The Lushei Kuki Clans 30
southern extremity of Champhai. Mangthawnga, father of Mangkhaia,
joined Khawzahuala the Zadeng, then living at Tualbung, but, being
ill-treated, the Ralte joined Sutmanga, a Thado chief then at Phaileng,
who treated them well. Thawnglura, son of Mangthawnga, showed his
gratitude to Sutmanga by assisting the Sailo chief Lallianvunga,
father of Gnura (Mullah)--whose village Colonel Lister burnt in
1850--to attack him. Sutmanga then fled northwards. It is satisfactory
to know that Thawnglura's treachery was rewarded by the enslavement
of his clan, who till our occupation of the Hills remained vassals
of the Sailos. The Ralte are very quarrelsome, and have to a great
extent resisted absorption into the Lushais. In some Sailo chiefs'
villages there are so many Ralte that the chief himself speaks their
dialect, and though Lushai is understood little else but Ralte is
heard in the village.
The Ralte are linguistically connected with the Thado, and, like the
Thado, they used not to build zawlbuks, but are now following Lushai
custom in this respect.
The Khelte family has ten and the Siakeng family eleven branches. To
the various sums paid to the relatives of the bride among the Lushais,
the Ralte add "dawngbul" and "dawngler"--sums of Rs. 3/- paid to her
male and female paternal first cousins.
The two families have slightly different customs as regard
sacrifices. The Khelte sacrifice to Sakhua is a boar, which is killed
at the head of the parents' sleeping place and then cooked on the
hearth. The skull is hung on the back wall of the house in a basket
with six pieces of the liver and three of the skin. The chant is
as follows:--
Ah--h. You whom our grandmothers worshipped!
Ah--h. You whom our grandfathers worshipped!
Ah--h. You of our birthplace!
Ah--h. You of our place of origin!
Ah--h. You who made the Khelte!
Ah--h. You who made the Tuangphei!
Ah--h. In what we have done wrong!
Ah--h. In what we have sung amiss!
Ah--h. Make it right!
The Siakeng, after killing the boar as the Khelte do, entertain those
of their own branch, but before the flesh is eaten it is divided into
three portions, which are placed for a short time successively on the
floor, on the sleeping-place, and on the shelf over the hearth, being
thus offered to the spirits of the house, the couch, and the hearth.
Of the Naohri sacrifices the Khelte only perform the Hmar-phir, which
they call "Thangsang" and the Ui-ha-awr, while the Siakeng perform
the Vawkte-luilam, called by them "Chhim-hal," and the Ui-ha-awr.
They have adopted most of the Thangchhuah festivals, but not the
Mi-thi-rawp-lam. When a mithan is killed it is not speared as among
the Lushais, but killed by a blow on the forehead. The skull is placed
at the foot of the partition wall for three days, and on the fourth
it is taken out and placed at the foot of the memorial post. Some
ginger, beans, and salt are placed on a dish and an old man takes
the skull, and all dance round the post three times to the beating of
drums and gongs. Then ginger is thrown three times on to the skull,
after which the house-owner's wife pierces the skull with a spear,
but if she be pregnant this must be done by a man. The skull is then
placed on one of the posts of the platform in front of the house till
the Khuangchoi has been performed.
On the occasion of the first death occurring in a new village a spot is
selected beyond the line of houses, and the corpse is buried there,
subsequent interments being made close at hand. It is considered
"thianglo" to bury in a village. A well-to-do Khelte after death
is dressed in his best, and seated with his back to the partition
wall while his relatives and friends drink and dance before him. A
bier is made by elderly persons, and on this the corpse is placed in
a sitting position, with his weapons in his hands, and three times
lifted by old men and women up to the rafters, while drums and gongs
are beaten, after which the body is carried out to the graveyard.
The birth customs generally resemble those of the Lushais.
[The Paihte or Vuite.] This is a clan of some importance still. There
are eleven Vuite villages, numbering 877 houses, in the south-west
corner of the Manipur State and two in the adjoining portions of the
Lushai Hills. When we occupied the Hills we found many of this clan
living in a species of slavery in the villages of important Sailo
chiefs. They have mostly rejoined their clansmen, from whom they had
been carried off as prisoners of war.
The clan is generally known to the Lushais as Paihte, but Vuite is
the term more commonly used by its members and in Manipur. Vuitea and
Paihtea were the sons of Lamleia, who was hatched out of an egg. There
were two eggs, and Aichhana, a Thado, tasted one, and, finding it
bitter, threw it away and put the other among the rice in the bin, and
in due time Lamleia was hatched out, and the present Vuite chiefs claim
to be his direct descendants, enumerating seventeen generations. The
Thado version of this story is that Dongel, Thado's elder brother,
had incestuous intercourse with his elder sister, and on a male child
being born their mother was so ashamed that she hid the child in a
hollow tree, thinking it would die, but when she found it was alive
after several days she brought it into the house and concealed it
in the paddy bin, and produced it a few days later, saying that she
had found two big eggs in a hollow tree and had tasted one and had
found it very bitter. The second she had placed in the paddy, where
it had been hatched by the sun's rays. Hence the child was called
Gwite, from "ni-gwi," the Thado for a ray of sunshine. The Vuite,
of course, do not admit this tale to be true, but my informant tells
me that in his father's time, when the Dongel and Vuite lived near to
each other, the former paid "sathing"--i.e., a portion of each animal
killed--to the latter, in recognition that the Vuite were descended
from the elder sister of their ancestor. The Vuite, however, always
tried to avoid accepting such presents, and when the Dongel moved
away the custom died out. The first Vuite village is said to have
been at Chimnuai, near to Tiddim. The name of this site comes first
in the Vuite Sakhua chant which I obtained in the Lushai Hills. Being
attacked by the Sokte and Falam clans, they joined the Thangur chiefs,
but were ill-treated and fled to the neighbourhood in which they now
live, and waged war with their oppressors till the establishment of
our rule. They at one time approached the Manipur plain and in 1870,
under Sumkam, they raided a Manipuri village, to avenge a charge of
being wizards. They appear to be closely connected with the Malun,
Sokte, and Kamhau clans of the adjoining Chin Hills, and Dr. Grierson
places them linguistically in the same group as these clans and the
Thado. In their dress and habitations they resemble the Lushais, but
the place of the zawlbuk is taken by the front verandah of the houses
of certain persons of importance, in which are long sleeping bunks in
which half a dozen or more young men pass the night. The young fellows
help their host in his house-building and cultivation, and once a year
he gives them a feast of a pig. This custom prevails in most of the
non-Lushei clans, and also among the Kabui Nagas in the Manipur Hills.
The women do not wear the huge ivory earrings of the Lushai but
cornelians or short lead bars.
The general constitution of the clan and the village is very similar
to that of the Lushais. As regards marriage they are monogamists,
in this particular forming a very remarkable exception to all their
cognates. The marriages of paternal first cousins are allowed--in
fact, among chiefs they are the rule. The parents of a young man
who desires to marry a girl go to her house with an offering of zu,
and if this is accepted the girl is at once taken to their house,
but the bridegroom continues for two or three months to sleep with
his bachelor friends. The marriage is not considered final nor is any
payment made till a child is born, and if this does not occur within
three years the couple separate, but on the birth of a child the full
price agreed on must be paid up and divorce is not countenanced. On
my enquiring what would happen in case the lady subsequently proved
fickle, my informant smiled in a superior manner and said that such
behaviour was unknown among his people. The Vuite object to giving
their girls to the Lushais on account of the tendency of Lushai
husbands to discard their wives on the slightest excuse.
Although the Vuite do not maintain that before marriage their girls
are invariably chaste, yet one who errs is looked down on, and in
consequence abortion and infanticide are said to be common. "Sawnman"
at Rs. 23/- is demanded from the seducer.
As among most non-Lushei tribes, the eldest son inherits. The
punishments for offences are similar to those among the Lushais,
but the Vuite assert that the crime of sodomy is unknown among
them. Murder can be atoned for by the payment of seven mithan to
the heir of the murdered man, and accidental homicide by that of one
mithan and a gun. In the days when war was common they used to ambush
their enemies more than was usual among the Lushais, but they never
went head-hunting simply for honour and glory. As regards "boi,"
they follow Lushai customs closely.
Pathian is acknowledged, and in general their religious beliefs
resemble those of the Lushais, but they have no idea of a separate
abode for the spirits of warriors. They believe that departed spirits
have two or more lives in the land beyond the grave.
For their Sakhua sacrifice a boar is killed on the front verandah
and cooked within the house. The skin of the head, the testicles,
heart, snout, and liver are placed on a bamboo over the verandah,
which must be freshly thatched.
Immediately after birth the child is washed, and a fowl is killed, and
its feathers are worn round the necks of the mother and infant. The
mother may go out of the house, but for four days after the birth
both parents abstain from all work. On occasion of the naming two
or three pigs if available should be killed and much zu drunk. The
Khal sacrifices, with the exception of Uihring, are not performed,
but most of the other sacrifices are made.
The custom of paying "lukawng" on the death of a person is unknown, and
the funeral ceremonies generally are very unlike those of the Lushais.
After death the corpse is placed on a platform and fires are lit round
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