Gender in Folk Tales: Re-reading Khamba Thoibi

This paper examines the operational nature of the imagination and representation of female characters in Khamba Thoibi, a popular folktale in Manipur. The story is deeply embedded in the community’s historical and cultural memory and is often referred to as an epic of the region. Through this paper, the author interrogates conventional representations of femininity that rely on a dichotomy between docile domesticity and obstinate autonomy that is projected as a transgressive trait. By analysing the depiction of gender relations in the narrative, she explores larger thematic concerns of the oral folktale genre such as questions of class mobility, divine intervention and the socio-political expectations of the period.