North-east India's equivalent of King Arthur has ridden to the rescue of thousands of people opposing a massive dam project that will flood their homes.

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, cancelled plans to lay the foundation stone for the dam this weekend in the face of massive protests by tribal groups who say it will inundate the sacred lake still believed to hold the region's answer to Excalibur.

Manipur, the state where the dam is supposed to be built, lies in India's impoverished and insurgency-racked north-east, and is home to tribal groups who have their own distinct culture. Now that culture has brought a major project to build a 520ft hydroelectric dam to a standstill.