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Tales Of the Swallowing Lake - Pala Tipo
The Palak Lake. Image Source: Mara Autonomous District Council
The Palak Lake, popularly called the Pala Tipo (meaning “the swallowing lake” in the Mara language) is the largest lake in Mizoram and a crucial ecological asset of the state. Bound by lush green tropical and deciduous forests, verdant plains and imposing mountains, this oval-shaped lake having an estimated length of 870 metres and a depth of 17-25 metres, forms the heart of the surrounding ecosystem and supports a spectacular range of plant and animal species, many of which are deemed to be endangered.
Located near the southern tip of the state in the Saiha district, the lake is geographically placed under the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. The Palak dil meaning “lake” in the Mizo tawng (a Kuki-Chin language of the Tibeto-Burmese language group that is spoken primarily in India and Myanmar) is a major natural pivot of the Palak Wildlife Sanctuary.
The wetland was declared a Reserved Area by the Mara Autonomous District Council in 1984 and is listed as a National Wetland under the National Wetland Conservation Programme. The lake is fed by two main mountain streams and the drainage area is a fertile stretch of valley that acts as a crucial agricultural zone for the Mara people. Owing to its critical ecological function and the extensive exploitation of the surrounding forests particularly by practitioners of shifting agriculture, the Palak Lake has been included in the list of Ramsar sites since 2021 in order to highlight the urgency of its conservation.
Nestled in the bosom of mountains, valleys and forests lies the oval-shaped lake, Pala tipo or Palak dil. Image Source: Neetisha Verma
Tales Of The Lake
Pala Tipo has much cultural significance in the everyday lives of the people of the surrounding regions. This is underpinned by the myriad folklores, myths and oral histories that have evolved around the lake. Popular oral histories push the origin of the lake to a time period between 800-1200 CE, when the region was witnessing the westward migration of the Mara people from Burma.
A Mara legend about the origin of the lake claims that a massive village called Hnychao once stood in place of the lake. At the centre of the village lay a massive rock that sheltered a deep cavern beneath, which was inhabited by a mythical giant serpent. While the serpent occasionally preyed on the village livestock, matters came to a head when the villagers realised that the giant snake had begun to whet its appetite by preying on the children of Hynchao. The angry villagers planned to kill the serpent. The village hunters gathered together to capture the snake with a giant fishing pole and a bait and from this point onwards, the folklore diverges into two distinct narratives.
One of the tales narrates the great ordeal of killing the snake, followed by the redistribution of its flesh amongst villagers for feasting. It is here that a widow with two children happened to receive a share of the snake’s head. As she was cooking the head, she noticed the snake’s eyes rolling and blinking at her. Aghast, she threw the cooking pot into the street, until she heard a low rumble outside her doorstep. Staring outside, she saw her doorstep getting slowly engulfed by a rising flood. The widow grabbed her children and fled her home only to witness the raging floods drown the entire village and its people while ultimately taking the form of a lake that was eventually named the Pala Tipo.
A view from the lake. Image Source: Mara Autonomous District Council
In an alternate version, the lore recounts the failed endeavour of the villagers at hauling out the entire body of the giant serpent. The bottom half of the snake had fallen back into the cavern with a massive thud. The shockwaves that had been triggered by this immense drop caused the water from the cave to surge up and submerge the whole village. It is these tales about the mythical Hynchao village’s eternal submergence into the waters of the lake that had earned the Palak Lake its epithet-‘The Swallowing Lake.’
The Palak lake is a crucial ecological asset located within the Palak Wildlife Sanctuary in Mizoram. Image Source: Neetisha Verma
Over the centuries, people have woven many tales about the lake being haunted and an abode of spirits. Many believe that a village continues to exist beneath the lake. An interesting folktale that seems to have emerged during the colonial times is the story of a British officer dropping his sword in the middle of the lake. It is believed by locals that after the officer had commanded some men to retrieve the sword, the divers only returned after three whole days. In their defence, they stated that they were too drunk from the feast held in the village beneath the lake!
For both its cultural and ecological significance , the Pala tipo is undoubtedly an important natural heritage of Mizoram and of North-East India.
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