Manja (kite)
Encyclopedia
Manja is the abrasive string used with fighter kite
s in Afghanistan
, Bangladesh
, Chile
, India
, Nepal
and Pakistan
. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass. In Brazil
, the mix of glue and powered glass is called "cerol".
Kites are fought all throughout the year and during special kite flying festivals in the region. Two fighters will entangle the glass powder coated manja while flying their kites in the sky and try to cut off the string of each others kites.
The winner's kite keeps flying while the loser's kite gets cut and drifts away with the wind. Children and/or adults run after a cut kite and try to capture it when it falls to the ground, a practice called kite running
.
Many people also get seriously injured and lose their lives when they fall off rooftops when flying and fighting kites and handling the manja reels and vigorously pulling or releasing it during battle of the kites. In the Indian subcontinent
kites are generally flown and fought from the rooftops of houses.
Kite running
is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in battle with other kites. Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites as they are so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains without looking down or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get at kites that landed on top.
Others gravely endanger their lives when they walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities facing up with their eyes fixed on fighting kites in the skies, the excitement to see which of the fighting kite wins and which one loses sometimes makes people dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings causing injuries and collisions with traffic.
:
Ingedients:
The water is boiled with the addition of vajram, to which is added a paste of maida and finely powdered glass pieces to make a thick colloidal solution and the abrasives are added. The colouring is added, while stirring is continued to make a thick paste without the sedimentation of the glass and abrasives.
Fighter kite
Fighter kites are kites used for the sport of kite fighting. Traditionally most are small, unstable single line flat kites where line tension alone is used for control, and an abrasive line is used to cut down other kites....
s in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass. In Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, the mix of glue and powered glass is called "cerol".
Kites are fought all throughout the year and during special kite flying festivals in the region. Two fighters will entangle the glass powder coated manja while flying their kites in the sky and try to cut off the string of each others kites.
The winner's kite keeps flying while the loser's kite gets cut and drifts away with the wind. Children and/or adults run after a cut kite and try to capture it when it falls to the ground, a practice called kite running
Kite running
Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent throughout the year and during kite flying festivals...
.
Serious threat to bird and human life
Manja can be extremely deadly to birds flying in the sky and to humans.Many people also get seriously injured and lose their lives when they fall off rooftops when flying and fighting kites and handling the manja reels and vigorously pulling or releasing it during battle of the kites. In the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
kites are generally flown and fought from the rooftops of houses.
Kite running
Kite running
Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent throughout the year and during kite flying festivals...
is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in battle with other kites. Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites as they are so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains without looking down or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get at kites that landed on top.
Others gravely endanger their lives when they walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities facing up with their eyes fixed on fighting kites in the skies, the excitement to see which of the fighting kite wins and which one loses sometimes makes people dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings causing injuries and collisions with traffic.
A modern recipe
Traditional recipes use rice gluten, tree gums and similar natural ingredients, and the exact recipe is often a closely guarded secret of the individual maker. By contrast this is a modern recipe used by some in Tamil NaduTamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
:
Ingedients:
- finely powdered glass
- industrial adhesive such as "Vajram"
- maida flourMaida flourMaida is a finely milled and refined flour of wheat, closely resembling cake flour, and used extensively in making Indian fast food and Indian bakery products such as pastries and breadand sometimes in making traditional Indian breads such as paratha and naan. It is made from the endosperm of the...
- aluminum oxide, abrasive
- zirconia aluminaZirconia aluminaZirconia alumina is commonly used as a sand-blasting medium. It is typically used as an abrasive in casting and foundry processes. Zirconia alumina is a mixture of zirconium oxide and aluminium oxide....
, abrasive - coloring
The water is boiled with the addition of vajram, to which is added a paste of maida and finely powdered glass pieces to make a thick colloidal solution and the abrasives are added. The colouring is added, while stirring is continued to make a thick paste without the sedimentation of the glass and abrasives.
See also
- KiteKiteA kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
- Kite fighting
- Uttarayan, The kite flying festival of northern India
- Kite runningKite runningKite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent throughout the year and during kite flying festivals...
, the practice of running after and catching kites drifting in the sky which have been cut loose in battle with other kites