Panthoibi

Panthoibi

Pāṅthoibī is the Meitei warrior-goddess — a defiant bride who eloped with the god Nongpok Ningthou, defying the social-order gods. Her epic Panthoibi Khongul is one of the great Meitei oral literary traditions.

The Panthoibi Khongul ("Panthoibi's Journey") is an epic narrative recited over several nights in which Panthoibi refuses her assigned marriage to Khaba Thangjing and elopes with Nongpok Ningthou. The lovers are pursued and tested; the epic concludes with their divine union. Panthoibi is often invoked by Meitei women seeking agency or freedom of choice — a powerful feminist narrative embedded in indigenous religion.