LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 25:9 September 2025
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Selvi M. Bunce, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
         Nathan Mulder Bunce, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

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Specters and Spirits: Supernatural Elements in Mara Folk Narratives

H. Parmawii and
Prof. Laltluangliana Khiangte

Abstract

The Mara people of Northeast India and Western Myanmar have preserved a remarkably rich oral tradition where specters, spirits, and supernatural beings animate every corner of life. This article explores the supernatural dimensions of Mara myths, legends, and folktales, with special attention to the classification of spirits, their narrative functions, and the rituals of appeasement surrounding them. Through close readings of representative tales?such as the myth of Thluapa, the legend of Siarahmaino and the spirit-fish, and the cycle of Nara and the Syuki Hraila (were-tigers) the study demonstrates how the Mara oral imagination negotiates questions of morality, death, love, and survival through the presence of the supernatural. Far from being mere superstitions, these stories reveal a worldview where the natural and the supernatural are inseparable, shaping cultural identity and collective memory.

Keywords:Mara, folk narratives, spirits, supernatural, cultural memory

Introduction

Every culture lives with ghosts. For the Mara, a tribal community inhabiting the southern tip of Mizoram, India, and parts of the Chin Hills in Myanmar, spirits and specters were not abstract beliefs but daily companions. The forest, the river, the jhum field, and the household hearth were all inhabited by invisible presences - benevolent or malevolent - that could bring prosperity or disaster. As N. E. Parry observed in his early ethnographic account, "The Lakhers [Mara] live in constant dread of evil spirits; their whole life is shadowed by them" (350).

Yet fear was not the only response. Through stories, songs, and rituals, the Mara shaped a dynamic relationship with their unseen neighbors. Folklore became a medium for negotiating anxieties, enforcing taboos, and expressing hopes. Specters and spirits entered the narrative world not merely as antagonists but also as teachers, lovers, companions, and guardians.

This article examines supernatural elements in Mara folk narratives, focusing on three broad genres - myth, legend, and folktale- and situates them within the cultural matrix of Mara belief. By retelling representative stories in full while also analyzing their functions, this study seeks to show how oral tradition sustains a worldview where the living and the spectral are bound together in everyday existence.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

H. Parmawii
Research Scholar
Mizoram University
Parmawiihrasai100@gmail.com
&
Prof. Laltluangliana Khiangte
Professor
Mizoram University
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