If a child does not thrive, it is imputed to the sin, or devil (āhī-ī) of the maternal uncle (òng), or, if there is no maternal uncle, of one of the child’s mother’s kur. The family apply to the person held to be responsible, and he gives a brass ring to be hung round the child’s neck, and a rice-ball (àn ādum).
There is no entertaining of friends on recovery from sickness. The sick person is tended by his wife and relations.
Tekerē, Thekerē, means a man who knows a spell or montro, especially one which protects him against tigers (tèkē).
Oaths and Ordeals.
Oaths and imprecations take the place of ordeals. Earth is put on the head, and the man says—“May I be like this dust!” A tiger’s tooth is scraped, and the scrapings drunk in water: “May the tiger eat me!” Similarly, an elephant’s tusk is scraped, and the scrapings drunk: “May the elephant trample me to death!” (Ingnār nē pedòng-nàng!) The copper ring worn by the uchē is dipped in water, and the water drunk, the man saying, “May the tiger catch me!” Another form of oath is Tàmhitni kàngjir āsòntòt nē pàngjir-nàng, “May I be melted like molten copper (or pot-metal)!” Such oaths are used to confirm promises, and also to attest evidence and proclaim innocence of a charge.
Funeral Ceremonies.
The funeral is the most elaborate, costly, and important of all the ceremonies performed by the Mikirs. Such ceremonies are considered obligatory in all cases except that of a child who has been born dead, or who has died before the after-birth has left the mother; such a child is buried without any ceremony. Victims of small-pox or cholera are buried shortly after death, but the funeral service is performed for them later on, the bones being sometimes dug up and duly cremated. When a person is killed by a tiger, if the body or clothes are found, they are buried at a distance from the village, because the tiger is supposed to visit the burial-place. Such persons cannot gain admittance to Jòm-āròng unless there are elaborate funeral ceremonies performed for them. Being killed by a tiger is generally imputed to the victim’s sin. His spirit is believed to dwell in the most dreary of the places where dead men’s spirits go; there is no notion (such as is found among some races in India) that it animates the tiger who killed him. Except in these cases the dead are disposed of by cremation, the burnt bones being afterwards buried.
The elaborateness of the funeral depends on the means of the family. The description which follows applies to a case where the household is well-to-do. In any case the body is kept in the house for one day after death; if a regular service is held, it may lie as long as from a week to twelve days.