Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.28

c48.s6.28

§ 97. (f) **The Kuki tribes** (200,200). Almost the same remark applies to these, with the exception of the Maṇipuri and Luṣēi. In the Kacār hills are found some called the "Old Kuki" (67,200), who were driven north by others of the same race, who, in turn, were being pressed hardly by the Luṣēi. The principal tribes of the former are the Rāngkōl and the Bētē. They are subdivided into eight social grades, like castes, with the all-important difference that they intermarry with each other and with other tribes. The existence of exogamous clans is probable, but the nomenclature obtained at the Census throws no light upon this point. The Rāngkōl, and probably the other tribes, worship one chief and several minor deities, and select one of their own clan to serve as priest. In Kacār they are beginning to mould their diet upon Brāhmanic lines but not so as to interfere materially with their ancestral habits. They differ from the other Kuki in having no Chief, but they elect a headman for each village to manage its affairs. The population of Maṇipur is divided into four tribes, the Khumāl, the Luyang, the Ningthauja or Meithēi, and the Mayarang, of which the Meithēi (69,400) seems to have absorbed the others,