Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.22

c48.s6.22

The information available, then, extends to the main Bōdo group of the Brahmaputra valley and the Gāro Hills; the Khāsi of the hills bearing that name; the Mikir, similarly identifiable to the east, the Nāgā and the Kuki-Lushēi, to the east and south, and to the small Shān tribes in the north-east. It is imperfect in the case of the Nāgā and the Cin, and also as regards the Himālayan tribes skirting the northern edge of the Brahmaputra valley. Of all the tribes comprised in these groups not more than two or three claim to have been always where they now are, and even in these cases it is probable that it is only the tradition of immigration from the north-east which has been lost. The different waves of migration which landed most of them in their present home took place at such long intervals and from such various sources that there are few general characteristics common to the Mongoloidic population in the aggregate. In regard to religion, most of them profess the belief in one deity above the rest, but as he is passively benevolent only, the tribal worship has to be directed chiefly to the propitiation of local agencies which are actively malignant. This object is attained by the sacrifice of some animal, varying according to the occasion from a fowl to a buffalo, with a pig as a good working intermediate offering. The tribes of the valley have in some cases a levitical clan of priests, but generally, the officiator at the ceremonies is a medicine-man, either elected or hereditary, belonging to the tribe or clan. Occasionally, especially in the eastern hills, the village headman presides. In many tribes there is a belief in a future state, mixed with the possibility of the return of ghosts of deceased members of the tribe. Those who have seen a good deal of the everyday life of these bodies testify to their sound notions of tribal honour and morality, though in regard to strangers their institutions are apt to prove repellent. Amongst all the Nāgā tribes, for instance, and some of the Kuki and Cin, the custom of collecting the heads of members of other communities is only kept down where the British Government has established itself firmly, the inclination towards this form of vanity being as strong as ever. Other tribes used habitually to raid their neighbours for girls and boys to be kept as household slaves, the offspring being formed into a separate community, as is the case in the west of India. The village and its constitution, too, presents many interesting points of difference amongst the wilder tribes, and whilst most of the latter are content with the rude jungle cultivation which prevails amongst the Kōl tribes, others have struck out a line of their own, and grow superior crops, in one case by means of an elaborate and almost unique system of irrigation. Some tribes are divided into exogamous clans, mostly totemistic, so far as is known at present; others live in village communities, each under its own ruler, independent of the rest. These, it may be assumed, are closely stockaded and in a good situation for defence. Others acknowledge the sway of a local Chieftain owning several such villages. The unregenerate tribesman of the valley, builds his house on a platform and enters it by a ladder; whilst on conversion, he builds on ground-level and goes in by a door. Omens, divination and witchcraft prevail throughout.