Folklore, Traditional Beliefs, Taboo and Practices on Climate and Weather Forecasting by the Meitei Community of Manipur, North East India

Manipur state, which falls within the “Indo-Burma” centre of biodiversity “hotspot” of global significance and a part of the tertiary ranges of the Eastern Himalayas is the abode of more than 30 ethnic people and is closely associated with nature in their day-to-day life. They hugely rely upon their needs for food, shelter and healthcare from the surrounding forest and its resources and have rich knowledge of plant utilization and conservation. They are worshipers of nature, forest and sylvan deity. The people have a rich traditional knowledge system of prediction and forecast of weather and climate. By observing certain characteristics of plants and animals people predict the rainfall, lightning, wind or storm pattern. Many plants and animals are climate and weather-sensitive and indicative. Some of the plants that are used as indicators of weather and climate are Indian hemp (Hibiscus cannabinus), century plant (Agave americana), mango (Mangifera indica), Indian staghorn fern (Platycerium wallichii), Rumpf’s fig tree (Ficus rumphii), tree bean (Parkia roxburghii), Mosquito fern (Azolla pinnata), dwarf rotala (Rotala rotundifolia), etc. whereas some of the animals are jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchus), spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis), black-kite (Milvus migrans), carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.), ngasang (Esomus danrica), climbing perch (Anabas testudineus), spotted snakehead (Channa punctata), cattle (Bos taurus), greater coucal (Centropus sinensis) and Indian spotted dove (Spilopelia chinensis), etc. Sudden characteristic and intense noise of animals and birds are signs of possible earthquakes. The paper describes the traditional knowledge system and practice of the Meitei community of Manipur that are associated with plants and animals in predicting weather and climate.