Beliefs about the Dead.
The Mikirs have borrowed from the Hindu Assamese the ideas and the names of Boikuntho (Vaikunṭha, Vishnu’s Paradise) and Nòròk (Naraka, Hell); but these conceptions do not play much part in their views of a life to come. Better known, and more often mentioned, is Jòm Rēchō (Jam, Yama Rājā), the Lord of Spirits, with whom the dead remain below ground. His abode—the abode of the dead—is Jòm-āròng,[1] and the elaborate ceremonies of the funeral are the means by which the spirit of the dead gains admittance to Jòm’s city. Unless they are duly performed he remains outside.
They speak of having seen the shade (image, ārjàn) of a dead man (nē lā ārjàn thèklòk, “I saw his shade”); a sickly man catches such glimpses in the house, on the road, etc. Phārlō, spirit, is used both of living persons and dead. Tovē nē-phārlō nē lā-ābàng thèk-lòng, “Last night in my spirit I saw him”; where phārlō is the spirit of the sleeping man. When such glimpses are experienced, betel and food are set aside in the house, and after a time thrown away.
On a death occurring, the old women of the village wash and lay out the body. Then one composes a chant, setting forth the parentage and life of the dead: “You will now meet your grand-parents, father, deceased brother, etc., and will stay with them and eat with them.” Then a separate meal of rice and a boiled egg is placed beside the body, and the dead man is invited to eat. This is done twice a day, the meal being cooked separately from the food of the family. After being offered and placed beside the corpse for a time, the food is thrown away. This goes on day by day until the funeral service is held (see below). After that there are no regular offerings, but occasionally a man or woman puts aside from his or her own share of food a portion for the dead, as, for instance, when another funeral reminds them of those who have died before.
There does not appear to be any fear of the dead coming back to trouble the living. Some people, however, it is said, are afraid to pass the burying-place of the dead after dark.
They say that a man called Thī-rèng Vàng-rèng (literally, “Dead-alive come-alive”) in former times used to travel between this world and Jòm Rēchō’s abode; he taught them their funeral ceremonies. At last he did not come back. Everything is different in Jòm-āròng. Thīrèng Vàngrèng saw the people there go out to fish, and gather instead pieces of stick. They asked him why he did not gather them too; he answered that they were not fish, but sticks. They waved over them a lighted brand, and he saw them as fish. So, too, there a crab becomes a tiger, or seems to be a tiger. Men do not stay in Jòm Rēchō’s city for ever, but are born again as children, and this goes on indefinitely (here we seem to have a borrowing from Hinduism). “The Mikirs give the names of their dead relations to children born afterwards, and say that the dead have come back; but they believe that the spirit is with Jòm all the same.”[2]
A man with unusually keen and alarming eyes is said to be possessed by a demon (hī-ī). The phrase is āhī-ī kedo ārlèng, and, of the eyes, āmèk āhī-ī kedo. But the superstition of the evil eye, as prevalent elsewhere, seems to be unknown, and such a man is not avoided; rather, the hī-ī is supposed to give him cleverness. The same phrase is used in familiar abuse to a child: Āhī-ī kedo osō, “You devil-possessed brat!”
Religion—Divinities.
The Mikirs have no idols, temples, or shrines. Some people, however, have fetishes or amulets, called bòr. These are pieces of stone or metal, by keeping which they become rich. Sometimes, however, a man unwittingly keeps a bòr that brings him ill-luck and loss. A man is said to have got a bòr, bòr kelòng; Bòr do-kòklē, plàng-plē-jī mā? “If you have got a bòr, will you not become rich?” Bòrs are not common; one gets them by chance in river, field, or jungle. Or a man dreams that he can get a bòr in such a place, and finds it there. But these amulets are not objects of worship or propitiation.