so that they may not allow their liberty to be taken from them, for afterwards they will weep over their unhappy irremediable state. It happens often to one so bound by spells that after his lady-love has died he cannot endure the approach of any other woman, remaining ever overcome by sorrow for the defunct."

"Where are the bay-leaves, Thestylis, and the charms? Fetch all; with fiery wool the caldron crown; Let glamour win me back my false lord's heart!"

"Si possent homines delenimentis capi, Omnes haberent nunc amatores anus. Aetas et corpus tenerum et morigeratio, Haec sunt uenena formosarum mulierum: Mala aetas nulla delenimenta inuenit."

"The craving Wife the force of Magick tries, And Philters for th’ unable Husband buys: The Potion works not on the part design’d; But turns his Brain, and stupifies his Mind. The sotted Moon-Calf gapes, and staring on, Sees his own Business by another done: A long Oblivion, a benumning Frost, Constrains his Head; and Yesterday is lost: Some nimbler Juice would make him foam, and rave, Like that Cæsonia to her Caius gave: Who, plucking from the Forehead of the Fole His Mother’s Love, infus’d it in the Bowl: The boiling Blood ran hissing in his Veins, Till the mad Vapour mounted to his Brains. The Thund’rer was not half so much on Fire, When Juno’s Girdle kindled his Desire."

"That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal thronèd by the west, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon, And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free. Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness. Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once: The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. ... Having once this juice, I'll watch Titania when she is asleep, And drop the liquor of it in her eyes. The next thing then she waking looks upon, Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull, On meddling monkey, or on busy ape, She shall pursue it with the soul of love: And ere I take this charm from off her sight, As I can take it with another herb, I'll make her render up her page to me."

"Now to the melting Kiss that sips The Jellyed Philtre of her Lips;"

"If any Maid too much has granted, Her loss this Philtre will repair; This blooms a cheek where red is wanted, And this will make a brown girl fair!"

"He presented himself as a saviour with six thousand men all carrying meal under their cloaks, and forty elephants laden with forage and dried meat. The people flocked quickly around them; they gave them names. The sight of these strong animals, sacred to Baal, gave the Carthaginians even more joy than the arrival of such relief; it was a token of the tenderness of the god, a proof that he was at last about to interfere in the war to defend them."

"The hierodules, with a long hook, opened the seven-storied compartments on the body of the Baal. They put meal into the highest, two turtle-doves into the second, an ape into the third, a ram into the fourth, a sheep into the fifth, and as no ox was to be had for the sixth, a tawny hide taken from the sanctuary was thrown into it. The seventh compartment yawned empty still.Before undertaking anything it was well to make trial of the arms of the god. Slender chainlets stretched from his fingers up to his shoulders and fell behind, where men by pulling them made the two hands rise to a level with the elbows, and come close together against the belly; they were moved several times in succession with little abrupt jerks. Then the instruments were still. The fire roared."

"At last the Baal arrived exactly in the centre of the square. His pontiffs arranged an enclosure with trellis-work to keep off the multitude, and remained around him at his feet."

"Night fell; clouds accumulated above the Baal. The funeral-pile, which was flameless now, formed a pyramid of coals up to his knees; completely red like a giant covered with blood, he looked, with his head thrown back, as though he were staggering beneath the weight of his intoxication."

"Then came all the inferior forms of the Divinity: Baal-Samin, god of celestial space; Baal-Peor, god of the sacred mountains; Baal-Zeboub, god of corruption, with those of the neighbouring countries and congenerous races: the Iarbal of Libya, the Adramelech of Chaldæa, the Kijun of the Syrians; Derceto, with her virgin’s face, crept on her fins, and the corpse of Tammouz was drawn along in the midst of a catafalque among torches and heads of hair. In order to subdue the kings of the firmament to the Sun, and prevent their particular influences from disturbing his, diversely coloured metal stars were brandished at the end of long poles; and all were there, from the dark Neblo, the genius of Mercury, to the hideous Rahab, which is the constellation of the Crocodile. The Abbadirs, stones which had fallen from the moon, were whirling in slings of silver thread; little loaves, representing the female form, were born on baskets by the priests of Ceres; others brought their fetishes and amulets; forgotten idols reappeared, while the mystic symbols had been taken from the very ships as though Carthage wished to concentrate herself wholly upon a single thought of death and desolation."

"They were considered as cruel masters, who were appeased with supplications and allowed themselves to be bribed with presents. All were feeble in comparison with Moloch the Devourer. The existence, the very flesh of men, belonged to him; and hence in order to preserve it, the Carthaginians used to offer up a portion of it to him, which calmed his fury. Children were burned on the forehead, or on the nape of the neck, with woollen wicks; and as this mode of satisfying Baal brought in much money to the priests, they failed not to recommend it as being easier and more pleasant."

"In order to retain the genius of the gods within the town their images had been covered with chains. Black veils were placed upon the Patæc gods, and hair-cloths around the altars; and attempts were made to excite the pride and jealousy of the Baals by singing in their ears: “Thou art about to suffer thyself to be vanquished! Are the others perchance more strong? Show thyself! aid us! that the peoples may not say: ‘Where are now their gods?’”"

"These were the Chanaanitish Baalim, offshoots of the supreme Baal, who were returning to their first cause to humble themselves before his might and annihilate themselves in his splendour."

"They were waiting for the thrice holy festival when, from the summit of a funeral pile, an eagle flew heavenwards as a symbol of the resurrection of the year, and a message from the people to their Baal; they regarded it as a sort of union, a method of connecting themselves with the might of the Sun. Moreover, filled as they now were with hatred, they turned frankly towards homicidal Moloch, and all forsook Tanith."

"Down fell the huge beasts, falling one above another. It was like a mountain; and upon the heap of dead bodies and armour a monstrous elephant, called “The Fury of Baal,” which had been caught by the leg in some chains, stood howling until the evening with an arrow in its eye."

"From the position of the sun above the moon he inferred the predominance of Baal, of whom the planet itself is but the reflection and figure; moreover, all that he saw in terrestrial things compelled him to recognise the male exterminating principle as supreme."

"Hamilcar the Suffet, my father, the servant of the Baals!"

"In Physicia Baal is still worshiped as Bolus, and as Belly he is adored and served with abundant sacrifice by the priests of Guttledom."

"He consulted all the soothsayers in the army one after the other,—those who watch the trail of serpents, those who read the stars, and those who breathe upon the ashes of the dead. He swallowed galbanum, seseli, and viper’s venom which freezes the heart; Negro women, singing barbarous words in the moonlight, pricked the skin of his forehead with golden stylets; he loaded himself with necklaces and charms; he invoked in turn Baal-Khamon, Moloch, the seven Kabiri, Tanith, and the Venus of the Greeks. He engraved a name upon a copper plate, and buried it in the sand at the threshold of his tent. Spendius used to hear him groaning and talking to himself."

"Elohim was, in logical terminology, the genus of which ghosts, Chemosh, Dagon, Baal, and Jahveh were species. The Israelite believed Jahveh to be immeasurably superior to all other kinds of Elohim. The inscription on the Moabite stone shows that King Mesa held Chemosh to be, as unquestionably, the superior of Jahveh."

"The Baal-adorer bows on Sinai’s steep;"

"Why should God be so jealous of the wooden idols of the heathen? Could he not compete with Baal? Was he envious of the success of the Egyptian magicians?"

"“Never! Do you not know that it means death? The hermaphrodite Baals are unveiled to us alone who are men in understanding and women in weakness. Your desire is sacrilege; be satisfied with the knowledge that you possess!”"

"But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."

"I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him."

"Peor, and Baalim, Forsake their Temples dim,"

"As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images."

"I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved."

"When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he offended in Baal, he died."