The Lushei Kuki Clans

by John Shakespear

The Chiru ceremonies are more elaborate. After ten days the thempu comes to the house, a rakeng tree is planted in front of it, and then the thempu sacrifices a hen on behalf of the mother, and a cock or a hen, according to the sex of the child, on its behalf. The parents eat the flesh of the birds, and the sherh and bones are buried in the house. Two or three pots of zu are consumed by married persons. The thempu, taking some zu in his mouth, goes round inside the house, blowing it out on the walls and muttering charms. The mother can now leave the house, but for three or four days must not leave the village. The “keng-puna” or “ming-puna”—i.e., “name-giving”—takes place almost immediately. Two cocks or hens, according to the sex of the infant, are killed by the thempu, and their blood smeared on the infant’s forehead and navel, some of the feathers being tied in its hair. The Kolhen pierce the child’s ears and give the name on the tenth day, the ceremony being the same as among the Chiru on that day. The maternal grandfather is expected to give the child a pair of brass earrings, bracelets, leg ornaments, and a string of glass beads, and it is generally named after him—a custom also followed by the Koms, who combine the name-giving and ear-piercing, giving a feast for the purpose, on the expiration of the five days’ sherh. The ear-piercing is done by the paternal aunt. The Lamgang ceremonies are the same as those of the Anal, but the father is prohibited from eating the flesh of fowls during the sherh period, while the mother is under no restriction as regards diet. No other animal may be sacrificed during that time, and cohabitation is not allowed for one month. The Purum customs are severely simple. The thempu comes and mutters charms on the day of the birth, and returns on the third day and makes a libation of zu. No sacrifices are allowed. The name is given on the second day by the midwife, and the ears are pierced on the seventh day, but in neither case is there any ceremony. The Tikhup give the name at a feast, to which the elders of the community are invited; a cock is killed and zu dispensed freely. In case of the parents being poor, this feast may be postponed till the child is two years old.

The custom of summoning the child’s soul reminds one of the Lushai prohibition of labour on the part of the parents for seven days after the child’s birth, lest its soul, which hovers around them during that period, be injured.

Ceremonies connected with marriage. Where marriage is by service, it is only natural that the actual ceremony should be of little importance, for the couple have been living as man and wife during the whole time; but there are exceptions.

At an Aimol wedding two thempus are necessary—one of the bridegroom’s, and one of the bride’s family. Each kills a cock, the feathers of which are tied round the necks of the happy pair, after which there is the usual orgy. The Chiru and Tikhup custom is almost identical, but the village thempu officiates alone. Among the Kolhen, the young man’s mother makes six visits to the parents of her future daughter-in-law, taking an offering of zu, and being accompanied by her eldest son-in-law or other male relative, and on the last occasion by two or three women. Two days after the last visit, the price is fixed, and the day for the ceremony chosen by the bridegroom’s father and the village officials. The bridegroom, on the day before that fixed for the marriage, goes to the girl’s house, accompanied by several male friends, and makes a present of three pots of zu to her parents. The next morning the bride, accompanied by the unmarried girls of the village, goes to her future home, taking with her two jars of zu, a hen, a piece of ginger, a dog, a strap for carrying loads, a new cloth, and a bracelet. She parts from her friends, with many tears, on the doorstep of her new home. The khulpu decapitates a fowl and throws it down; if the right leg falls over the left a happy married life is assured. The night is spent in singing and dancing, and the following night in the same way, but in the house of the bride, who on the next morning quits her father’s house for good. On the day of the marriage the bride and bridegroom must not leave the village. This taking of omens by killing a cock is practised by the Lamgang and Kom. Where marriage is not by service the preliminaries in all clans resemble much those among the Kolhen. Among the Vaiphei, and, I think, in some other clans, the young man has to give a feast to the young men frequenting the same dormitory. A similar custom is described in Fielding Hall’s “The Inward Light,” page 104, as existing in Burma. “It is an old custom for the village boys to band themselves together in a company.... But when one marries he ceases to belong to the company, for he is about to enter into another and a wider life. He is a deserter and a traitor to his fellows. Therefore they lay in wait for him and caught him as he went home at night, and, taking him without the village gate, they tried him and found him guilty. With mock ceremony he was condemned to be turned out from their ranks, and to pay a fine wherewith his comrades might drown their sorrow at his desertion. Then with laughter and song, to the light of torches, they took him home in long procession.”

Widows are allowed to remarry, but as a rule the brothers of the deceased husband have a prior claim, and if the woman marries anyone else before the annual feast in honour of the dead she has to pay a fine, which in some clans is as much as Rs. 120/-, to her brother-in-law. Until this annual feast has come round she must remain in her late husband’s house, but when that has been performed she may return to her father’s house if she wishes to, but in that case the brother-in-law will take the dead man’s property and children.

Ceremonies connected with death. All these clans bury their dead in special cemeteries outside the village, and unnatural deaths or deaths in childbirth are universally considered signs that the deceased has failed in some way, and the corpses of such unfortunates are buried outside the cemetery and with scant ceremony.

Among the Aimol, the corpse of the khul-lakpa is carried round the village before being taken to the grave. The corpse of one who has gained honours equivalent to Thangchhuah among the Lushais is enclosed in a rough log coffin and kept for two days amid much drinking and feasting, which recalls the funeral ceremonies of a Lushei chief. With a rich man many cloths are buried and with a poor man at least one. In addition some cooked rice, zu, a dao, some meat, and a bow and arrow are deposited in the grave. The bow and arrow are a survival, for such weapons have been long obsolete. Over the grave a small house is built in which some meat and zu are placed to attract the “Khawhring.” Spears are then thrust through the house, which is then thrown away. I am not quite clear whether the “Khawhring” in this case is supposed, as among the Lushais, to have inhabited the body of the deceased, or whether it is believed to be a disembodied spirit which is on the lookout for the soul of the deceased.

Three days after the burial a wild animal is killed and zu and rice are offered, and the spirit of the deceased is asked to go away and not to trouble the living who have sacrificed and made an offering of zu and rice. The Anal make a distinction between deaths in childbirth and deaths by accident or in war. In the former case the body is buried in the cemetery, the grave being dug by those of her household, and food and drink and domestic utensils are deposited therein. The husband has to sacrifice a pig and feast the village before the burial, and the village is “sherh” for that day. The first stones and earth are placed in the grave by aged men, and the filling then completed by young men. The thempu having muttered some charms, the young men and women sing and dance for the deliverance of the soul. In cases of ordinary death the grave is dug by men not of the household, but in case of unnatural death only old grey-headed men may perform the task, and the grave is dug in the jungle and no dance or song terminates the funeral, but the village is not “sherh.”

The Chawte make their cemetery some distance from the village. The dead are buried on the day of death. Over each grave a mound is raised and fenced round with a bamboo trellis-work. A small post carved faintly to resemble the human form is placed over the grave of a man, while a hoe, axe, and winnowing fan denote the grave of a woman. On each grave rests a flat basket containing some flowers and a small jar of water. Behind each grave is a rough representation of a house raised some four feet from the ground, which is also ornamented with flowers, and some of the deceased’s clothes hang from it, while inside are placed a bamboo full of zu and a small cup, which is filled with clean water, and a handful of raw rice. These are changed every third or fourth day till the Thi-duh ceremony comes round in May, when there is a feast, and portions of meat and some zu are placed on each fresh grave.

On the death of a Chiru, guns are fired and gongs beaten, and a fowl, pig, and goat are killed at once. There is the usual funeral feast, and food and personal effects, including his comb, are buried with him. The house is “sherh” for three days, during which rice is placed in a small basket in the house and then thrown on to the grave. On the third day the house is purified by the thempu sacrificing a cock. In nearly every clan the house has to be purified by the thempu besprinkling it with either consecrated water or zu, and in many cases the funeral party are similarly purified. The Kolhen bury the bodies of those who die natural deaths in front of their houses, as do the Lushais, and the funeral feast closely resembles that held by the Lushais. The body of a khul-lakpa is carried three times round his memorial stone, from left to right. A bow and arrow are placed in the grave. The village is “sherh” for three days for any death. The Lamgang follow the same customs as the Anal, but the bodies of women who die in childbirth are not buried in the graveyard. The Kom and the Purum have the curious custom that the duty of digging the grave in case of an unnatural death falls on the son-in-law of the deceased. They say that the spirit of the dead cries out at the place where he met his death until appeased by an offering of tobacco leaves and rice. The Tikhup funeral is exactly the same as that of an ordinary Lushai. The Vaiphei dress up the corpse and strap it on to a bamboo frame, as do the Lushais, and feast around it for three days if food and drink suffice for so long. At the end of the feast the thempu pours some zu down the throat of the corpse and bids the spirit go in peace, and the body is carried to the grave, but if the deceased has attained Thangchhuah honours, it is first earned round the village. The household of the deceased abstain from washing or dressing the hair till some wild animal has been killed. The custom of giving something to the maternal grandfather or uncle on the occasion of a death, known among the Lushais as “lukawng,” is found among several clans. Among the Tikhup and Kolhen, for instance, he receives the neck of the animal killed on the occasion of the funeral, and in the last-named clan he also receives a pipe or Rs. 2/-. The custom known among the Kabui and other allied tribes in Manipur as “mandu,” which ordains that a widower shall pay his deceased wife’s father a certain sum as the price of her bones, is only found among the Kolhen, with whom it is usual to pay Rs. 5/- or 6/-. Among the Kolhen a child dying within ten days of its birth is buried under the eaves of the house, and is called “thichhiat” equivalent to the “hlamzuih” among the Lushais.