The Lhota Nagas

by J. P. Mills

For the ceremonies where a mithan is sacrificed a black hybrid or black bull may be substituted, but the substitute is invariably spoken of as a mithan. The following defects[20] make an animal unfit for sacrifice—a hole in the horn, one horn deformed or shorter than the other, one horn missing, teeth missing or broken, white marks on the body, white on the tail or forehead (though an animal with white both on the tail and forehead may be sacrificed), deformed hoof and white on the leg unless all four legs are white. It is [[138]]believed that were a man to sacrifice an animal with one of these defects he would almost certainly die. Under no circumstances may the flesh of an animal which has been sacrificed be eaten either by the sacrificer or any of his household. It is believed that anyone who broke this rule would go mad. There is a man in Pangti who is supposed to have become insane for this reason. Whatever may be the real cause he is certainly afflicted with madness, and of a kind particularly obnoxious to the writer, for it takes the form of making interminable complaints about imaginary wrongs. Again in Humtso the writer came across a case in which a woman tried to poison her husband by scraping shavings off the horns of a mithan he had sacrificed and mixing them with his “madhu.”

The First Social “Genna.” Like all social “gennas” the first one, Wozütana, is usually performed in the cold weather when there is a certain amount of leisure from work in the fields. It is a very simple affair which is often performed by a man before marriage. He invites all the men of his clan in the village who have done Wozütana, and kills a bull of any colour behind the house. This is divided up among the guests and much “madhu” handed round. Little presents of meat, too, would ordinarily be sent to fellow-clansmen in neighbouring villages. Next day the man who has done the “genna” must not give a drink of “madhu” to a man of another village. The head of the bull sacrificed on this occasion is not kept. The man who performs this “genna” is entitled to wear the cloth called phangdrap.

The Second Social “Genna.” The second social “genna,” Shishang, or, as the Southern Lhotas call it, Wozüyua, is a much more elaborate business and is usually not performed till after marriage. A big pig and a bull of any colour are bought and “madhu” is prepared and kept in the middle room. From the time the “madhu” is made till the end of the “genna” the man doing the “genna” must not eat meat from the kill of a tiger or leopard or other animal. When all is ready he calls a Wokchung to his house, gives him a “chunga” of “rohi madhu” and formally announces to him that he proposes [[139]]to do the Shishang “genna.” The Wokchung thereupon offers a prayer for the performer’s welfare, and after pouring a little of the “madhu” on to the floor drinks the rest and departs. Then the husbands of women of the sacrificer’s clan go into the jungle and fields and bring yutso leaves and plantain leaves for cups for the next day’s ceremony. Next day the same men kill the pig and the bull in front of the performer’s house, the bull by cutting the skin over the heart and then pushing a sharpened stick home, and the pig with a blow of a stick on the back of the head. In “the good old days” before the Hills were administered the bull was beaten to death as slowly as possible—“great fun,” as old men often say with a sigh. The two Wokchungs and two ’Nchukos are in attendance, and the latter lay out six small pebbles in the form of miniature hearths in the mpongki, a piece of ceremonial for which the Lhotas can give no reason. The meat is then all divided up, and the Wokchungs and ’Nchukos first go into the house and cook and eat a little of the meat. Then the guests go in and feast. For this day they are mostly the husbands of women of the sacrificer’s clan, with a sprinkling of blood relations and senior men. At night, after much singing of songs in which good wishes for the sacrificer are expressed, the guests disperse and the ’Nchukos throw away the six small pebbles. Next day about midday two small pigs provided by the sacrificer are speared by the Wokchungs outside the house. The hindquarters of one are the perquisite of the parents of the sacrificer’s wife. The rest of the meat is eaten in the evening, when all men of the sacrificer’s clan in the village who have done the Shishang “genna” collect round a fire outside his house and sing and drink his “madhu.” The Wokchungs and ’Nchukos each hold a cock and sing songs in which the good fortune of the sacrificer is desired. The cocks are then killed and the meat divided among the guests. The rest of the evening and most of the night is given up to singing and drinking, the old men especially getting happier and happier and more and more boastful of the deeds of their youth. [[140]]

The Third Social “Genna.” The third social “genna” is called Etha. Nowadays the tendency is to combine it with the fourth social “genna” at which a mithan is killed, or even omit it altogether. The procedure is much the same as that of the Shishang “genna,” except that Humtso, Chami, Kikung, Pathong and Nguli clans claim that they alone have the right to sacrifice a bull, other clans being content with pigs. The performance of this “genna” confers the right of wearing the cloth called ethasü.

After Etha and all subsequent social “gennas” a ceremony called osoni-woala is performed at the granary of the man who has done the sacrifice. The two Wokchungs sacrifice two pigs outside the granary, and kill two fowls by knocking their heads against the door. The meat is then divided up and the fowls’ feathers are tied to bamboos outside the granary as a sign that the ceremony has been performed there.

The Fourth Social “Genna.” The fourth social “genna” is that at which a mithan is killed (Tsirotsoala). The man who proposes to perform this “genna” tells the two Wokchungs of his intention. The Wokchungs tell the husbands of married women born in the sacrificer’s clan, and they (the husbands) in turn give public notice in the village and are called Wothang (“announcers”). Rice is pounded, with much singing, and “madhu” prepared. On the day of the sacrifice the mithan, which must be a bull without blemish, is tied up in front of the sacrificer’s house, with its horns decked with rezüyo leaves. It is given a drink of water and allowed to lick salt out of the hand of the sacrificer’s wife. The Wokchung touches it on the head with a stick and recites dranda. It is thrown, and a spear thrust into its heart by an old man, not necessarily of the sacrificer’s clan, who at once runs away while all present pelt him with lumps of earth. After the mithan is dead its nose is pierced by the Wokchung and a string of kuro bark passed through and tied to a post in front of the house. The man performing the “genna” then takes his dao in his left hand and draws it across the flanks and neck of the animal as if he were cutting up the meat. He then cuts the string [[141]]and walks widdershins round the mithan up to the door of his house, which he enters after washing his hands and his dao. The meat is divided up as follows: the chest to the clan of the performer of the sacrifice, the hindquarters to his wife’s clan, the fore-legs to the husbands of women of his clan (echantyoi), the meat of the head to the Wothangs, the tongue to the man who helped to buy the mithan, and the lower part of the stomach to the old man who killed it. The performer must on no account eat any of this meat. Probably he will avoid mithan meat altogether for a year, in case an enemy should give him some of his own mithan to eat. The skull and horns must be kept in the “morung” till the sacrificer has dragged a stone, when he is allowed to put them up in his house.

Stone-dragging. Before the ceremonies[21] begin a man who proposes to drag a stone must build a little shed at the back of his house called emungrangki, in which he and the whole household must sleep till the ceremonies are finished. All being prepared and a stone selected, two Wothangs announce the date of the ceremony on behalf of the performer, who must allow no strangers from other villages to enter his house, and must remain chaste from the time the stone is dug out of the ground till the completion of the ceremonies. On the appointed night rice is pounded in front of his house with much singing and “madhu” made after daybreak. (Here and throughout, most of the work is done by the echantyoi, i.e. husbands of women whom the performer calls “sister”). The “madhu” is put in baskets to ferment and a bunch of green stuff called soko-mma (“madhu-forbidding”) is put over the door.[22] On the fourth day after this the performer must feed the Wokchungs and [[142]]their assistants in his house, receiving their blessing in return. The next day a path is cleared for the stone, the workers being feasted on a large pig. On the following day an old man called Lungchakdhro kills a little chicken in front of the house by cutting its throat with a sharp piece of bamboo, and prays that the stone may be carried up safely and unbroken. The chicken is thrown away. Then the Wokchung kills a small pig which is cooked by the performer’s echantyoi in his mpongki. Every man is given a piece. The older men eat their portions, but the younger men only touch theirs and throw them down, for it is believed that they would become weak and unable to lift the stone were they to eat this meat. Then all the men of the village, both those of the performer’s clan and his echantyoi, go down to the stone, which may be as far as two miles away, and make a frame of bamboo, on which it is put and bound with cane and creepers. When all is ready the two Wothangs sprinkle a mixture of “rohi madhu,” “saka madhu” and rarakham in all directions and make a pretence of lifting the stone. These preliminaries over, all take up the frame and carry[23] the stone with much ho-hoing and grunting up to a place on the path called züchanpen (“stone-discussing-place”). There they are met by a procession of men in full dancing dress, consisting of all men of the dragger’s clan who have dragged stones before, the rear being brought up by the performer himself, followed by two men called Eso and Yuso, Eso being the last man of the same clan who dragged a stone before the present puller, and Yuso the last dragger before Eso of the same clan. The performer himself carries an axe wrapped in yutso leaves, an egg and a chicken. After the inevitable interval for eating, drinking and talking the senior Wokchung holds the chicken in his hand and utters prayers for the prosperity of the village in general and especially for that of the performer and his wife. He cuts the chicken’s throat with a sharp piece of bamboo and places it with the egg [[143]]in front of the stone. The two Wokchungs and the performer then all hold the axe together and make eight cuts to the right and eight to the left, as if clearing a way in front of the stone. The stone is then carried up to the village and laid in front of the performer’s house. The evening is spent in feasting and singing. The performer supplies a bull, which is killed and divided up. The entrails are cooked and eaten by the carriers on the spot. The head goes to the performer and the meat is distributed to all except the performer and his clan and household. The songs sung are called orrüeya (“enemy-songs”), and detail the heads taken from every hostile village in the neighbourhood. The next day the Wokchungs show the exact place where the stone is to be set up and a hole is dug. All chant a prayer for the good fortune of the performer, holding in their hands curious cups of “madhu” made of folded plantain leaves ornamented with long horns of rezüyo leaves, similar to the cups used by the Aos at their big sacrifices. Two boars are then killed and cooked and eaten. A procession now emerges from the performer’s house consisting of two old women followed by the performer’s wife wearing her charaksü cloth for the first time, and another old woman. All four must wear their cloths bound round them under the armpits and not over the shoulders. The four women walk round the hole, which they approach from the side opposite to the Road of the Dead. Each one waves her foot over the hole as she passes. They then wash their faces and hands and re-enter the house. The stone is now tipped into the hole, set up and covered with mats, and the rest of the day spent in feasting and gaiety. In the morning the mats are removed and the ceremony is at an end. Among the Southern Lhotas three days elapse between that on which the stone is dragged into the village and that on which it is set up. During these three days the dragger is “genna.” He must not speak to strangers or eat any unclean meat.[24] [[144]]

Occasionally big forked posts (tsongzü), ten or twelve feet high,[25] are put up instead of stones to commemorate a mithan sacrifice. The usual reason is that suitable stone is not available, but the Nyimshamo kindred of the Othui clan in Yekhum are a unique example of a kindred which is forbidden to set up stones and must always set up posts instead. The reason given is simply that they have never been allowed to have anything to do with the village oha. The kindred came from Yemkha on the Sema border and may represent an immigration of Semas who still retain their own customs, but there is no tradition to that effect.

Photo by J. H. Hutton.]