ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the polymorphic capacities of ruopfu by examining Angami and broader Naga understandings of the tekhumiavi – 'man in the shape of a tiger' – that still exist among the Eastern Angami. Thus, in addition to elucidating dream 'reversibility' in relation to the composite 'selves' of Angami personhood, ruopfu as a disembodied subject can also reveal the ways in which dreams and dreaming are consonant with practices and beliefs generally associated with shamanism. In Northeast India, the phenomenon has been recorded among a variety of large indigenous groups and sub-groups including the Khasis, Garos, Chins and Nagas. The chapter begins with a short ethnographic illustration, which including some of the problems that can arise in dream interpretation and the different ways of conceptualising the 'embodied' and 'disembodied' ruopfu and the ensuing shift in perspectives of the person revealed in the dream.
