The story
From the Meitei language words, "tap" (the sound of rain water drops falling on the ground) and "ta" (literally meaning "to fall").
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tapta
Today it means: An imaginary creature, in Meitei folklore, described by a mother to frighten her child to stop crying, which was misunderstood by a tiger for a man, who mistakenly mount on the very tiger, mistaking it as a horse, thereby resulting in a panicking situation for both the thief and the tiger. Full definition →