CHAPTER II

CLANS WHICH, THOUGH NOT ABSORBED, HAVE BEEN MUCH INFLUENCED BY THE LUSHEIS

[Fanai.] A clan which was rising into eminence, when our occupation of the country put a stop to its further aggrandisement. The chiefs trace their pedigree back six generations, to a man called Fanai, who lived among the Zahaos, to the east of the Tyao. His great grandson, Roreiluova, was a slave, or at least a dependant, of a Zahao chief, and was sent with 70 households to form a village at Bawlte, near Champhai, in Lushei territory, with the intention, no doubt, of enlarging the Zahao borders, but Roreiluova entered into peaceful relations with the Lushei chiefs, and gradually severed his connection with the Zahaos, and, moving south-west, occupied successively various sites to the west and north-west of Lungleh, between the Lushai and Chin villages, maintaining his position with considerable diplomatic skill, often acting as intermediary between his more powerful neighbours. He died at Konglung early in the nineteenth century, having attained such a position that his sons were at once recognised as chiefs, and on our occupying the country in 1890 we found eight Fanai villages, containing about 700 houses, grouped along the west bank of the Tyao and Koladyne rivers, between Biate on the north and Sangao on the south. Roreiluova's descendants seem to have inherited his skill in diplomacy, for they kept on good terms with their neighbours, and whenever these quarrelled managed to assist the stronger without entirely alienating the weaker.

The clan is subdivided into six families and one branch.

The Fanai now talk Lushai and dress in the same way, except as regards the method of dressing the hair, which is parted horizontally across the back of the head at the level of the ears, and the hair above this is gathered into a knot over the forehead, while that below is allowed to hang loose over the shoulders. They generally follow Lushai customs. In the series of feasts which an aspirant for the title of Thangchhuah has to perform, the Chong is replaced by the Buh-za-ai (buh = rice, za = 100), performed as among the Lushais. The She-doi feast has to be gone through twice, and is followed by a very similar feast called She-cha-chun (spearing of male mithan), which completes the series. Wealthy persons perform the Khuangchoi, but it is not necessary. The Mi-thi-rawp-lam is prohibited. The following account of the She-doi is taken from my diary of the 14th May, 1890.

"We went up at once to the village, where a peculiar dance was in progress. Lembu's wife was being carried about on a platform, round which a wooden railing had been fixed to enable her to maintain her position. This platform had four long poles passed underneath it, and a number of men and women, holding these, were moving the platform about in a manner which must have been most uncomfortable for her Majesty. They lifted it up and down, then swayed it to one side, then to the other, then ran in one direction and stopped suddenly, then in another, and pulled up with a jerk. During all this time the royal lady maintained a solemn silence, and showed complete indifference to the whole proceeding. Her head-dress consisted of a band round which at intervals coloured bands of straw were plaited. From this chaplet porcupine quills stood up all round, to the ends of which the yellowish-green feathers of parrots were affixed, each terminating in a tuft of red wool. At the back, an iron crossbar, about 6 inches long, was tied horizontally, and from this a number of strings of black and white seeds depended, at the end of which glistening wing-cases of green beetles were attached. Except for this startling head-dress, the Queen was dressed much as usual, except that her waist cloth was longer and more gorgeous. Having been carried about for some time, her Majesty showed her appreciation of the attentions of her subjects by distributing gifts. First she threw a small chicken, which was eagerly scrambled for and torn to pieces by the young men anxious to obtain it, next followed a piece of white cotton wool, which no one would pick up, and then some red thread, which was scrambled for eagerly.

"May 15th.--This morning a mithan was sacrificed. The animal was tied by the head to one of the sacrificial posts, on which his skull was to be placed later on. The chief then came out with a spear in one hand, a gourd of rice beer in the other. The puithiam, or sorcerer, accompanied him, also carrying a gourd of beer. The pair took up their stand just behind the mithan, and the puithiam began mumbling what I was told were prayers for the prosperity of the village. The prayers were interrupted by the chief and the sorcerer taking mouthfuls of beer and blowing them over the mithan. When the prayers were finished, they anointed the animal with the remains of the liquor, and the chief then gave it a slight stab behind the shoulder, and disappeared into his house. The mithan was then thrown on its side and killed by driving a sharp bamboo spear into its heart. The animal was then cut up. Later on another was killed, without any special ceremony, and the flesh of both cooked in the street. Later on there was a dance. Three men arrayed in fine cloths, with smart turbans, came up the main street, crossing from side to side. With bodies bent forward and arms extended, they took two steps forward, then whirled round once, beat time twice with the right foot, two steps, whirled round again, beat time twice with the left foot, and so on, keeping time with the royal band, consisting of a gong, a tom-tom, and a bamboo tube, used as a drum. The dancers, having been well regaled with beer, proceeded to dance each a pas seul of a decidedly indecent nature. The chief was prohibited from crossing running water for a month after this sacrifice had been performed." After this feast there is five days' "hrilh" for the whole community, and during this no flesh may be brought into the village. The skull of the mithan is kept on the post in front of the chief's house for a month, during which time he may not cross water or converse with strangers. On the expiry of a month a pig and a fowl are sacrificed and the skull is then removed to the front verandah.

The only difference in the ceremonies connected with childbirth is that the Ui-ha-awr sacrifice is only performed if the child's hair has a reddish tinge and the whites of its eyes turn yellowish.

The Sakhua sacrifices are very elaborate, and consist of a series commencing with the Vok-rial, which is necessary when a new house has been completed. A sow is killed at the head of the parents' sleeping place, and whatever portions of the flesh are not at once consumed are placed beneath it till the next day. The house during this time is "sherh." No one may enter it, and the occupants must not speak to strangers nor enter the forge. Later on a boar is killed in the front verandah, and the heart, liver, and entrails, known as "kawrawl," are placed under the parents' sleeping place for five days, and are eaten by the parents, the father sitting with his back to the partition wall and the mother facing him. During these five days a hrilh as above is observed. This sacrifice is called "Vok-pa"--i.e., "Boar"--and is followed by the "Hnuaipui"--i.e., "Great Beneath"--a full-grown sow being killed under the house, and its head and sherh buried at the foot of one of the main posts. The flesh is cooked beneath the house, but eaten in it. A three days' hrilh follows. The series concludes with "Hnuaite"--i.e., "Lesser Beneath"--which is similar to the former, but a young sow is killed.

These sacrifices are performed as the necessary animals become available.

A dead Fanai is buried in the usual Lushai way, but no rice is placed in the grave. An offering of maize, however, is suspended above it. It may be noted that in the Zahao country rice is not cultivated, the staple crop being maize. The Fanai do not kill tigers, giving as the reason that a former ancestor of theirs lost his way, and was conducted back to his village by a tiger, which kindly allowed him to hold its tail.

[The Ralte.] This clan is found scattered in the Lushai villages to the north of Aijal, in which neighbourhood there are also one or two villages under Ralte chiefs. I have already--in Part I., Chapter V, para. 1--given the legend regarding the repeopling of the world and the closing of the exit from the Chhinglung owing to the loquacity of the pair of Ralte. The names of these mythical ancestors were Hehua and Leplupi. Their two sons were Kheltea and Siakenga, who quarrelled over the distribution of their father's goods, which Kheltea, the younger, had taken, thus conforming to Lushei custom, and set up separate villages, and from them have sprung the two eponymous families into which the Ralte clan is divided. The Khelte have always occupied a predominant position, and all the chiefs belong to this family. Lutmanga, Kheltea's youngest son, is said to have made the first cloth from the fibre of the Khawpui creeper. He collected a community at Khuazim, a hill north of Champhai, and from him all the Ralte chiefs are descended. In the early years of the nineteenth century the Ralte villages were near Champhai, and Mangkhaia, a Ralte chief of importance, was captured by some Chuango, a family of the Lushei clan, then living at Bualte, above Tuibual (known to the Chin Hills officers as Dipwell). He was ransomed by his relatives, but Vanpuia, the Pachuao chief, not receiving a share, ambushed Mangkhaia on his way home and killed him. According to another account Mangkhaia filed through his fetters with a file given to him in a roll of smoked meat, and was killed as he was escaping. His memorial stone is famous throughout the Hills, and stands at the 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 it, and young men and maidens sleep near it. The skin is hardened and preserved by being rubbed with some greasy preparation. The body is dressed in the best cloths available, and a chaplet of the tail feathers of the hornbill is placed on its head. During the daytime the corpse is kept in the house, but in the evening it is brought out and seated on the verandah while the villagers dance and sing round it and drink zu, pouring it also into the mouth of the corpse. This disgusting performance goes on for a month or more according to the social position of the deceased. The corpses of those who have attained Thangchhuah honours are kept for a year, at least, in a special shed encased in a tree trunk. Before burial the corpse is carried round the village. In case of a violent death, which does not as among the Lushais include deaths in childbirth, the corpse is placed in the forge and the puithiam sacrifices a fowl, after which the usual ceremonies take place. The Kut festivals are not observed, but after harvest the owners of houses in which young men lodge kill one or two pigs. The honour of Thangchhuah is obtained by giving the following feasts:--(1) Buh ai, one mithan being killed; (2) She-shun, one mithan being killed; (3) Chawn, three mithan and two pigs being killed. No other feasts are given and windows may be made by anyone. Most of the superstitions common among the Lushais are believed, but gibbons are freely killed. The Vuite are very much afraid of witchcraft, but deny all knowledge of it. When a new site for a house has to be chosen an egg is taken and one end is removed. It is then propped up on three small stones and a fire is lit under it. If the contents boil over towards the person consulting the omen the site is rejected as unlucky.

[The Rangte.] This is a small clan which, after various vicissitudes, has settled down in thirteen hamlets, containing 372 houses, under their own chiefs in the south-western hills of Manipur. They claim connection with the Thados, but resemble the Lushais in many respects, which no doubt is due to their sojourn among them. They also claim relationship with the Vaiphei. They say that their original villages were on two hills called Phaizang and Koku, whence they were ejected by the Chins and took refuge with Poiboi, one of the Sailo chiefs who opposed us in 1871, whence they migrated northwards to their present place of abode. Their language shows that their claim to being allied to the Thado is not without foundation. The clan is divided into eleven eponymous families, named after Thanghlum and his ten sons, Thanghlum being supposed to be the son of Rangte. The constitution of the villages is practically the same as that of the Lushais, except that there are no zawlbuks. The young unmarried men sleep in the house of the girl they like best. An attractive young lady may have several admirers sleeping in her house, and they will continue to sleep there until she expresses a preference for one of them. Marriage is not very strictly limited, but matches with another member of the clan or with some member of one of the Thado families are most usual. The price of a wife--"manpui"--is one blue cloth, one mattress, and three mithan, which is paid to the nearest male relative to the bride on the father's side, but besides this the bride's paternal uncle receives one mithan, which is termed "mankang." If there be three brothers, A, B, and C, B will take the mankang of A's daughters, C that of B's, and A that of C's. Should a man have no brothers some near relative will take his daughter's mankang. The eldest son inherits everything, and is looked on as the head of the family. He receives the "manpui" of all the females, and in his verandah are hung all the trophies of the chase obtained by his brothers and their children, but on the death of one of these brothers the connection ceases, and the deceased's eldest son inherits his property and is looked on as the head of the family by his younger brothers. Like the Vuite, the Rangte claim that sodomy is unknown among them. In their religious beliefs they employ the nomenclature of the Thados, though there is a little variation. The place of Pupawla on the road to Mi-thi-khua is taken by an old woman, named Kul-lo-nu, who is evidently the same as the Thado Kulsamnu, who troubles all except the Thangchhuah. Thlan-ropa is known as "Dapa," but the legends regarding him are similar to those told by the Lushais.

On the birth of a female child, zu is drunk, but should the child be a son, a pig and a fowl have to be killed, and three days later the puithiam comes and sprinkles the mother with water, muttering charms as he does so, after which ceremony she can go out. Immediately after a death everyone present seizes the nearest weapon and slashes wildly at the walls, posts, shelves, and partitions, shouting, "You have killed him! We will cut you limb from limb, whoever you may be." The young men then go out in search of wild birds and beasts, the bodies of which are hung on posts round the grave. The corpse is adorned with the head-dress of hornbill's feathers, as among the Vuite and most of the Old Kuki clans. The corpses of ordinary persons are buried without much ceremony close to the house, but the Thangchhuah are carried round the village, as among the Khawtlang, and then enclosed in hollow tree trunks, and kept for periods varying from two months to a year in special sheds, with fires smouldering beneath them, after which the bones are buried. In this it will be noticed that the Rangte custom is a composite of Lushei, Vuite, and Khawtlang.

Lukawng is only paid if the deceased has been a great hunter or warrior. In their marriage ceremonies the Rangte differ but little from the Lushais. The "Khal" sacrifices are omitted, but most of the others are performed.

Thangchhuah honours are attained by giving only two feasts--the "Chong," at which a hen has to be sacrificed and two pigs and a mithan killed, and the "Mai-thuk-kai," at which two mithan, three pigs, and a hen have to be killed. The guests hold hands and form a circle round the house of the giver of the feast, who has to anoint the head of each of them with pig's fat. The Buh-Ai is unknown, but the Ai of wild animals is performed as among the Lushais.