What follows depends upon the wealth and standing of the parties. If the wedding is ākejoi—that is, if no payment is to be made for the bride—the girl goes with her husband next day to her new home. Her parents accompany her, and are entertained with food and drink, returning the following day. If the wedding is ākemèn (literally, ripe, pakkā), the lad stays in his father-in-law’s house. He rests one day, and then works for his father-in-law for a year, or two years, or even it may be for life, according to agreement. There is no money payment in any case. If the girl is an heiress or only daughter, the marriage is usually ākemèn; but in the great majority of cases it is ākejoi. The neighbours of both villages assemble at the marriage, and when the bride goes to her husband’s house, the neighbours of the village accompany her and are hospitably entertained.

Before marriage it was reported, when Mr. Stack made his enquiries, that there was little intercourse between the sexes. Seduction rarely occurred, but when it did, the parents of the girl had to give her to the lad in marriage. It was not punished. Old men, however, could remember (1885) when the teràng or “bachelors’ house” used to be the abode not only of the lads, but also of the maids, and illegitimate births were common. The girls used even to work in the fields with the boys; there was not even a matron to look after them!

After marriage adultery is said to be rare. The case is judged by the mē, or village council, who inflict a fine. The guilty pair are tied up and exposed to the scorn of the neighbours until the fine is paid by the man. Adultery was never capitally punished. After the fine is paid, the husband has to take his wife back, unless there are no children, when he might refuse to do so. The fine is not given to the offended husband, but distributed among the elders who compose the mē.

The authorities differ on the question whether more than one wife is allowed. When Mr. Stack wrote, in 1883, the chapter on “Castes and Tribes” in the Report on the Assam Census of 1881, he stated that “polygamy is permitted if a man can afford it.” His subsequent notes of 1885–86, however, record that monogamy is the rule, and no one is allowed to marry two wives. Mr. W. C. M. Dundas, Subdivisional Officer of North Cachar, writing in 1903, says that an Ārlèng may marry only one wife. On the other hand, the Rev. P. E. Moore, who has a long experience of the Mikirs, writing in 1902, says, “Polygamy is not common. A man sometimes takes a second wife. In one instance which came to my notice recently the two wives were married on the same day. The man is usually fined Rs. 12.8 for this irregularity. The father of a boy who is now in my service had six wives, and was not punished at all.”[3] Perhaps it may be concluded that monogamy is the general rule, and that cases of polygamy have occurred in consequence of the effect of the example of the Assamese, and the weakening of tribal sanctions.

The young couple live in the bridegroom’s father’s house. The old people often get separate rooms allotted to them as they advance in life, and are supported in idleness.

Widow marriage is allowed. Divorce is rare, but permissible if there is no offspring, or if the girl goes home after marriage and refuses to return to her husband. In that case the husband takes a gourd of beer to her parents and declares himself free. Both parties, after the divorce, can marry again.

[Note by Editor.

The following list of Mikir words for family relationship has some points of interest:—

Grandfather, phu.Grandmother, phi.
Father, pō.Mother, pēi,pī.
Husband, pèng-àn.Wife, pēsō.
(Wedded pair,Pèng-àn-sō, Pēngnàn-sō.)
Wife’s father, hupō, ònghai.Wife’s mother, nīpī, nihai.
Husband’s father, lòk-hai.
Father’s brother, punu.Father’s sister, pīnu.
Mother’s brother, òng, nihu.Father’s brother’s wife,ni.
Child, commongender, without reference to parents, sō.
Boy, osō.Girl, osōpī.
Son, sōpō.Daughter, sōpī.
Grandson, supō.Granddaughter, supī.
Brother, in general, kòr, kòrtē.Sister, in general, kòr, kòrtē.
Brother, when speaker is a female,chèklē.
Elder brotherwords used by both sexesīkElder sistertē, when speaker is afemale.
Younger brothermuingjīrpī, whenspeaker is a male.
Younger sister, mu.
Brother-in-law: wife’s brother,òng-sō.Brother’s wife, for malespeaker, tēpī; for female speaker, nèng.
Sister’s husband, mē, ingjīr-ārlo; kòrpō.Wife’s sister, kòrpī.
Son-in-law, osā.
Nephew, generally, philipō.Niece, philipī.
Elder brother’s son, īk-āsō.
Brother’s son, kòr-āsō.
Sister’s son,osā.