The Bullroarer Atlas

No. NAGA-004

Southern Sangtam Phorr athapuka tiger-attracting toy

Naga Hills · present Nagaland · South Asia · Northeast India

Play / practical

Roy’s 1928 plate of Naga bull-roarers on their sticks; no. 5, a Southern Sangtam one, was said to call up tigers.
Plate I. Roy’s 1928 plate of Naga bull-roarers on their sticks; no. 5, a Southern Sangtam one, was said to call up tigers. Public domain · Image source

athapuka

Source term: Athapuka

athapuka — Southern Sangtam name for this toy bull-roarer

When Sangtam children at Phorr village swung this toy, the old men made them stop, certain the whirring sound drew tigers. It is a bull-roarer of light wood, its cord attached to a stick, with rough charcoal designs that include a human figure. J.H. Hutton collected it in the Naga Hills, and it is now in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. The Sangtam called it athapuka.

Athapuka, toy bull-roarer of light wood, the cord attached to a stick. When children use it they are usually stopped by the old men who think that the sound attracts tigers. Rough designs include a human figure, drawn in charcoal.

Pitt Rivers Museum object 1923.85.448, Cambridge Naga Database record R10539 (Hutton collection)

Particulars

Object
Toy bullroarer of light wood with cord attached to stick
Function
Children stopped by old men because sound was thought to attract tigers

Sources

  1. University of Cambridge, “The Nagas” database, record R10539, collection listing C622; Pitt Rivers Museum object 1923.85.448 View · archived
  2. Sarat Chandra Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (1928), illustration 17, item 5

Part of The Bullroarer Atlas, companion to The Eve Theory of Consciousness.