Framing Social Transition of the Tangkhul Nagas: Disembedding Mechanisms and Oral Culture

Abstract

In a Tangkhul myth, which explains why the earth is not flooded despite all the rains, Manipur valley is located adjacent to the edge of the world. All the rain water, the myth says, flowed into the valley and then to the rim of the earth, which is bordered by two mountains; sometimes the mountains shift away from each other to create an opening for water to flow out and the wind to blow in (Luikham 28).