The remarkable point about these names is that most of them are the same for both sexes, and that the sexes are distinguished only by words indicating gender where this is required. Pō is the index for the male, pī that for the female.
Again, the same word appears to be used in different senses: e.g. òng is maternal uncle, but òng-sō (sō is the syllable indicating a diminutive) is the wife’s brother, the “little uncle;” osā is both nephew (sister’s son) and son-in-law (pointing to the custom of intermarriage of first cousins on the mother’s side). Tē is sister, but tēpī (pī indicates greatness) is brother’s wife. Similarly, kòr is sister (or brother), kòrpī is wife’s sister, kòrpō sister’s husband.
It will be observed that brothers and sisters, and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, use different forms of address when speaking of their relationship inter se.
The whole subject seems to demand further investigation, in the light of comparison with the system of family grouping in other allied tribes, and the history and etymology, so far as it is possible to ascertain them, of the words indicating relationship.]
The sons inherit; if there are none, the brothers; after them the deceased’s nearest agnate of his own kur. The wife and daughters get nothing. But if the deceased has no sons or brothers, the widow can retain the property by marrying into her husband’s kur. In any case she retains her personal property, ornaments, clothes, etc. If the widow will not surrender the property, the case has to come before the mē.
The eldest son gets somewhat more than the others on the father’s death. Generally, however, the property is divided beforehand by the father, who often prefers one son to another. The family usually continues to dwell together, the grown-up sons supporting the widowed mother. Adoption is unknown.
Villages have no fixed or recognized boundaries, but are moved from place to place according to the needs of cultivation. Only house-tax is paid, except by Mikirs cultivating land with the plough in the submontane tracts, who are treated in all respects like other Assamese raiyats. In the hills the culturable land, at the first settlement of a village in a new locality, is divided among the householders by the mē, or village council, presided over by the gaoṅbura, the head of each household choosing his own land for cultivation, and any dispute being referred to the mē. Should the dispute not be settled in this manner, the majority prevails, and the dissident households, if they do not acquiesce, may remove elsewhere and set up for themselves as a new community with a gaoṅbura of their own.
The following are the Mikir mauzas, or territorial divisions including a number of villages, in the Nowgong district:—
Duār Bāguri, Duār Bāmuni, Duār Sālŏnā, Ròngkhàng, Duār Āmlā Parbat, Duār Dikhŏru, Duār Kothiatali, Jamunā-pār, Làngphēr, Lumding Mikir. The last two are new mauzas, the opening-out of which is due to the Assam-Bengal Railway, which traverses the tract. Each mauza has a Mikir mauzadār or bikhoyā.
The decision of disputes is the business of the village mē, or council,[4] presided over by the gaoṅbura (Mikir, sār-thē). The mē is composed of all the male householders. The gaoṅbura is chosen for his personal character by the householders. On election, he repairs, with beer and spirits, to the head gaoṅbura or mauzadar, bringing with him two or three other gaoṅburas. A pig is killed, the company eat and drink together, and the gaoṅbura is declared duly elected. The mē is summoned by the gaoṅbura. It decides all village disputes, and inflicts small fines. It also determines whether the village shall be shifted, and where it shall be removed to. A mē-pī (“great council”) consists of gaoṅburas only, presided over by a mauzadar or head gaoṅbura. Graver matters, such as charges of adultery, witchcraft aimed at life (mājā kechònghoi), tigers in the mauza, questions affecting the mauza at large, the arrangements for the Ròngkēr or annual village festival, and such like, are referred to the mē-pī.