The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies Part 10

The dead are kept for four days; then burnt. Then the ashes are buried in a hole on the place where the fire was. A small thatched building is next raised over them; which is afterwards railed in. For a month, or more, a lamp is lit every night in this building. The clothes of the deceased hang on poles--one at each corner of the railing. When the pile is set fire to, there is great feasting and drunkenness.

The Garo are no Hindus. Neither are they unmodified pagans. Mahadeva they invoke--perhaps, worship. Nevertheless, their creed is mixed. They worship the sun and the moon, or rather the sun _or_ the moon; since they ascertain which is to be invoked by taking a cup of water and some wheat. The priest then calls on the name of the sun, and drops corn into the water. If it sink, the sun is worshipped. If not, a similar experiment is tried with the name of the moon. Misfortunes are attributed to supernatural agency: and averted by sacrifice.

Sometimes they swear on a stone; sometimes they take a tiger's bone between their teeth and then tell their tale.

Lastly, they have an equivalent to the _Lycanthropy_ of the older European nations:--

"Among the Garrows a madness exists, which they call transformation into a tiger, from the person who is afflicted with this malady walking about like that animal, shunning all society. It is said, that, on their being first seized with this complaint they tear their hair and the rings from their ears, with such force as to break the lobe. It is supposed to be occasioned by a medicine applied to the forehead; but I endeavoured to procure some of the medicine thus used, without effect. I imagine it rather to be created by frequent intoxications, as the malady goes off in the course of a week or fortnight. During the time the person is in this state, it is with the utmost difficulty he is made to eat or drink.

I questioned a man, who had thus been afflicted, as to the manner of his being seized, and he told me he only felt a giddiness without any pain, and that afterwards he did not know what happened to him."[30]

In a paper of Captain C. S. Reynolds, in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,"[31] we have the notice of a hitherto undescribed superst.i.tion; that of the _Korah_. A _Korah_ is a dish of bell-metal, of uncertain manufacture. A small kind, called Deo Korah, is hung up as a household G.o.d and worshipped. Should the monthly sacrifice of a fowl be neglected, punishment is expected. If "a person perform his devotion to the spirit which inhabits the Korah with increasing fervour and devotion, he is generally rewarded by seeing the embossed figures gradually expand. The Garos believe that when the whole household is wrapped in sleep, the Deo Korahs make expeditions in search of food, and when they have satisfied their appet.i.tes return to their snug retreats un.o.bserved."

The Miri are supposed to believe the same of what are called _Deo Guntas_, brought from Tibet.

Now what is the cla.s.sification of all these tribes? Preliminary to the answer on this point, there are eleven dialects spoken in the parts about Manipur--besides the proper language of Manipur itself--to be enumerated. These are as follows:--1. Songpu. 2. Kapwi. 3. Koreng. 4.

Maram. 5. Champhung. 6. Luhuppa. 7, 8, 9. Northern, Central, and Southern Tangkhul. 10. Khoibu; and 11. Maring. Now these twelve (the Manipur being included) have been tabulated by Mr. Brown, in such a way as to show the per-centage of words that each has with all the others; and not only these, but nearly all the tongues which we have had to deal with, are similarly put in order for being compared. The part of the table necessary for the present use is as follows:--

|N.|C.|S.| |C | | | | | |M | |h | |T |T |T | |M |B | |S | |a | |a |L |a |a |a | |i |u | |i | |n |S | |K | |m |u |n |n |n |K |M |s |r |K |n | |i |o |K |o |M |p |h |g |g |g |h |a |a |h |m |a |g |J |G |p |n |a |r |a |h |u |k |k |k |o |r |a |b |i |e |r |p |i |a |u |g |p |e |r |u |p |h |h |h |i |i |k |o |m |s |e |h |l |r |r |p |w |n |a |n |p |u |u |u |b |n |a |r |i |e |n |o |i |o |i |u |i |g |m |g |a |l |l |l |u |g -----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-- aka | |47|20|17|12|15|15| 5|11| 3|10| 3| 8| 8| 8| 5| 6|10| 8|10 abor |47| |20|11|10|18|11| 6|15| 6|11| 5| 8| 6| 8| 8| 8|10|10|18 Mishimi |20|20| |10|10|10|13|10|11| 0|11| 0| 3| 5| 6| 8| 6|13|10| 8 Burmese |17|11|10| |23|23|26|12|16| 8|20| 6|11|11|11|10|13|13|16|16 Karen |12|10|10|23| |17|21| 8|15|10|15| 8|12| 4|12| 8|12|12|10|15 Singpho |15|18|10|23|17| |70|16|25|10|18|11|11|13|15|13|25|13|20|18 Jili |15|11|13|26|21|70| |22|16|10|21|13|11|11|18|20|20|13|20|20 Garo | 5| 6|10|12| 8|16|22| |10| 5| 6| 5| 8| 5| 8|13|11| 5| 5| 5 Manipuri |11|15|11|16|15|25|16|10| |21|41|18|25|28|31|28|35|33|40|50 Songpu | 3| 6| 0| 8|10|10|10| 5|21| |35|50|53|20|23|15|15|13| 8|15 Kapwi |10|11|11|20|15|18|21| 6|41|35| |30|33|20|35|30|40|45|38|40 Koreng | 3| 5| 0| 6| 8|11|13| 5|18|50|30| |41|18|21|20|20|11|10|15 Maram | 8| 8| 3|11|12|11|11| 8|25|53|33|41| |21|28|25|20|16|23|26 Champhung | 8| 6| 5|11| 4|13|11| 5|28|20|20|18|21| |40|20|20|16|15|25 Luhuppa | 8| 8| 6|11|12|15|18| 8|31|23|35|21|28|40| |63|55|36|33|40 N. Tangkhul| 5| 8| 8|10| 8|13|20|13|28|15|30|20|25|20|63| |85|30|31|31 C. Tangkhul| 6| 8| 6|13|12|25|20|11|35|15|40|20|20|20|55|85| |41|45|41 S. Tangkhul|10|10|13|13|12|13|13| 5|33|13|45|11|16|16|36|30|41| |43|43 Khoibu | 8|10|10|16|10|20|20| 5|40| 8|38|10|23|15|33|31|45|43| |78 Maring |10|18| 8|16|15|18|20| 5|50|15|40|15|26|25|40|31|41|43|78|

The last eleven dialects are not spoken in any British dependency; and they have only been mentioned for the sake of explaining the table.

All belong to one and the same cla.s.s; a point upon which I see no room for doubt; although respecting the _value_ of that cla.s.s I admit that some exists.

For this, the term _Burmese_ is as good as any other--without professing to be better; yet, should it seem too precise, there is no objection to the sufficiently general term of _monosyllabic_ being subst.i.tuted for it.

The reader, however, may doubt the fact of the affinities. This has been done. Long before the present writer knew of such dialects as the Jili, Mishimi, Aka, Abor, Singpho, and the like, he had satisfied himself that the Garo was monosyllabic, and had so expressed himself in 1844,[32] when Brown's Tables had been published, though not seen by him. It was with surprise, then, that he found the author of them writing, that "it would be difficult to decide from the specimens before us, whether it is to be ranked with the monosyllabic or polysyllabic languages. It probably belongs to the latter."

Again, Mr. Hodgson makes the Garo Tamulian, _i.e._, polysyllabic; a fact which will be noticed again when the Bodo, Dhimal, and Kocch have been disposed of.

_The Kocch_, _Bodo_, and _Dhimal_ is the t.i.tle of one of that writer's works--a model of an ethnological monograph. This gives us a new cla.s.s.

The Bodo of Hodgson are the wild tribes that skirt the Himalayas, from a.s.sam to Sikkim. West of these, between the river Konki and the river Dhorla are the Dhimal, a small tribe mixed with Bodo; and, southwards, in Kocch Behar, are the Kocch. The two former are so much described together that a separation is difficult. This leaves us at liberty to follow the details of either one population or of both. The history of a Bodo from his cradle to his grave is as follows. The birth is attended with a _minimum_ amount of ceremonies. Midwives there are none; but labours are easy. Neither has the priest much to do with ushering-in the new-comer to the world. A short period of uncleanness is recognized, but it is only a short one; the purification consisting in the acts of bathing and shaving performed by the parties themselves. Four or five days after delivery, the mother goes out into the world; and at that time, the child is named. Any pa.s.sing event determines this; as there are no family names, and no names taken from their mythology. The account, however, of Mr. Hodgson, in this respect is somewhat obscure, "A Bhotia chief arrives at the village, and the child is named Jinkhap; or a hill peasant arrives, and it is named Gongar, after the t.i.tular, or general designation of the Bhotias."

As long as a mother can suckle a child (or _children_) she continues to do so, sometimes for so long a period as three years, when the last and last but one may be seen sucking together.

The period of weaning is thus delayed; and, notwithstanding the current notion as to the prematurity of marriages in warm climates, that of wedlock is delayed as well: the male waits till he is twenty or twenty-five, the female till between fifteen and twenty. The parties least concerned are the bride and bridegroom; the parents do the courtship. Those of the lady take a payment. This is called a _Jan_ amongst the Bodo, and varies from ten to fifteen rupees. With the Dhimal it is a _Gandi_, and amounts to a higher sum, ranging from fifteen to forty-five. Failing this, service must be done by the youth; and a wife be earned as Jacob earned Leah and Rachel. This is the _Gabor_ of the Bodo, and the _Gharjya_ of the Dhimal.

Such marriages are easily dissolved, _i.e._, at the option of either party. In case, however, of infidelity on the part of a wife having caused a divorce, the wedding-money is repaid. Adoption is common, concubinage rare; each being on a level with marriage in respect to the _status_ of the children. Of these, all males inherit alike; but the rights of the female are limited.

The ceremony itself begins with a procession on the part of the bridegroom's friends to the bride's house, two females accompanying them. Of these, it is the business to put red-lead and oil on the bride-elect's hair. A feast follows; after which the husband takes his wife home. Thus far the Bodo forms agree with the Dhimal; but they differ in what follows.

_The Bodo_ sacrifices a c.o.c.k and a hen in the names of the bridegroom and the bride, respectively to the Sun.

_The Dhimal_ propitiate _Data_ and _Bedata_ by presents of betel-leaf and red-lead.

Both bury their dead, and purify themselves by ablution in the nearest stream when the funeral procession is over. The family, however, of the deceased is considered as unclean for three days.

A feast with sacrifices attends the purification. Before sitting down, they repair once more to the grave, and present the dead with some of the food from the banquet;--"take and eat, heretofore you have eaten and drunk with us; you can do so no more; you were one of us, you can be so no longer; we come no more to you; come you not to us." After this each member of the party takes from his wrist a bracelet of thread, and throws it on the grave.

A ceremonial implies a priesthood. Under this cla.s.s come the Deoshi, the Dhami, the Ojha, and the Phantwal.

The first of these is the village, the second the district, priest.

The Ojha is the village exorcist; and the Phantwal a subordinate of the Deoshi. The influence of this clerical body, although probably higher than Mr. Hodgson places it, is, evidently, anything but exorbitant.

I cannot find anything in the Bodo and Dhimal superst.i.tions higher than what was found in Africa. Nor yet is anything _essentially_ different.

Similar intellectual conditions develop similar creeds, independent of intercourse; a fact which, the more we go into the natural history of religions, the more we shall verify. We read indeed of _oaths_ and _ordeals_; but oaths and ordeals are by no means, what they have too loosely been supposed to be, appeals to the moral nature of the Divinity. The _dhoom_ test, in Old Calabar, is an ordeal. The criminal tests of the Fantis are the same. Indeed, few, if any tribes, are without them. What the real ideas are which determine such and such-like ceremonies is difficult for intellectual adults to understand. The way towards their appreciation lies in the phenomena of a child's mind; the true clue to the psychology of rude populations.

If we take the Bodo and Dhimal religions in detail we find ourselves in a familiar field, with well-known forms of superst.i.tion around us.

Diseases are attributed to supernatural agency; and the medicine-man, exorcist, or Ojha, is more priest than surgeon.

The _feticism_ of Africa re-appears; at least such is my inference from the following extract. "_Batho_ is clearly and indisputably identifiable with _something tangible_, _viz._, the _Sij_ or _Euphorbia_; though why that useless and even exotic plant should have been thus selected to type the G.o.dhead, I have failed to learn."

Euhemerism, or the worship of dead men deified, is to be found either in its germs or its rudiments; at any rate, one of their deities bears the name of Hajo, a known historic personage. But this may be referable to Hindu influences unequivocally traceable in other parts of the Pantheon.

It is the rites and ceremonies of a country that give us its religion in the concrete. All beyond is an abstraction. These, with the Bodo and Dhimal, are numerous. Invocations, deprecations, and thanksgivings are all mentioned by Mr. Hodgson; and they are all attended by offerings or sacrifices; libations attend the sacrifices, and feasting follows the libations.

The great festivals of the year are four for the Bodo, three for the Dhimal.

_a._ In December or January, when the cotton-crop is ready, the Bodo hold their _Shurkhar_, the Dhimal their _Harejata_.

_b._ In February or March, the Bodo hold the _Wagaleno_.

_c._ In July or August, the rice comes into ear. This brings on the Bodo _Phulthepno_, and the Dhimal _Gavipuja_.

All these are celebrated out of doors, and on agricultural occasions.

_d._ The fourth great festival is held at home; its time being the month of October; its name _Aihuno_ in Bodo, and _Pochima paka_ in Dhimal.

Here, in the _Aihuno_ at least, the family a.s.sembles, the priest joins it, and the Sij, or Euphorbia, represents Batho. This is placed in the middle of the room, has prayers offered to it, and a _c.o.c.k_ as a sacrifice; whilst Mainou's offering is a _hog_; Agrang's a _he-goat_, and so on, through the whole list of the nine _nooni madai_, or deities thus worshipped. As for the symbols which represent them, besides the Sij, which stands for Batho, there is a bamboo post about three feet high, surmounted by a small cup of rice, denoting Mainou; but the equivalents of the other seven are somewhat uncertain.

The Wagaleno festival was witnessed by Mr. Hodgson and Dr. Campbell. The account of it is something lengthy. I mention it, however, for the sake of one of its princ.i.p.al actors--the Deoda. This is the _possessed_, who, "when filled with the G.o.d, answers by inspiration to the question of the priest as to the prospects of the coming season. When we first discerned him, he was sitting on the ground, panting, and rolling his eyes so significantly that I at once conjectured his function. Shortly afterwards, the rite still proceeding, the Deoda got up, entered the circle, and commenced dancing with the rest, but more wildly. He held a short staff in his hand, with which, from time to time, he struck the bedizened poles, one by one, and lowering it as he struck. The chief dancer with the odd-shaped instrument waxed more and more vehement in his dance; the inspired grew more and more maniacal; the music more and more rapid; the incantation more and more solemn and earnest; till, at last, amid a general lowering of the heads of the decked bamboo poles, so that they met and formed a canopy over him, the Deoda went off in an affected fit, and the ceremony closed without any revelation." This self-excited state of ecstasy is an element of most religions in the same stage of development; and a low level it indicates. In Greece, in Africa, and in Northern Asia, we find it as regularly as we find a coa.r.s.e and material creed; and to the coa.r.s.eness of the materialism of such a creed it is generally proportionate.

Witches, and the discovery of them, and the influence of the evil eye are part and parcel of the Bodo and Dhimal superst.i.tions.

_Kocch_ means a population, which possibly amounts to as much as a million souls, extended from about 88 to 93 East long., and 25 to 27 North lat., and of which Kocch Behar is the political centre. The term is _ethnological_--not political. It is ethnological, and not political, because, although originally native, it has since been partially abandoned. _All_ the inhabitants of the parts in question _once_ called themselves Kocch; and Kocch they were called by their neighbours the Mech. At this time the country was unequivocally other than Indian; _i.e._, in the same category with that of the Garo and Bodo. Since then, however, great changes have taken place; so that, just as Wales is partially Anglicized, the Welsh language being replaced by the English, the Kocch--the native tongue--is under the process of being replaced by a Hindu dialect. Nevertheless, just as many a Welshman who speaks nothing but English is still a Welshman, so are the Kocch, who have changed their languages, Bodo, Garo, or something closely akin, in ethnological position.

The extent to which different portions of the once great Kocch nation have abandoned or retained their original characteristics is easily measured.

1. Those who have changed most speak a form of the Bengali, and are imperfect Mahometans; imperfect, because their creed is strongly tinctured with Hinduism. Thus the very epithet which they apply to themselves is Brahminical; _Rajbansi_=_Suryabansi_=_Sun-born_. The converted Kocch of the Mahometan creed are chiefly of the lower order of the province of Behar.

2. Those who have changed, but changed less than the _Mahometans_ of Behar, are either Brahminists or Buddhists--speaking the same Bengali dialect as the last. These are chiefly the higher cla.s.ses of the population of Behar. They are Kocch in the way that the Cornishmen are Welsh. They consider them _Rajbansi_ also. Doubtless, their Hinduism is imperfect; _i.e._, tinctured with the original paganism.

3. The primitive, unconverted, or _Pani_ Kocch, have either not changed at all, or changed but little. They retain the original name of Kocch; which is not endured by the others. They retain their original tongue, which, according to Buchanan, has no affinity with any of the Hindu tongues. They retain their original customs; and they retain their original paganism. Lastly, Mr. Hodgson attests the "entire conformity of the physiognomy of all--with that of the other aborigines around them."

He adds that he cannot improve on Buchanan's account of them, which is as follows:--"The primitive or Pani Kocch live amid the woods, frequently changing their abode in order to cultivate lands enriched by a fallow. They cultivate entirely with the hoe, and more carefully than their neighbours who use the plough, for they weed their crops, which the others do not. As they keep hogs and poultry they are better fed than the Hindus, and as they make a fermented liquor from rice, their diet is more strengthening. The clothing of the Pani Kocch is made by the women, and is in general blue, dyed by themselves with their own indigo, the borders red, dyed with Morinda. The material is cotton of their own growth, and they are better clothed than the ma.s.s of the Bengalese. Their huts are at least as good, nor are they raised on posts like the houses of the Indo-Chinese, at least, not generally so. Their only arms are spears: but they use iron-shod implements of agriculture, which the Bengalese often do not. They eat swine, goats, sheep, deer, buffaloes, rhinoceros, fowls, and ducks--not beef, nor dogs, nor cats, nor frogs, nor snakes. They use tobacco and beer, but reject opium and hemp. They eat no tame animal without offering it to G.o.d (the G.o.ds), and consider that he who is least restrained is most exalted, allowing the Garos to be their superiors, because the Garos may eat beef. The men are so gallant as to have made over all property to the women, who in return are most industrious, weaving, spinning, brewing, planting, sowing; in a word, doing all work not above their strength. When a woman dies the family property goes to her daughters, and when a man marries he lives with his wife's mother, obeying her as his wife. Marriages are usually arranged by mothers in nonage, but consulting the destined bride. Grown up women may select a husband for themselves, and another, if the first die. A girl's marriage costs the mother ten rupees--a boy's five rupees.

This sum is expended in a feast with sacrifice, which completes the ceremony. Few remain unmarried, or live long. I saw no grey hairs.

Girls, who are frail, can always marry their lover. Under such rule, polygamy, concubinage, and adultery are not tolerated. The last subjects to a ruinous fine, which if not paid, the offender becomes a slave. No one can marry out of his own tribe. If he do, he is fined. Sutties are unknown, and widows always having property can pick out a new husband at discretion. The dead are kept two days, during which the family mourn, and the kindred and friends a.s.semble and feast, dance and sing. The body is then burned by a river's side, and each person having bathed returns to his usual occupation. A funeral costs ten rupees, as several pigs must be sacrificed to the manes. This tribe has no letters; but a sort of priesthood called Deoshi, who marry and work like other people. Their office is not hereditary, and everybody employs what Deoshi he pleases, but some one always a.s.sists at every sacrifice and gets a share. The Kocch sacrifice to the sun, moon, and stars, to the G.o.ds of rivers, hills and woods, and every year, at harvest-home, they offer fruits and a fowl to deceased parents, though they believe not in a future state!

Their chief G.o.ds are Rishi and his wife Jago. After the rains the whole tribe make a grand sacrifice to these G.o.ds, and occasionally also, in cases of distress. There are no images. The G.o.ds get the blood of sacrifices; their votaries, the meat. Disputes are settled among themselves by juries of Elders, the women being excluded here, however despotic at home. If a man incurs a fine, he cannot pay with purse, he must with person, becoming a bondman, on food and raiment only, unless his wife can and will redeem him."