Subika Laishaba Paintings

Facts for Prelims

Subika Laishaba Paintings

News: The Subika Paintings of Manipur hold profound cultural significance, yet they face the threat of extinction due to neglect.

About:
• Subika Laishaba is one of the six surviving manuscripts of the ancient Subika painting style, which is intricately linked to the cultural history of the Meitei community in Manipur, India. This art form is believed to have been in use since the 18th or 19th century.
• The Subika Laishaba paintings are a composition of cultural motifs made by pre-existing features and other influences stimulated by their cultural worldviews. These paintings represent a direct and authentic continuation of the Meitei cultural tradition depicted through visual images.
• The illustrations of Subika Laishaba have visual language from the elements such as lines, shapes, forms, colours, and patterns. These visual images become Meitei’s cultural motif, and structure to create visual effects as well as express cultural significance, meaning, and values.
• The visual images found in this manuscript are painted on handmade paper. It is also found that the materials of manuscripts are prepared indigenously either handmade paper or barks of trees.