Wangkhei Phee

What is Wangkhei Phee?

Wangkhei Phee is a sheer white cotton fabric woven across Manipur, in India's northeast. Women do the weaving, working fine cotton warp against a weft set in widely spaced series, so the finished cloth is porous, airy and see-through. Standard designs with names such as Kheiroithek and KabokChaiba are worked into the body as woven patches, and every length carries the Moirang Phee design along both its long borders. Locals count it among their luxurious cloths. Women of Manipur wear it for weddings and festive occasions, and the same weave is also made up as saris, chadors, girls' skirts and school uniforms.

Where does Wangkhei Phee come from?

The cloth's story starts with Manipur's royal family: it was first made as muslin for their use. Its weavers were then settled at Wangkhei Colony, a neighbourhood near the palace, and the fabric carries that place's name. Weaving later spread, and the cloth is now produced at many centres across the state. Official recognition came in 2011, when India registered Wangkhei Phee as a Geographical Indication under its 1999 Act, the certificate confirmed on 19 December. Two fellow Manipuri fabrics, Shaphee Lanphee and Moirang Phee, were registered the same day, all three the work of the state's women weavers. As part of the registration, the state government was to enrol 5,000 weavers within six months, and an inspection agency has been set up to check quality.

How is Wangkhei Phee made?

Fine white cotton yarn is the raw material, spun from local fibre. The article traces this fibre to Lashing, the cotton ball, and to Kabrang, the mulberry cocoon, with a third source in the bark of Santhak, a species of Urtica. Thread is dyed with colour drawn from bark, leaves and flowers of local plants, then sized with rice-based starch, stretched over a bamboo stick, and wound on as bobbins and pirns. The warp uses 80S and 100S cotton counts, the weft 2/80S, with a mercerized 2/80S extra weft for motifs. Two looms serve the weavers: a fly shuttle loom gives the cloth in one piece, while a throw shuttle loom produces two lengths that are stitched together. The motifs are worked in by hand.

Colours, motifs and borders

White cotton forms the ground, worked to a closely woven texture. Yet because the weft threads sit in widely spaced series, the cloth lets light through and is called fully transparent. Onto this open ground the weavers add patches of standard design, each with its own name: Kheiroithek, Thangjing Tangkhai, KabokChaiba and several more. One feature never varies: the Moirang Phee design runs along both longitudinal borders of every piece. The motifs come from an extra weft of fine mercerized cotton, set in by hand, motif by motif.

How Wangkhei Phee is worn

Women in Manipur wear Wangkhei Phee for marriage ceremonies and for festivals. It reaches them as saris and as chadors, the long wraps worn over the upper body, and the same see-through weave is also made up as girls' skirts and school uniforms. The cloth is thin and airy, so it sits lightly on the body. The sources name no particular drape for it; they record only that it counts among the state's popular festive and wedding attire for women.

When Wangkhei Phee is worn

This is dress for happy occasions. Women wear the cloth at marriage ceremonies and festivals throughout Manipur, and locally it is called a luxurious cloth. Its celebratory role is an old one, since the weave began as muslin made for Manipur's royal family. Use has widened since those palace days, and the fabric now also serves as schoolwear, yet it keeps its place as wedding and festival attire.

Styles of Wangkhei Phee

Two methods of weaving set the variants apart, and both turn on the shuttle. On a fly shuttle loom the fabric comes off as a single complete piece. On a throw shuttle loom it is woven in two lengths, which are then joined by stitching into one full cloth. Hand-woven motifs go in by either route. The fabric itself is made up in several ways: as chadors and saris for women, and as girls' skirts and school uniforms. Once tied to weavers near the palace at Wangkhei Colony, production now runs at many places across Manipur.

What Wangkhei Phee means

The Geographical Indication is the cloth's anchor. Registered under India's 1999 GI Act, with the certificate dated 19 December 2011 and the application numbered 372, it ties the name Wangkhei Phee to Manipur and places it under TRIPS protection. The registration is also about people: the state government was expected to put 5,000 weavers on its rolls within six months, and an inspection agency now oversees quality. Certificates dated the same day covered Shaphee Lanphee and Moirang Phee, fellow weaves of the state, all three the work of Manipur's women. Behind the paperwork lies the older story of palace muslin and the weavers of Wangkhei Colony.

Questions people ask about Wangkhei Phee

Good reading and sources

• Wangkhei phee on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data