Moirang Phee
A Manipur handloom with stepped tooth borders woven from both edges toward the centre
Moirang Phee is a cotton or silk fabric from Manipur, woven by women on loin and shuttle looms. Its signature border, the MoirangPheejin, is a stepped tooth motif of the serpent god Pakhangba, running from both edges toward the centre; the cloth becomes saris, stoles and sarongs.
- The tooth border honours Pakhangba, the python god of Manipur myth
- GI-registered on 19 December 2011, application number 373
- The Loiyumba Silyen credits King Loiyumba with assigning the weave to Moirang villagers
- Woven in two stages; weavers judge the throw shuttle loom best
- Yarn comes from local cotton, mulberry cocoons and Santhak bark
What is Moirang Phee?
Moirang Phee is a handwoven cloth from Manipur in northeast India, made in cotton or silk. Its mark of identity is the MoirangPheejin, a border of small stepped triangles that reads like a row of sharp teeth. The pattern begins at both long edges of the cloth and climbs toward the middle in odd-numbered steps. Women do the weaving, on loin looms and shuttle looms, from yarn they spin and dye themselves. The finished fabric becomes saris, half saris, stoles, sarongs, lungis, skirts and school uniforms, and women wear it at marriages and celebrations.
Where does Moirang Phee come from?
The weave comes from Moirang, a village in Manipur's Bishnupur district, some 46 kilometres from the capital, Imphal. Old stories link the place to Khamba, hero of the Moirang Kangleirol epic. The Loiyumba Silyen, an early manuscript, records that King Meidingu Loiyumba, who reigned from 1074 to 1122, set the Moirang villagers to weaving Yarongphi, the cloth's name at home. The villagers offered their fabric to the Meitei rulers, then the royal house of Manipur, as tribute. The village holds later history too: the INA flag went up there in 1944. Today the cloth is made across all of Manipur, no longer only in its home village.
How is Moirang Phee made?
The raw fibre is local: Lashing, the cotton ball, and Kabrang, the mulberry cocoon, with bark from Santhak, a Urtica species, as a third source. Spinners draw it into thread, and colour comes from plant and bark dyes. The dyed yarn is sized with rice starch, stretched over a bamboo rod, then wound onto bobbins. Weavers choose cotton or silk, with weft counts running from 2/40S to 2/80S. Work proceeds in two stages on a loin loom or a fly shuttle loom, the border pattern laid in along both long edges during the first stage. Among these tools, the throw shuttle loom is held to serve best.
Moirang Phee, drawn
Colours, motifs and borders
The border motif is the MoirangPheejin, Yarongphi in the local tongue, a name put together from words meaning tooth, long and pronged. It stands for the thin, pointed teeth of Pakhangba, the python god of Manipur myth. Each triangle carries a sharp top edge and sits parallel to the weft, its steps lengthening in odd numbers, three, five, nine, eleven and on, as the pattern moves inward toward the centre. The motif is sized to its purpose, so a sari, a stole or a uniform each carries it at its own scale.
How Moirang Phee is worn
The cloth leaves the loom as yardage and is finished as the garment needs: draped as a sari or half sari, wrapped as a sarong or lungi, or tailored into stoles, skirts and school uniforms. Women weave it and wear it themselves, keeping it for marriages and festive days. The tooth border is planned around each end use, so the pattern sits rightly whatever the cloth becomes.
When Moirang Phee is worn
Marriages and festivities are the named occasions, and women wear the cloth for them. It once moved in grander circles: Moirang villagers wove the fabric as tribute for the Meitei rulers, Manipur's royal family of that time. At the everyday end, the same border design goes into school uniform cloth, so the weave serves celebration and the school day alike.
Styles of Moirang Phee
Cotton and silk versions both exist, and the weft count shifts with the yarn chosen. The border itself is elastic: its triangles grow in odd-numbered steps, so one cloth may carry three, another nine or eleven. The design is adapted to many products, from saris and half saris to stoles, sarongs, lungis, skirts and uniforms. Two neighbouring Manipur weaves, Wangkhei Phee and Shaphee Lanphee, received their GI registrations on the same day, alongside Moirang Phee.
What Moirang Phee means
Moirang Phee holds a Geographical Indication under India's GI Act of 1999, confirmed on 19 December 2011 as application number 373 in the clothing class, with Wangkhei Phee and Shaphee Lanphee registered beside it. Manipur's government was to enrol 1,000 weavers in the six months after registration. A nine-member inspection body, drawn from government, societies and the craftspeople, checks the quality of the weavers' work. The cloth ties Manipur's women weavers to myth, history and a livelihood.
Questions people ask about Moirang Phee
Where does Moirang Phee come from?
It began in Moirang village, in Manipur's Bishnupur district about 46 kilometres from Imphal, and is now made across the whole state. The Loiyumba Silyen manuscript says King Meidingu Loiyumba, reigning 1074 to 1122, gave Moirang villagers the task of weaving it.
What does the MoirangPheejin border look like?
A row of small triangles with sharp top edges runs along both long sides of the cloth and grows toward the centre in odd-numbered steps such as three, five, nine or eleven. It stands for the pointed teeth of Pakhangba, the serpent god of Manipur myth.
What is Moirang Phee made of?
Cotton or silk. Local fibre comes from Lashing cotton balls and Kabrang mulberry cocoons, and from the bark of Santhak, a Urtica species. Threads are dyed with plant and bark colours, sized with rice starch and wound onto bobbins before weaving.
How is the fabric woven?
Women weave it in two stages on a loin loom or a fly shuttle loom, with the throw shuttle kind considered best. The toothed border is worked along both edges first, after which the body of the cloth is completed.
When is Moirang Phee worn?
Women wear it at marriages and festive days. The design is also adapted for stoles, sarongs, lungis, skirts, half saris and school uniforms, so the cloth appears both at celebrations and in ordinary daily life.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Moirang phee", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryPallu rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions, weaves and prices differ from one weaver, town or shop to the next, and it is not buying advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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