LYCANTHROPIC MYTH:

THE SON WHO TRANSFORMED INTO A TIGER

Structure of the myth

1) Place- Nagaland

2) Time- Medieval

3) Dramatic persona -
a) The mother- who punished her son for misbehaving
b) The son- who transformed into a tiger
c) The sister- who was troubled by her brothers behavior and was the first to be
physically hurt by him.

4) Exposition – The myth starts off as a happy family, where everyone lives in harmony
with the other. Daily life goes on normally until one day everything changes.

5) Peripeteia- The basic significant difference in this myth is the fact that when the mother
found out about her son scratching his sisters legs, rather than talking to him or telling
him not to do so she went ahead and severely punished him. She at no point tried to
figure out why this he might be doing so.

6) Climax- The climax of the story is the boy’s realization that he is being punished for
harming his sister, this realization culminates as anger towards his mother for punishing
him so severely.

7) Lysil- The anger and aggression led him to tear off his mothers breasts, filled with guilt
he dashed into the forests and finally transformed into a tiger and never returned home.

Level 1
The Tiger is a living symbol of strength and power, they tend to inspire both fear and respect. It
is the tiger’s dynamism and intense activity, curiosity that makes them irresistible, these qualities
make him a perfect leader and protector. Tigers as individuals attract followers and admirers.
Known for determination and charisma, the Tiger aims high and pursues goals with vigor,
passion and daring. However liberal-minded Tigers may be, they are rash and resist the authority
of others. Although they are selfish in the little things, they are capable of great generosity, even
of altruism, in the larger.
Tigers are fearless creatures in as much as they blind themselves to dangers and impetuously
rush in where more cautious individuals would fear to tread. Outspoken in the face of injustice,
their strong humanitarian instincts will not allow them to pass by if they see a wrong perpetrated
upon another. They have a disdain for security and make a religion of change. 
Tigers tend to renounce confining traditional roles, opting for a more unhampered life. In
Chinese iconography the tiger is a symbol of courage, strength bravery, dignity and sternness.
The dragon is the yin symbol while the tiger is the yang symbol and represents the ruler of the
beast on the earth. The tiger while hunting crouches low symbolizes marking of its territory.
Thus in the present myth the child may embody these basic traits that said to be related to a tiger
specifically. His outburst is his agitation at being wronged by the hands of his own mother.

Level 2

In certain parts of northeastern India such as Nagaland and Manipur many tribes believe in the
myth of the tiger man. They believe that the soul of the human and tiger are interconnected or
tied together. The different tribes that believe in the myth are kie tanela, akho tanela which
constitute the Ao Nagas , Mao Naga and many more tribe of north east India.
In one of such myths of the Mao Naga tribe, there was once a woman named “Dziiliimosiiro”
meaning pure water. One day the woman was sitting under a tree with her legs widespread and a
water droplet fell from the cloud on her reproductive organ. It is believed from the unison of the
woman and the sky she gave birth to a boy, tiger and spirit. All three brothers grew up to become
adults but their mother became really sick. So, all of them took turns to look after her. When the
tiger used to take care of her, he used to look at her and identify the flesh parts of her body so he
could eat them once she died and as a result she became more ill. When the mother was looked
after by the spirit, she used to develop high fever and headaches. The mother only felt at ease
when she was looked after by the man.
During the time she was ill, there was disagreement between the three brothers about the
ownership of the land after her mother’s death. In order to solve this issue the Dziiliimosiiro
came up with a clever plan. She came up with a competition in which all three brothers had to
race towards a grass ball kept at a distance. The mother knew that the man was weaker than her
brother’s so she told him to make a bow and arrow if he had to win the competition. As a result
the man won the competition and acquired her mother’s land after her death. All three brothers
departed ways after that with the tiger going to the jungles and spirit going far south.

The Ao Naga tribe believes that the human embodies the soul of the tiger and vice versa. Both of
them are closely related and their daily activities show similar characteristics i.e. if one is
affected so is the other. The ways by which this close resemblance is achieved between them is
either by inheritance or through worshipping which is far more complex process. This can also
be read about in Temsula’s written renditions of the folk tales of Nagaland. According to her the
tiger which embodies the human spirit does not look any different from a normal tiger; the only
differentiation being the fact that the tiger has a strong affinity and attachment to the person he
embodies. This affinity can be achieved in two ways (1) it can be passed on from generation to
generation; (2)it is acquired through one who is reputed to be in the possession of such a power
or the soul, if the applicants prayer is to be granted he/she is offered a cup of wine or a pipe to
smoke by the person to whom he has appealed. Below are two stories from different individuals
which I was able to get through my friend.

“These men and women with tiger souls are tied to the soul of a tiger. They don’t look different
from other human beings and appear to be just like anyone else but they are tied completely to
the soul of a kindred tiger. Some people attain tiger souls because the ancestors of the tiger and
man are the same, and once a man acquires a tiger soul his/her life is tied to that of a particular
tiger henceforth, and vice versa. If the tiger feels unwell, even the man will feel unwell and vice
versa. Sometimes when these tiger souls sleep, if their tiger is roaming the jungles and leaps,
even the human will leap on their beds. If the tiger has gone out hunting and caught an animal
the previous night, the next morning, the human will wake up with pieces of raw flesh and blood
stuck to his teeth. If the person gnaws and gnashes his teeth during the night, it is taken as an
indication that the tiger is hunting. Even in death the two are tied. If the tiger or the human dies
a natural death, the other also dies. However, there are times when the tiger dies an accidental
death (if it is hunted or if it is killed by another animal) when it is not time for the human to die-
in such cases, the soul of a related tiger replaces the dead tiger. Also, if the human dies an
unnatural death the soul of the tiger will be acquired by the favorite child or descendant of the
deceased man. Moreover, carrying a tiger soul is hereditary- the tiger soul “gene” only exists in
certain families, or certain clans. Usually only adult tiger souls exist (this could be because it is
hard to recognize in kids). Other villagers recognize tiger souls because of certain traits such as a
tiger coming close to the human and not harming him/her, or witnessing the enemies of a certain
tiger person being harassed by a tiger. When I was in boarding school as a teenager, we found
out a girl in my dormitory had a tiger spirit because one evening a tiger came close to our
windows and started growling and scratching, terrifying all of us. The male wardens in our
school tried chasing away the tiger and as the tiger ran even the girl started leaping and jumping
in conjunction with the tiger! The tiger becomes the protector of the human. If the human goes
to the forest for instance, the tiger will make his presence known by growling, or scratching on
the ground or making other noises and no harm falls upon the human. Moreover, if the human
has enemies or people plotting against him/her, the tiger will be able to sense it and will keep
disturbing and scaring the enemy. Thus, the human has a guard throughout his life.”
- Mrs N.I. Jamir, Longsa Village, Ao Tribe, 90 years old

“When I was a child, I used to study in boarding school and unlike these days I had to walk close
to a hundred kilometers to reach from my village to my boarding school. Thus we used to set out
few days in advance, and stop over at my father’s friends’ houses in villages between my school
and village. One of my father’s friends was known to have a tiger spirit and he would always
offer to escort my sisters and me to our boarding school. When we walked with him, we were
more terrified of having him escort us than us walking alone because along the way we could
hear the tiger close by. The tiger rarely revealed himself to us but we could hear him breathe,
growl sometimes and he would often scratch the ground and scatter rocks on the path to let us
know he was around. The tiger didn’t harm us because he knew we were friends with his human,
and he knew the human was offering us his protection thus the tiger did the same. When this
friend of my father died of illness, few days later, some of the villagers went to the jungle and
found a tiger that had apparently also died of natural causes because he had no apparent wound
marks. As kids it was very likely that you knew someone with a tiger spirit or at least knew of
someone who knew a tiger spirit because they were found in almost every village and villages
were very small. Acquiring the tiger spirit is hereditary but it can be also resisted, and since
Christianity came to Nagaland people started to view this as a demon possession thus more and
more people started resisting it, and people with tiger souls are now becoming extinct and we
don’t hear of them as much now as we used to during our childhood.”
- Mrs. Chuchangla Aier, Changki Village, Ao Tribe, 83 years old

From the above stories it becomes easy to interpret the relation between human, animal and
spirit. All three are interconnected and there is no clear indication of transformation but only
close affinity of all three which leads to similar behavior between the subjects of the issue
namely tiger, human and their soul.
Thus the boy could be in part a tigerman who scratched his sisters legs when his tiger counterpart
did so as can be seen from the above stories of the myth. His act of tearing off his mothers nipple
could be because his tiger counterpart went hunting or because he was immensely angry when he
found out what his mother had done. The anger led to aggression which in turn made him do
what he did as he lost control of the human side of himself and in his aggression with his inner
beast overtaking all his senses of right and wrong he hurt his own mother. It was his guilt that led
him to run away and never come back home. Though since the myth talks about his
transformation into a tiger it is also necessary to see other beliefs about tigermen and women.

Level 3

Therianthropy refers to metamorphosis of a human into animal form achieved via shape shifting.
Usually, shape shifters have a body of a human and head of an animal. The usual explanation for
therianthropy is that humans descend from animals. Sometimes, the animal takes human form or
humans and animals getting married. This results in their descendents either having traits of both
forms or being shape shifters. There are many forms of therianthropy with lycanthropy being the
most popular and cynanthropy and ailuranthropy being the others. Lycanthropy refers to
transformation into a wolf. Werewolves have been common in European cultures but now have
spread throughout the world. Cynanthropy is common to the Chinese mythology and is the
transformation into a dog. Ailuranthropy refers to transformation into some species of the cat.
In Europe it is the household cat, while in African cultures people turn into lions or leopards
while in Asia it is the tiger.
As a theriocephalous is part human and part animal, therianthropy is a way to experience the
animal soul within us. It is the human connection with the animal spirit and their ways of living.
Bastets are part human and part cat. The ration of human to cat appearance and behavior can
range from 0 to 100%. They are mostly common to different tribes such as Bagheera, Balam,
Bubasti, Ceilican, Khan, Pumonca, Qualmi, Simba, and Swara. They are also people who believe
that they in part or whole, a non- human animal.

Transformation of a human into an animal and is common belief and practice in tribal societies.
It normally is supposed to occur in a particular family or clan. Physical transformation of a
person into a tiger is the most common among many societies, and plays a vital role with the
Nagas. A tiger-man is also called a medicine-man, witchdoctor or chief consultant in the village.

From time to time a person allegedly transforms himself into atiger and then back to human form
due to the influence of supernatural power. It is said that while changing into animals for the first
time, the person suffers terrible pain, gnashes one’s teeth, cries and shakes the body beyond
control. During subsequent occasions the transformations occur without much difficulty. It is
also said that some persons possess a tiger permanently as his/her own. In this case, the person’s
physical body does not change into a tiger, but a separate tiger exists inside the person and is
distinct from the body. They are inseparably related to each other, and if one is affected, the
other is also. Sometimes a tiger-man turns out to be very cruel and monstrous. alleged
lycanthropic activities. The phenomenon is still very common in the non-Christian Naga society.
However since the tigerman is now considered evil a large number of Nagas are converting to
Christianity in order to protect themselves from transforming into a tiger.

The myth of the boy given is one such myth in which the boy transforms into a tiger, unlike the
lycanthropy myths where very specific conditions are required for an individual to transform into
a were-wolf, for transforming into a were0tiger no such conditions are required. The tiger men
are also known to sorcerers or shamans and embody evil. The boy therefore was probably cursed
by a shaman to transform into a tiger, since this was his first transformation he underwent a lot of
pain and that lead to his misbehaviour with his sister as well as his mother. Had the mother
known about this from the start she may have been able to understand what her son was going
through and this understanding could have helped him calm his emotions. once he transformed
into a tiger he probably learnt how to shift back into his human form but his guilt stopped him
from going and visiting his mother, the realisation that tiger men are evil and also sorcerers or
shamans stopped him from telling everyone the truth about his life.

Though this is a myth from Nagaland other countries and nations had myths that were similar in
form. Some were similar in their transformation while others were similar in their beliefs about
the individual who transformed into a tiger.
One such example is from ancient China, the tiger was a guardian symbol of agriculture keeping
the drought spirits away.In 2587 B.C, there was a king who had three daughters. The youngest of
them was called Miao Shan. The king wanted her to get married but she wanted to engage in
meditation and therefore went to live in a monastery. The king demanded her return back but she
refused, so she was eventually ordered to be beheaded. During the execution, there was a big
storm and the local deity took transformed into a tiger. In Hell, her magical powers helped to free
the unfortunate condemned there. It is believed that the tiger carried her inanimate form to the
mountains after which she found herself in hell. After her return she met Buddha and then finally
retired practicing meditation on a small island.

In mainland Asian werecats usually become tigers. Chinese legends often describe weretigers as
the victims of either a heredity curse or a vindictive ghost. Ancient teachings held that every race
except the Han Chinese were really animals in disguise, so that there was nothing extraordinary
about some of these false humans reverting to their true natures. Alternately, the ghosts of people
who had been killed by tigers could become malevolent supernatural beings, devoting all their
energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Some of these ghosts were responsible for
transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. Also, in Japanese folklore there are
creatures called bakeneko that are similar to kitsune (fox spirits) and tanuki (raccoon dogs).

In both Indonesia and Malaysia we meet with another kind of weretiger. The power of
transformation is due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of
charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge, it is not hostile to man; in fact,
it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs, exactly
as the balams (magicians) of Yucatán were said to guard the maize fields in animal form.
Variants of this belief assert that the shapeshifter does not recognize his friends unless they call
him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on
those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds; for them the tiger is
friendly, and he reserves his wrath for their enemies. A man is said to take the form of a tiger in
order to wreak a just vengeance.

Narrative Analysis of the Myth

According to the myth there was once a happy family in Nagaland, which comprised of a
mother, father and two children; a son and a daughter. The children were sent to
the jungle everyday by their mother to collect firewood and to fetch water. The boy was in the
mean cursed by a shaman, he was to transform into a tiger. In course of time as his curse started
to come true, the boy developed the habit of scratching his sister’s legs with his sharp nails. His
sister repeatedly objected to it, but to no avail. It is said that the first transformation from human
to animal form is the most painful, this pain caused him act out.
When her mother came to know about it, she planned to keep the boy away from his sister and
therefore made him carry water with a carrier that had holes on it.
The myth continues that one day when they went out to fetch water, the girl hurriedly finished
her job and started for home. Seeing her proceeding alone, her brother asked her to wait for him
but she refused and reached home as fast as she could. The boy not knowing that there are holes
in the base of each water carrier went on pouring water throughout the day but could not fill
those up. Finally when he found out he rushed home and demanded his mother let him suck her
breasts. Only then would he cool down. The mother agreed. Strangely while sucking the breast in
his fit of rage he tore of the breasts and escaped to the jungle and thereafter never returned home.
The myth says that in time with regard to his curse he transformed into a tiger.

Storyline
The story revolves around a boy who was cursed to transform into a tiger. It follows his journey
from being a son to dealing with the pain of transformation and finally converting into a tiger.
This journey of the boy is filled with pain, sorrow, broken relationships and anger.

Major Themes that Emerged in the Myth

 Lack of understanding
The basic theme around which the myth revolves is the lack of understanding between
the a brother and his sister, a mother and her son and an individual towards himself. The
mother did not understand her son and thus on finding out about his actions rather than
talking to him she punished him for something that may not have been his fault directly.
The sister on the other hand did not even try to understand the underlying reasons for her
brothers behavior, she preferred telling her mom and staying away from her brother.
The boy himself had no clue of what was happening to him. He did not understand the
underlying reasons for these changes to occur within him and tried coping in whatever
way he found easiest. Be it showing his anger or scratching his sisters legs.

 Preference
The mother’s behavior of trying to save her daughter and completely sidelining the son,
shows her bias towards her daughter. Her behavior points out the fact that she actually
was more protective towards her daughter than she was towards her son.

 Fear
Fear is emulated in the sisters behavior when she finishes her work in a hurry and does
not even bother to wait for her brother to finish his work. Her actions show her fear of
 staying with her brother as well as staying back in the forest after darkness.
Fear the basic reason for the mother to let her son suck milk from her breasts. A boy who
works in the forest is old enough to not need breast feeding, yet when he demanded his
mother gave in to his demand thus providing a classic example of fear. She seemed to
fear the consequences had she not obeyed him.

 Anger
Anger like lack of understanding can be seen in the mothers decision to punish her son
without trying to find out the real reason behind his behavior. Her extreme anger lead her
to severely punish her son, by making a hole at the bottom of the bucket used to fetch
water by the son. Her anger blinded her concern for her son staying back in the forest
alone as he might not be able to complete the task given to him.
Anger is also emulated in the sons behavior after finding out that his mother had made
holes at the bottom of the bucket he was using to fetch water. This can be seen in the way
he reaches home and demands to suck mind from his mothers breast in order to be able to
cool down.

 Guilt
It is a strong emotion, that occurs when an individual realizes or believes that he or she
has violated a moral standard, and bears the responsibility for the violation. After the boy
tears off his mothers breast he realizes what he has done and feels guilty. This the reason
he runs into the forest; this could also be the reason he reuses to come back home even
after he may have learnt how to control his transformation into a tiger and back into a
man.

 Lycanthropy
It is the process by which an individual or a human transforms into an animal. Were-
tigers is a common transformation for shape shifters in India. Thus the tiger at the end
transforms into a tiger. It is believed that the first transformation is immensely painful,
this could in itself explain a lot of the boys behaviors as well as their deviations from the
norms.
 Archetypal Amplification and
Narrative Analysis of an Ao-Naga
Myth

Prakriti Gupta
M.A. Previous year
1st semester