Folklore 3 - Intsübah Aier, the tiger man

My grandfather (Obu) comes from a village called Mopungchuket.

After Mopungchuket was formed many people with supernatural powers were born and this made the village well known. Such powers included to transform into the shape of an animal, more often that of a tiger. Among such people was Intsüba Aier who became a great warrior and hero.

During his time the Mopungchuket village and the Yangpi village (Fareast of Nagaland) were enemies. There was so much hatred that at any opportunity they would attack each other and bring back their enemies’ heads with pride.

One day Intsüba took his two sons, Kenpen and Sürongba, to Yangpi village for headhunting. When they reached the entrance of the village he told his sons to hide near the gate. (Every village has a boundary and a huge gate at the entrance). Intsüba said to them “Hide here and do not make any noise while I go into the village to kill. On my return I will come back in the form of a tiger and carrying a human body. Do not be afraid when you see the tiger but jump on its back and I will turn back into my normal self.”

Early at dawn the father went into the village in the form of a tiger. He saw two young women coming back from their dormitory. (In those days, the young men and women would stay in dormitories). At once he pounced and killed one of the women and brought her back to where his sons were waiting. When the boys saw the tiger they did as they were told and jumped on the tiger. It immediately turned into their father.

They chopped the woman’s head and rejoiced shouting victory war cries and headed back to their village.

Meanwhile the other woman ran and alerted the village people. A group of them began to follow the tiger’s footprints but on reaching the gate they heard the war cries and realized that it was actually their enemy and not a tiger who had killed the woman.

They began to chase their enemies until then came to a wide river. Near the bank, they saw two boys sitting on a tiger and crossing the river.

Seeing this the villagers were relieved and told one another, “even though our enemy killed one of us, he has also fallen prey to the tiger” and thus they returned home.

These two villages kept fighting each other for many reasons, one being the land dispute. With the intervention of the British rule and the influence of American missionaries in Nagaland, peace and understanding pervaded among the warring tribes and headhunting came to an end.