Part 18
to pour out bu, bup bauk, bo (L. buak, [55] bun) to put bi bi (to clap, pat) to jump chòng dong (L. zuang) to die thi dü, di (L. thi to kill by cutting thu thük, tük to pound tòk dut'' to open ing-pu hü to sleep, lie down i i'' (Burmese ip) to hinder khàng kha to fall klo, kli klauk (Burmese kra, L. tla, tlak) to grind koi-i kluk to be bitter ho kho (L. kha) to bend kekèk kòk-lök, khü-i to tie, fasten kòk khun to laugh ing-nèk hlek; also noi (Meithei nok, L. nui) to arrive, hit le leng to be distant he-lo hlo (L. hla) to get, obtain lòng lö-e to lick ing-lèk m-le-e (L. liak, hliao) to be happy me moi to extinguish pe-mèp hmyit (L. ti-mit) to smell ing-nim nan (L. hnim) to be yellow èt oi (L. eng) to speak pu pauh (a word, language) to give pi pèk (L. pèk, pe) to be full plèng ple to reach, touch pho pho (L. pawh, phak) to pull out phu phuk (L. phoi) to work, labour sai saih to wash chàm shau (L. shuk) to beat chòk shö to pierce chàng shün, hsün (L. chhun) to begin chèng si to explain thàn hsin to be wet chàm so to know, perceive thèk thàk, the to be fat ing-tu thau (L. thao) to itch ing-thàk thauk (L. thak) to rise, get up thur thö, thü (L. tho, thawh) to send toi tho to weave thàk to-tàk (L. tah) to rot thu thü (L. toih) to be sweet dòk tü-i to cover, veil up, òp ün'' (L. hup) to throw var wo'' (L. vorh) to hear ar-ju yauk to sell jòr yi'' (L. zuar)
A few words from Lushei may be added, for which Southern Chin does not appear to possess corresponding terms:--
English. Mikir. Lushei.
buffalo chelòng cheloi bear thòk-vàm sa-vom, vom [56] deer (sambhar) thi-jòk sa-zuk snake phi-rui ma-rul, rul monkey me-sàng zawng frog ("the jumper") chòng-ho chung-u mosquito timsik tho-shi water-leech ing-lit hlit, sai-hlit crab chehe chak-ai devil hi-i huai
These close and numerous correspondences between Mikir and the Kuki-Chin family appear to warrant the conclusion that the former is intimately connected with the latter. The institutions of the southern tribes, as already pointed out, confirm this conclusion; and it may be asserted with some confidence that no such extensive affinity can be proved between Mikir and the Boro family. As regards the Western Nagas, while the institutions largely correspond, the coincidences in language, though more numerous than those with Boro, are much fewer than those with Kuki-Chin. The Southern Nagas, and especially the Tangkhuls, who form the group intermediate between Naga and Kuki, have a considerably closer affinity with Mikir. Possibly if the inquiry were pushed further into Burmese than is within the power of the present writer, more correspondences with Mikir might be discovered in that language.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
1. A descriptive account of Asam, with a sketch of the local geography, and a concise history of the Tea-plant of Asam, to which is added a short account of the neighbouring tribes, exhibiting their history, manners and customs, by William Robinson, Gowhatti Government Seminary: Calcutta, 1841. Account of the Mikirs at pp. 308-312.
The facts stated agree generally with those recorded by Mr. Stack. The chief deity of the Mikirs is called Hempatin. This may be a mistranscription for Hemphu, but is more probably a mistake due to a confusion between Mikirs and Kukis; Patin (or a closely similar form) is the word for God in a number of the Kuki dialects (Khongzai, Thado, Lushei, Rangkhol, Aimol, Kolren, etc.). Of course if the name Hempatin was ever actually used by the Mikirs for their chief tribal god, this would be an additional important evidence of a connexion between them and the Kukis.
2. Notes on the languages of the various tribes inhabiting the Valley of Asam and its mountain confines, by Wm. Robinson, Inspector of Government Schools in Asam. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. xviii. (1849).
The Mikir language is treated at pp. 330-336. It is probable from certain indications that the Mikir words were written down for Mr. Robinson in Assamese characters, and transliterated by him into Roman. There are a great many misprints. The declension of nouns, the distinctions of gender, and the position of adjectives are in general correctly explained; but the important prefix a- is not noticed, nor its original force understood. The omission of the plural affix -tum is remarkable. The numerals agree with those of the present day, save that ch is used (as in Assamese) to indicate s. The use of determinative class-words with numerals is mentioned. The personal pronouns are in part correctly, but often wrongly given; the demonstrative pronouns are wrongly stated, and so are the interrogatives. The absence of a relative pronoun, and the substitute for it, are noticed. In the verbal forms there are many errors, unless the particles used to indicate time have greatly changed since 1849, which is improbable. Thus, -ye is given as the future suffix instead of -ji, and -bo instead of -po. The participle in ke-, ki-, ka- is omitted, and the much-used conjunctive participle in -si is misrepresented as the present participle. There is no mention of the past in tàng; ayok (possibly a mistranscription of the Assamese) is given instead of apòt as the particle indicating purpose. The form of the negative verb is altogether misunderstood. There is no mention of the causative in pe-, pi-, pa-.
One interesting point in Mr. Robinson's grammatical sketch is that words borrowed from Assamese, which now end in -i as a substitute for Assamese l, as hai for hal, tamoi for tamol, pitoi for pitol, are all written with l; and in the following cases final l appears in Mikir words now written with final i:--
ingkol, a score, now ingkoi inghol, to do, now inghoi sal (field-) work, now sai aphel, afterwards, now aphi phurul, snake, now phirui
It seems possible that this represents a real change in pronunciation, since l was certainly the original ending in the borrowed words, and most probably (from the similar forms in the Kuki-Chin languages) was the original ending in the Mikir words. This vocalization of final l is quite common in the Kuki dialects, and is an additional argument for their connexion with Mikir.
3. Travels and adventures in the Province of Assam, by Major John Butler: London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1855. The Mikirs are described at pp. 126-139. Major Butler was in charge of the district of Nowgong, and visited the Mikir Hills in 1848. His notes on the Mikir people are not very detailed, but indicate that their condition sixty years ago was much the same as it is now. On the question of polygamy (see ante, p. 19), he writes (p. 138): "Polygamy is not practised, and they reproach their countrymen of the plains for having adopted the Assamese custom."
4. Notes on Northern Cachar, by Lieut. R. Stewart. J.A.S.B., vol. xxiv. (1855), pp. 582-701. This treatise is an excellent account of the various tribes inhabiting the tract. The Mikirs are dealt with at pp. 604-607. There is a full and useful comparative vocabulary at pp. 658-675 of more than 400 words, besides verbal and adverbial forms, in Manipuri, Hill Kachari (Dimasa), New Kuki (Thado), Angami Naga, Arung Naga (or Empeo), Old Kuki (Bete), and Mikir. This is much the most important evidence of the state of the language half a century ago, and is superior in several respects to the materials collected a little earlier by Robinson (to which Stewart does not refer). The Mikir words are generally recognisable as identical with those of the present day, and it is noticeable, with reference to the change of final l to i, that Stewart gives the forms now in use (pitoi, brass, pheroi, snake, ingkoi, a score, in(g)hoi, to do). The verbs are chiefly given in the imperative, with nòn (often wrongly printed not), sometimes as the bare root, and sometimes with -lo added. There are some good measurements and other physical characters of Mikirs at pp. 690-693, from which it appears that in Lieut. Stewart's time most of the Mikir men shaved their heads, with the exception of a large tuft of hair on the scalp.
5. Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, by Col. E. T. Dalton: Calcutta, 1872. There is a brief section on the Mikirs at pp. 53-4, which however contains no information that is not in Robinson or Stewart. The race is not among those figured in the volume.
6. Specimens of the Languages of India, collected by Sir George Campbell: Calcutta, 1874. The specimens of Mikir are at pp. 205-217; they are full of misprints and misunderstandings of what was desired, and are worthless for linguistic purposes.
7. A Vocabulary in English and Mikir, with sentences illustrating the use of words, by the Rev. R. E. Neighbor, of Nowgong, Assam: Calcutta, 1878.
A most useful publication.
8. Notes on the Locality and Population of the Tribes dwelling between the Brahmaputra and Ningthi Rivers, by G. H. Damant. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. xii., 1880, pp. 228 ff.
A posthumous work (Mr. Damant was killed in the Naga Hills in 1879). The Mikirs are mentioned on p. 236, and there is a short vocabulary on p. 254.
9. A Statistical Account of Assam, compiled by J. S. Cotton under the direction of W. W. Hunter: London, 1879. Contains an article on the Mikirs at vol. ii., pp. 188-190.
10. A Gazetteer of India, by Sir W. W. Hunter, London. First edition 1881, second edition 1886. Article on the Mikir Hills and their inhabitants.
11 to 13. The next occasions on which the tribe was dealt with were in the Reports of the Censuses of 1881, 1891, and 1901 (Assam Province):--
11. The Report on the Census of 1881 (Calcutta, 1883) contains a chapter (VI.) on Castes and Tribes, written by Mr. Stack. The Mikirs are described at pp. 77-82. The inquiries on which these paragraphs were based were followed by the more detailed investigations which afforded the materials for the present monograph.
12. The Report on the Census of 1891, by Mr. E. A. Gait, reproduces part of the matter of the previous report relating to the Mikirs, and adds the detailed list of kurs or exogamous divisions already referred to (ante, pp. 23 ff.). It also contains an interesting comparison of the Mikir language with those of the Naga tribes, by Mr. A. W. Davis (reproduced in the Linguistic Survey, vol. iii., part ii., pp. 198-202). At pp. 254-256 there is an account of the Mikirs in North Cachar by Mr. E. C. Baker, sub-divisional officer, which states that their principal deity is called "Pertart Rijie." This is correctly Pirthàt Recho, the first word being the Khasi Pyrthat,"thunder," and indicates a borrowing by the small remaining Mikir population in North Cachar of the ideas of their Khasi neighbours.
13. The Report on the Census of 1901, by Mr. B. C. Allen: Shillong, 1902. A few remarks on the religion of the Mikirs will be found at pp. 46-47, which however require correction by the more accurate data contained in this monograph.
14. The Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley, by Lt.-Col. L. A. Waddell, I.M.S.: J.A.S.B., vol. lxix., part iii., 1900. This account is chiefly based on anthropometrical data. The facts stated concerning the Arlengs at pp. 29-35 appear to be taken from Dalton and the Assam Census Reports of 1881 and 1891. The measurements taken by Col. Waddell (see ante, p. 4) are at pp. 78-79. The tribe is not figured in the plates appended to the paper.
15. Linguistic Survey of India, vol. iii., part ii., compiled and edited by Dr. G. A. Grierson, Calcutta, 1902. The Mikir language is dealt with at pp. 380-410 and 432-448.
16. An English-Mikir Vocabulary, with Assamese Equivalents, to which have been added a few Mikir phrases, by S[ardoka] P[errin] Kay: Shillong, Govt. Press, 1904. An extremely useful book by an educated Mikir (see Introductory Note, p. viii.). Sardoka was Mr. Stack's chief authority on the Mikir language. The phrases (388 in number) are very important illustrations of the structure of the speech. The vocabulary is an enlargement of Mr. Neighbor's work (No. 7).
A Mikir-English dictionary or vocabulary is still a desideratum.
The following is a list of all the publications in the Mikir language which have come under the notice of the writer. They are all due to missionaries.
1. Dhorom Arnàm aphràng ikithàn: First Catechism, in Mikir (Assamese character), pp. 13. Anon. Sibsagar, 1875.
2. Arlèng Alàm, a Mikir Primer, by Miss E. Pursell, 1891.
3. Arlèng Alàm (Plipli-akitàp) [57] A Mikir Primer. Anon. Published by the American Baptist Mission, Tika, Nowgong, Assam, 1903.
4. Arlèng Alàm, Angbòng akitàp. Mikir Reader, second book, by the Rev. J. M. Carvell and Thengkur Pandit. Published by the Government of Assam, Shillong, 1904.
5. Arlèng kalakha akitàp. Mikir Primary Arithmetic, by the Rev. P. E. Moore and the Rev. J. M. Carvell. Published by the Assam Secretariat Press, Shillong, 1904.
6. Birta Keme, "Glad Tidings," in Mikir, by Mosendra Pandit and Missionaries to the Mikirs. Published by the American Baptist Missionary Union, Tika, Assam, 1904. A summary of the Gospel history and teaching.
(All except the first are in the Roman character.)
NOTES
[1] The record of these travels, under the name Six Months in Persia (two vols.), was published in 1882; "A really clever and trustworthy, readable, book," was the judgment on it of the late Sir Frederic Goldsmid--the best of all judges.
[2] See Bibliography, No. 7.
[3] See Bibliography, No. 15.
[4] I must apologize for the misdescription of these gentlemen at pp. 44 and 70, as of the American Presbyterian Mission.
[5] This is the official spelling. The real name is Kala-jwar, pronounced Kola-jor (or zor), which means "black fever."
[6] It has been asserted that Arlèng means properly only a Mikir man, not a man in general, who would be called monit or munit. This, however, is opposed to usage as exemplified in the folk-tales collected by Mr. Stack, and to well-established parallels found elsewhere. Thus, in Assam, Mande (= man) is the national name of the Garos; Chingpho (= man) is the tribal name of the race so called in the Upper Dehing valley; Boro (= man) is the proper designation of the Kachari race. So, in Chutia Nagpur, the Munda people of Ranchi call themselves Horo (= man). Similar cases are found all over the world. In Europe, for example, the name Deutsch for the Germanic race indicates that their ancestors spoke of themselves as "the people" (diot, diota), ignoring the other members of humankind. Munit is a very recent loan-word from Assamese, and nowhere occurs in the tales.
[7] One is tempted to conjecture that this statement is an error based on a confusion between the Miris and the Mikirs in Colonel Dalton's notebooks. The custom referred to obtains among the Miris.
[8] In the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1874, p. 17, there is an illustration and description of a Mikir "bachelors' house," or teràng, by Mr. C. Brownlow, a tea-planter in Cachar. The group of Mikirs among whom it was found lived at the head of the Kopili river, looking down on the Cachar valley.
[9] Other authorities mention a fifth, Teròn, which Mr. Stack may have overlooked because of the similarity of its name to Teràng.
[10] P. 8.
[11] In the story of Harata Kunwar, post, p. 57, a second or co-wife is mentioned (Mikir, patèng, paju).
[12] This is an Assamese word, mel. The Mikirs cannot pronounce a final l, and always omit it or change it to i or y in words adopted from Assamese; e.g. hal, plough, becomes hay; pitol, brass, pitoi; tamol, betel-nut, tamoi.
[13] Qu. Rongphar?
[14] This name, which means "Jòm or Yama's town," is often incorrectly written Chomarong or Chumarong.
[15] Sentences enclosed in quotation marks were so written by Mr. Stack, and are probably the ipsissima verba of his informants.
[16] Sir Joseph Hooker (Himalayan Journals, ed. 1855, vol. ii. p. 182) relates that at the Donkia Pass, one of his servants, a Lepcha, being taken ill, "a Lama of our party offered up prayers to Kinchinjhow for his recovery." Perching a saddle on a stone, and burning incense before it, "he scattered rice to the winds, invoking Kinchin, Donkia, and all the neighbouring peaks."
[17] Such worship of objects and places of an impressive character is, of course, common throughout India. Thus, in the Pachmarhi Hills the writer has seen flowers and red lead (sindur) offered at the brink of a terrible gulf of the kind so common in the plateau. Again, at Balharpur, in the Chanda district of the Central Provinces, he has seen worship offered to a bastion in a solidly built ruined fort adjoining the village.--(Note by Editor.)
[18] So also among the Khasis; see Khasi Monograph, p. 119, bottom.
[19] This also is evidently borrowed from the Khasis. See Monograph, p. 221.
[20] Compare the Khasi methods of divination by the lime-case (shanam), and the bow (Monograph, p. 119).
[21] Mr. Stack notes that there was some reluctance on the part of his informant to explain what was meant.
[22] Not further explained.
[23] See, however, what is said above as to the Ròngker, which agrees with the observances elsewhere known as gennas.
[24] "Gourd": the word hànthar in the original is explained by Mr. Stack as the name of "a creeper, with a fruit as big as a small pumpkin, with a hard kernel in soft rind; the kernel is the size of a mango-stone; the marrow inside is in two slices; when washed, it loses its bitter taste, and can be fried, oil exuding. It is a favourite dish with the Mikirs." It is, therefore, not really a gourd, but I am unable to identify the species.
[25] "Sparrow": vo-ar-bipi, explained as a small bird, the size of a sparrow. In the Aimol version the corresponding word is rendered "bat"; but a bat in Mikir is vo-arplàk, and a bat has no nest (tar) as the bird has here.
[26] "Stinging-nettle": tarme-làngbòng; this is probably not a nettle (urtica), but some other kind of blistering plant found in the Assam jungles; tarme means a creeper, làngbòng a vessel made of bamboo to hold water.
[27] Fish-trap, ru: a bamboo cage placed in an opening in a weir or dam built of stones or constructed of wattled boughs, so that the fish entering cannot get out. The same word is used later (see note p. 53) for the iron cage (ingchin aru) in which the orphan is confined.
[28] "May a tiger eat you, you wicked boy!" Teke nàng kòrdutpi a-osó, literally, "You tiger-bitten boy!" pi is a syllable used in abuse, as po ("father") is used in the opposite sense, e.g. po-arnàm-po, "My good sir!" literally, "father-god-father;" lower down, addressing a girl, pe ("mother") is similarly used: "pe-arnàm-pi," "dear girl!"
[29] Cloth-full, mànthung: a cloth or wrapper (pe) folded cylindrically into a bag, and tied at the top and bottom with slit bamboo (jingtàk).
[30] "Iron cage": see note on p. 48 above.
[31] The nòksèk: the part of the house (in kàm: see plan, p. 8) between the fireplace and the middle partition, where the offerings of food for the spirits of the dead are placed.
[32] "A field-watcher's hut," hèm-thàp: a small hut, raised high upon posts and thatched over, built in a clearing for cultivation, in which the cultivator passes the night for the purpose of scaring wild pigs and deer away from the crop.
[33] A species of potherb, so-called in Assamese: Bengali putika, Basella lucida. It has red juicy fruit.
[34] Notice the simplicity of life indicated by the occupations the fairy princesses have to attend to on their return to their celestial home.
[35] The exact species of these flowers is not vouched for; those named are common in the house-gardens of Assamese cultivators.
[36] See the note on p. 60.
[37] The flesh of animals killed by hunters is cut into strips and dried in the sun on frames of bamboo, for future use. The frames are called in Mikir ur and ràp.
[38] "Jungle-cock": Gallus ferrugineus, the wild fowl of Assam jungles.
[39] "Cock-pheasant": vorèk alopo, the dorik (Ass.) or "derrick," Gennæus Horsfieldii, the black-breasted kalij pheasant of north-east India.
[40] There are certain particles, jo, jàm, hur, hòr, and krei, used to indicate plurality when this is necessary; but they are inserted between the root and the tense-suffix, which is invariable.
[41] Pe- and pi- are used with monosyllables, pa- with most polysyllables; pa + ing = pàng.
[42] See "Khasi Monograph," p. 211.
[43] Reference may here be made to a summary of the Gospel history in Mikir entitled Birta Keme, "Glad tidings," published by the American Baptist Mission Press, Tika, Nowgong, in 1904.
[44] This seems to have taken place in or about 1765 A.D. See Gait, History of Assam, p. 181.
[45] Words resembling kèp are found for ten in some of the pronominalized languages of the lower Himalayas of Nepal; but these do not enter into our present field of comparison.
[46] Lepcha kha, Khaling khal, are probably the same word.
[47] Other Boro languages borrow Aryan words for higher numbers than ten.
[48] Lhi is the relic of kre, with the prefix k dropped and the r changed to l.
[49] Linguistic Survey, vol. III. part iii., p. 118.
[50] Southern Chin, as will be seen from the word-lists which follow, agrees in this respect with Mikir against Lushei, Meithei, and other Kuki-Chin languages.
[51] The only exception in Angami is r, in which a few words end.
[52] This seems to make it improbable that, as suggested on p. 109, chui in var-chui and nim-chui (to throw into water, to drown) is connected with the Tibetan chhu.
[53] The Chin words are taken from Mr. B. Houghton's Essay on the Language of the Southern Chins and its Affinities (Rangoon, 1892). In transcribing them h has been substituted for ` to indicate the aspirate, but the spelling has not been otherwise varied. The Lushei words are from Messrs. Lorrain and Savidge's Grammar and Dictionary of the Lushai Language (Dulien dialect) (Shillong, 1898); here too the spelling of the original has been retained.
[54] In Mikir this root is perhaps found in pi-nu, mother's sister, nimso, a virgin, and chai-nòng, cow. Chai-nòng is now used for both sexes, but the cognate languages point to chai (for chal) being the original word for the bovine species.
[55] A final mute italicised in Lushei words indicates that it is formed with the vocal organs, but not pronounced.
[56] Sa in Lushei means animal, and we see that the prefix te- (in teke, tiger), thi- (in thi-jòk, deer), or thòk- (in thòk-vàm, bear) has the same meaning in Mikir.
[57] So called from the figure of a butterfly (pli-pli) on the cover.