The remaining clans still adhere to the ancient style, their houses being raised some four or five feet off the ground on posts. The walls are of planks, and the roofs of thatching grass; they remind one much of the Falam houses. Round each village are clustered the granaries—small houses raised well off the ground and placed sufficiently far from the dwelling houses to make them fairly safe from fire. Where the houses are raised sufficiently pigs and poultry live under them; but cattle sheds are common, most of these clans having learnt the value of cows and buffaloes from the Manipuris. The handsome breed of goats so common in a Lushai village is seldom if ever seen, but animals of an inferior sort are generally kept.
The Chiru, Kom, and Tikhup still build zawlbuks. No woman is allowed to enter these buildings, which, besides being the dormitories of the unmarried men, are used for drinking bouts. They are externally very like those built by the Lushais, but have several fireplaces evidently used for cooking, and the general hearth in the centre is absent. Some of the clans which do not now build zawlbuks say that they believe their forefathers did so. In the absence of the zawlbuk the young men generally sleep in the houses of well-to-do villagers, but among the Purum I am told that “if a man has one unmarried son and one unmarried daughter, the boy goes to sleep at the house of a man who has an unmarried daughter; though they sleep in this way they are very careful about their characters.” Have we here stumbled on the real origin of the “young men’s house”—a desire to prevent incest? The young women also have houses in which they gather at time of festivals, but they do not sleep there.
The rotchem, the Lushai mouth-organ, is found among all these clans, but rather smaller and ornamented with fowls’ feathers. The Anal make a speciality of long bamboo trumpets, on which they perform with considerable skill, producing sounds indistinguishable from those of a bugle. The trumpets are from four to five feet long, and have bell-shaped mouths made of gourds.
Most of these clans have adopted various dances from the Manipuris, their own dancing being of the monotonous nature common to the Lushais and Kukis.
In dress and method of wearing the hair Manipuri influence is also noticeable, the men generally wearing coats and loin-cloths and turbans. The women are more conservative and adhere to the short petticoat. The hair is generally worn very much in the Lushai fashion, but the Chiru men are an exception to this. They part their hair in the middle and brush it down straight, and trim it level with the bottom of the ears. They bind a narrow fillet of cane round the head slightly above the eyes. The Kolhen women gather the hair into two heavy rolls, which hang down in front of each ear. The Tikhup maidens have adopted the Manipuri method of dressing the hair.
The ivory discs worn in the ears by Lushai women are not found, but metal rings are worn in a similar manner by both sexes.
Aimol Nautch Party. The Youth is Holding a Rotchem.
Photo by M. Little, Esq., Loc. Engineer.
The Manipuris have instituted in each village a number of posts with high-sounding titles, similar to those in use among themselves, but traces of the older organisation are to be found. Thus the Aimol recognise a man called Thompa, of the Chomgom family, as the head of the clan, but he has no power and receives nothing, while in each village are four officials who receive a portion of every animal killed in the chase. They are called “kamzakhoi,” “zakachhunga,” “zupalba,” and “pakanglakpa.” The last two titles have a distinctly Manipuri sound about them. The usual titles found are “khul-lakpa”—i.e., chief of the village—“lup-lakpa,” “zupalba,” and “Methei lumbu”—i.e. Manipuri interpreter—but there are others. The khul-lakpa and lup-lakpa are hereditary posts. Among the Lamgang there are seven such hereditary posts. Among the Chiru the khul-lakpa, besides receiving a portion of each animal killed, also gets his house built for nothing, which brings him very near to the Lushai “lāl.” Among the Kolhen the khul-lakpa’s and lup-lakpa’s posts are not hereditary, but on the death of either his successor must be chosen out of the same family, but his sons are ineligible. The new official has to give a feast, killing a pig, which is eaten by the whole community, and the young men and maidens make merry with dance and song. It seems probable that in this may be some idea of averting the evil effects of a breach of the generally accepted custom.