The Lushei Kuki Clans 32

The Lushei Kuki Clans 32

The remaining clans still adhere to the ancient style, their houses

being raised some four or five feet off the ground on posts. The

walls are of planks, and the roofs of thatching grass; they remind

one much of the Falam houses. Round each village are clustered

the granaries--small houses raised well off the ground and placed

sufficiently far from the dwelling houses to make them fairly safe

from fire. Where the houses are raised sufficiently pigs and poultry

live under them; but cattle sheds are common, most of these clans

having learnt the value of cows and buffaloes from the Manipuris. The

handsome breed of goats so common in a Lushai village is seldom if

ever seen, but animals of an inferior sort are generally kept.

 

The Chiru, Kom, and Tikhup still build zawlbuks. No woman is allowed

to enter these buildings, which, besides being the dormitories of

the unmarried men, are used for drinking bouts. They are externally

very like those built by the Lushais, but have several fireplaces

evidently used for cooking, and the general hearth in the centre is

absent. Some of the clans which do not now build zawlbuks say that

they believe their forefathers did so. In the absence of the zawlbuk

the young men generally sleep in the houses of well-to-do villagers,

but among the Purum I am told that "if a man has one unmarried son

and one unmarried daughter, the boy goes to sleep at the house of

a man who has an unmarried daughter; though they sleep in this way

they are very careful about their characters." Have we here stumbled

on the real origin of the "young men's house"--a desire to prevent

incest? The young women also have houses in which they gather at time

of festivals, but they do not sleep there.

 

The rotchem, the Lushai mouth-organ, is found among all these clans,

but rather smaller and ornamented with fowls' feathers. The Anal make

a speciality of long bamboo trumpets, on which they perform with

considerable skill, producing sounds indistinguishable from those

of a bugle. The trumpets are from four to five feet long, and have

bell-shaped mouths made of gourds.

 

Most of these clans have adopted various dances from the Manipuris,

their own dancing being of the monotonous nature common to the Lushais

and Kukis.

 

In dress and method of wearing the hair Manipuri influence is also

noticeable, the men generally wearing coats and loin-cloths and

turbans. The women are more conservative and adhere to the short

petticoat. The hair is generally worn very much in the Lushai fashion,

but the Chiru men are an exception to this. They part their hair in

the middle and brush it down straight, and trim it level with the

bottom of the ears. They bind a narrow fillet of cane round the head

slightly above the eyes. The Kolhen women gather the hair into two

heavy rolls, which hang down in front of each ear. The Tikhup maidens

have adopted the Manipuri method of dressing the hair.

 

The ivory discs worn in the ears by Lushai women are not found,

but metal rings are worn in a similar manner by both sexes.

 

The Manipuris have instituted in each village a number of posts with

high-sounding titles, similar to those in use among themselves,

but traces of the older organisation are to be found. Thus the

Aimol recognise a man called Thompa, of the Chomgom family, as

the head of the clan, but he has no power and receives nothing,

while in each village are four officials who receive a portion

of every animal killed in the chase. They are called "kamzakhoi,"

"zakachhunga," "zupalba," and "pakanglakpa." The last two titles have

a distinctly Manipuri sound about them. The usual titles found are

"khul-lakpa"--i.e., chief of the village--"lup-lakpa," "zupalba," and

"Methei lumbu"--i.e. Manipuri interpreter--but there are others. The

khul-lakpa and lup-lakpa are hereditary posts. Among the Lamgang there

are seven such hereditary posts. Among the Chiru the khul-lakpa,

besides receiving a portion of each animal killed, also gets his

house built for nothing, which brings him very near to the Lushai

"lal." Among the Kolhen the khul-lakpa's and lup-lakpa's posts are

not hereditary, but on the death of either his successor must be

chosen out of the same family, but his sons are ineligible. The new

official has to give a feast, killing a pig, which is eaten by the

whole community, and the young men and maidens make merry with dance

and song. It seems probable that in this may be some idea of averting

the evil effects of a breach of the generally accepted custom.

 

The puithiam is known as "thempu," "khulpu," or "bulropa," and both

he and the blacksmith are sometimes rewarded, receiving a day's labour

from each householder they serve, instead of a donation of rice.

 

The Lushai system of "boi" is generally unknown, which is only natural

in such democratic communities.

 

The following animals are not generally eaten--tigers, snakes, cats,

crows, or kites; and among the Lamgang the rat is also considered

unfit for food.

 

Each clan is divided into eponymous families and generally marriage

is restricted to the clan, but alliances within the family are

prohibited. The Aimol clan is divided into five families--Chongom,

Laita or Mangte, Khoichung or Leivon, Lanu, and Chaita. Marriage is

unrestricted, but it is unusual for either sex to marry without the

clan. The Kolhen are divided into twelve exogamous families divided

into two groups, which are also exogamous (v. below, under Festivals,

page 167), but marriage outside the clan is prohibited. Among the

Anal, Purum, and Lamgang marriages must be made within the clan,

but not within the family.

 

The Tikhup clan, which only numbers some twenty households, is not

sub-divided, but marriage is endogamous. The union of first cousins,

either paternal or maternal, is prohibited. The elders of the clan

attributed the steady decline in their numbers to this custom of

endogamy.

 

The Chiru and Chawte customs are alike; not only is a young man's

choice limited to some family in the clan other than his own, but the

actual families from which he may choose his bride are strictly fixed.

 

Among the Chiru--

 

 

A Danla lad may marry a Dingthoi or Shangpa girl.

A Dingthoi lad may marry a Chongdur or Danla girl.

A Rezar lad may marry a Danla girl.

A Shangpa lad may marry a Dingthoi or Danla girl.

A Chongdur lad may marry a Danla girl.

 

 

Danla is the family from which the khul-lakpa must be taken, and Rezar

has already been noticed as the son of Chongthu, from whom the Chiru

claim descent.

 

Among the Chawte--

 

 

A Marem lad may only marry a Makhan girl.

A Makhan lad may only marry an Irung girl.

A Kiang lad may only marry a Makhan or Marem girl.

An Irung lad may only marry a Marem, Thao, or Kiang girl.

A Thao lad may only marry a Makhan girl.

 

 

Among the Aimol, Anal, Chiru, and Purum, a young man has to serve

his future wife's father for three years, during which he works as

if he were a son of the house. During this period he has free access

to the girl, though among the Chiru he continues to sleep among the

bachelors. Should the girl become enceinte the marriage ceremony must

be performed, and the price paid. Among the Aimol the bride's eldest

brother gets Rs. 6/- and each of the others one rupee less than his

immediate senior. The paternal and maternal uncles receive Rs. 2/-

each; the aunt and the elder sister also receive Rs. 1/- each as

"niman" and "nao-puan-puk-man," as among the Lushais. Among the Anal

and the Purum, the price must not be less than a pig and a piece of

iron a cubit in length, but the girl's relatives try to get as much

more as they can. The bridegroom has also to feast the family of his

bride three times on pork, fowls, and rice, washed down, of course,

with plenty of zu. The Chiru girls are only valued at one gong.

 

Among the other clans, marriage is by simple purchase. A Chawte maiden

can be obtained for a spear, a dao, and a fowl, the payment being

sealed by the consumption of much zu. The price of a Kolhen girl

is a gong and Rs. 7/- to her mother, and Rs. 7/- each to the elder

and younger brother and the maternal uncle. This is most curious,

for the father is entirely omitted. Can it be a survival of mother

right? The Kom girls are valued very high, the father receiving one

gong, four buffaloes, fifteen cloths, a hoe, and a spear, the aunt

taking a black and white cloth. A Lamgamg bridegroom has to pay his

father-in-law three pigs or buffaloes or cows, one string of conch

shell beads, one lead bracelet, and one black or blue petticoat. A

Tikhup father expects a gong, ten hoes, one dao, and one spear;

the maternal grandfather also demands Rs. 7/-.

 

The price of a Vaiphei girl varies between two and ten mithan. To a

certain extent the price of the girls may be taken as an indication

of the relative importance of the clan. Marriage by servitude is not

found among either the Lushai or the Thado clans; its appearance among

the Old Kukis is therefore curious, for as a rule the customs of a

clan will be found to resemble those of one or the other of these

two main divisions of the Kuki-Lushai race.

 

Polygamy is, as a rule, permitted. Among the Anal and Lamgang, the

first wife is entitled to the company of her husband for five nights,

the second for four, and the third for three. It is not quite clear

how a second marriage by servitude can be carried out, and probably

the rules are modified in such cases. Polygamy is but little practised

on account of the expense; among the Kolhen it is prohibited.

 

In most of these clans the Thado rule of inheritance is followed--viz.,

the eldest son takes all his father's property, the younger sons only

getting what the heir chooses to give them. Among the Anal and Purum,

and probably also the Lamgang, the sons of the deceased divide the

property, but the youngest son takes the house and supports the widow,

thus approximating to the Lushai custom.

 

In most clans the father of an illegitimate child is fined. Among

the Chiru the fine is a pig, a mithan, and two gongs.

 

Divorce is generally easily obtained. Among the Aimol, if either

party repents of the bargain, the payment of a cloth and three pots

of zu annuls the contract. Among the Tikhup the cost of divorce is a