THE ORIGINS AND MEANING 

OF THE WORD 

MA-NA-TAK-A

by Takatoka

During our first journey to Manataka back in 1955, we knew very little about this sacred place and its secrets.   During the next 50-odd years, we learned many things about this special place on earth, but even after a half-century, the origin and meaning of the word "Manataka" did not present itself as an important issue -- until now.

It was Apache Grandmother Napanee Henrietta Gray Horse who came to Manataka (Hot Springs) in 1927 at age 14 that first told this writer that the name of this these sacred grounds was Manataka.   

Napanee was the young wife of Chiricahua Chief Benito Altaha Gray Horse. She made her home with Benito in Gulpha Gorge at the foot of the great Manataka mountain until sometime after he stepped  over the stream of life in 1945.  Napanee then built a small shack on the mountain off Sleepy Valley Road and that is where we met years later when she was wore white hair and was bent with age.    

While among dominant society, Napanee did not use her English first name "Louise" but preferred her middle name, Henrietta that she pronounced it Eh-ni-eeta.   Over a period of several years, Napanee told us many stories about her life with Benito and things she had learned from him, other Indians and spiritual elders who often came to pray at the sacred mountain.

Our first discussion about the name of the sacred Valley of the Vapors, began with the words she used to describe water.  We found it curious that she referred to the hot springs that flowed on the other side of the mountain as No-waa-sal-on - Breath of Healing and also called the cold-water stream that flowed in front of her home by the same name.  At the time we thought the name Nowaasalon was a fitting name for the hot waters because the meaning of the word obviously referred to the vapors that escaped from the hot springs -- but the cold water stream emitted no steam -- or Breath of Healing.  

As usual, it seemed like an eternity before she answered our question.  We learned it was best to remain patient and respectful while waiting for an answer, even though this wise elder sometimes did not respond to my incessant questions for weeks.  After staring into my eyes for several minutes she responded, "...One of the seven waters of this [cold- water] stream comes from a place of great healing within the Earth Mother...  The other waters [hot springs] heal the body, but these waters heal the spirit," she said.  After a lengthy discussion over a period of several days about how the waters heal the body and spirit, Napanee spoke about the names of other places around the area.  Napanee Louise Henrietta Gray Horse was one of our teachers and guides. 

The second person to tell us the name of this sacred valley is Manataka was Marcus Phillips, who many years later wrote the "Indian Folk Lore Atlas of Hot Springs National Park" and at age 90 is the current president of the Hot Springs Historical Society.   Marcus was formally adopted by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1991 and later honored by the Choctaw Nation for his work to preserve American Indian history at Hot Springs.  

According to Mr. Phillips, the area of the hot springs was given the name Manataka hundreds, if not thousands of years ago by the people who first discovered this sacred site and long before the first modern tribes of the Caddo, Quapaw, Tunica and Shawnee wandered into this area.  Phillips says, "...Words like Manataka and Nowaasalon became widely used by the many travelers who regularly visited the hot springs."  Mr. Phillips is not certain of the name of the tribe who first named this site Manataka, but is confident that the meaning of the word is the "Place of Peace."  

Over the course of several decades, Marcus Phillips became an important contributor to the knowledge and understanding of this writer regarding the history and folklore of these mountains and valleys.   He remains today another of our honored teachers and guides.

The third source from which we learned about the name Manataka came from the United States Department of the Interior, Hot Springs National Park Service.  Three metal plaques were prominently displayed in downtown Hot Springs by the NPS, and each gave a conflicting story about the name of this sacred site.  The first plaque said the Indian name for this Place of Peace was Nowaasalon, but As we have already learned, that word was used to describe the waters, not the entire area.  The second NPS plaque said this place was called "Tanico", but we know that was a physical impossibility because Taino was the capital of the Tula Tribe who were located about 40 miles southwest of Manataka near the area of Caddo Gap, Arkansas.  The third plaque finally got it right by saying Indians called this sacred place, Manataka. 

Until the past few years, (since the time the Manataka American Indian Council became prominent in the area), the National Park Service appears to have had no problem with the names Manataka, Nowaasalon and Tanico, as the names were used interchangeably by the NPS and these words appeared in various NPS documents.  Today, however, the local NPS bureaucrats have suddenly decided that Indians did not have a name for the sacred valley and mountains and none of the names used are valid -- in their mind.   

During the past twenty-five years, literally dozens of Indian elders gave us sacred words in their languages used to describe this holy place we know as Manataka -- the Place of Peace.  Sacred words cannot be repeated in print or used verbally outside the sacred circle, but the combination of all the words in native tongues and their meanings can be distilled down to a single phrase -- The Place of Peace.

As mentioned, the origin of the word Manataka is a matter of some conjecture.  For example, some say that the word originally came from the Capoose Tribe who lived in the area of Lake Manataka in northern Pennsylvania.  The Shawnees, Mingos and Linni Lenapes, who were also from the same area of Pennsylvania as the Capoose are also credited with giving the Place of Peace its name.  

We discount these claims primarily because all these tribes were newcomers -- appearing sometime between 900 and 1500 C.E. and several tribes had already adopted the name Manataka. 

Even though the Caddo were the most prevalent tribe to the south and west of Manataka, no reference for the word can be found in Caddo stories and literature.  Likewise, no reference can be found among the Quapaw, Tunica and Choctaw tribes who were also found in the general area of the Mississippi River valley in Arkansas prior to European invasions.  

However, the Caddo considered Manataka a "Garden of Eden" where their ancestors were molded from the red clay and given life in the hot springs.  Other Caddo legends refer to the sacred medicine water and other unmistakable features of Manataka.   

(Click on the picture and story on the left to enlarge. ©Through Indian Eyes, pp27, Reader's Digest Association, 1995.)

By our own estimation, the Tula Indians, who also occupied the area surrounding the Hot Springs are the most likely originators of the word Manataka.   Little is know about the language of the Tula although some historians mistakenly assume the Tula were of Caddo stock simply because they may have spoken the Kadohadacho dialect for trade purposes.  

The Tula are considered the "Keepers of Manataka" and were called "Rock Men" by other tribes because they traded heavily in novaculite rock they mined on Indian Mountain (one of the Three Sister Mountains of Manataka).  The Tula were fierce warriors feared by all their neighbors, including the warlike Osage in the north.  In 1541, Tula warriors, both men and women defeated Hernando DeSoto's Conquistador army at Tanico, the only tribe to have caused the Spanish to retreat from battle.  DeSoto's scribes later wrote in his journals that the Tula were fiercest people the Conquistadors had ever encountered.  

The Tula disfigured their faces, heavily tattooed their bodies and practiced  cradleboard deformation that produced heads that were either pointed or flat according to family status within the tribe.  Regardless of their obvious fearsome appearance and proficiency in battle, the Tula were also known for their kindness and generosity.  After all, they allowed emissaries of all tribes to enter the sacred Valley of Peace and while there, the Tula played the role of the gracious host by assisting visitors to locate food and presented them with gifts. 

Many historians believe both the Tula and Caddo originally came from Central America.  There is strong evidence to support this claim found in their art, language, tools and ceremonies.   In Central America, predecessors of the Aztec and Maya were the Toltec and their capital was Tula.   Many of the same traits of the Tula of Arkansas are also found among the Toltec of Tula.  The northern Tula raised ducks and domesticated turkeys, unlike any tribe in the entire region. They planted vegetables, such as Amaranth and Yam Beans, a turnip-like root, that were unknown to any local tribe but are found among tribes in Central and South America.  The Tula also built religious structures like sweat lodges and meeting places were built in the shape of a pyramid -- just like the Tula of Central America.  

The primary distinction of the Tula, however,  is not their lifestyle, customs, or physical appearance, but the important role they played as the Keepers of Manataka.   As a fierce and independent people the Tula could have easily closed the doors to this sacred site.  Yet, in their wisdom and strength, the Tula welcomed all tribes in peace and helped their brothers and sisters during their stay.  They served as guides to the local area and spiritual guides to other realms.

The Tula of Tanico vanished sometime between 1541 and the 1600's presumably as a result of disease brought by the Europeans.  Today in the center of Caddo Gap stands a large bronze figure of an Indian nine feet in height, mounted on a tall pedestal of native stone. The Indian has his right hand raised, giving the friendship sign, but history tells a different story. The inscription on the marble tablet in the face of the pedestal reads: DeSoto 1541-A.D. Here DeSoto reached his most westward point in the United States. Here was the capitol of the warlike Tula tribe of Indians who fiercely fought DeSoto and his men. Relics found in this vicinity suggest the romance of past centuries about which history will ever be meager and incomplete. Arkansas State History Commission, 1936.

In May 1937 Chief Benito Gray Horse, an Apache and a later-day Keeper of Manataka then living in Gulpha Gorge at the foot of the great Manataka Mountain in Hot Springs, gave an Indian benediction at ceremonies and the raising of the bronze statute at Caddo Gap commemorating the achievements of the Tula Indians of Tanico.

The Tula of Tanico were the most prominent pre-modern tribe in the immediate vicinity of Manataka.  They protected and served this sacred site for all people.  Therefore, we give the Keepers of Manataka, the Tula of Tanico the honor and credit for giving us the word Manataka -- the Place of Peace. 

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