The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies Part 11

I must now request particular attention on the part of the reader to the terms which Mr. Hodgson applies to the physical conformation of these northern, or sub-Himalayan tribes; and still closer attention must be given to his nomenclature. He calls the stock in question _Tamulian_.

This connects it with the _South_ Indian. He contrasts it with the _Hindu_. By this he means the Brahminical elements of the Indian populations.

Let us then see what points he considers to be _Tamulian_.

1. There is "less height, less symmetry, more dumpiness and flesh."

2. There is "a somewhat lozenge contour (of face) caused by the large cheek-bones."

3. There is "less perpendicularity of features in the front--a larger proportion of face to head--a broader flatter face--a shorter wider nose, often clubbed at the end, and furnished with round nostrils."

4. There is a smaller eye, "less fully opened, and less evenly crossing the face by their line of aperture." In other words, there is the _oblique_ eye, so much considered in the Chinese physiognomy.

5. Lastly, there are larger ears, thicker lips, and less beard.

I submit that all these points are Mongolian; and this is what Mr.

Hodgson evidently thinks also.

The whole cla.s.s has pa.s.sed beyond the hunter state, if ever such existed. It has pa.s.sed beyond the pastoral or nomadic state also; if such existed. It is at present--and, perhaps, has always been--an agricultural state of society. On the other hand--the industrial state, the development represented by towns and commerce, has not been attained.

The whole stock is essentially agricultural. Likewise, the agriculture is peculiar. We may explain it by the term _erratic_. They "never cultivate the same field beyond the second year, or remain in the same village beyond the fourth to sixth year. After the lapse of four or five years they frequently return to their old fields and resume their cultivation, if in the interim the jungle has grown well, and they have not been antic.i.p.ated by others, for there is no pretence of appropriation other than possessory, and if, therefore, another party have preceded them, or, if the slow growth of the jungle give no sufficient promise of a good stratum of ashes for the land when cleared by fire, they move on to another site, new or old. If old, they resume the identical fields they tilled before, but never the old houses or site of the old village, that being deemed unlucky. In general, however, they prefer new land to old, and having still abundance of unbroken forest around them, they are in constant movement, more especially as, should they find a new spot prove unfertile, they decamp after the first harvest is got in."

_Arva in annos mutant et superest ager._ This pa.s.sage is explained by their customs.

In respect to their social const.i.tution, they dwell in small communities of from ten to forty houses; each of which community is under a _gra_ or head. This is Hindu--except that as the Hindu villages are both larger and more permanent, the functionaries, in addition to the _headman_, are more numerous. This is noted, because the difference in the two sorts of village government seems to be one of _degree_ rather than _kind_.

And now comes more in the way of cla.s.sification. The Bodo are Kachars, or the Kachars are Bodo. Their languages are the same, so are their G.o.ds, so is their name; since Kachar is a Hindu, and no native term--the native name (_i.e._, of the Kachars) being _Bodo_. On the other hand, the _Hindu_ name of the Bodo is Mech. Whoever looks to a map will find that the outline of the Bodo area is very deeply indented; implying either a great original irregularity of area, or great subsequent displacement.

Now follow the Garo. One fourth--fifteen out of sixty--of the words of Mr. Brown's Garo vocabulary is Bodo. The inference? That the Bodo and Garo are in the same category. What is this? Mr. Hodgson makes both Tamulian or Indian. In my own mind both are Burmese. But be this as it may, one fact is certain; _viz._, that a transition between the tongues of the Indian and the tongues of the Indo-Chinese peninsula exists, and that the lines of demarcation which divide them are less broad and trenchant than is generally supposed.

The Dhimal bring us to Sikkim. The dominant nation of Sikkim are--

_The Lepchas._--Their language also is monosyllabic; but it is Tibetan rather than Burmese. They are a Sikkim rather than a British Indian population.

When we have pa.s.sed the rajahship of Sikkim, we reach that of Nepal.

This, again, is independent. Such being the case, the line of frontier between the Hindu populations and the populations of the Bodo and Garo character lies beyond the pale of the British dependencies.

But in proceeding westward, we pa.s.s Nepal, and reach k.u.maon.

This is British, and, as it extends as far north as the Himalayas, it may contain monosyllabic languages, and tribes speaking them. It may present also instances of intermixture like those which we have already found in Behar--the line of demarcation being equally difficult and undefined. Difficult and undefined it really is--because, although it is an easy matter to take a portion of the Sirmor, Gurhwal, or k.u.maon population, and say, "this is Hindu because both language and creed make it so," it is by no means so easy to prove that the blood, pedigree, or descent is Hindu also. To repeat an ill.u.s.tration already in use--many such populations may be Hindu only as the Cornishmen are English.

Now the populations of the Tibetan stock to the west of Nepal, so little known in detail, must be ill.u.s.trated by means of our knowledge of the tribes of Nepal and Tibet most closely related to them--by those of Nepal on the east, and those of Tibet on the north.

For neither of these areas are there any very minute _data_. For the aborigines of _eastern_ and _central_ Nepal, we have plenty of information. They are tribes speaking monosyllabic languages, and tribes in different degrees of intercourse with the Hindus; being by name--1.

The Magars. 2. The Gurungs. 3. The Jariyas. 4. The Newars. 5. The Murmis. 6. The Kirata. 7. The Limbu; and 8. The Lepchas, common to the eastern boundary of Nepal, to the western part of Butan, and to Sikkim.

This, however, will not bring us far west enough for the k.u.maon frontier; indeed, for the forests of Nepal _west_ of the Great Valley, we have the notice of one family only--the Chepang. For this, as for so much more, we are indebted to Mr. Hodgson. It falls into three tribes; the Chepang proper, the Kusunda, and the Haju. Its language (known to us by a vocabulary) is monosyllabic; its physical conformation, that of the unmodified Indian.

So much for a.n.a.logy. In the way of direct information we simply know that the Pariahs, or outcasts, of k.u.maon[33] are called _Doms_. These have darker skins and curlier hair than the Hindus. Are these enslaved and partially amalgamated aborigines? Probably. Nay more; in the eastern part of the province, amidst the forests at the foot of the Himalayas, a community of about twenty families, pertinaciously adheres to the customs of their ancestors, resembles the _Doms_ in looks, and is called _Rawat_ or _Raji_. Though I have seen no specimen of their language, I have little doubt as to the _Rawat_ of k.u.maon being the equivalents to the Chepang of Nepal.

From Konawur we have three monosyllabic vocabularies, the Sumchu, the Theburskud, and the Milchan; but the exact amount to which the Tibetan and the Hindu populations indent each other along the western Himalayas is more than I can give.

Here end the monosyllabic tongues spoken in British India. But they fringe the Himalayas throughout, and occur in the country of Gholab Singh, as well as in the independent rajahships between the Sutlege and Cashmeer. My latest researches have carried them even further westward than Little Tibet; as far as the Kohistan, or mountain country, of Cabul--the Der, Lughmani, Tirhai, and other languages, known, wholly or chiefly, through the vocabularies of Lieutenant Leach, being essentially monosyllabic in structure, and definitely connected with the tongues of Tibet, and Nepal in respect to their vocables.

But this is episodical to the subject--a subject still requiring the notice of a very important phenomenon.

_Polyandria_[34] is a term in ethnology, even as it is in botany. Its meaning, however, is different. Etymologically, it denotes a form of _polygamy_. _Polygamy_, however, being restricted to that particular form of marriage which consists in a multiplicity of _wives_, _polyandria_ expresses the reverse, _viz._, the plurality of _husbands_.

At the first glance, the word _polyandria_ looks like a learned name for a common thing; and suggests the inquiry as to how it differs from simple promiscuity of intercourse; or, at least, how far the Tibetan wife differs from the fair frail one who was always constant to the 85th regiment. The answer is not easy. Still it is certain that some difference exists--if not in form, at least, in its effects. One of these, in certain countries where _polyandria_ prevails, is the law of succession to property. This follows the female line, rather than the male.

Again--the marriage of the widow with the surviving brother of her husband, is polyandria under another form.

What the exact polyandria of Tibet is, is uncertain. I am not prepared to deny its existence even in so extreme a form as that of _one woman being married to several husbands, all alive at once_. Still, I think it more likely that either the circle of community was limited to certain degrees of relationships, or else that the multiplied husbands were successive, rather than simultaneous. Still, the facts of the Tibetan _polyandria_ require further investigation.

One thing, only, is certain--_viz._, that as an ethnological criterion the practice is of no great value. Capable, as it has been shown to be, of modification in form, it is anything but limited to either Tibet, or the families allied to the Tibetan. It occurs in many parts of the world. It is a Malabar practice; where it is, probably, as truly Tibetan as in Tibet itself. But it is also Jewish, African, Siberian, and North American; so that nothing would more mislead us in the cla.s.sification of the varieties of man than to mistake it for a phenomenon _per se_, and allow it to separate allied, or to connect distinct populations.

_Necdum finitus Orestes._--There are several populations which, on fair grounds, have been believed to be in the same category with the Dhekra, _i.e._, which are Hindu in language and creed, though monosyllabic in blood. The Kudi, Batar, Kebrat, Pallah, Gangai, Maraha, Dhanak, Kichak, and Tharu, are oftener alluded to than described--though, doubtless, a better-informed investigator in such special matters than the present writer could find several definite details concerning them. They seem chiefly referable to Behar and north-eastern Bengal. The _Dhungers_--in the same cla.s.s--the husbandmen of South Behar, bring us down to the vicinity of the population next to be noticed; a population which is generally considered with reference to the nations, tribes, and families of _Southern_ rather than _Northern_ India.

The name of this family has already been mentioned. It is _Tamulian_; and the _Tamulian_ physiognomy has been described. It has been seen to extend as far north as the Himalayas. If so, the nations already enumerated have been Tamulian; and no new cla.s.s is now approaching. This may or may not be the case. Another change, however, is more undeniable.

This is that of language. It is no longer referable to the Chinese type; since separate monosyllables have, more or less perfectly, become _agglutinated_ into inflected forms, and the speech is as _poly_-syllabic as the other tongues of the world in general. As we approach the south this abandonment of the monosyllabic character increases, and from the _Tamul_ language spoken between Pulicat and Cape Comorin, the term _Tamulian_--applicable in a general ethnological sense--is derived. _Agglutinated_ (or _agglutinate_) is also a technical term. It means languages in the second stage of their development; when words originally separate, such as adverbs of time, prepositions, and personal p.r.o.nouns, have become permanently connected with the root, so as to form tenses, cases, and persons--the union of the two parts of an inflected word being still sufficiently recent and imperfect to leave their original separation and independence visible and manifest. When the incorporation or amalgamation, has become more complete; so complete, as in most cases to have obliterated all vestiges of an original independence; the _agglutinate_ character has departed, the second stage of development has been pa.s.sed, and the language is in the same cla.s.s with those of Greece, Rome, and Germany, rather than in that of the tongues in question, and of many others.

To return, however, to the _Tamulian_ family, meaning thereby a branch of the great Mongolian stock, speaking, _either now or formerly_, a language more or less allied to the Tamul of the Dekhan.

The first members of the cla.s.s, as we proceed southwards from Behar, are certain hill-tribes of the Rajmahali Mountains--the Rajmahali mountaineers. Their Mongolian physiognomy is unequivocal;--a Mongolian physiognomy but conjoined with a dark skin. They have "broad faces, small eyes, and flattish or rather turned-up noses. Their lips are thicker than those of the inhabitants of the plain."[35]

The flattened nose reminded the writer of the Negro, and the general character of the features of the Chinese or Malay; though it is added that the resemblance is in a great degree lost on closer inspection. At the same time it has been sufficiently recognized to have originated the hypothesis of a descent from one of those nations as a means of accounting for it.

With a slight tincture of Brahminic Hinduism, the Rajmahali mountaineers are Pagans. _Bedo_ is one of their G.o.ds; doubtless the _Potteang_ of the Kuki, and the _Batho_ of the Bodo. _Gosaik_, too, is either the name of a G.o.d, or a holy epithet; this, also, being a mythological term current amongst many other tribes of India. Other elements in their imperfectly-known mythology deserve notice. Their priesthood contains both _Demauns_ and _Dewa.s.sis_; the latter form being the Bodo _Deoshi_.

As the names are alike, so are the functions. The _Dewa.s.si_ is an oracular seer. When he vouchsafes to give answers, his inspiration takes the form of frenzy--but he neither hurts nor speaks to any one. He makes signs for a c.o.c.k, and for a hen's egg as well. The c.o.c.k's head he wrenches off, and sucks the bleeding neck. The egg he eats. After this he seeks the solitude of the wood or stream; and is fed by the deity.

Sometimes he has ridden a snake; sometimes put his hands in the mouth of a tiger with impunity. Trees too large to move, or too th.o.r.n.y to touch, he places on the roofs of houses. He sees Bedo Gosaik in visions; and, in the sacrifices therein enjoined, red paint, rice, and pigeons make a part. From the touch of women he abstains; so he does from the taste of flesh. Either would make his prophecies false.

There are also certain sacrifices that the _Maungy_ (chief?) of each village makes, and in which threads of red silk play a part.

One of their G.o.ds--an elemental one--is the G.o.d of rain, and the dangers of a drought are averted by praying to him. A ceremony called the _Satane_ determines the chief who takes the office of invoker.

A black stone, called _Ruxy_, is much of the same sort of fetish with these mountaineers as the Sij with the Bodo. The name, too, Ruxy _Nad_, suggests the Nat worship of the Silong, Kariens, and others.

The northern half of the Tamulian families are, like the Welsh, the Cornish, and the Bretons of France, members of the same ethnological group, but not in geographical contact with each other. Or, rather, they are, like the Celtic population of Wales and the Scottish Highlands, cut off from one another by a vast tract of intervening Anglo-Saxons.

Yet the time was when all was Celtic, from Cape Wrath to the Land's End; and when the original population extended, in its full integrity, over York and Nottingham, as well as over Merioneth and Argyleshire. And so it is with the populations in question. They stand apart from each other, like islands in an ocean; the intervening s.p.a.ces being filled up by Hindus. At the same time the isolation has been much overvalued, and, I imagine that when greater attention shall have been bestowed upon this important subject, connecting links which have hitherto been unnoticed will be detected.

The next locality where we find a population akin to the Rajmahali mountaineers, is the mountain system of Orissa. These are called by the Hindus _Kols_ (_Coolies_), _Khonds_ and _Surs_. Such, however, are no native designations--no more than the cla.s.sical term _Barbarian_, or the English word _Tartar_. The people themselves have no collective name; but, being divided into tribes, have a separate one for each.

I say that this branch of Tamulians is isolated, because I am not able to show its continuity; the range of hill-country which gives rise to the rivers between the Ganges and Mahanuddy being but imperfectly known.

In Orissa, the most northern of the hill-tribes are the Kol of Cuttack.

South of these come the Khonds best studied in the neighbourhood of Goomsoor. The following is a list of their G.o.ds, and as _n_ seems to stand for _d_, _Pennu_ is but another name for _Bedo_, and _Gossa Pennu_ for _Bedo Gosaik_:--

1. Bera _Pennu_, or the earth G.o.d.

2. Bella _Pennu_, the sun G.o.d, and Danzu _Pennu_, the moon G.o.d.

3. Sandhi _Pennu_, the G.o.d of limits.

4. Loha _Pennu_, the iron G.o.d, or G.o.d of arms.