[1] Major Godwin-Austen says of the Gāro hill tribes, Bengal, India:
“In every village is the ‘bolbang,’ or young men’s house. … In this house all the unmarried males live, as soon as they attain the age of puberty, and in this any travelers are put up.”—The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. II, p. 393. See also op. cit., vol. XI, p. 199.
S. E. Peal says:
“Barracks for the unmarried young men are common in and around Assam among non-Aryan races. The institution is here seen in various stages of decline or transition. In the case of ‘head-hunters’ the young men’s barracks are invariably guardhouses, at the entrance to the village, and those on guard at night keep tally of the men who leave and return.”—Op. cit., vol. XXII, p. 248.
Gertrude M. Godden writes at length of the young men’s house of the Nágá and other frontier tribes of northeast India: “Before leaving the Nágá social customs one prominent feature of their village society must be noticed. This is the dekha chang, an institution in some respects similar to the bachelors’ hall of the Melanesians, which again is compared with the balai and other public halls of the Malay Archipelago. This building, also called a Morang, was used for the double purpose of a sleeping place for the young men and as a guard or watch house for the village. The custom of the young men sleeping together is one that is constantly noticed in accounts of the Nágá tribes, and a like custom prevailed in some, if not all, cases for the girls. … “The young men’s hall is variously described and named. An article in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago, 1848, says that among the Nágás the bachelors’ hall of the Dayak village is found under the name of ‘Mooring.’ In this all the boys of the age of 9 or 10 upward reside apart. In a report of 1854 the ‘morungs’ are described as large buildings generally situated at the principal entrances and varying in number according to the size of the village; they are in fact the main guardhouse, and here all the young unmarried men sleep. In front of the morung is a raised platform as a lookout, commanding an extensive view of all approaches, where a Nágá is always kept on duty as a sentry. … In the Morungs are kept skulls carried off in battle; these are suspended by a string along the wall in one or more rows over each other. In one of the Morungs of the Changuae village, Captain Brodie counted one hundred and thirty skulls. … Besides these there was a large basket full of broken pieces of skulls. Captain Holroyd, from whose memorandum the above is quoted, speaks later of the Morung as the ‘hall of justice’ in which the consultations of the clan council are held.
“The ‘Morangs’ of another tribe, the ‘Naked’ Nágá, have recently been described as situated close to the village gate, and consist of a central hall, and back and front verandahs. In the large front verandah are collected all the trophies of war and the chase, from a man’s skull down to a monkey’s. Along both sides of the central hall are the sleeping berths of the young men. …
“Speaking of the Mao and Muran tribes [continues Miss Godden], Dr. Brown says, ‘the young men never sleep at home, but at their clubs, where they keep their arms always in a state of readiness.’ …
“With the Aos at the present day the custom seems to be becoming obsolete; sleeping houses are provided for bachelors, but are seldom used except by small boys. Unmarried girls sleep by twos and threes in houses otherwise empty, or else tenanted by one old woman.
“The analogy between the Dakha Chang, or Morang, of the Nágás and the men’s hall of the Melanesians is too close to be overlooked, and in view of the significance of all evidence concerning the corporate life of early communities a description of the latter is here quoted. I am aware of no recorded instance of the women’s house, other than these Nágá examples. ‘In all the Melanesian groups it is the rule that there is in every village a building of public character where the men eat and spend their time, the young men sleep, strangers are entertained; where as in the Solomon Islands the canoes are kept; where images are seen, and from which women are generally excluded; … and all these no doubt correspond to the balai and other public halls of the Malay Archipelago.’ ”—Op. cit., vol. XXVI, pp. 179–182.