The Lushei Kuki Clans 43

The Lushei Kuki Clans 43

"It is because of this story of Ngamboma and Khuptingi that we say

nowadays people are in Mi-thi-khua."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER V

 

THE LAKHER OR MARA CLAN

 

 

This clan emigrated from the neighbourhood of Thlan-tlang (called

by the Chin Hills officers Klang-klang) in comparatively recent

times. They are closely allied to the Southern Chins, and a description

of them belongs more properly to the Chin Monograph. Much of the

information in Messrs Carey and Tuck's Gazetteer regarding the

Southern Chins applies to the Lakhers. I therefore propose to give

only a brief description here.

 

The clan calls itself Mara, Lakher being the name used by the

Lushais. The Chins, I believe, call them Zo, and the Arracan name

for them is Klongshai. The following extract from my diary, dated

10th February, 1891, gives a brief account of the advent of this

clan:--"In the evening I had a long talk with the chiefs and found

out the origin, according to them, of the feud with the Mrungs (in

the Chittagong Hill tracts). In the lifetime of Thonglien's father,

the Bohmong of that time sent to ask the Mara clan to come and make

friends. A deputation went, taking with them two large elephant tusks

as a peace offering. The Bohmong had two of the party treacherously

killed, and hence the feud which has led to so much bloodshed. I am

told that the first Mara to come here (Saiha) were a colony under one

of Thonglien's ancestors. They came from Thlan-tlang to where Vongthu

now is, and then moved further east till they settled somewhere on the

Blue Mountain. Finding themselves too small a colony to hold their own,

they sent for the rest of the clan, who, under Lianchi, Hmunklinga's

great-grandfather, came and settled where Ramri now is. After a few

years a few of the Chinja tribe arrived and were received into the

village. These were followed by more and more until eventually the

Mara left the Chinja in possession of Ramri and moved across the Blue

Mountain, where they have remained ever since." There are other Lakher

villages besides those referred to in the above extract, and the clan

is found in considerable strength to the south of the Lushai Hills

boundary, in territory which is at present unadministered. Members

of the clan are also found in the Lushai and Chin villages adjoining

the real Lakher country, which lies in the loop of the Koladyne or

Kaladan river, south of latitude 22°3´.

 

Their villages are more permanent than those of the Lushais though the

houses are built of the same materials, the proximity of large supplies

of bamboos having led the immigrants to abandon the substantial timber

buildings of the land of their origin for more flimsy structures. The

sites are, however, levelled and the villages are seldom moved. Before

the reign of peace which has followed our occupation of the Hills,

each village was surrounded by a triple line of stockading or by an

impenetrable belt of thorny jungle, through which a narrow pathway,

defended by three gates, led to the village. Inside the houses the

sleeping platforms of the Lushais are absent and the hearth is in

the middle of the floor. If the owner has slaves or a married son,

the interior is divided into compartments by partitions which extend

three-quarters of the way across the house.

 

The men smoke but little, but much relish the nicotine water from

the women's pipes, which differ slightly in shape from those used by

their Lushai cousins.

 

Dress.--I have been unable to detect any difference in dress between

the Lakhers and the Southern Chins. The men wear a narrow loin-cloth

twisted round the waist, one end being passed between the legs and

slipped under the waist-band, the only other garment being a cloth

about 7 feet by 5, worn as the Lushais wear theirs, and made either

of cotton or silk. Blue and white check cloths are very much fancied,

but are imported from Burma, whence also comes a very rough cotton

cloth with large brown checks. The silk cloths are made by the women

and are fine pieces of work, taking an industrious woman as much as

a year to weave.

 

The dress of the women is more elaborate--several petticoats reaching

almost to the ground and held up by a massive brass girdle, made

after the pattern of the chain of a cog-wheel. These petticoats are

generally of dark blue cotton, but sometimes the outer one is a very

elaborately worked piece of silk, similar in pattern to the man's

cloth. Each petticoat is merely a strip of cloth wide enough to go

one and a half times or even twice round the body.

 

While clothing her nether extremities thus decently, the Lakher

woman wears a jacket which consists really of little more than two

very short sleeves joined at the back and tied loosely together in

front. This absurd little garment does not by several inches reach

to her petticoat. The jacket is generally of home-made cloth or

silk of a pattern similar to the men's cloths. A loose cloth of the

favourite blue and white check is wrapped round the body for warmth,

but discarded when any work is being done.

 

The men wear the hair tied in a knot above the forehead. A very narrow

turban is often worn, being passed round the back of the head low

down and the ends twisted round the knot of hair. Chiefs affect the

high turban of the Thlan-tlangs.

 

Women wear nothing on their heads, except in wet weather, when both

sexes wear hats like the Lushais. The raincoat of the Chins is also

used. Special cloths and plumes are worn by those who have killed

men or given certain feasts, as among the Lushais.

 

Ornaments.--The amber necklaces so dear to the Lushais do not find

much favour with this clan, who value especially necklaces of a stuff

known as "pumtek," but as this is very rare, necklaces of glass-beads,

cornelians, buttons, coins, etc., are generally all that commoners

can obtain. The women are particularly fond of necklaces; the men

wear but few, which is in marked contrast to the custom of the Lushais.

 

The men ornament their top-knots with combs, the backs of which are

sometimes of ivory, sometimes of wood lacquered in various patterns. A

long pin of iron or bone is always worn in the top-knot, and is used

for scratching the head as well as for cleaning out the pipe.

 

The women wear their hair rolled round a very heavy two-pronged brass

skewer, the weight of which, sometimes as much as 3 lbs., keeps the

hair low down on the nape of the neck.

 

 

 

Constitution of Society.

 

The Lakhers, in common with the Chins, are less democratic than

the Lushais and their cognates. The power of the chiefs is greater,

and the chiefs' relatives and other wealthy people form a kind of

peerage and lord it over the lesser fry, being seldom interfered

with unless their doings endanger the interests of the chief. Slaves

with the Lakhers are real slaves, not merely unpaid servants as among

the Lushais. A slave is the absolute property of his master, and may

be sold like any other possession. Female slaves are not allowed to

marry, but are encouraged to become mothers, as their children are the

property of their owners. Male slaves who win their master's favour

are sometimes married at their owner's expense, but they and their

children remain slaves. Parents and other relations sell children

when they are in pecuniary difficulties, and captives taken in war

are naturally the slaves of their captors.

 

In the matter of marriage the Lakher's choice is as little limited as

that of the Lushai but, owing to the power of the upper class, there

is great competition to secure a bride of good birth, and this leads

to girls being married before they attain puberty. After her marriage

such a child-wife helps in the household of her husband's mother, but

sleeps with her own parents. The following extract from a report on

the Lakhers sent me by Mr. Whalley, of the E. Bengal and Assam Police,

cannot be improved on:--"The advanced age, as regards males, at which

marriage takes place is due to the recognised obligation on the part

of every male to marry the daughter of a house of higher standing

than his own, with the consequently disproportionate advance in the

amount of the marriage price. Too frequently a male on coming into

his inheritance is occupied during his years of vigour in paying off

the debt of his mother's marriage price, and can only afford to take

a wife of a higher station than his own when he is no longer capable

of becoming a father. In the interval he takes a concubine, generally

of a lower class than his own. On the other hand, the marriage or

betrothal of children by their parents is common. Such marriages are

on two scales. In both from the date of betrothal the bridegroom

commences to pay the marriage price in irregular instalments; in

one, however, he contracts, if he becomes a father by his bride,

to pay the whole marriage price, and can claim the return of all

payments made if the decease of his bride precedes such an event;

in the other he pays only a proportion of the whole fixed beforehand,

which is not recoverable, even if marriage is never consummated. The

first is in more general favour with parents, as even in the case of

the death of the prospective bride it is by no means certain that,

in view of the disparity in position of the families, the bridegroom

will be able to compel disgorgement of the instalments paid."

 

"The above description of customs refers mutatis mutandis to all

classes of society except slaves. The desirability of an unmarried girl

varies directly with the social position of the parents; appearance,

industry, and chastity are entirely subordinate factors, and exercise

very little influence on the marriage price demanded. There is a

strange custom by which a husband who finds his wife incompatible

may exchange her for any of her sisters still unmarried. A younger

brother, again, whose parents are dead, even though already married,

takes over as a rule the wife as well as the liability of an elder

brother who has predeceased him. The precedence of such wives should

be regulated solely by the position of their parents, and breaches

of this rule, owing to the partiality of the husband, lead frequently

to bitter feuds."

 

The following valuable note on the marriage price of a Lakher girl,

and on the dues payable at death, by Mr. R. A. Lorrain, is inserted

just as received:--

 

The important position occupied by the bride's eldest brother and

her maternal uncle are noticeable.