Offences against property and person can generally be settled by payment of a fine, but the Lakhers have no fixed custom in such matters, and a person of quality generally takes the law into his own hands if he considers himself aggrieved.
Head-hunting used to be indulged in and is still practised by the Lakhers in unadministered tracks. In case of a chief’s death it was proper to kill someone of a distant village before drums or gongs were beaten, but it was thought “thianglo” to bring back the head on such an occasion. As regards their religious beliefs, the Lakher equivalent of Pathian is Khazang. Mr. Whalley writes:—“All spirits, with one doubtful exception to be noted later, whether malignant or benign, are slaves of the great spirit Khazang or Loitha. Whereas the attributes and the names of the lesser spirits vary from village to village and individual to individual, this great spirit has a firmer outline and permits of some attempt at description. The picture they draw is primitive, almost touching in its childishness. The Khazang or Loitha is small and brown and almost hairless. He is capable of sexual love and has children. He is material in his essence, but superior to natural laws such as those of time, space, and gravity. He is immortal, and has an immaterial wife and immaterial children. For his continuance the world exists with its revenue. In their own phrase he ‘eats’ the domains of the lesser spirits through all nature as a chief ‘eats’ villages (i.e., receives tribute in supplies from villages). He regards individual men much as these same men regard individual ants. Nearer to the heart and farther from the intelligence of the Lakhers is the mysterious Pi-leh-pu, the all-mother and all-father (strictly translated ‘grandmother’ and ‘grandfather,’ the term is generally used for ancestors)—a being not anthropomorphised or materialised, partaking in some shadowy way of the functions both of guardian angel and of originator of the human race.”
In the course of my enquiries I did not come across any references to Pi-leh-pu, but there seems good reason to think that the term is applied to the mythical ancestor of the clan. In the Lushai Mi-thi-rawp-lam, it will be remembered that in the centre of the frame round which the effigies of the ancestors of the celebrants are fastened there is a white effigy to represent the mythical ancestor of the whole clan. In some respects Pi-leh-pu seems to resemble the Lushai Sakhua.
The Ram-huai of the Lushais are known as “Hri-pa” and the Lāshi as “Sakhia.” After death the spirits pass to Mi-thi-khua, the road to which is by the village of Lunchoi and passes up a precipice. It is so narrow that women with child have to widen it as they go, for which purpose a hoe is buried with them, or at least laid beside the corpse during the funeral feast. Pial-ral is called “Pe-ra’,” and to reach it all sorts of animals must be killed and the Ai ceremony performed for each. The Khuangchoi feast is also considered, if not absolutely necessary, at least very useful. Triumphs in the courts of Venus will not help the spirit to pass to Pe-ra’. Women can only reach that happy place if their husbands take them. A series of feasts or sacrifices closely resembling the Thangchhuah feast of the Lushais is performed, but I was assured that the performer’s state in the next world was not in any way affected thereby, the feasts being equivalent to the Lushai Sakhua sacrifice. The series consists of—
Vok-rial.—A very small pig which has been brought up in the house is killed and eaten.
Vok-pa.—A boar of five fists’ height which has been brought up in the house is killed, a black hen being also sacrificed at the same time.
The “sherh” are kept inside the house for three days, during which time none of the household may do any work, but the house is not closed and anyone may share in the feast. The Vok-rial is performed three times and the Vok-pa twice, and then a mithan is killed and all share in the feast. The performer of the She-shun may not cross a big stream or enter another village till he has sacrificed a hen. Subsequently he again performs Vok-rial, which is said to conclude the sacrifices to Sakhua. A feast in which two mithan are killed is called “Bawi.” It is followed by Khuangchoi, in which at least five mithan must be slain.
The spirits of the dead are supposed to become mist after having lived two or three lives in the other world.
Ten days after the birth of a child the mother goes to the water supply and washes herself. She then takes the child to her father’s house, where she receives some rice and a fowl, which she takes home and eats. Sacrifices are not done at this time. Children’s heads are shaved at three months, and the hair is allowed to grow at nine years with girls and at eleven with boys. The bodies of stillborn children are buried outside the village without any ceremony, but no purification, either of the house or village, is considered necessary.
Death. The usual funeral feast, which in the case of wealthy persons may last three to five days, precedes the burial. Some time afterwards a second feast is given and a portion is put aside for the spirit of the deceased. At the funeral feast the corpse is laid out with fine cloths and ornaments and a dance is performed by two women and one man. In other respects the Lakher and Lushai customs are very much alike. There is an annual feast in honour of those who have died during the year. It is called “Lachhia.” A pig is killed and the young men and maidens dance attired in their best clothes, and the usual large quantities of zu are consumed.