The Lushei Kuki Clans

by John Shakespear

Should several children have died young, the parents will carry the next baby and deposit it in a friend’s house, and then come and ask, “Have you a slave to sell,” and purchase it for a small sum. This is supposed to deceive the Huais. Such children’s names always begin with Suak,[4] and, judging from the frequency with which such names are met, the custom must be a very common one.

It is thought good to appoint a “pu.” The pu kills a pig and a fowl and eats it with his friends. Some of the “fep” of the fowl are tied round the child’s neck. The pu is a general protector, and he only can get the “pushum” of a girl. He also receives the “lukawng” (see Part 8). Should a woman die in childbirth, it was considered unlucky for another woman to rear the child, which was buried alive with its mother.

There are no ceremonies connected with attaining the age of puberty. A boy simply joins the young men in the zawlbuk. After this it is considered unlucky to cut the hair.

7. Marriage ceremonies. A young Lushai as a rule chooses his own bride, but the arrangements are made by the parents. The would-be bridegroom’s parents select two male friends, called “palai,” who go to the parents of the selected girl and arrange matters. If the parents are agreeable the palai go on another day with zu, and the girl’s parents brew zu. The price to be paid is fixed by custom, as before explained, but the amount to be paid down has to be settled by negotiation, and this is often a long business, the palai urging the poverty of the bridegroom’s family, while the bride’s parents try to fix the sum as high as possible. When this difficulty has been overcome the palai go again with zu, and the girl’s parents also provide zu. On that day the girl is escorted by her friends to the house of the bridegroom’s parents. This is called “Loi.” As they pass through the village all the children pelt them with dirt, but on arrival they are welcomed with brimming cups of zu, and the bridegroom says to the bride, “Oh! your cloth is dirty,” and gives her a new one. After some time the bridegroom produces a fowl, and this is killed by the puithiam, who says certain charms while doing so. This fowl is called “rem ār”—i.e., “the fowl of agreement”—and directly it is killed the bride and bridegroom pledge each other in zu. Then the bride and her young friends retire, while the rest of the party remain and have a great feast, consuming the “rem ār,” and also the fowls and zu, which the bridegroom receives from the bride’s aunt, pu, thian, and pālāl. The next day towards evening, the bridegroom’s mother or other elderly female relative goes to the bride’s house accompanied by two or three young girls, and they escort the bride to her husband’s house and hand her over to him. The young companions of the bridegroom sometimes amuse themselves by collecting a number of fowls under the house, tying she-goats up in the verandah, while the kids are tied at the far end of the village, and throw stones at the house throughout the night, so that the happy couple get but little sleep. This is called “Inngaithlak.” On the following morning the bride returns to her mother’s house, and for some time, occasionally for several weeks, the bride will spend her days at her mother’s house, only going to her husband’s after dark.

8. Funerals. Different clans have different methods of disposing of their dead. The following is the custom of all true Lusheis, whenever the means of the deceased’s family are sufficient to meet the expenses.

Directly after death the corpse is washed, the hair dressed carefully, and then the body is attached to a bamboo frame, placed in a sitting position, and adorned with fine raiment, necklaces, &c.; if the deceased was a man his gun, dao, &c., are put near him. In Lushei families the corpse is put on the floor at the head of the kumpui. In other clans it is placed against the wall on one side. If the family be rich a mithan, a pig, a dog, and a goat are killed, but at least one of these must be killed. The flesh is then cooked in anticipation of the arrival of the friends and neighbours who are invited to a funeral feast, “Rāl,” which is kept up with singing and drinking till the evening of the next day. Food and drink are offered at intervals to the corpse. The spirits of the animals killed are supposed to accompany the soul of the deceased to Mi-thi-khua. If these animals are not killed the soul of the deceased will either not reach Mi-thi-khua, or if it does will be very poorly off there. So far there is not much difference between the Lushei custom and that of other clans. The other clans, on the evening of the day after the death, bury the deceased outside the house, without any particular ceremony. The nearest male relative makes a short farewell speech wishing the deceased a pleasant journey and asking him to prepare things for those who have to follow him. With a man are buried his pipe, haversack, and flint and steel; with a woman only the two first. As regards the burying of food and drink and weapons the custom varies, but it is generally done.

The Lusheis, however, prefer not to bury their dead. The body is placed in a box made by hollowing out a log, a slab of wood is placed over the opening, and the joint plastered up with mud. This rough sort of coffin is placed in the deceased’s house near to the wall. A bamboo tube is passed up through the floor and through a hole in the bottom of the coffin and into the stomach of the corpse. The other end is buried in the ground. A special hearth is made close to the coffin and a fire is kept burning day and night on this for three months, and during the whole of this time the widow of the deceased, if he leaves one, must sit alongside the coffin, over which are hung any valuables owned by the deceased. About six weeks after placing the corpse in the coffin, the latter is opened to see if the destruction of the corpse is proceeding properly, and if necessary the coffin is turned round so as to present the other side to the fire. The opening of the coffin is celebrated by the killing of a pig and the usual drink, and is known either as “en-lawk” or looking, examining.

When it is thought that everything but the bones has been destroyed, the coffin is opened and the bones removed. The skull and the larger bones are removed and kept in a basket, which is placed on a special shelf opposite the hearth. The remainder of the bones are collected and buried generally in an earthenware pot.

On the occasion of the final opening of the coffin—“khuang pai,” “throwing away coffin”—it is customary for chiefs to kill a mithan; lesser people are content with the usual drink. Few Lusheis, except chiefs, can afford the expense incurred in this method of disposing of their dead, and in such cases the body is simply buried. It is customary for relations and friends of the deceased to send animals to be killed in his honour, and the spirits of these are supposed to belong to the spirit of the deceased in the Mi-thi-khua.

The skulls of all animals killed on such occasions are placed on poles round the grave if the body has been buried. If the body has not been buried, the heads will be placed on poles round the “lung dawh,” or platform erected in memory of the deceased. These “lung dawh,” in most cases, are merely a rough platform of logs placed beside the road just outside the village, but in the case of chiefs and of men who have killed men in war, the platform is built of stones. A big upright stone is placed in the centre, and on this various figures are roughly outlined, representing the deceased and sometimes his wife and children and the various animals he has killed. An indiarubber-tree is very often planted by a chief’s grave. Sometimes a person who either has no near relatives, or who mistrusts those he or she has, will get the young men of the village to build the lung dawh during his or her lifetime.