The Lushei Kuki Clans 39

The Lushei Kuki Clans 39

CHAPTER IV

 

THE THADO CLAN

 

 

The term New Kukis, which appears so often in the records of Cachar

and Sylhet in the middle of the last century, and which has been

adopted by Dr. Grierson in the "Linguistic Survey of India," may be

taken as synonymous with the Thado clan. The clan is a very large

one; Dr. Grierson in the "Linguistic Survey" estimates the numbers

as follows:--

 

 

In Manipur 20,000.

In Naga Hills 5,500.

In Cachar Plains 5,403.

In Sylhet 534.

-------

Total 31,437.

 

 

This estimate omits the members of the clan in North Cachar Hills and

in the unadministered tracts between the Naga Hills and Manipur on the

west and the Upper Chindwin district of Burma on the east. Allowing

for these, we may safely conclude that the clan now numbers about

37,000 souls.

 

The clan is divided in a manner exactly similar to the Lushei. There

are four main families, all named after their progenitors, and these

are further sub-divided into many eponymous branches. The whole clan

traces its genealogy back to Thado and his elder brother Dongel,

and beyond them to mythical heroes who lived below the surface of the

ground. The late Colonel McCulloch, in his most interesting "Account

of the Valley of Manipur," says, "About the names of those previous to

Thado there may be some doubt, but from this great chief, from whom

the whole race takes the appellation of Thado, I don't think that

there is any." After many enquiries I am quite of the same opinion

and have found pedigrees collected from various sources differ but

slightly from that recorded by Colonel McCulloch fifty years ago. The

original habitation of this clan is said to have been Kochuk, situated

very far to the south of Manipur. Here I must differ from Colonel

McCulloch, who says the traditional home of the Thados was in the

north. There are other reasons besides tradition for believing that

the Thados have come from the south, the many resemblances between

them and other clans, which either still live in the centre of the

Hills or did so till quite recently, and the connection between

their language and those of the Sokte, Siyin, Vuite, and Ralte,

so clearly established by Dr. Grierson, amply proves the southern

origin of this clan. It appears almost certain that the Kamhaus,

Soktes, and Siyins were the first to disturb the Thados, many of

whom entered Manipur territory to escape from these active foes,

while others probably moved westward and settled in the hills to the

south of the Cachar district, whence in 1848-50 they were driven into

Cachar by the triumphant Lushais, as described in Part I., Chapter I,

para. 3. In the Manipuri chronicle there is mention of an expedition

against the Khongjais, as the Manipuris call the Thados, as early

as 1787, and though the chronicle cannot be accepted as infallible,

I think we may conclude that the Thados entered the Manipur Hills

about the middle of the 18th century. The different families seem very

soon to have separated and, just as among the Lusheis, to have fought

among themselves, for tradition speaks of a great battle between the

Shit-hloh and the Chhinchhuan, on the Sawnchal hill, some 60 miles

in an air-line south-east of Imphal, the capital of Manipur.

 

The four main families are the Dongel, Shit-hloh, Haukip, and

Kipgen. The Dongel are descended from Thado's elder brother, and

therefore are considered as rather superior to the rest of the

families. The reason why the clan has not been known by the name

of Dongel is said to be that Thado was a far greater warrior and

killed more men. His name is derived, by the people themselves, from

"that," "to kill," and "doh," "to war." It is curious that the direct

descendants of Thado are known as Shit-hloh. This Shit-hloh was the

seventh in the direct line from Thado, and it is said that up till

his time the followers of the direct line had been fewer than those

of the Kipgen and Haukip, but Shit-hloh was great in council and

war, and retrieved the fortunes of his family, and hence his name

has been adopted by them. Thus Thado remains as the true clan name,

while Shit-hloh, Kipgen, and Haukip are the names of the families,

which are further subdivided, as among the Lushais, into many branches,

mostly named eponymously. The Kipgen and Haukip have always differed

slightly from the Shit-hloh. The reason given for this is that Thalun,

the son of Thado, was one day sitting outside his house with his wife,

and, being alone together, the lady was somewhat careless as to her

garments. Hearing some people approaching, Thalun told her to adjust

her dress, and as she did not at once comply he threw a piece of wood

at her and killed her on the spot. Being overcome with grief and shame,

he fled to another part of the country and married again, the second

wife being the mother of Kipgen and Haukip, whereas Elmun, from whom

the Shit-hloh claim descent, was the son of the ill-fated first wife.

 

The number of branches into which these three families have

divided is very great, and the connection of all of them with the

parent stem is not very well established. Most of them are now of

but little importance, the members being much scattered, but the

Chhinchhuan, a branch of the Shit-hloh, and Chongput and Hawlthang,

both branches of the Haukip family, still are of some importance. The

Chhinchhuan chiefs rule over eleven villages, containing 952 houses,

in the southern portion of the Manipur Hills, where they have been

established certainly over 150 years. The Chongput and Hawlthang

chiefs occupy sites in the hills to the west of the Manipur valley,

which were assigned to them by Colonel McCulloch about 1850, and rule

over some 190 houses.

 

With the exception of the three branches just mentioned, the Thados

have broken up very much, and are found in small hamlets scattered

about the territory of totally different clans, without any reference

to locality or ethnographical considerations.

 

All members of these families, however, admit the claims of the head

chief to their allegiance, and in token thereof give him, or his

nearest representative, a hind leg of every wild animal killed.

 

The Thados generally are very truculent; in Manipur they have settled

themselves among the more peaceable Nagas, and until the British

Government assumed control of the State they lived largely on the

labour of these unfortunate people, whom they had virtually reduced to

slaves. The Manipuris found it easier to acquiesce in this oppression

by the Thados than to coerce them, and the Thados were used on many

occasions to punish Naga tribes whom the Manipuris were unable to

reduce to submission. The superior cunning of the Manipuris enabled

them to maintain their influence over the Thados by skilfully playing

off one family against another. On one occasion three of the most

powerful chiefs were enticed inside the royal enclosure in Imphal and

treacherously murdered. At present large numbers of Thados are moving

eastward in unadministered country, carrying on the same bullying

tactics, reducing the inhabitants, who as yet have no firearms,

to the condition of slaves.

 

Among the Thados are found the remnants of many other clans, which

have been practically absorbed, having adopted Thado customs and

language. It is asserted that at the time of the Thimzing (v. Part I.,

Chap. V, para. 1) Lianthang and his brother Thlangom, and Lunkim and

his brother Changsan, had such large supplies of skulls of animals

killed by them that they were enabled to live through that trying

time by using the trophies of their skill in the chase as fuel,

and from them the present Lianthang, Thlangom, Lunkim, and Changsan

clans claim descent. The Changsan are sub-divided into eight families

and are considered a clan of some standing, as is shown by the fact

that the Shit-hloh will only take wives from Shit-hloh, Changsan,

and Mangyel households.

 

The following clans are said not to be descended from Thado, but

to have emerged from the earth after the Thimzing:--Kulho, Shongte,

Kullon, Thangneo, Hanngeng, Henngar, and Thanchhing. They are now to

all intents and purposes Thados, most of them having even adopted the

Sakhua, or domestic sacrificial rites, of whichever family of the Thado

clan they have attached themselves to. Shongte and his younger brother

Kullon emerged from the Khulpi, which is the Thado equivalent of the

Lushai Chhinglung. Kulho, Thangneo, and Hanngeng were sons of Shongte,

the two latter being by a different mother to the first. Henngar was

Kulho's son. Kulho celebrated the Chong festival, and invited his

half-brothers, but Thangneo refused to come, so Kulho disowned him,

which angered Thangneo, so that he proposed to Hanngeng that they

should kill Kulho, but Hanngeng refused, saying that the removal of

Kulho would make Thangneo head of the family, but would in no way

benefit him. This ancient quarrel is sometimes revived even now,

and blows are exchanged when representatives of Kulho and Thangneo

meet round the zu-pot.

 

The houses of the Thados generally resemble those of the Lushais, but

are less regular in their interior arrangements, a big house sometimes

having two or three hearths irregularly placed. Zawlbuks are not built,

the young men sleeping in the houses of well-to-do people. The houses

of the chiefs are surrounded by palisading enclosing a courtyard,

along one side of which there is often a platform, which reminds one

very much of the Chin houses, and is one of the many trifles tending

to confirm the tradition of the southern origin of the clan. The

following extracts from Lieut. Stewart's notes on Northern Cachar,

written in 1855, show us the Thados as he knew them:--

 

"Each of the four clans is divided into separate and independent

Rajahlics, of greater or less power and numbers, consisting of one or

more villages, each of which is presided over by a hereditary chief

or Rajah, whose power is supreme, and who has a civil list as long,

in proportion to the means of his subjects, as that possessed by any

other despot in the world. All these Rajahs are supposed to have sprung

from the same stock, which it is believed originally had connection

with the gods themselves. Their persons are, therefore, looked upon

with the greatest respect and almost superstitious veneration, and

their commands are in every case law.

 

"The revenue exacted by these chieftains is paid in kind and

labour. In the former each able-bodied man pays annually a basket of

rice containing about two maunds; out of each brood of pigs or fowls

reared in the village, one of the young becomes the property of the

Rajah, and he is further entitled to one quarter of every animal killed