OLAC Record: The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India

OLAC Record
oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4

Metadata

Title: Cholim - Three animal storiesories

Cholim - Three animal stories

The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India

Contributor: Meenaxi Barkataki

Contributor (consultant): Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups)

Coverage: India

Date: 2009-11-03

Description: Three Animal Stories: 1. How to cross a river: Once upon a time, some people wanted to cross the ‘malya-ri’ river, but could not cross it as it was very deep. One night the king (Nongwe) had a dream in which a white-haired old woman came to him and told him a way to cross: she said that early the next morning at dawn, they will see a white bird on the other bank of the river. They should then just go straight and follow the bird, but they should not look back, at any cost. The bird will bring them safely to the other side. The king told his dream to his subjects; they all agreed that the old lady was a mother ‘nat’ (spirit) who had come to help them and they all got ready with their things before dawn. Sure enough at dawn a white bird appeared and the people started following it, without looking back. And old woman in the midst however, remembered that she had left her spool of thread behind and turned around. Just as she did so, the river filled with water and those behind her were drowned, those before her made it to safety across the river. 2. How to cross the Irrawady: They then came from Hukong and arrived at the river Irawaddy and wanted to cross it. At that point on the river was a place called ‘Wagrap –saikong’ (literally meaning ‘pig-crossing circle’) where there are very strong whirlpools where men and animals could be stuck for as long as 7 days, if unlucky. But there is also a way to avoid those whirlpools and cross the river, if one knew how to. The king and his men wanted to cross the river but were not sure how. Just then a tiger came to them and started wagging its tail and then crossed the river. After seeing it do that several times, the king told his people that this was no ordinary tiger but a ‘nat’, a spirit, that had come to help them. He said that he would hold on to the tail of the tiger and try to cross. If he succeeded then the others should also do the same. Next time the tiger came to them, the king held on to its tail and the tiger brought him safely to the other side of the river. One by one it helped all the others to cross too. But after going back and forth so many times the tiger was very tired and lay down on the river bank, and looked quite dead. All the people then thanked him for helping them cross, prayed for the well-being and for the quick rebirth of the spirit of the tiger and covered the body with fresh leaves from the jungle before moving on. One of the men however, of the Chokhang clan, insulted the tiger and called it a pig-eater, a chicken-eater etc. and kicked the body, before he went on. But the tiger was not dead. It had heard everything. He followed the man from the Chokhang clan and killed him. It is said that even now, one man from the Chokhang clan is killed by a tiger in every era (jug). Even now it seems the Nagas pray to the spirit of the tiger when a tiger dies, and asks it not to be angry with them. When one kills a pig or some other animal, one still has to pray for the quick rebirth of the spirit and pray to it, even to this day. 3. The birth of the Nagas ‘nat’/’nak’ means a spirit and is a Burmese term, also used by the Singphos and the Tangsas. The ‘nad’ is the (female) spirit of the hills also called ‘pun-nat’ or ‘nat-nyu’ or ‘nat-khai’. The ‘n-ga’ is the (male) spirit of the water, usually in the form of a snake. It is believed that the union of these two spirits gave rise to two sons who then created the world (that is a long story and not told here). The blood of the water and the hills mix and give rise to the Nagas, who are the children of the ‘nat-khai’ and the ‘nga’. The father gave the Nagas his cap (with boar-horns and hornbill-feathers) – which they have till the present day. Earlier man and spirits used to live together. But the eyes have got blinkered nowadays man cannot see the spirits anymore. But sometimes one does see one or the other spirit (there is also another story here, which he claims he has told Stephen Morey).

This project contains linguistic, musicalogical, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogram Archiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Bhattacharjee, Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Youngkuk SDM12 Cholim SDM13 Kimsing SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyv SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khvlak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Lungri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Ronrang SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Morang SDM31 Moklum

SDM-12-2009-11-03-06-MB-animal-story-Lukyam.wav SDM-ass-2009-11-03-07-MB-animal-story-Lukyam.wav

Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim) is the leader of the Cholim community in Kharang Kong. He came from Burma in the 1950s to join his brother who had already set up in Kharang Kong. He is very knowledgeable about all aspects of Cholim culture.

Format: audio/x-wav

Identifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4

Publisher: Stephen Morey

Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University

Subject: Discourse

Narrative

animals

Assamese language

Tase Naga language

Tangsa - Cholim variety (general name Tonglum)

Subject (ISO639): asm

nst

OLAC Info

Archive: The Language Archive at the MPI for Psycholinguistics

Description: http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for OLAC format

GetRecord: Pre-generated XML file

OAI Info

OaiIdentifier: oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4

DateStamp: 2017-04-21

GetRecord: OAI-PMH request for simple DC format

Search Info
Citation: Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups) (consultant); Meenaxi Barkataki. 2009-11-03. Stephen Morey.
Terms: area_Asia country_IN country_MM iso639_asm iso639_nst

Inferred Metadata
Country: India Myanmar
Area: Asia

http://www.language-archives.org/item.php/oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4
Up-to-date as of: Sat Apr 22 1:16:00 EDT 2017

Metadata
Title:		Cholim - Three animal storiesories
		Cholim - Three animal stories
		The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India
Contributor:		Meenaxi Barkataki
Contributor (consultant):		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups)
Coverage:		India
Date:		2009-11-03
Description:		Three Animal Stories: 1. How to cross a river: Once upon a time, some people wanted to cross the ‘malya-ri’ river, but could not cross it as it was very deep. One night the king (Nongwe) had a dream in which a white-haired old woman came to him and told him a way to cross: she said that early the next morning at dawn, they will see a white bird on the other bank of the river. They should then just go straight and follow the bird, but they should not look back, at any cost. The bird will bring them safely to the other side. The king told his dream to his subjects; they all agreed that the old lady was a mother ‘nat’ (spirit) who had come to help them and they all got ready with their things before dawn. Sure enough at dawn a white bird appeared and the people started following it, without looking back. And old woman in the midst however, remembered that she had left her spool of thread behind and turned around. Just as she did so, the river filled with water and those behind her were drowned, those before her made it to safety across the river. 2. How to cross the Irrawady: They then came from Hukong and arrived at the river Irawaddy and wanted to cross it. At that point on the river was a place called ‘Wagrap –saikong’ (literally meaning ‘pig-crossing circle’) where there are very strong whirlpools where men and animals could be stuck for as long as 7 days, if unlucky. But there is also a way to avoid those whirlpools and cross the river, if one knew how to. The king and his men wanted to cross the river but were not sure how. Just then a tiger came to them and started wagging its tail and then crossed the river. After seeing it do that several times, the king told his people that this was no ordinary tiger but a ‘nat’, a spirit, that had come to help them. He said that he would hold on to the tail of the tiger and try to cross. If he succeeded then the others should also do the same. Next time the tiger came to them, the king held on to its tail and the tiger brought him safely to the other side of the river. One by one it helped all the others to cross too. But after going back and forth so many times the tiger was very tired and lay down on the river bank, and looked quite dead. All the people then thanked him for helping them cross, prayed for the well-being and for the quick rebirth of the spirit of the tiger and covered the body with fresh leaves from the jungle before moving on. One of the men however, of the Chokhang clan, insulted the tiger and called it a pig-eater, a chicken-eater etc. and kicked the body, before he went on. But the tiger was not dead. It had heard everything. He followed the man from the Chokhang clan and killed him. It is said that even now, one man from the Chokhang clan is killed by a tiger in every era (jug). Even now it seems the Nagas pray to the spirit of the tiger when a tiger dies, and asks it not to be angry with them. When one kills a pig or some other animal, one still has to pray for the quick rebirth of the spirit and pray to it, even to this day. 3. The birth of the Nagas ‘nat’/’nak’ means a spirit and is a Burmese term, also used by the Singphos and the Tangsas. The ‘nad’ is the (female) spirit of the hills also called ‘pun-nat’ or ‘nat-nyu’ or ‘nat-khai’. The ‘n-ga’ is the (male) spirit of the water, usually in the form of a snake. It is believed that the union of these two spirits gave rise to two sons who then created the world (that is a long story and not told here). The blood of the water and the hills mix and give rise to the Nagas, who are the children of the ‘nat-khai’ and the ‘nga’. The father gave the Nagas his cap (with boar-horns and hornbill-feathers) – which they have till the present day. Earlier man and spirits used to live together. But the eyes have got blinkered nowadays man cannot see the spirits anymore. But sometimes one does see one or the other spirit (there is also another story here, which he claims he has told Stephen Morey).
		This project contains linguistic, musicalogical, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogram Archiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Bhattacharjee, Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Youngkuk SDM12 Cholim SDM13 Kimsing SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyv SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khvlak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Lungri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Ronrang SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Morang SDM31 Moklum
		SDM-12-2009-11-03-06-MB-animal-story-Lukyam.wav SDM-ass-2009-11-03-07-MB-animal-story-Lukyam.wav
		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim) is the leader of the Cholim community in Kharang Kong. He came from Burma in the 1950s to join his brother who had already set up in Kharang Kong. He is very knowledgeable about all aspects of Cholim culture.
Format:		audio/x-wav
Identifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4
Publisher:		Stephen Morey
Publisher:		Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University
Subject:		Discourse
		Narrative
		animals
		Assamese language
		Tase Naga language
		Tangsa - Cholim variety (general name Tonglum)
Subject (ISO639):		asm
Subject (ISO639):		nst
OLAC Info
Archive:		The Language Archive at the MPI for Psycholinguistics
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C57F-4
DateStamp:		2017-04-21
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		Lukam Tonglum (Loekyam Cholim is his Cholim name; Lukam is the name used by other Tangsa groups) (consultant); Meenaxi Barkataki. 2009-11-03. Stephen Morey.
Terms:		area_Asia country_IN country_MM iso639_asm iso639_nst
Inferred Metadata
Country:		India Myanmar
Area:		Asia