^ The grandmas and grandpas are spending summer evenings alone,
waiting anxiously to narrate folktales to their little ones.
^ So, why don't you guys give break to your smartphones and tabs,
and spend sometime with your grandparents.
^ Until the old man pulls a tale out a hat, enjoy a folktale about 'Rih
Lake'.
^ Rih Lake, in Chin State Burma, is about 3 km from the Indian border
in Mizoram. This
heart shaped lake is close to hearts of the Mizo
people.
^ The Chin believe that the ‘other world’ is divided into two, and all
spirits go to a place called ‘Mitthi khua’ (village of deaths) then some
move on to ‘Pialral’(heaven); but to reach their eternal abodes, they
have to pass through the Rih lake. According to the legend, after
crossing the lake the spirits reach a hill, where they look back at their
village and weep for days longing for the world left behind. The hill is
said to be full of flowers called ‘Hawilo par’, which the spirits pluck
and wear them in their ears and hair. This makes them forget their
desire to return to their loved ones and they proceed further.
spirits go to a place called ‘Mitthi khua’ (village of deaths) then some
move on to ‘Pialral’(heaven); but to reach their eternal abodes, they
have to pass through the Rih lake. According to the legend, after
crossing the lake the spirits reach a hill, where they look back at their
village and weep for days longing for the world left behind. The hill is
said to be full of flowers called ‘Hawilo par’, which the spirits pluck
and wear them in their ears and hair. This makes them forget their
desire to return to their loved ones and they proceed further.
^ The ‘Mitthi khua’
is where the common people settle, living just like
they did in their past
lives. But beyond it exists ‘Pialral', where
only
the men and their families who earn the title ‘Thangchuah’ through
their piousness and having sacrificed animals and given community
feast could enter the heaven, much to the envy of the people who
have to settle in the ‘Mitthi khua’ where there is only hardship.
the men and their families who earn the title ‘Thangchuah’ through
their piousness and having sacrificed animals and given community
feast could enter the heaven, much to the envy of the people who
have to settle in the ‘Mitthi khua’ where there is only hardship.
^ In the pre-Christian era, the Chins
and all cognate groups believed
this place to be passage of souls to
their eternal abode. And during
the period of British colonization, soldiers were ordered to dig the
ditch to dry the entire lake, but on half way of their attempt, all the
diggers were killed by some kind of unknown plague, believed to
have been unleashed by the spirits.
the period of British colonization, soldiers were ordered to dig the
ditch to dry the entire lake, but on half way of their attempt, all the
diggers were killed by some kind of unknown plague, believed to
have been unleashed by the spirits.
* For second tale, http://discover-newer-horizons.blogspot.in/2013/05/rih-lake-second-tale.html
(watch out this space for second tale about this lake)............
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