73. Inside us there are two, or may be more

Lion headed Narasimha

In early 2013, a widely circulated high-definition video had claimed that one of President Barack Obama’s security attaché was a shape-shifting alien humanoid. Considered one of the internet's most insane conspiracy theories, the White House had dismissed such alien bodyguards as too costly in this era of budgetary austerity. But the claim gained much traction, and had generated loads of interesting comments in the virtual sphere. The conspiracy may have been dismissed but it was widely held that the agent must have been shapeshifting into some sort of reptilian, nonhuman form. 

It may be easy to dismiss shapeshifters as rumour or superstition but across cultures, from primitive to modern, there have been reports of many such encounters. One such was reflected in the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London, which had inspired Mahesh Bhatt to recreate Junoon a decade later wherein a young man is cursed to become a tiger every full moon night. The prevalence of shapeshifter archetype in books and movies reflect the fantasy of turning oneself into something more powerful, modifying one's identity to represent the repressed desire of being something other.    

Humans are known to possess animal instincts, purportedly to explore their dark side and to break free of the bonds of proper societal behavior. Not only that, they also defy logic by getting under the animal skins to exhibit their extraordinary powers. Who would have forgotten the elusive monkeyman prowling old parts of Delhi in recent times or the image of mythical half-lion Narasimha devouring the obstinate king in the olden days. Real or imaginary, the phenomenon of humans shapeshifting into animals lurks deep in our psyche with its manifestation seen in movies, books and computer games.

Psychologists tell us we all harbour dual nature within us - the higher, noble and moral self, and the base, amoral and animal nature. Masks and costumes have been used to slip from one into the other, a safe outlet for expressing our hidden desires. From cave paintings and other artefacts, archaeologists have deduced prehistoric rituals and dance ceremonies designed to invoke the spirits of animals. Till this day, it is believed that when men of Nagaland's Konyak tribe sleep, their souls travel into wild animals, like a leopard, and they become leopard-like in their actions and rarely get defeated in a battle.

It seems tribal societies wrested the power of shapeshifting from the gods, the tales of which abound across all cultures. Lord Vishnu incarnates in various forms; Jesus is perceived as a divine shapeshifter; and the Buddha gets protection from transformed nagas. These and other tales might seem like relics of antiquity bereft of any logic, but such an opinion belies the staying power of theses stories. Even if imaginary, the shapeshifters have encouraged and empowered us towards transformation. Among many, the films Terminator and Transformers are its popular onscreen manifestations that bridge the gap between imagination and reality!  

In his exploration of the cultural history of 'Shapeshifters'*, Ohio University Creative Writing Instructor John Kachuba suggests the need to step back from our technology obsessed mind to appreciate things that our senses have yet to grow sharper to acknowledge and appreciate. In this light, the shapeshifters challenge all our assumptions about what we think we know. Only when we identify less with the form we have as a body, the power of shapeshifter will come more fully into our lived experience to enable communication between human and non-human intelligence.  

Deeply embedded in our consciousness, the shapeshifter archetype endures. So much so that there are millions of people across the world who believe that shapeshifters walk among us, and consider some of them may even be our present leaders. The werewolf in the form of a political leader isn't a remote possibility. It never was!

First published in The Hindu on Oct 10, 2021.