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 Unless otherwise noted, Scripture passages have been taken from the Revised Standard Version,
Catholic edition. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture passages
marked NAB have been taken from New American Bible, New York: Catholic Book, 1991. Note: The
editors of this volume have made minor changes in capitalization to some of the Scripture quotations
herein. Please consult the original source for proper capitalization. Quotations are taken from the
English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America (indicated
nd
as CCC), 2 ed. Copyright 1997 by United States Catholic Conference—Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Excerpts from The Way, by Josemaría Escrivá, ©2002, Studium Foundation, are used by permission of
Scepter Publishers. Excerpts from The Quotable Saint, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, copyright ©2002,
Checkmark Books, an imprint of Infobase Publishing, are reprinted with permission of Checkmark
Books.
Cover design by Saint Louis Creative/Devin Schadt
Cover image by Saint Louis Creative 2009
Book design by Mark Sullivan
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Evert, Jason.
Purity 365 : daily reflections on true love / Jason Evert.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-86716-936-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-944578-71-8 (hardcover )1. Catholic
teenagers—Religious life. 2. Catholic teenagers—Sexual behavior—Quotations, maxims, etc. 3. Love
—Religious aspects—Catholic Church—Quotations, maxims, etc.
4. Devotional calendars. 5. Christian saints—Prayers and devotions.
I. Title. II. Title: Purity three hundred sixty-five.
BX2355.E94 2009
242’.64—dc22
2009026563
ISBN 978-0-86716-936-2
ISBN 978-1-944578-71-8 hardcover
Copyright ©2019, Jason Evert. All rights reserved.
Published by Totus Tuus Press
PO Box 5065, Scottsdale, AZ 85259
 INTRODUCTION
Many people today are discouraged by the concept of chastity. Teenagers
often see it as nothing more than an invitation to avoid sexual intimacy for
about a decade. Meanwhile, young adults might question the practicality of
abstinence and wonder when a worthy spouse will enter their lives. In both
cases modern singles sometimes question their morals and assume that they
need to lower their standards in order to find love and acceptance. As a result
of such frustration, many excuse themselves from the demands of pure love.
What these young adults do not realize is that they have defined purity as the
absence of intimacy instead of what it really is: a virtue necessary for
establishing the most intimate of all human loves. Not only does it train a
person in faithfulness, Saint John Paul II explained that chastity frees a
couple from a selfish attitude of using one another and makes them capable
of authentic human love. Without an interior attitude of reverence and even
awe toward the other person, human love is unable to become what it is
meant to be: a reflection of the very love of God. This is why chastity is so
essential even within marriage, as a reverent attitude toward the gift of
sexuality.
Because the media saturates our culture with lust 365 days a year, a daily
inoculation of purity is helpful—thus the purpose of this book. Within its
pages you’ll find daily quotes on true love from saints, teenagers, married
people and others whose wisdom is tried and true. You’ll notice that I have
placed a heavy emphasis on some modern icons of holiness, such as Saint
John Paul II, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Josemaría Escrivá.
In the preface to his spiritual classic The Way, Saint Josemaría Escrivá offers
a piece of advice that I would echo to you as you prepare to read this book:
Read these counsels slowly.
Pause to meditate on these thoughts.
They are things that I whisper in your ear—
confiding them—
as a friend, as a brother. . . .
And they are being heard by God.
I won’t tell you anything new.
 I will only stir your memory,
so that some thought will arise
and strike you;
and so you will better your life
and set out along the ways of prayer
and of love.
And in the end you will be
a more worthy soul.1
Beneath each day’s quote you will find a saint whose feast is celebrated by
the Catholic Church on that particular day. Some of their names you will
recognize, such as Saints Peter, Joseph and Mary. Others you may never have
seen before, such as Saints Ishyrion and Turibius de Mogrovejo. Several are
teenagers, while others were martyred together as husband and wife.
Each has a fascinating story, such as Saint Vitalis of Gaza. He earned his
money by doing manual labor and spent his wages on prostitutes. However,
he did not sin with them. Instead he prayed with them through the night and
taught them the gospel. He converted many, and he was eventually murdered
by someone who did not understand his saintly motives.
Regardless of whether or not you have heard of the saints we invoke in this
book, they all know of you. In the book of Revelation, we read of people in
heaven who stand before the throne of God and offer to him our prayers as
incense (see Revelation 5:8). Three chapters later we read of an angel
interceding for us in the same way (Revelation 8:3). We know from the Bible
that the fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful (James 5:16),
and those in heaven have been perfected in righteousness. Therefore it is wise
for us to seek their intercession.
Next to each saint’s name is the phrase “pray for us.” Do not merely read
these lines. Pray them. Ask each specific saint to intercede for you to grow in
the virtue of purity. As you do so, realize that they know your struggles. They
all faced temptation and won. Some of them even lost their lives to preserve
their purity.
By the end of the year, you will have asked nearly four hundred saints to
remember you in their prayers as they stand before the unveiled glory of the
Blessed Trinity. If you’ve ever felt alone in your efforts to lead a clean life,
remember that you are always surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses
(see Hebrews 12:1).
—Jason Evert
Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker
 JANUARY
•••••••••••••••
January 1
Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to the Blessed Virgin are
not simply the best way, but in fact the only way to keep purity. At the age of
twenty nothing but Communion can keep one’s heart pure.... Chastity is not
possible without the Eucharist.
—SAINT PHILIP NERI
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 2
There is dullness, monotony, sheer boredom in all of life when virginity and
purity are no longer protected and prized. By trying to grab fulfillment
everywhere, we find it nowhere.
—ELISABETH ELLIOT
Saint Gregory Nazianzen, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 3
[I]n proportion to our victories over these petty foes will be the number of
jewels in that crown of glory which God makes ready for us in Paradise.
—SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES

Saint Genevieve, pray for us.

•••••••••••••••
January 4
In seeking a soul mate,...it’s helpful not to forget your own soul.
—WENDY SHALIT
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 5
Christ is found particularly in the field of sexual morality, because it is here
that Christ makes demands on men.
 —SAINT JOHN PAUL II
Saint John Neumann, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 6
Jesus tells us that the pure of heart will see God. That alone is enough for me.
—MALE COLLEGE STUDENT
Saint André Bessette, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 7
The fingerprint of God on a relationship is purity and peace.
—JASON EVERT
Saint Raymond of Peñafort, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 8
So shun youthful passions and aim at righteousness, faith, love, and peace,
along with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart.
—2 TIMOTHY 2:22
Saint Apollinaris, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 9
In your strife with the Devil, you have for spectators the angels and the Lord
of angels.
—SAINT EPHRAEM
Saint Adrian of Canterbury, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 10
To be pure, to remain pure, can only come at a price, the price of knowing
God and of loving him enough to do his will. He will always give us the
strength we need to keep purity as something beautiful for God.
—SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA

Saint William of Bourges, pray for us.

 •••••••••••••••
January 11
The most powerful thing you can do on earth is the will of God.
—CRYSTALINA EVERT
Saint Vitalis of Gaza, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 12
God desires the least degree of purity of conscience in you more than all the
works you can perform.
—SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 13
The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or
he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.
—CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 2339; SEE SIRACH 1:22
Saint Hilary of Poitiers, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 14
There are few better tests for whether or not someone lives a life in
submission to God than what he or she does with their sexuality. Sex is such
a powerful and meaningful desire that to give it up and obey God in that area
is a true sign of worship.
—DRS. HENRY CLOUD AND JOHN TOWNSEND
Saint Sava, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 15
[I]t is the nature of our enemy to become powerless, lose courage, and take to
flight as soon as a person who is following the spiritual life stands
courageously against his temptations and does exactly the opposite to what he
suggests.
—SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
 Saint Ita, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 16
He did not say: You will not be troubled—you will not be tempted—you will
not be distressed. But He said: “You will not be overcome.”
—SAINT JULIAN OF NORWICH
Saint Marcellus, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 17
A woman should be so hidden in Christ that a man has to see Christ just to
see her.
—HIGH SCHOOL FEMALE
Saint Anthony the Abbot, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 18
No one becomes perfect at once; but as from little faults we fall into great, so
by the practice of lesser virtues we ascend to the heroic.
—VENERABLE CATHERINE MCAULEY
Saint Volusian, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 19
[L]ove is not merely a feeling; it is an act of will that consists of preferring, in
a constant manner, the good of others to the good of oneself.
—SAINT JOHN PAUL II
Saint Canute, pray for us.
•••••••••••••••
January 20
True love causes pain.
Jesus, in order to give us the proof of his love, died on the cross. A mother, in
order to give birth to her baby, has to suffer. If you really love one another,
you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices.
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CHAPTER I
 CLANS INCLUDED IN THE TERM LUSHAI
These clans have adopted most of the manners and customs of their conquerors, and to
an ordinary observer are indistinguishable from the true Lushei. In many cases the only
difference is in the method of performing the Sakhua sacrifice. In few cases some words
of the clan dialect are still used, but, generally speaking, there is but little difference
noticeable. In cases where the clan had attained considerable strength before its
overthrow by the Lusheis the process of assimilation has naturally been slower, and there
is more to describe. The following list of clans does not lay claim to being complete, but
contains all the best-known names.

Chawte. Members of this clan are found in small numbers scattered among the Lushei
villages. They kill a goat as the Sakhua sacrifice, and omit all the Naohri sacrifices
except the Zinthiang and Ui-ha-awr. When a mithan is sacrificed it is killed in the
evening, and the giver of the feast wears some of the tail hairs on a string round his neck.

In the hills between the Manipur valley and Tamu I found two small hamlets of Chawte,
who said that their forefather had come from the hills far to the south very long ago.
Their language closely resembles Lushei, but they have come much under Manipuri
influence. The names of the families in no case agreed with those given me by the
Chawte in the Lushai Hills. A detailed account of the Manipur Chawte will be found in
(3).

Chongthu. This clan is very widely scattered. The following account of the origin of the
clan is given by Suaka, now Sub-Inspector of Police at Aijal:—“Of all Lushai clans
Lershia (Chongthu) celebrated the Chong first of all. Lershia’s village was on the hill to
the south of the Vanlai-phai. There he celebrated the Chong. He was the richest of all
men. Lershia had a younger brother, Singaia. His village was separate at Betlu. He was
very rich in mithan, gongs, and necklaces. Once he was moving to another village with
all his goods, when a very big snake swallowed him. Even till now Chongthus are
always ‘upa’ to chiefs. It may be they are wiser than the other clans; they are very
amiable—maybe they understand how to express matters well. In every village
Chongthu are always upa. How many children Lershia had or where they are I do not
know. Nevertheless he was the richest of all men. Because he was so rich in mithan,
gongs, and necklaces he first celebrated the Chong. His name was also first given to the
Chong song. Even till now the Sailo and all Lusheis and all Ralte, if they celebrate the
Chong according to their customs, sing Lershia’s song—they have not a new song of
their own.”
From the above it would appear that Chongthu is a nickname given to Lershia on
account of his having first celebrated the Chong. Chongthu’s name appears in the Thado
pedigree as the first of the race to emerge from the earth, and the great-great-grandfather
of Thado. The Chiru and Kolhen also claim descent from him, though they cannot give
the intermediate names.

Hnamte. This clan lived to the east of the Tyao river. Their most famous chief was Chon-
uma, their last village was at Tlāngkua, on the Lentlāng. Bad harvests and general
misfortunes brought about their dispersal early in the last century.

Kawlni. A widely-distributed clan sub-divided into at least 12 families said to be

connected with the Ralte, q.v.

Kawlhring. Kawl = Burma. Hring = Born. This clan had a big village on the Hringfa hill, where
the remains of earthworks made by them in their final struggle against the Haka people
may still be seen. Messrs. Carey and Tuck in their “Chin Hills Gazetteer,” p. 153, say:
—“Having settled with their formidable neighbours on the north, the Hakas turned their
attention to the Lushais, who at this time occupied the country as far east as the banks of
the Lāvār stream, barely 20 miles east of Haka. Their chief centres were Kwe Hring and
Vizan, two huge villages on the western slopes of the Rongtlang range, and to this day
the sites, fortifications, and roads of the former town may be traced.” The Hakas, not
feeling equal to attacking their powerful neighbours single-handed, called in the
assistance of a Burmese chieftain, Maung Myat San of Tilin, who came with 200 men
armed with guns and bringing with them two brass cannons. “The Haka and Burman
forces were collected on the spot where Lonzeert now stands, and, marching by night,
surprised Kwe Hring in the early dawn by a noisy volley in which the brass cannon
played a conspicuous part. The Lushais, who had no firearms, deserted their villages and
fled in disorder, and for several months parties of Hakas ravaged the country, eventually
driving every Lushai across the Tyao before the rains made that river unfordable.”

The people called here Lushais were the Kawlhring. The last Kawlhring chief was
Lalmichinga. The clan is now scattered among the villages round Lungleh. There are
eight families, but I have not found any branches. The Zinthiang and Zinhnawm are
omitted from the Naohri sacrifices.

Kiangte. Thisclan lived east of the Manipur river, from which place it was driven by the
Chins. Kiangte are now found in small numbers in most of the villages in the North
Lushai Hills. The clan is divided into seven families, without branches.

Ngente. Although this clan has been practically absorbed its members have retained in an
unusual degree their distinctive customs. The Ngente were formerly a somewhat
powerful clan living at Chonghoiyi, on the Lungdup hill, where about 1780 A.D. a
quarrel broke out between their two chiefs, Lalmanga and Ngaia, and the latter set out
with his adherents to form another village, but was pursued and killed by his brother.
Shortly after this the clan was attacked by the Lusheis and broken up. The above
particulars were given me in 1904, when I was near the Lungdup hill. They seem to
account for the Koihrui-an-chhat festival, which is described below from notes supplied
to me by Mr. C. B. Drake-Brockman in 1901, embodying information gathered by him
from Ngente living at Lungleh, many days’ journey from Lungdup. This is an interesting
instance of history being embalmed in a custom of which the origin has been forgotten,
and I humbly recommend its consideration to those wise men who are ever ready to
interpret every custom as affording evidence of their particular theories.

Marriage.—The Ngente young man is no more restricted in the choice of his wife than
is the Lushei, but the price is fixed at seven guns, which are taken as equivalent to Rs.
140/-. Of this sum the girl’s nearest male relative receives Rs. 120/-, the remainder being
distributed as follows:—Rs. 8/- to the “pu,” maternal grandfather or uncle, Rs. 6/- to her
elder sister, Rs. 4/- to her paternal aunt, Rs. 2/- to the “pālāl,” or trustee. Should a
woman die before the whole of her price has been paid, her relatives can only claim half
the remainder.

Childbirth.—Three months before the birth, the mother prepares zu, which is known as
“nao-zu”—i.e., baby’s beer, which must on no account be taken outside the house and
which is drunk in the child’s honour on the day of its birth. Women are delivered at the
head of the bedstead, and the afterbirth is placed in a gourd and hung up on the back wall
of the house, whence it is not removed. The puithiam sacrifices a cock and hen, which
must not be white, outside the village, and, having cooked the flesh there, he takes it to
his own house for consumption. On the third day after the birth the child is named by its
“pu,” who has to give a fowl and a pot of zu. A red cock is killed and some of its feathers
are tied round the necks of the infant and other members of the family.

Death Ceremonies.—The Ngente do not attach any importance to burying their dead
near their place of abode. They put up no memorials and offer no sacrifices, and make no
offerings to the deceased’s spirit. The dead are buried wherever it is most convenient.
This is a most singular divergence from the general custom.

Festivals.—The Khuangchoi, Chong, Pawl-kut are observed. In place of the Mim-kut

they celebrate a feast called Nao-lām-kut, which takes place in the autumn. For two
nights all the men and women must keep awake, and they are provided with boiled yams
and zu to help them in doing so. On the third day some men dress themselves up as
women and others as Chins, colouring their faces with charcoal. They then visit every
house in which a child has been born since the last Nao-lām-kut and treat the inmates to
a dance, receiving presents of dyed cotton thread, women’s cloths, &c., and much zu.
Compare the account of the Fanai She-doi, p. 136 et seq. below.
Koihrui-an-chhat (They Break the Koi Creeper).—A party of young men, being supplied
with hard-boiled eggs and fowl’s flesh, go off into the jungle equipped with bows and
arrows. On the third day they return with the heads of some animals—for choice those of
the “tangkawng,” a large lizard—and also a long piece of the creeper from which the
Koi beans (v. Chap. II, para. 18) are obtained. They are received with all the honours
paid to warriors returning from a successful raid, and a tug of war with the creeper takes
place between the young men and the maidens. The heads of the animals are then placed
in the centre of the village, and dancing, singing, and drinking go on round them all
night, no young man or girl being allowed to go inside a house till daybreak, when the
whole party adjourns to the house of a member of the Chonghoiyi-hring family—i.e., a
descendant of one born at Chonghoiyi—and after further libations they disperse.

It is quite clear that this feast commemorates the victory of Lalmanga over Ngaia—
compare the account of the reception of a raiding party given in Part I., Chap. III, para.
9. The use of bows and arrows is an interesting survival.

The tug of war with the creeper is found among the Old Kuki clans as one of the
incidents of the spring festival, and in the Manipuri chronicle we find references to such
amusements being indulged in. The Ngente evidently combined the play, intended to
keep green the memories of their ancestor, with the usual ceremonies of the spring
festival.1

The Ngente do not practise the Khāl sacrifices.

Language.—In the Linguistic Survey Dr. Grierson gives a translation of the parable of
the Prodigal Son in the Ngente dialect supplied him by Mr. Drake-Brockman, and sums
up his description of the dialect as follows:—“But in all essential points both (i.e.,
Ngente and Lushei) agree, and the difference is much smaller than between dialects in
connected languages.”

Paotu. A veryinsignificant clan, of which I have found only one family. The clan
formerly lived on a hill north of the Tao peak, to the east of the Koladyne, and were
probably driven out by the Chins at the same time as the Kawlhring.

Rentlei. There are five families in this clan, which has long been absorbed by the Lusheis,
but the Rentlei maintain that at one time, when they lived in a big village on the Minpui
hill to the east of the Tyao river, they were the more powerful and showed their contempt
for the Lusheis by throwing stones at the skulls of the pigs which the latter used to place
on posts outside their houses after performing the Sakhua sacrifice, and this led to the
Lusheis placing the skulls inside their houses, whereas the Rentlei to this day adhere to
the custom of putting them outside. This clan is still looked on with respect, and chiefs
frequently take Rentlei brides.
Roite. Thisclan is divided into seven families, one of which has a branch. There is
nothing of interest to be noted about it.

Vangchhia. Thisclan has only three families and one branch. Its members are said to be
generally wealthy, and therefore prudent parents strive to get them as “pu” to their
children. Their Sakhua sacrifice is elaborate, a mithan being killed in front of the house,
a cock at the head of the parents’ bed, and a boar at that of the children. There is a great
feast, followed by nine days’ “hrilh.”

Zawngte. Now an insignificant clan, of which I have not obtained a single family name.
Under a chief called Chengtea they lived on a hill north of Thlan-tlang, which is still
known by their name. They were ejected by the Chins probably at the same time as the
Kawlhring and Paotu. The eldest son inherits. They place their dead in hollowed-out logs
in small houses outside the village, and leave them there for three months. In these
particulars they resemble the Vuite. As among the Chawte, after killing a mithan the
household of the giver of the feast wear some of the hairs of the tail on strings round
their necks.

1 Cf. “Manipur Festival,” Folklore, Vol. XXI, No. I. ↑

CHAPTER II
 CLANS WHICH, THOUGH NOT ABSORBED, HAVE BEEN
MUCH INFLUENCED BY THE LUSHEIS
Fanai. A clan which was rising into eminence, when our occupation of the country put a
stop to its further aggrandisement. The chiefs trace their pedigree back six generations,
to a man called Fanai, who lived among the Zahaos, to the east of the Tyao. His great
grandson, Roreiluova, was a slave, or at least a dependant, of a Zahao chief, and was
sent with 70 households to form a village at Bawlte, near Champhai, in Lushei territory,
with the intention, no doubt, of enlarging the Zahao borders, but Roreiluova entered into
peaceful relations with the Lushei chiefs, and gradually severed his connection with the
Zahaos, and, moving south-west, occupied successively various sites to the west and
north-west of Lungleh, between the Lushai and Chin villages, maintaining his position
with considerable diplomatic skill, often acting as intermediary between his more
powerful neighbours. He died at Konglung early in the nineteenth century, having
attained such a position that his sons were at once recognised as chiefs, and on our
occupying the country in 1890 we found eight Fanai villages, containing about 700
houses, grouped along the west bank of the Tyao and Koladyne rivers, between Biate on
the north and Sangao on the south. Roreiluova’s descendants seem to have inherited his
skill in diplomacy, for they kept on good terms with their neighbours, and whenever
these quarrelled managed to assist the stronger without entirely alienating the weaker.

The clan is subdivided into six families and one branch.

 Fanai.

The Fanai now talk Lushai and dress in the same way, except as Photo by Major Playfair, I.A.
regards the method of dressing the hair, which is parted
horizontally across the back of the head at the level of the ears, and the hair above this is
gathered into a knot over the forehead, while that below is allowed to hang loose over
the shoulders. They generally follow Lushai customs. In the series of feasts which an
aspirant for the title of Thangchhuah has to perform, the Chong is replaced by the Buh-
za-ai (buh = rice, za = 100), performed as among the Lushais. The She-doi feast has to
be gone through twice, and is followed by a very similar feast called She-cha-chun
(spearing of male mithan), which completes the series. Wealthy persons perform the
Khuangchoi, but it is not necessary. The Mi-thi-rawp-lām is prohibited. The following
account of the She-doi is taken from my diary of the 14th May, 1890.

“We went up at once to the village, where a peculiar dance was in progress. Lembu’s
wife was being carried about on a platform, round which a wooden railing had been
fixed to enable her to maintain her position. This platform had four long poles passed
underneath it, and a number of men and women, holding these, were moving the
platform about in a manner which must have been most uncomfortable for her Majesty.
They lifted it up and down, then swayed it to one side, then to the other, then ran in one
direction and stopped suddenly, then in another, and pulled up with a jerk. During all this
time the royal lady maintained a solemn silence, and showed complete indifference to
the whole proceeding. Her head-dress consisted of a band round which at intervals
coloured bands of straw were plaited. From this chaplet porcupine quills stood up all
round, to the ends of which the yellowish-green feathers of parrots were affixed, each
terminating in a tuft of red wool. At the back, an iron crossbar, about 6 inches long, was
tied horizontally, and from this a number of strings of black and white seeds depended,
at the end of which glistening wing-cases of green beetles were attached. Except for this
startling head-dress, the Queen was dressed much as usual, except that her waist cloth
was longer and more gorgeous. Having been carried about for some time, her Majesty
showed her appreciation of the attentions of her subjects by distributing gifts. First she
threw a small chicken, which was eagerly scrambled for and torn to pieces by the young
men anxious to obtain it, next followed a piece of white cotton wool, which no one
would pick up, and then some red thread, which was scrambled for eagerly.

“May 15th.—This morning a mithan was sacrificed. The animal was tied by the head to
one of the sacrificial posts, on which his skull was to be placed later on. The chief then
came out with a spear in one hand, a gourd of rice beer in the other. The puithiam, or
sorcerer, accompanied him, also carrying a gourd of beer. The pair took up their stand
just behind the mithan, and the puithiam began mumbling what I was told were prayers
for the prosperity of the village. The prayers were interrupted by the chief and the
sorcerer taking mouthfuls of beer and blowing them over the mithan. When the prayers
were finished, they anointed the animal with the remains of the liquor, and the chief then
gave it a slight stab behind the shoulder, and disappeared into his house. The mithan was
then thrown on its side and killed by driving a sharp bamboo spear into its heart. The
animal was then cut up. Later on another was killed, without any special ceremony, and
the flesh of both cooked in the street. Later on there was a dance. Three men arrayed in
fine cloths, with smart turbans, came up the main street, crossing from side to side. With
bodies bent forward and arms extended, they took two steps forward, then whirled round
once, beat time twice with the right foot, two steps, whirled round again, beat time twice
with the left foot, and so on, keeping time with the royal band, consisting of a gong, a
tom-tom, and a bamboo tube, used as a drum. The dancers, having been well regaled
with beer, proceeded to dance each a pas seul of a decidedly indecent nature. The chief
was prohibited from crossing running water for a month after this sacrifice had been
performed.” After this feast there is five days’ “hrilh” for the whole community, and
during this no flesh may be brought into the village. The skull of the mithan is kept on
the post in front of the chief’s house for a month, during which time he may not cross
water or converse with strangers. On the expiry of a month a pig and a fowl are
sacrificed and the skull is then removed to the front verandah.

The only difference in the ceremonies connected with childbirth is that the Ui-ha-awr
sacrifice is only performed if the child’s hair has a reddish tinge and the whites of its
eyes turn yellowish.
The Sakhua sacrifices are very elaborate, and consist of a series commencing with the
Vok-rial, which is necessary when a new house has been completed. A sow is killed at
the head of the parents’ sleeping place, and whatever portions of the flesh are not at once
consumed are placed beneath it till the next day. The house during this time is “sherh.”
No one may enter it, and the occupants must not speak to strangers nor enter the forge.
Later on a boar is killed in the front verandah, and the heart, liver, and entrails, known as
“kawrawl,” are placed under the parents’ sleeping place for five days, and are eaten by
the parents, the father sitting with his back to the partition wall and the mother facing
him. During these five days a hrilh as above is observed. This sacrifice is called “Vok-
pa”—i.e., “Boar”—and is followed by the “Hnuaipui”—i.e., “Great Beneath”—a full-
grown sow being killed under the house, and its head and sherh buried at the foot of one
of the main posts. The flesh is cooked beneath the house, but eaten in it. A three days’
hrilh follows. The series concludes with “Hnuaite”—i.e., “Lesser Beneath”—which is
similar to the former, but a young sow is killed.

These sacrifices are performed as the necessary animals become available.

A dead Fanai is buried in the usual Lushai way, but no rice is placed in the grave. An
offering of maize, however, is suspended above it. It may be noted that in the Zahao
country rice is not cultivated, the staple crop being maize. The Fanai do not kill tigers,
giving as the reason that a former ancestor of theirs lost his way, and was conducted
back to his village by a tiger, which kindly allowed him to hold its tail.

The Rālte. This clan is found scattered in the Lushai villages to the north of Aijal, in which
neighbourhood there are also one or two villages under Rālte chiefs. I have already—in
Part I., Chapter V, para. 1—given the legend regarding the repeopling of the world and
the closing of the exit from the Chhinglung owing to the loquacity of the pair of Rālte.
The names of these mythical ancestors were Hehua and Leplupi. Their two sons were
Kheltea and Siakenga, who quarrelled over the distribution of their father’s goods, which
Kheltea, the younger, had taken, thus conforming to Lushei custom, and set up separate
villages, and from them have sprung the two eponymous families into which the Rālte
clan is divided. The Khelte have always occupied a predominant position, and all the
chiefs belong to this family. Lutmanga, Kheltea’s youngest son, is said to have made the
first cloth from the fibre of the Khawpui creeper. He collected a community at Khuazim,
a hill north of Champhai, and from him all the Rālte chiefs are descended. In the early
years of the nineteenth century the Rālte villages were near Champhai, and Mangkhaia, a
Rālte chief of importance, was captured by some Chuango, a family of the Lushei clan,
then living at Bualte, above Tuibual (known to the Chin Hills officers as Dipwell). He
was ransomed by his relatives, but Vanpuia, the Pachuao chief, not receiving a share,
ambushed Mangkhaia on his way home and killed him. According to another account
Mangkhaia filed through his fetters with a file given to him in a roll of smoked meat, and
was killed as he was escaping. His memorial stone is famous throughout the Hills, and
stands at the southern extremity of Champhai. Mangthawnga, father of Mangkhaia,
joined Khawzahuala the Zadeng, then living at Tualbung, but, being ill-treated, the Rālte
joined Sutmanga, a Thado chief then at Phaileng, who treated them well. Thawnglura,
son of Mangthawnga, showed his gratitude to Sutmanga by assisting the Sailo chief
Lallianvunga, father of Gnura (Mullah)—whose village Colonel Lister burnt in 1850—
to attack him. Sutmanga then fled northwards. It is satisfactory to know that
Thawnglura’s treachery was rewarded by the enslavement of his clan, who till our
occupation of the Hills remained vassals of the Sailos. The Rālte are very quarrelsome,
and have to a great extent resisted absorption into the Lushais. In some Sailo chiefs’
villages there are so many Rālte that the chief himself speaks their dialect, and though
Lushai is understood little else but Rālte is heard in the village.

The Rālte are linguistically connected with the Thado, and, like the Thado, they used not
to build zawlbuks, but are now following Lushai custom in this respect.
 Memorial Stone in Champhai Known as Mangkhaia, Lungdawr.

The Khelte family has ten and the Siakeng family eleven branches. To the various sums
paid to the relatives of the bride among the Lushais, the Ralte add “dawngbul” and
“dawngler”—sums of Rs. 3/- paid to her male and female paternal first cousins.

The two families have slightly different customs as regard sacrifices. The Khelte
sacrifice to Sakhua is a boar, which is killed at the head of the parents’ sleeping place
and then cooked on the hearth. The skull is hung on the back wall of the house in a
basket with six pieces of the liver and three of the skin. The chant is as follows:—

Ah—h. You whom our grandmothers worshipped!

 Ah—h. You whom our grandfathers worshipped!
Ah—h. You of our birthplace!
Ah—h. You of our place of origin!
Ah—h. You who made the Khelte!
Ah—h. You who made the Tuangphei!
Ah—h. In what we have done wrong!
Ah—h. In what we have sung amiss!
Ah—h. Make it right!

The Siakeng, after killing the boar as the Khelte do, entertain those of their own branch,
but before the flesh is eaten it is divided into three portions, which are placed for a short
time successively on the floor, on the sleeping-place, and on the shelf over the hearth,
being thus offered to the spirits of the house, the couch, and the hearth.

Of the Naohri sacrifices the Khelte only perform the Hmar-phir, which they call
“Thangsang” and the Ui-ha-awr, while the Siakeng perform the Vawkte-luilam, called by
them “Chhim-hal,” and the Ui-ha-awr.

They have adopted most of the Thangchhuah festivals, but not the Mi-thi-rawp-lam.
When a mithan is killed it is not speared as among the Lushais, but killed by a blow on
the forehead. The skull is placed at the foot of the partition wall for three days, and on
the fourth it is taken out and placed at the foot of the memorial post. Some ginger, beans,
and salt are placed on a dish and an old man takes the skull, and all dance round the post
three times to the beating of drums and gongs. Then ginger is thrown three times on to
the skull, after which the house-owner’s wife pierces the skull with a spear, but if she be
pregnant this must be done by a man. The skull is then placed on one of the posts of the
platform in front of the house till the Khuangchoi has been performed.

On the occasion of the first death occurring in a new village a spot is selected beyond the
line of houses, and the corpse is buried there, subsequent interments being made close at
hand. It is considered “thianglo” to bury in a village. A well-to-do Khelte after death is
dressed in his best, and seated with his back to the partition wall while his relatives and
friends drink and dance before him. A bier is made by elderly persons, and on this the
corpse is placed in a sitting position, with his weapons in his hands, and three times
lifted by old men and women up to the rafters, while drums and gongs are beaten, after
which the body is carried out to the graveyard.

The birth customs generally resemble those of the Lushais.

The Paihte or Vuite. This

is a clan of some importance still. There are eleven Vuite villages,
numbering 877 houses, in the south-west corner of the Manipur State and two in the
adjoining portions of the Lushai Hills. When we occupied the Hills we found many of
this clan living in a species of slavery in the villages of important Sailo chiefs. They
have mostly rejoined their clansmen, from whom they had been carried off as prisoners
of war.

The clan is generally known to the Lushais as Paihte, but Vuite is the term more
commonly used by its members and in Manipur. Vuitea and Paihtea were the sons of
Lamleia, who was hatched out of an egg. There were two eggs, and Aichhana, a Thado,
tasted one, and, finding it bitter, threw it away and put the other among the rice in the
bin, and in due time Lamleia was hatched out, and the present Vuite chiefs claim to be
his direct descendants, enumerating seventeen generations. The Thado version of this
story is that Dongel, Thado’s elder brother, had incestuous intercourse with his elder
sister, and on a male child being born their mother was so ashamed that she hid the child
in a hollow tree, thinking it would die, but when she found it was alive after several days
she brought it into the house and concealed it in the paddy bin, and produced it a few
days later, saying that she had found two big eggs in a hollow tree and had tasted one
and had found it very bitter. The second she had placed in the paddy, where it had been
hatched by the sun’s rays. Hence the child was called Gwite, from “ni-gwi,” the Thado
for a ray of sunshine. The Vuite, of course, do not admit this tale to be true, but my
informant tells me that in his father’s time, when the Dongel and Vuite lived near to each
other, the former paid “sathing”—i.e., a portion of each animal killed—to the latter, in
recognition that the Vuite were descended from the elder sister of their ancestor. The
Vuite, however, always tried to avoid accepting such presents, and when the Dongel
moved away the custom died out. The first Vuite village is said to have been at
Chimnuai, near to Tiddim. The name of this site comes first in the Vuite Sakhua chant
which I obtained in the Lushai Hills. Being attacked by the Sokte and Falam clans, they
joined the Thangur chiefs, but were ill-treated and fled to the neighbourhood in which
they now live, and waged war with their oppressors till the establishment of our rule.
They at one time approached the Manipur plain and in 1870, under Sumkām, they raided
a Manipuri village, to avenge a charge of being wizards. They appear to be closely
connected with the Malun, Sokte, and Kamhau clans of the adjoining Chin Hills, and Dr.
Grierson places them linguistically in the same group as these clans and the Thado. In
their dress and habitations they resemble the Lushais, but the place of the zawlbuk is
taken by the front verandah of the houses of certain persons of importance, in which are
long sleeping bunks in which half a dozen or more young men pass the night. The young
fellows help their host in his house-building and cultivation, and once a year he gives
them a feast of a pig. This custom prevails in most of the non-Lushei clans, and also
among the Kabui Nagas in the Manipur Hills.

The women do not wear the huge ivory earrings of the Lushai but cornelians or short
lead bars.
The general constitution of the clan and the village is very similar to that of the Lushais.
As regards marriage they are monogamists, in this particular forming a very remarkable
exception to all their cognates. The marriages of paternal first cousins are allowed—in
fact, among chiefs they are the rule. The parents of a young man who desires to marry a
girl go to her house with an offering of zu, and if this is accepted the girl is at once taken
to their house, but the bridegroom continues for two or three months to sleep with his
bachelor friends. The marriage is not considered final nor is any payment made till a
child is born, and if this does not occur within three years the couple separate, but on the
birth of a child the full price agreed on must be paid up and divorce is not countenanced.
On my enquiring what would happen in case the lady subsequently proved fickle, my
informant smiled in a superior manner and said that such behaviour was unknown
among his people. The Vuite object to giving their girls to the Lushais on account of the
tendency of Lushai husbands to discard their wives on the slightest excuse.

Although the Vuite do not maintain that before marriage their girls are invariably chaste,
yet one who errs is looked down on, and in consequence abortion and infanticide are
said to be common. “Sawnman” at Rs. 23/- is demanded from the seducer.

As among most non-Lushei tribes, the eldest son inherits. The punishments for offences
are similar to those among the Lushais, but the Vuite assert that the crime of sodomy is
unknown among them. Murder can be atoned for by the payment of seven mithan to the
heir of the murdered man, and accidental homicide by that of one mithan and a gun. In
the days when war was common they used to ambush their enemies more than was usual
among the Lushais, but they never went head-hunting simply for honour and glory. As
regards “boi,” they follow Lushai customs closely.

Pathian is acknowledged, and in general their religious beliefs resemble those of the
Lushais, but they have no idea of a separate abode for the spirits of warriors. They
believe that departed spirits have two or more lives in the land beyond the grave.

For their Sakhua sacrifice a boar is killed on the front verandah and cooked within the
house. The skin of the head, the testicles, heart, snout, and liver are placed on a bamboo
over the verandah, which must be freshly thatched.

Immediately after birth the child is washed, and a fowl is killed, and its feathers are worn
round the necks of the mother and infant. The mother may go out of the house, but for
four days after the birth both parents abstain from all work. On occasion of the naming
two or three pigs if available should be killed and much zu drunk. The Khāl sacrifices,
with the exception of Uihring, are not performed, but most of the other sacrifices are
made.
The custom of paying “lukawng” on the death of a person is unknown, and the funeral
ceremonies generally are very unlike those of the Lushais.

After death the corpse is placed on a platform and fires are lit round it, and young men
and maidens sleep near it. The skin is hardened and preserved by being rubbed with
some greasy preparation. The body is dressed in the best cloths available, and a chaplet
of the tail feathers of the hornbill is placed on its head. During the daytime the corpse is
kept in the house, but in the evening it is brought out and seated on the verandah while
the villagers dance and sing round it and drink zu, pouring it also into the mouth of the
corpse. This disgusting performance goes on for a month or more according to the social
position of the deceased. The corpses of those who have attained Thangchhuah honours
are kept for a year, at least, in a special shed encased in a tree trunk. Before burial the
corpse is carried round the village. In case of a violent death, which does not as among
the Lushais include deaths in childbirth, the corpse is placed in the forge and the
puithiam sacrifices a fowl, after which the usual ceremonies take place. The Kut festivals
are not observed, but after harvest the owners of houses in which young men lodge kill
one or two pigs. The honour of Thangchhuah is obtained by giving the following feasts:
—(1) Buh ai, one mithan being killed; (2) She-shun, one mithan being killed; (3)
Chawn, three mithan and two pigs being killed. No other feasts are given and windows
may be made by anyone. Most of the superstitions common among the Lushais are
believed, but gibbons are freely killed. The Vuite are very much afraid of witchcraft, but
deny all knowledge of it. When a new site for a house has to be chosen an egg is taken
and one end is removed. It is then propped up on three small stones and a fire is lit under
it. If the contents boil over towards the person consulting the omen the site is rejected as
unlucky.

The Rāngte. This is a small clan which, after various vicissitudes, has settled down in
thirteen hamlets, containing 372 houses, under their own chiefs in the south-western hills
of Manipur. They claim connection with the Thados, but resemble the Lushais in many
respects, which no doubt is due to their sojourn among them. They also claim
relationship with the Vaiphei. They say that their original villages were on two hills
called Phaizang and Koku, whence they were ejected by the Chins and took refuge with
Poiboi, one of the Sailo chiefs who opposed us in 1871, whence they migrated
northwards to their present place of abode. Their language shows that their claim to
being allied to the Thado is not without foundation. The clan is divided into eleven
eponymous families, named after Thanghlum and his ten sons, Thanghlum being
supposed to be the son of Rāngte. The constitution of the villages is practically the same
as that of the Lushais, except that there are no zawlbuks. The young unmarried men
sleep in the house of the girl they like best. An attractive young lady may have several
admirers sleeping in her house, and they will continue to sleep there until she expresses a
preference for one of them. Marriage is not very strictly limited, but matches with
another member of the clan or with some member of one of the Thado families are most
usual. The price of a wife—“manpui”—is one blue cloth, one mattress, and three mithan,
which is paid to the nearest male relative to the bride on the father’s side, but besides
this the bride’s paternal uncle receives one mithan, which is termed “mankang.” If there
be three brothers, A, B, and C, B will take the mankang of A’s daughters, C that of B’s,
and A that of C’s. Should a man have no brothers some near relative will take his
daughter’s mankang. The eldest son inherits everything, and is looked on as the head of
the family. He receives the “manpui” of all the females, and in his verandah are hung all
the trophies of the chase obtained by his brothers and their children, but on the death of
one of these brothers the connection ceases, and the deceased’s eldest son inherits his
property and is looked on as the head of the family by his younger brothers. Like the
Vuite, the Rāngte claim that sodomy is unknown among them. In their religious beliefs
they employ the nomenclature of the Thados, though there is a little variation. The place
of Pupawla on the road to Mi-thi-khua is taken by an old woman, named Kul-lo-nu, who
is evidently the same as the Thado Kulsamnu, who troubles all except the Thangchhuah.
Thlan-ropa is known as “Dāpā,” but the legends regarding him are similar to those told
by the Lushais.
 Vuite Memorial.

Rāngte Grave.

On the birth of a female child, zu is drunk, but should the child be a son, a pig and a fowl
have to be killed, and three days later the puithiam comes and sprinkles the mother with
water, muttering charms as he does so, after which ceremony she can go out.
Immediately after a death everyone present seizes the nearest weapon and slashes wildly
at the walls, posts, shelves, and partitions, shouting, “You have killed him! We will cut
you limb from limb, whoever you may be.” The young men then go out in search of wild
birds and beasts, the bodies of which are hung on posts round the grave. The corpse is
adorned with the head-dress of hornbill’s feathers, as among the Vuite and most of the
Old Kuki clans. The corpses of ordinary persons are buried without much ceremony
close to the house, but the Thangchhuah are carried round the village, as among the
Khawtlang, and then enclosed in hollow tree trunks, and kept for periods varying from
two months to a year in special sheds, with fires smouldering beneath them, after which
the bones are buried. In this it will be noticed that the Rāngte custom is a composite of
Lushei, Vuite, and Khawtlang.

Lukawng is only paid if the deceased has been a great hunter or warrior. In their
marriage ceremonies the Rāngte differ but little from the Lushais. The “Khāl” sacrifices
are omitted, but most of the others are performed.

Thangchhuah honours are attained by giving only two feasts—the “Chong,” at which a
hen has to be sacrificed and two pigs and a mithan killed, and the “Mai-thuk-kai,” at
which two mithan, three pigs, and a hen have to be killed. The guests hold hands and
form a circle round the house of the giver of the feast, who has to anoint the head of each
of them with pig’s fat. The Buh-Ai is unknown, but the Ai of wild animals is performed
as among the Lushais.
CHAPTER III
 THE OLD KUKI CLANS
The term Old Kukis has long been applied to the clans which suddenly appeared in
Cachar about 1800, the cause of which eruption I have explained when dealing with the
history of the Lushais, but Dr. Grierson in the Linguistic Survey has included in this
group a number of clans which had long been settled in Manipur territory, and my
enquiries all go to prove the correctness of this classification. It appears practically
certain that the ancestors of the Old Kukis and the Lushais were related and lived very
close together somewhere in the centre of the hills on the banks of the Tyao and Manipur
rivers. The Old Kuki clans of Manipur seem to have been the first to move, as records of
their appearance there are found in the Manipur chronicle as early as the sixteenth
century, and, though the chronology of the chronicle is not beyond suspicion, I think this
may be taken as proof that these clans appeared in Manipur a good deal earlier than their
relations the Bete and Rhangkhol entered Cachar. What the cause of this move was it is
impossible to say. Probably quarrels with their neighbours, coupled with a desire for
better land, combined to cause the exodus, and the movement, once started, had to
continue till the clans found a haven of rest in Manipur, as their relatives did centuries
later in British territory; for they were small, weak communities, at the mercy of the
stronger clans, through whose lands they passed.

All these Old Kuki clans are organised far more democratically than the Lushais or
Thados. Lieut. Stewart in his Notes on Northern Cachar says:—“There is no regular
system of government among the Old Kukis and they have no hereditary chiefs as
among the New ones. A headman called the ‘ghalim’ is appointed by themselves over
each village, but he is much more a priest than a potentate, and his temporal power is
much limited. Internal administration among them always takes a provisional form.
When any party considers himself aggrieved, he makes an appeal to the elders, or the
most powerful householders in the village, by inviting them to dinner and plying them
with victuals and wine.”

Among the clans which settled early in Manipur, each village has been provided with a
number of officials with high-sounding titles and little power, in imitation of the
Manipur system. Among those who have settled in British territory the ghalim has been
transformed into the “gaonbura”—i.e., head of the village—and has acquired a certain
amount of authority, whilst among the Khawtlang and Khawchhak clans, which after
various vicissitudes, including a more or less lengthy sojourn among the Lushais,
recently entered Manipur territory, the ghalim has become a feeble imitation of a Lushai
lal.

The Old Kuki Clans of Manipur.

Under this heading I propose dealing with the Aimol, Anal, Chawte, Chiru, Kolhen,
Kom, Lamgang, Purum, Tikhup, and Vaiphei, who are now found in various parts of the
hills bordering the Manipur valley, and who resemble each other in very many respects.
In spite of this resemblance, the clans, while acknowledging their relationship to one
another, keep entirely apart, living in separate villages and never intermarrying.

In the Manipur chronicle the Chiru and Anal are mentioned as early as the middle of the
sixteenth century, while the Aimol make their first appearance in 1723. They are said to
have come from Tipperah, but at that time the eastern boundary of Tipperah was not
determined, and the greater part of the present Lushai Hills district was supposed to be
more or less under the control of the Rajah of that State. A short distance to the east of
Aijal there is a village site called Vai-tui-chhun—i.e., the watering place of the Vai—
which is said to commemorate a former settlement of the Vaiphei. It seems probable,
therefore, that the Aimol and Vaiphei left their former homes in consequence of the
forward movement of the Lusheis. The remaining tribes all claim to have come from
various places to the south of Manipur—the Anal from the Haubi peak, the Chiru from
“the Hranglal hill far away in the south,” the Kom from the Sakripung hill in the Chin
Hills; the other clans can give no nearer definition of the home of their forefathers than
far away to the south. Like the Lushais, they all assert that they are descended from
couples who issued out of the earth, the Chhinglung of the Lushais being replaced by
“Khurpui”—i.e., the great hole.

The Anal assert that two brothers came out of a cave on the Haubi peak, and that the
elder was the ancestor of the Anals, while the younger went to the valley of Manipur and
became king of the valley. Another tradition says that the Manipuris, Anals, and Thados
are the descendants of three men, whose father was the son of Pakhāngba, the mythical
snake-man ancestor of the Manipuri royal family, who, taking the form of an attractive
youth, overcame the scruples of a maiden engaged in weeding her jhum (compare
Hodson’s “Meitheis,” page 12). These legends were probably invented after the clans
had come in contact in order to account for the resemblances between them. The Chiru
claim to be descended from Rezar, the son of Chongthu, the ancestor of the clan of that
name still found in the Lushai Hills, whose name also appears in the Thado pedigree.
The Lamgang tell the following tale:—On the Kangmang hill, away to the south, there is
a cave. Out of this came a man and a woman, and were eaten up by a tiger which was
watching. A god who had two horns, seeing this horrible sight, came out and drove away
the tiger, and so the next couple to emerge escaped and became the ancestors of the
Lamgang. The Purum claim to be descended from Tonring and Tonshu, who issued from
the earth. It is said that “Pu rum” means “hide from tiger,” which connects them closely
with the Lamgang legend. The Kolhen’s ancestors were a man and woman who sprang
out of Khurpui provided with a basket and a spear, and lived at Talching, and had a son
and daughter called Nairung and Shaithatpal, the direct descendants of whom are said
still to be found among the Kolhen.
The Chawte told me the tale of the peopling of the world out of a hole in the ground,
adding the graphic touch that an inquisitive monkey lifted up a stone which lay over the
opening, and thus allowed their ancestors to emerge.

It is not quite clear whether these clans are eponymous. The Chiru say that their clan is
named after an ancestor, but can give no pedigree. The Aimol say that there is no general
name for the various families, and that Aimol is the name of the village site. It is
probably Ai-mual. “Ai” is the Lushai name of a berry and also means crab, and appears
in Ai-zawl or Aijal. “Mual” is the Lushai for a spur of a hill. It is a very common, in fact
almost a universal, custom to call a new village site, if it has no recognised name, after
the site of the old village, and probably the original Aimual would be found in the centre
of the Lushai Hills.

All these clans have come much under Manipuri influence, and the Chiru, Aimol,
Kolhen, Chawte, Purum, and Tikhup have abandoned the ancestral architecture, and now
live in houses built on raised earthen plinths like the Manipuris.

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.

The Manipuris have instituted in each village a number Photo by M. Little, Esq., Loc. Engineer.
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.

The puithiam is known as “thempu,” “khulpu,” or “bulropa,” and both he and the
blacksmith are sometimes rewarded, receiving a day’s labour from each householder
they serve, instead of a donation of rice.

The Lushai system of “boi” is generally unknown, which is only natural in such
democratic communities.

The following animals are not generally eaten—tigers, snakes, cats, crows, or kites; and
among the Lamgang the rat is also considered unfit for food.

Each clan is divided into eponymous families and generally marriage is restricted to the
clan, but alliances within the family are prohibited. The Aimol clan is divided into five
families—Chongom, Laita or Mangte, Khoichung or Leivon, Lanu, and Chaita.
Marriage is unrestricted, but it is unusual for either sex to marry without the clan. The
Kolhen are divided into twelve exogamous families divided into two groups, which are
also exogamous (v. below, under Festivals, page 167), but marriage outside the clan is
prohibited. Among the Anal, Purum, and Lamgang marriages must be made within the
clan, but not within the family.

The Tikhup clan, which only numbers some twenty households, is not sub-divided, but
marriage is endogamous. The union of first cousins, either paternal or maternal, is
prohibited. The elders of the clan attributed the steady decline in their numbers to this
custom of endogamy.
The Chiru and Chawte customs are alike; not only is a young man’s choice limited to
some family in the clan other than his own, but the actual families from which he may
choose his bride are strictly fixed.

Among the Chiru—

A Danla lad may marry a Dingthoi or Shangpa girl.

A Dingthoi lad may marry a Chongdur or Danla girl.
A Rezar lad may marry a Danla girl.
A Shangpa lad may marry a Dingthoi or Danla girl.
A Chongdur lad may marry a Danla girl.

Danla is the family from which the khul-lakpa must be taken, and Rezar has already
been noticed as the son of Chongthu, from whom the Chiru claim descent.

Among the Chawte—

A Marem lad may only marry a Makhan girl.

A Makhan lad may only marry an Irung girl.
A Kiang lad may only marry a Makhan or Marem girl.
An Irung lad may only marry a Marem, Thao, or Kiang girl.
A Thao lad may only marry a Makhan girl.

Among the Aimol, Anal, Chiru, and Purum, a young man has to serve his future wife’s
father for three years, during which he works as if he were a son of the house. During
this period he has free access to the girl, though among the Chiru he continues to sleep
among the bachelors. Should the girl become enceinte the marriage ceremony must be
performed, and the price paid. Among the Aimol the bride’s eldest brother gets Rs. 6/-
and each of the others one rupee less than his immediate senior. The paternal and
maternal uncles receive Rs. 2/- each; the aunt and the elder sister also receive Rs. 1/-
each as “niman” and “nao-puan-puk-man,” as among the Lushais. Among the Anal and
the Purum, the price must not be less than a pig and a piece of iron a cubit in length, but
the girl’s relatives try to get as much more as they can. The bridegroom has also to feast
the family of his bride three times on pork, fowls, and rice, washed down, of course,
with plenty of zu. The Chiru girls are only valued at one gong.

Among the other clans, marriage is by simple purchase. A Chawte maiden can be
obtained for a spear, a dao, and a fowl, the payment being sealed by the consumption of
much zu. The price of a Kolhen girl is a gong and Rs. 7/- to her mother, and Rs. 7/- each
to the elder and younger brother and the maternal uncle. This is most curious, for the
father is entirely omitted. Can it be a survival of mother right? The Kom girls are valued
very high, the father receiving one gong, four buffaloes, fifteen cloths, a hoe, and a
spear, the aunt taking a black and white cloth. A Lamgamg bridegroom has to pay his
father-in-law three pigs or buffaloes or cows, one string of conch shell beads, one lead
bracelet, and one black or blue petticoat. A Tikhup father expects a gong, ten hoes, one
dao, and one spear; the maternal grandfather also demands Rs. 7/-.

The price of a Vaiphei girl varies between two and ten mithan. To a certain extent the
price of the girls may be taken as an indication of the relative importance of the clan.
Marriage by servitude is not found among either the Lushai or the Thado clans; its
appearance among the Old Kukis is therefore curious, for as a rule the customs of a clan
will be found to resemble those of one or the other of these two main divisions of the
Kuki-Lushai race.

Polygamy is, as a rule, permitted. Among the Anal and Lamgang, the first wife is
entitled to the company of her husband for five nights, the second for four, and the third
for three. It is not quite clear how a second marriage by servitude can be carried out, and
probably the rules are modified in such cases. Polygamy is but little practised on account
of the expense; among the Kolhen it is prohibited.

In most of these clans the Thado rule of inheritance is followed—viz., the eldest son
takes all his father’s property, the younger sons only getting what the heir chooses to
give them. Among the Anal and Purum, and probably also the Lamgang, the sons of the
deceased divide the property, but the youngest son takes the house and supports the
widow, thus approximating to the Lushai custom.

In most clans the father of an illegitimate child is fined. Among the Chiru the fine is a
pig, a mithan, and two gongs.

Divorce is generally easily obtained. Among the Aimol, if either party repents of the
bargain, the payment of a cloth and three pots of zu annuls the contract. Among the
Tikhup the cost of divorce is a mithan and a gong. The Anal and most of the other clans
insist on the question being submitted to the village officials, who receive fees according
to their position, and settle what compensation, if any, shall be paid to either party. As a
rule it is very difficult for a woman to obtain a divorce unless her husband agrees, even
though he may be extremely unfaithful and brutal. Among the Anal she must give a feast
to the village or pay her husband Rs. 50/-.

In case of a wife being led astray the injured husband recovers her price or an equivalent
amount (among the Tikhup twice the price) from her seducer. In this the Thado custom is
followed, which is more just than that of the Lushais, but not so conducive to morality,
for among the the Lushais the whole of the woman’s family are interested in keeping her
from committing herself and are loud in condemnation should she do so, as they have to
refund the various sums they have received on her behalf, whereas among the Thado the
seducer simply pays up the price and takes the woman, who is thought very little the
worse of—in fact, among the clans which follow this apparently more just custom,
women hold a far lower position, being traded from one to another, unless they have
influential male relatives who take an interest in them.

All these clans have been given definite sites in Manipur and have practically abandoned
the migratory habits of their forefathers, and therefore the idea of property in land, which
is entirely absent in the case of the Lushais, is fast springing up. Many villages are
moving nearer to the plain in order that the people may take leases from the State of land
in the valley and carry on plough cultivation, but they also do a certain amount of
jhuming, and proprietary rights in jhum lands are recognised.

The punishment for theft is arranged much on the Lushai system of the theft of certain
articles having a fixed fine attached to it. This is generally a pig, two jars of zu, and a
brass plate. Among the Chiru the whole fine is consumed by the people of the village,
the thief also getting his share. The Kolhen punishment is a fine of Rs. 28/-, a pig, and
two jars of zu. In case of rice being stolen, the Tikhup custom is that the village officials
at once kill and eat the pig of the thief and then make him pay a mithan as compensation
to the complainant. Thefts of minor articles are generally punished by the thief providing
a pig and zu for the entertainment of his judges. Manslaughter is punished by the
payment of compensation, the amount varying considerably. The Anal demand a mithan
and a gong, the Chiru a mithan and a cloth, the Kolhen three mithan, a brass pot, a pig,
and two pots of zu, the Lamgang four gongs, ten jars of zu, and a big pig. Petty assaults
are punished by fines of pigs and zu. A false charge is often punished by a fine of zu.
Most of these clans declare that sodomy is unknown among them, the very notion
appearing to them highly absurd.

All disputes and accusations are disposed of by the village officials, who meet
sometimes in the house of the khul-lakpa and sometimes at a special spot outside the
village where stone seats have been prepared.

Since the settlement of these clans in Manipur territory all raiding and fighting has been
stopped, so that they have practically forgotten what were the habits of their forefathers
in these respects, but the Kom declare that in the good old days the young Kom warriors
went off on head-hunting expeditions, and if successful adorned the village gate with the
trophies of their prowess; and there is no reason to doubt that, in spite of their present
peaceable behaviour, the previous history of these clans was not less full of raids and
counter-raids than that of their neighbours.

The general religious beliefs of these clans show a great resemblance to each other and
also to that of the Lushais. Pathian is universally recognised as the creator who lives in
the sky, though the name is slightly different, appearing as Pathel among the Anal and
Kolhen, and Patheng among the Kom. Mi-thi-khua is generally known as the place of
departed spirits, but the Chiru and Tikhup have no idea of a place of greater comfort for
the spirits of warriors, though the Chiru believe that the spirits of those that die unnatural
deaths go to a separate and inferior place, while those of the other dead go westwards
into the sky. The Anal, Kolhen, and Lamgang believe that, after hovering around the
grave for some time, the spirit is reincarnated in some new-born child, but that an
unnatural death prevents this and the spirit passes away skywards and returns no more.
The belief in a being or beings which trouble the spirits on their way to Mi-thi-khua, as
Pupawla does with his pellet bow, is very general. The Aimol call him Ramcharipu, and
say that he makes the spirits of all, except “Thangchhuah,” kill a certain number of lice
in his head. The Vaiphei say that a male and a female being guard the road and trouble
and detain the spirits of those who have not attained the honours of Thangchhuah. With
the exception of the Tikhup, all the clans believe in demons, which they call by various
names and which correspond exactly with the Huai of the Lushais. The Aimol call these
devils Numeinu, Thanglian Borh, Tuikuachoi. “Numeinu” means mother of woman Borh
brings to memory the infantile illness called by that name by the Lushais, while
“Tuikuachoi” is evidently the Tui-huai. The Aimol and Chiru perform the Daibawl
sacrifices in the same manner as the Lushais. The Chawte sacrifice pigs and fowls in
case of sickness, but the Khāl sacrifices are quite unknown to any Old Kuki clans. Lāshi
is known to the Aimol and Vaiphei. Among the former the Sakhua sacrifices are
performed to this deity, and he is capable of giving success in the chase. The Vaiphei
place Lāshi almost on a par with Pathian and sacrifice a pig to him every year. Strange to
say, he is supposed to have only one leg. The Sakhua chant of the Vuite commences with
an invocation to all the wild animals to collect.

In nearly every clan there is an annual festival in honour of the souls of those who have
died during the year, but in no case is the Mi-thi-rawp-lām or any similar festival
included in the series of Thangchhuah feasts.

The Aimol sacrifice either a pig or a goat to Lāshi as their Sakhua. The Chawte have
been much influenced by Manipuris, and I was first told that the names of their gods
were Pakhāngba and Nungchongba, but on a little further enquiry I found that
Pakhāngba was always called Pathian when talking among themselves. The other deity
is probably the Manipuri god Nungshaba (“The Meitheis,” Hodson, page 98).

Above the hamlet was an oval, level space with a low wall round it. At the eastern end
was a small house in which were two stones. This was the abode of Pakhāngba, and to
one side was Nungchongba’s dwelling place, which consisted of three small stones, with
a fourth one placed on the top. In front of these a bull is sacrificed once in three years,
and dancing and singing take place every year after the harvest. The Chiru believe in
“Rampus,” which in some respects appear to be the same as the Lushai “Huai,” but in
others they appear to be local gods. The four chief Rampus live one on Kobru, a high hill
overlooking the northern extremity of the Manipur valley and called by the Manipuris
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