The Lushei Kuki Clans 41

The Lushei Kuki Clans 41

There is no doubt that head-hunting was indulged in in olden days,

and on the death of a powerful chief at least one freshly taken head

had to adorn his grave.

 

Lieutenant Stewart, in the book already quoted from, gives a good deal

of information about the religious beliefs of the Thados. He says

they recognise one all-powerful god, whom they call Pathen (Lushai

Pathian), who has a wife, Nongjai. I have enquired about Pathen's wife,

but though all my informants say that it is usual to speak of Pathen

Nongjai together, none could say whether Nongjai was Pathen's wife--an

equally powerful being, sharing power with Pathen--or simply another

name for Pathen. Stewart also provides Pathen with a son, Thihla,

but my informants all agree that the Thihla are demons of the hills,

rivers, and forests--in other words exactly the same as the Huais of

the Lushais. Ghumoishe, mentioned by Stewart, is the king of all these

Thihla, and he has a wife, Imungshe. They are supposed to inhabit

the densest forests on the highest mountain tops, and when passing

through such their dread names are never mentioned. About this demon

Stewart says: "By some he is said to be the illegitimate son of Pathen,

but others deny the relationship, and say that he has no connection

with the god whatever. The idea of making the origin of evil proceed

thus from an illegitimate source is exceedingly clever." None of my

informants would venture a guess even at Ghumoishe's parentage. Kuchom,

whom Stewart gives as Ghumoishe's wife, is nowadays, as far as I can

find out, unknown, as also is Hilo, said by Stewart to be the daughter

of the last-named couple and to be the goddess of poisons. The Thihla

are divided into Thingbulnga, the Thihla of the big trees; Shongbulnga,

of the rocks and stones; Tuikhumnga, the demons of the water, of whom

Tuikhumlen is the king. These water spirits are said to be far more

powerful than those of the woods or rocks, and therefore are often

spoken of as Tui-pathen. They also receive a fourfold sacrifice, of a

white fowl or an egg, a pig, a dog, which must not be entirely black,

and a he-goat, whereas cocks or hens are considered quite good enough

for the Thingbulgna or Shongbulgna.

 

Zomi is a female spectre, a sight of which is a sure forerunner of

some dire misfortune, which can only be averted by the immediate

sacrifice of a dog. Pheizam correspond to the Lashi. Nuaijingmang is

an evil spirit which lives underground.

 

After death the spirits of men and women, great and small, all go

to Mi-thi-khua. The only advantage which the spirits of those who

have slain men and beasts and given feasts obtain is that Kulsamnu

does not dare to detain them, whereas she, sitting by the roadside,

seizes all other poor wandering souls, and troubles them sorely unless

their relatives who have gone on before come to their rescue.

 

I have been unable to find any traces of ancestor worship, nor is it

mentioned either by Stewart or McCulloch. This is extremely curious,

as the Thados attach the highest possible importance to a long pedigree

and, as has been seen, nearly every other clan practise some rites

to appease the dead.

 

Religious Rites and Sacrifices.--The Daibawl sacrifices are made

as among the Lushais, but not the Khal. The Dongel and Shit-hloh

families sacrifice a sow to Sakhua, but the Haukip and Kipgen kill

a mithan. This difference is said to date back to the time when the

Haukip lived on the banks of the Run or Manipur river, near to Tiddim,

and sacrificed a mithan to Rulpui, or the great snake. The Chhinchhuan

are said to have recently adopted the Vaiphei method of propitiating

Sakhua, and in consequence the Shit-hloh have ceased intermarrying

with them.

 

Besides the sacrifice to Sakhua the Thado have a special sacrifice

known as "Pathen biak na" ("speaking to Pathen"). This consists of

killing a small pig in the closet at the end of the house and a white

cock in front of the house. The crop, entrails, and bones are "sherh"

and are placed on an oaken post in front of the house, and a thirty

days' "hrilh" is observed.

 

The Ai ceremonies are much the same as among the Lushais, but in that

of the tiger the carrying of the porcupine is unknown. Directly a

tiger is shot a bamboo skewer is hammered into its ear hole, to make

sure that it is dead, and when the body is brought up to the village

an egg is placed in the mouth by some female relative of the lucky

hunter, who addresses the dead animal thus: "Oh! Ho! You stole that,

did you? And so a peg has been driven into your ear." She then jumps

across the body from side to side and from head to tail. After this the

skin may be removed. In connection with cultivation, a ceremony called

"Daibun" is performed after the burning of the jhums. Seven bamboos

adorned with cotton wool are placed round the jhum as an offering to

the "Thihla" of the locality, who are further propitiated later on

by an offering of an egg and some leaves placed on a bamboo in the

middle of the jhum. This is called "Daikam." Wanolnaunu died because

she was so lazy that it was too much trouble to live, so if any of

her signs are found in a new jhum, a sacrifice has to be performed

to avoid a failure of the crops. A tree which has two trunks which

unite some feet above the ground is said to represent her fingers,

and a red fowl must be sacrificed and the tree dug up by the roots. A

spring is said to be her tears, and a goat must be sacrificed. If

a wallow is found a pig must be offered. If a woman is not blessed

with offspring within the usual time of the marriage there are three

methods of procedure:--The woman may go to her father's house, and

he will kill a cock and they will drink zu together, after which he

ties a string round her neck. If this is not successful she may go

to her husband's eldest brother or cousin, and he will repeat the

performance. If there is still no result the thempu is called in and

kills a black hen inside the house, and its flesh, mixed with stones

and other ingredients, is compounded by him into a medicine which

the poor woman desirous of offspring has to eat. On the occasion of

the birth of a child the mother may not leave her house for five days

in case of a son and three in case of a daughter. When these periods

have expired she goes to her father's house and takes a fowl or a pig,

according to her means. This is called "Nau-bil-vu." The mother also

gives her father or sometimes her mother a cloth on the occasion of

the birth of a child, and the recipient kills a pig in honour of the

occasion. In case of a child getting sick the thempu sacrifices a fowl,

called "Ar-kang-tha."

 

The marriage ceremonies of the Thados are described by both McCulloch

and Stewart, and do not seem to have changed at all during the 55

years that have elapsed since their accounts were written. Neither

account, however, is quite complete. The bridegroom, accompanied by

his friends, taking with them at any rate a portion of the sum to

be paid for the bride, go to the village where the girl lives, and

for three days the young men of the village wrestle with them. On

arrival they are met with showers of filth from the children of the

village. The girl's parents have to give a pig or a mithan and much

zu to celebrate the occasion. At the conclusion of the feast the bride

sets out for her future home dressed in her best and wearing a gong on

her head. The actual marriage ceremony takes place in the house of the

father of the bridegroom and consists of the thempu killing a fowl,

feathers from the right wing being placed in the hair of the young

couple. They then drink out of the same cup of zu, and the thempu,

muttering charms, binds a cotton thread round their necks, which must

be worn till it falls off from old age.

 

The thempu then presents each with a comb. Only very near relatives

may use the same comb. Stewart says husband and wife may share a comb,

but my information is that uterine brothers and sisters may do so. A

Lushai correspondent writes that among them the use of another man's

comb may cause a headache, and that a person of a higher clan would

be contaminated if he used the comb of a member of a lower one. To

see whether the union will prove harmonious the thempu takes a hair

from the head of each and moistens them in zu and then twists them

together. If the hairs remain twisted all will go smoothly, but should

they fly apart many bickerings and disputes are to be expected. The

parents of the bridegroom give a feast to all concerned, and this

completes the ceremony, but the young couple do not at once commence

sleeping together. If they have not been previously acquainted they

often sleep apart for a month, and for lesser periods according to

the degree of their acquaintance.

 

Eligible brides are even now carried off and married against the wishes

of their parents, by ardent lovers belonging to powerful families.

 

Immediately a death occurs guns are fired and a special funeral

chant called "La pi" (Lushai "Hla") is sung three times. The funeral

ceremonies of ordinary people are practically the same as among the

Lushais, but in the case of those who have performed the "Chong"

the ceremonies last seven days, and each day the corpse is carried

in and out of the house seven times with much shouting, and a mithan

has to be killed on each day. Every relative and slave has to attend

and bring some animal to be killed. The skulls of all these adorn

the great man's grave, and, in former days, at least one fresh human

skull taken specially for the occasion from some other clan had to be

added to the other trophies over a chief's grave. Sometimes the body

of a great chief may be placed in a small house at a short distance

from the village and partially dried over a slow fire; and a curious

survival of the times of war is found in the practice, now dying out,

of severing the head and burying it in an earthen pot in a separate

place. This was done to prevent the heads being found and removed

as trophies, should the village be raided. The entrails of the first

animal killed in honour of the deceased are placed on leaves at the

foot of the post against which the corpse rested during the funeral

feast, and are left there for several days, even up to one month,

and at every meal a handful of rice is taken out of the pot and placed

on the leaves, before anyone is allowed to eat. This portion for the

dead is called "thi an chhe." As among the Rangte, efforts are made

to obtain some wild animal or bird, and if the hunters are successful

the entrails of the animal, or the whole animal if it be not edible,

are buried with the "thi an chhe" in the grave, without waiting for

the expiry of the month.