Supernatural Tales: As Displayed in Mizo’s Lore

Abstract : Supernatural generally are things that cannot be explained by nature, they are assumed to originate from other worldly forces. So supernatural story is a sort of story which in some way makes use of ghosts, good and evil spirits and things that go bump in the night, magic, witchcraft and beyond sensory perception; what makes the flesh creep and the hair stand on end which convey the sense of the preternatural powers. 

 

Supernatural elements are reflected in many Mizo folk narratives and this element attested Mizo’s fantasy, created from their imagination and not based on reality. The protagonists in a tales were often unusual from the ordinary human, they are mostly like fairies; ogre and extraordinary character usually appeared. One thing that cannot be left behind in the tales is the motifs which lie at the centre of the plot and this quality placed them in the higher status in the society.Motifs are an image or character found in different literary works. Thompson pointed out about the motifs of folktales in his book The Folktale, “A motif is the smallest element in a tale having a power to persist. In order to have this power, it must have something unusual and striking about it”(415). In supernatural tale also, the motif played an important roles and the interest of the tale also depend upon the motifs. Motifs convey an understanding of a distinctive element of designs, ideas and massages which can be seen like in the valuable clothes, ornaments used by the people.

 

It seems that the Mizo folk were aware of some kinds of supernatural powers. From the myth, Vanhrika can be regarded as the pioneer in the use of magic among the Mizo which he got from Vanchungnula, the heavenly being. The use of supernatural power was seen from Lalruanga, a great magician and Zangkaki who lured Lalruanga with the secret purpose and defeated him. Hualtungamtawna was a great magician in his time. Chepahakhata’s wife was a great magician that made her husband a great chief. Aithangveli shows how the heavenly being as she healed her dead husband and their child by using sugarcane. Sawngkhara was very ugly but used magic potion to lure the beautiful lady in the village in order to marry her. The use of supernatural elements can be seen in the story of an ugly man named Kawrdumbela, who rubbed himself with a smooth stone in the river and eventually turned into a handsome young man. The story of Maurawkela talks about a magic drum which can make the owner’s wish comes true. Chhawnlaihawihi healed her dead brothers with a magic leaf while fighting with Bakvawmtepu. 

 

With these magical instruments, they can do anything they wish and theses wishes reveal the Mizo’s dreams and fantasies. In the olden times, they have to work very hard for their living. Even though they work very hard for their living, they don’t have sufficient basic needs and have to go to their jhum everyday throughout the year. Most of them dreams of having delicious foods which they cannot have during their lifetimes. They reflect their dreams and fantasy in folktales like sekibuhchhuak, a magical instrument that can produced boiled meat and rice without any human efforts whenever they need. If they have this object, they would restpeacefully without any thought of these problems. 

 

The Mizo too, like other communities of the region, have their share of origin tales of magic, witchcraft, another world and extraordinary characters. In supernatural tales, a strange things was always occurs but engage the readers or listeners attention and sympathy. Philip Martin also observed about this in the book A Guide To Fantasy Literature as, “Since strange things can occur in a fantasy story, readers enter it with their minds alert and open. A good author takes advantage of that to pique our curiosity, while introducing the story’s protagonists”(105). If strange things happened in the story, it is no doubt that the readers minds alert and could not wait what is happen in the next. These tales are no doubt one of the interesting stories not only for the children but also for adults even today. So there are so many supernatural tales in the world and these tales always attracted the readers.  Mizos are fond of telling about Chhura’s foolishness or stupid adventure but we transmitted even today about his interesting story. The tale displayed about the story of magic horn owned by Chhura from the ogress due to his braveness. The tales of Chhura are one of the most commonly told and popular of all Mizo folktales. They are inexhaustible for the telling of one story usually generates another of his adventures. In many of his tales, we find evidences of the kind of life that the folk lived in the early days and they are important in their roles as carrier of tradition. Margaret Ch.Zama observed the character of Chhura in Tribal Literature of N.E India as, “So Chhura as trickster and clever hero is seen as unbeatable in his display of wit, resourcefulness, deceit, impudence and sense of humour” (213). The folktales is a form of entertainment and its motifs are derives from the reservoirs of dream and fantasy. Therefore, the tales of Chhura carry a form of entertainment or amusement but carrying moral lessons to the listeners. 

 

The tale of Chepahakhata reflected the supernatural elements in Mizo folktale. In this tale, we see the dreams and fantasy of the folk. Therefore, the ugly hero usually involves use of magic and its effects because his appearance could not attract others especially the female. His wife was also not attractive but she was a magician and used magic wand and transformed the jungle where Chepahakhata lived into a large palace and they lived happily in that palace. But Chepahakhata did neglect his family in this situation and lived a luxurious life that lead to separation of the family. The tale of Chawngvungi and Sawngkhara, a tale of romance expressed the beautiful and wellborn heroine and the ugly humble hero. The story revolves around the love story of the two protagonists and the plot development involves a use of magic and its effects. This tale shows the importance of magic potion zawlaidi and its effects. The story has some resemblance with the popular fairytale  Beauty and the Beast . 

 

The predominant theme of most of the folktale is the victory of the underdog. The story of Kawrdumbela reflects the victory of underdog with his magic powers. In this tale, the ugly hero Kawrdumbela, who is very unattractive but was changed in the end by transforming to a handsome young man with the help of supernatural powers. Transformation is the common theme among folktales around the world even though the incidents and motifs within the tale differ in different cultures. Philip Martin remarks the transformation of protagonists in his book A Guide to Fantasy Literature as, “Transformation is a cornerstone of fantasy. More than in ordinary fiction, fantasy characters have a remarkable possibility to discover or reveal their true natures. Indeed, they can actually transform into other versions of themselves, a prince appearing from a frog or a Pegasus from an old frumpy lady”(108).A fantasy world is to see a struggle between good and evil that we care about. Fantasy world is often about small, ordinary people faced with extraordinary challenges in wondrous setting. The protagonist Kawrdumbela is a hero of the underdog that he had not a chance to overcome the problems of his own. But accidentally met Vazuntei that set about his twist of faith. He was an ugly man and an ordinary villager but he could marry a princess through his intelligence. Vazuntei and Nghangiai words are important for the hero that could completely turn his life around. 

 

The fear of spirits was strong in the heart of Mizos because it is believed that these spirits has more power than human being and can cause any harms. Due to these reasons Kawrdumbela also could not simply neglect the voice and its warning. J.Shakespear also writes in his book The LusheiKuki Clans about the Lushais that they are an extremely superstitious race as, “Any unusual occurrences is considered as portending some evil result” (100). It is clear from this tale that folktales serve as vehicles of instruction in most cultures. From the character of princess we see the elements of love and patriotism, even though she hated the idea of marrying Kawrdumbela, she brought herself to do so for the sake of her father and his village. This is a valuable moral lesson, imparted in the heart of younger generations. 

 

Magic is the language of fantastic transformation. It is powerful and often dangerous even to its own practitioners. In some tales, it leads to comic results and in some tales it leads to tragic ends. If magic is all powerful, all problems are instantly solved. The tale of Lalruanga reflects the elements of magic in Mizo folk narratives and he has done many supernatural things in his life time with his magic which he gets from Vanhrika. Vanhrika was a famous magician in those days. From Lalruanga’s tale, we can say that the dreams and desire of the folks were to have enormous fortunes that could change their life for the future. To have these fortunes, they used different objects like magic and witchcraft that they weaved in the folktales. It is the dreams or fantasies not based on reality but attested Mizo’s folk fantasy. In order to fulfill their dreams and fantasies, they created these tales. But the extraordinary character of the protagonists, magic and witchcraft  are closely inter-woven with a conflict of good and evil even the forms certainly similar from culture to culture. 

 

The tale of Rairahtea displayed the element of magic and the life of poor orphan as well. In this tale, we find a magical tobject called Bahhnukte with which the hero was able to do a variety of impossible tasks like to untie the ships, bringing back to life his dead father and build a palace of gold within a single night. Rairahtea’s magical object was actually lended to him by rulpui (dragon) as a show of gratitude for sheltering him from the enemy. The powerful magical tools also seen in Maurawkela tale called Zawngkhuang with which Maurawkela was able to do difficult tasks like the magical object which is seen in Rairahtea’s tale. He got it from the monkey while he went to a jungle with his dog. Maurawkela was able to transform all the trees and bamboos in the jungle to human beings and created a great village where he became the great chief. From this magical objects mentioned above, it expressed the early Mizo value system, their dreams and fantasies. 

 

Kungawrhi tale also reflects a tale of supernatural element that expressed the magical tools in Mizo folktales. The tale of Kungawrhi is a popular tale among the Mizos having a number of motifs. So the birth of Kungawrhi was aunique and incredulous event. The birth of a tiny baby from peculiar sources is a common motif in folktales but a baby born out of a thumb cut is unique in every folktale of different cultures around the world. Similarly, in one Russian folktale, a woman cuts her finger when she prepared cabbages. From her cut finger a tiny boy was born and he can speak soon after he was born. From these tales, it is clear that the same motifs are weaved in different cultures around the world. Tales of rescued heroine and her marriage to the rescuer are common motifs of folktales of the world. The plot structure and the central theme in this tale may be similar across cultures but every culture suits its own needs and attested fantasies of the folk. 

 

In Mizo folktales, there are many uses of wizards and it seemed the user normally shows their greatness to their opponent. The stories of supernatural elements and the stories of witchcraft weave in folktales were very interesting stories not only in Mizo tales but also around the world. These stories are Mizo folk’s fantasy but it will not fade even after many years to come because it conveys lessons about life, character and conduct. F.Lalremsiama observed about this in the book Mizo Thawnthu Thlirzauna, “It seemed the witchcraft’s powers and supernatural powers are the essence of Mizo folk narratives”(43). From Mizo folktales, it is clear that the used of wizards are for defeating their enemies but not for competition. And also they are used as the instruments of self-defense, not for enjoyment. The wizards have the power of killing others, that is why most of the folk are afraid of this power and wanted to kill a person who are having this powers. 

 

From the different supernatural tales reflected from the Mizo folk narratives, Mizo folk dreams and fantasy can be observed and they act as important instruments for reflecting the society and culture of the folk life. The tale of magic is seen in Mizo folk narrative but these tales attracted the listeners due to its powers. And this is the fantasy of Mizo folks where they can rest with sufficient foods, without worrying and striving to earn them. Mizo believed in the existence of spirits, both helpful and harmful. But these spirits are the sources of useful magical power to fulfill the folk’s fantasies. Magic and witchcrafts plays important roles and we may say they form an integral part in Mizo folktales due to its unnatural activity and the expression of universal values and attitudes. They dreamt of riches and comforts which the common man cannot usually obtain during their lifetime but finds satisfaction in stories and fantasies.