Lai haraoba is the festival associated with religious prayer of the meiteis.

it
is celebrated annually by a village or locality .This festival is carried out in
order to bring peace and prosperity of a particular village, clan, locatity
,etc.lai haraoba festival is the pleasing gods and goddesses celebrated
according to village deity or clan deities. It interpreters the act of creation
of earth by asiba in accordance with the supreme god[guru].

Lai haraoba ceremony may be divided for various kinds according to the
customs, usage and tradition prevailing in a particular community. Many
scholars have opine the different types of lai haraoba as; according to lai
haraoba pandit ngariyambam kulachandra singh said that there are three
types of lai haraoba are there. They are kanglei haraoba,chakpa haraoba
and moirang haraoba.

According to arambam nipamcha mention in his book ‘kanglei haraoba

‘there are five types of lai haraoba are there namely kanglei haraoba
,kakcing haraoba moirang haraoba,chakpa haraoba and andro haraoba.

Most of the people have accepted that the lai haraoba is of four types.

1]kanglei haraoba:- In this Lai Haraoba of Keinglei the portin of Kanglei

hkpa is one of the main features, which is not performed in other forms
of Haraoba in Manipur .this items is also called Lai-Nupithiba. The
Haraoba which include this type item is called Kanglei Haraoba. this
Haraoba being with the act of invocation of the souls of the deities from
inside water is done. Every year lai lam thokpa will be performed and in
kanglei haraoba, ther is an item called yumjao paphal/lairenmathek. In
this lairoi day (last day) the song of ougri will be sung. After the haraoba
is over many kinds of sports are held at the courtyard of the shrine, they
are mukna (Meitei-style wrestling), Lamgen(races), thouri-Chingnaba(tug
of war) etc.

2. Moirang Haraoba:- The Lai-Haraobaof Moirang begins Humni panba

of the month of Kalen (April-May) Lai Ekouba is performed at the bank of
river known as Nanbi Turen (Nabi river). This kind of Haraoba is

Performed by alternating three years (i) Yumfamba (ii) Lamthokpa and (iii)
Khongchingba.

The Lairen Mathek (literally it means the movements of the Python) of

Moirang Haraoba is called Tillu Lairu. The song of Ougri is sung during
khongchingba. Unlike kanglei Haraoba in moirang haraoba , the
programmes of the Games and sports such as lamjen (race),
Mukna(Meitei style wrestling) etc. are held one day before the last day
Lai-haraoba i.e. during Lai-Haraoba.

3) Kakching Haraoba:- The well known Kaching Haraba means the

Haraoba of god Khamlangba. On the previous day of haraoba, leiroi
hanjaba (person incharge of collection flower) accompanied by khongloi
(assistant) went to the place called puram khun to find flowers. At the
time of ekouba, the maibi priestess, holding the khura lei between her
fingers, puts the leiyom into the Ehaiphu and hold along by ringing the
Sarik (kind of priestess’s bell) and steps into the water and does the
process of Ekouba. And also during the haraoba festival, the god and
goddess were brought from the Sanglen

(temple) installed together in a basket called shamu khongpak which is

made of cane or a thin bamboo strap and bring out the idols and then
made them placed inside a Sangln called Yathokshang and continue the
process of Haraoba. This process is performed every day. In the last day
of the Haraoba and item called Ngaprum Tanba in included.

4) chakpa Haraoba:- the type haraoba observed by chakpa group is

knowen as chakpa haraoba. The performance of haraoba and names of
deities are different from a place to a place where the chakpas settled. All
the prayers, hymns and chants are rendered through the medium of
chakparon (languge of chakpa). They worshipped their forefather
sawang) as their deity. The process of chanba(offering the fish or animal)
in chakpa haraoba is mostly done by animal.