Thang-ta is a weapon-based Indian martial art created by the Meitei of Manipur.In the Manipuri language, thang means sword and ta means spear, referring to the art's primary weapons. The spear can be used in its non-missile form while in close or thrown from afar. Other weapons include the shield and the axe. Because of Manipur's cultural similarity, geographic proximity and ethnic ties with Myanmar, thang-ta is closely related to banshay.

Sangai festival is an annual cultural festival organised by Manipur Tourism Department on every year from November 21 to 30. Even though many editions of this Festival has been celebrated over the past few years with the name of Tourism Festival, since 2010 this has been renamed as the Sangai Festival to stage the uniqueness of the shy and gentle brow-antlered deer popularly known as the Sangai Deer, which is the state animal of Manipur. As this festival is being celebrated to promote Manipur as a world class tourism destination, it showcase the best of what the state has to offer to the world in terms of art and culture, handloom, handicrafts & fine arts, indigenous sports, cuisines & music, eco & adventure sports as well as the scenic natural beauty of the land.

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Its people include the Meitei, Pangal (Muslims), Naga, and Kuki, Zomi and Gorkhali(Nepali) who speak different languages of branches of the Tibeto-Burman family. The state is bounded by Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south, and Assam to the west; Burma lies to the east. It covers an area of 22,327 square kilometres (8,621 sq mi).

The Meitei, who live primarily in the state's valley region, form the primary ethnic group (60% of the total population).The term Meitei now refers to five social groups -- the Meitei marup (believe in only Meitei culture and God), Meitei Christians, Meitei goura Chaytonya (believe in both Meitei and Hindu gods), the Meitei Brahmins (Manipuri Brahmin locally called "Bamons") and the Meitei Muslims (called Miah Meitei or Pangal). All of them has Meiteilon as their mother-tongue. Their language, Meiteilon (also known as Manipuri), is the lingua franca in the state.

Source : Wikipedia

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