It’s a story of long past. There was a prosperous village. Almost all the villagers owned some land in that village. Those who did not own any land used to work as daily labourers in others’ land. They maintained their livelihood earning wages as labourers. So none of the villagers suffered from any crisis.
In this village an old lady lived in a small hut built on a small tilla (hillock) in the corner of that village. She had no land of her own. Every day she used to go out at the break of the day to beg. But every day she would beg only in three houses.
There lived a big iguana in a hole beside the courtyard of the house of that old woman. The old woman loved that iguana very much. Every day after her begging she would scatter some rice at the courtyard for that iguana. Till the iguana ate the rice the old lady would not start cooking. One day on the occasion of the marriage of the daughter of a rich man of the village, all the villagers were invited, none was omitted. Even the father of the daughter had personally invited the old lady. The father of the daughter had brought all the youth of the village to work and distributed duties among them accordingly. The day before the wedding all the villagers assembled at the wedding house.
Sitting on the verandah of the house the old woman was thinking on the previous day that the next day was the wedding day. But to attend the wedding what clothes she would wear?! Only two Rignai (garments) were there in the house. These were also dirty. Some places on the rignai were torn. Would it be wise, she thought, to go to the wedding wearing this type of clothing?
At this time the iguana had come out to take his meal. But towards him she had no attention, she did not go to beg that day. She was thinking and thinking. At last she decided that she would bring a good rignai from a known house situated down the tilla and would return the rignai after the wedding day. She therefore thought not to go out to beg on the day. The day would somehow pass with the remaining rice at the house. Thinking so she stood up from the veranda. All of a sudden, her eyes fell on the iguana.
She saw the iguana entering the hole, only the tail of it came into her sight. Seeing so, the old woman brought some rice from the house and scattered it while she remained standing nearby. But the iguana did not come out from the hole to eat. At this her mind was upset. Today she had no will to cook because if the iguana did not eat she was also to remain unfed. After standing there for some time, she went back home with sorrow. The old woman peeped at the house whether the iguana had taken its food or not. But she found the rice scattered at the same spot. The iguana had not taken anything. That meant that at night also she was to remain unfed.
On the other hand, the boys of the village had settled that they would make the altar of the marriage all through the night. So at night, all had begun to work for alter. As the night passed a bit, the father sent wine and pork to eat while working. In the midst of these, a boy said, “We will not take drinks only with pork as it is a day of pleasure. I will eat meat of the sort that I have not taken for a long time. Is there anybody else amongst you who can provide us with this type of meat?’
Having heard his word all had started thinking. What type of meat was this that they had not eaten for long? All were drowned in thinking but nobody could find. Suddenly, one of them shouted in pleasure ‘Yes Yes! I can recall! Many days are gone we have not eaten any iguana meat. Let us have some iguana’s meat today.”
Another boy said, “But in the dead of night from where will we have iguana”? The one who spoke first told this time, “If you are able to catch and kill, then I can say the whereabouts of that iguana”. Then all had cried out in chorus. ‘Alright, Alright, you tell us where that iguana resides, we will catch it and kill it for the purpose.’
The boy unravelled then, “Besides our village where an old woman lives on a small tilla (hill), there lives an iguana in a big hole beside the courtyard of her house. That one is big in size and if you desire you can kill and have that one. But beware the old woman by no means should get a hint of it. If she comes to know there shall be no way. The old woman keeps watch over it like the wealth of yakshas”. Then another boy asked, “Is it wise to kill the iguana when the old woman takes so much care of it and loves it so much ?”
All the others insisted in chorus, “lt is only an iguana. What is the harm done to the old woman if the iguana is killed. Let us kill and bring that silently.”
It was dead of night. At a distance the foxes were yelling. It was pitch dark. One was going ahead showing the path with a bamboo-made burning flambeau. When they reached the house of the old woman then an owl had hooted harshly. They had found out after much searching, the hole of that iguana. Then, one of them had started piercing the hole with a long pointed bamboo. Soon the iguana came out from the hole full of cuts and wounds. And just as the iguana came out they beheaded it with a chopper. All left the place then with the iguana. The next moment the owl had hooted again declaring a mess up. With that hooting the old woman woke up from her sleep with an alarm. With an unknown fear her mind crumbled. A pernicious fear had occupied her mind. But she did not get a smell of the misdeed that took place outside her house. Again she fell asleep.
The boys then cut the iguana into piece and after roasting it in fire began to eat with wine in delight. As they had become intoxicated with wine, all drooped down gradually at their places. They were no longer in a condition to work. Gradually the night advanced toward daybreak.
Now the old woman had suddenly woke up at a call as if somebody was telling her, “Old woman, old woman, get up quickly and run away from here”. The old woman got up from sleep horrified and looked all around to find nothing of the kind. She was wondering as to who could be there to cad her that way.
“Maybe I was dreaming”, she thought but she could not drive away fear from her mind. Who might have called her in that fashion? Tossing on her bed in anxiety over the matter she finally fell asleep again. But after a while, the same thing happened. This time the voice urged in hot haste, “Oh, old woman are you still sleeping? Get up quickly, Runaway! Half part of the village has almost come to an end. If you like to survive, run away this moment.”
Again the old woman got up frightened. The same thing in the same way cannot be repeated, she thought. “What an inauspicious word; what does it mean, that half part of the village has almost come to an end? No, this time I will sit up late at night. Let it be observed. Whether the same thing happens again or not.”
The same thing again happened. This time she had heard it distinctly as if somebody was telling her “Old woman, Oh old woman, are you sitting still? Don’t you have any love for life? Do you want to die when the entire village is going to be destructed? Your house too will be washed away. If you like to save your life then run away this moment from here. Are you not hearing the roaring sound which is approaching fast? Run away, run away quickly”. The old woman then exclaimed as she was startled with fear, “Who are you to frighten me in this way? Are you a man, or ghost or a god? Who are you?”
The old woman heard the reply, “I am neither a man, nor a ghost or a god. I’m your iguana. The boys of the wedding house have killed me this night and they have eaten my meat along with wine with pleasure. For that very reason the entire village will be smashed by my curse within this night. I will immerse the entire village underwater. Hence forth a big lake will appear here instead of the village. Only a post of this house will stand above the water as if to remind others of the existence of it one time. So you run away this very moment”.
At that moment the old woman heard a big roar. As if the sea was rolling fast towards her. What a big roar. Hearing this, the old woman became very nervous. Instantly without further delay, the old woman began to man through the rear passage of the house. It seemed to her as if a huge cobra was running behind her raising its hundreds or thousands of heads.
Running at a great speed she reached the adjacent village at the dead of night and no sooner had she entered the veranda of a house she fell down unconscious. At dawn when the householder opened the door he saw this old lady lying in an unconscious state. He brought her in and had her nursed with much care. After a while, for intensive care of that householder, the old woman recovered her senses.
She, then still panicky; narrated to him in a frail voice of the havoc that took over. The householder then along with the villagers set out for the spot to ascertain the matter which he learnt from the old woman. The spot bore the evidence to testify the report of that old woman. They all became astonished. There was no sign of the village nor the dwellers, only unfathomable water spread all around in a vast lake. They became surprised. Nothing was visible except the top of a post which remained erected a little higher than the level of the water. The post was of that house where the work was going on in connection with the daughter’s marriage to a rich person.
A folk story from Tripura, sourced from Tripura.org.in.
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