Eteima Mathu Naba Story < Edge >

While I couldn't find a specific, detailed narrative about Eteïma and Mathu Naba, their legacies continue to inspire and influence Fon culture and traditions to this day.

"The sea does not want a warrior. It wants a mother. I have dreamed of the bottom of the ocean. There is a house there made of coral, and it is empty. I will go live in it, so that my breath becomes the tide, and my heartbeat becomes the waves. In return, the sea will give back your shores." eteima mathu naba story

To the uninitiated, the phrase is a cipher. Eteima (elder mother or grandmother), Mathu (a name or state of binding/puzzlement), Naba (to become or to fall ill). In the old Meitei tongue, "Eteima Mathu Naba" translates roughly to “The Grandmother Who Became the Tangled Puzzle” or “The Elder Mother’s Fall into the Bind.” While I couldn't find a specific, detailed narrative

So the next time you see a river, any river, pause. Ask yourself: Whose unnamed mourning carved this path? Whose irreversible weeping am I drinking from right now? I have dreamed of the bottom of the ocean