Imlisanen JamirChristopher Nolan's Odyssey opened in theatres this month, retelling a story first assembled by reciters who carried it in memory for generations before anyone thought to write it down. Homer's epic began as sound, repeated at gatherings, reshaped slightly with each telling, held together by rhythm and formula because rhythm and formula are what let a reciter carry thousands of lines without a page in front of him. Naga society carried its own histories the same way, and did so for considerably longer than most outside observers assume. What Homer's tradition received, and what Naga oral tradition has mostly been denied, is patience. Naga oral history is ageing quietly in the memory of people who are still alive, and unlike Gilgamesh, it does not get to wait to be rediscovered.