Article Title: After a gap of two years, Shirui Lily festival begins on thorny note in Manipur
21-05-2025
History & Art and Culture Current Affairs Analysis
Context
• A five-day festival named after an endemic seasonal flower has begun on a thorny note in conflict-scarred Manipur.
• Shirui Lily Festival is an annual five-day State festival celebrated in Ukhrul district,Manipur.
• The festival seeks to spread awareness about the endangered Shirui Lily and promote the district of Ukhrul as a tourist destination in Manipur.
• It also demonstrates age-old traditions and culture of the inhabitants of district of Ukhrul.
Shirui Lily
• Shirui Lily or Lilium mackliniae is the State Flower of Manipur.
• It is found only in the upper ranges of Shirui Hills (endemic) in Ukhrul district of Manipur.
• The Shirui Lily has also been awarded at Royal Horticultural Society’s Flower Show in London in 1948.
• First held in 2017, it is one of two major tourism festivals organised by the state government. While it is named after the Shirui Lily, or the Lilium mackliniae, recognised as the state flower of Manipur, the other major festival is named after the Sangai, or the Manipur brow-antlered deer, recognised as its state animal.
• The Shirui Lily festival coincides with the blooming season of this rare flower. Held in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, which is home to the Tangkhul Naga community
• While locals had long been familiar with the plant — calling it the ‘Kashsong Timrawon’ after Timrawon, the daughter of mythical goddess Philava who resides and protects the hills of Shirui — in 1946, botanist Frank Kingdon-Ward identified it and gave it its scientific name. The name, Lilium mackliniae, draws from his wife Jean Macklin’s name.
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