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Family is the basic structural unit of kinship system in Thadou society. Kinship relationship among the Thadou can be broadly divided into three categories: relationship between the parent and children, relationship between children of the same parent and relationship between husband and wife. Joint family, genealogical ties, ancestor worship, clan marriage are also prevalent among the Thadou.
The different kinship terms used in Thadou while addressing the superior or inferior are as follows: Hepi: the word Hepi is used to address the following persons:
(1) Grand mother (2) Mother’s brothers wife (3) Wife’s mother (4) Wife’s brother’s wife
Hepi is also used to address elderly woman even if he is not related to her in any of the above mentioned category.
Hepu: this is used to address the following persons: (1) Grand father (2) Mother’s brother (3) Mother’s brother’s son (4) Wife’s father (5) Wife’s brother (6) Wife's brother’s son.
It is also used to address elderly man even if he is not related to her in any of the above mentioned category.
Henu: This is used to address to the following persons: (1) Mother (2) Father’s brother’s wife or henu ngah (3) Mother’s brother’s wife (4) Wife’s mother (Hepi, in case of ego’s wife and mother belong to different clans) (5) Husband’s mother (Heni in case of the ego and mother in-law belong to different clans) (6) Husband’s father’s mother
Henungah: this is used to address the following persons: (1) Mother’s sister (2) Mother’s brother’s daughter (3) Wife’s sister (4) Wife’s brother’s daughter Hepangah: This is used to address the following persons:
(1) Father’s male cousin on father’s side or any other patrineal collacteral of the same generation. Heni. This is used to address the following persons: (1) Father’s sister (2) Husband’s mother
(3) Husband’s father’s mother (Henu is used in case the ego and ego’s husbands belong to the same clan.)
He-U: This is used to address the following person; (1) Elder brother (2) Elder sister (3) Father’s brother’s children (4) Mother’s sister’s children (5) Husband's elder brother’s wife (6) Elder sister’s husband (7) Elder brother’s wife (8) Wife’s sister’s husband
Naopa: This is used to address: (1) Younger brother Naonu: this is used to address (1) Younger sister Chapa: this is used to address (1) Son Chanu: This is used to address (1) Daughter Tunu/Tupa: This is used to address (1) Sister’s children (2) Father’s sister’s children
(3) Grandchild (son’s & daughter’s children) tu does not refer to sex. The feminine marker /nu/ and masculine marker /pa/ are suffix to indicate gender differences.
Zi/ji: This is used to address both the (1) Husband (2) Wife Again the 0000gender marker/ nu/ and /pa/ are suffix to indicate husband or wife. Golpa: This is used to address male friend Golnu: this is used to address female friend Kajolnu and kajolpa are also used for these terms as well. Nulam: This is used to address the following persons: (1) Wife’s sister’s husband (person who marry women of the same family or clan.
Pute: this is used to address the kin of wife. It is used by one’s children to address to the male son of the mother’s family.
Tute; this is used to address the daughter’s husband’s kin.
Kinship relation plays an important role in the Thadou society. These kinship terms play an important role when ceremony and rituals are performed in the Thadou society. One is obliged to invite all his kins when grand function is performed, without which the ceremony will be taken out.
Body part: The body parts in Thadou can be described in the following ways: Lu ‘head’ Sam ‘hear’ Mai ‘face Bil ‘ear’ Nah ‘noise’ Mit ‘eyes’ Kam ‘mouth’ Ha ‘teeth’ Lei ‘tongue’ Chalpang ‘forehead’ Ngong ‘neck’ Lhingkou ‘shoulder’ Op ‘chest’ Phatsam ‘back part of the body’ Ban ‘part of the hand above elbow’ Kiu ‘elbow’ Khut ‘hand’ Khutpang ‘palm’ Khutzung ‘finger’ Khupi ‘thumb’ Mikoh ‘pointing finger’ Khutlai ‘middle finger’ Masa ‘smallest fifth finger’ Oi ‘stomach’ Kong ‘back bone’ To ‘buttock’ Mal ‘thigh’ Khupbuh ‘knee’ Ngalpeng ‘part of the leg between knee Kengto ‘part of the leg’ Kengphang ‘palm of the leg’ Kengjung ‘fingers of the leg’ Colour terms: Thadou have five basic colour terms: Vom ‘black’ San ‘red’ Black ‘black’ Eng ‘green’ Buong ‘brown’
Other colours are described in combination with these basic colours or by comparing with the colour of animal plant, fruit etc. For example yellow is compared with the colour of haldi, indigo with monkey; purple is described by combining blue and green. Pronoun: In Thadou, pronoun can function as a substitute for noun and can function as a subject, object, topic and attributes, but can never fill a head position in noun phrase.
Pronouns are further divided into three types, viz., personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun, and interrogative pronoun.
Personal pronoun is further divided into oblique and base form. Oblique form occurs as a personal marker before the verb and the base form occurs as the nominative pronoun.
Singular dual plural Possessive 1st person exclusive ka ka ka 2nd person inclusive - i ei 3rd person a a a Base form: 1st person exclusive kei keini keiho 2nd person inclusive - eini eiho 3rd person ama amani amaho Demonstrative: There are two demonstrative pronouns in Thadou. Chihi/hichihi = ‘this’ Chekhu/hichikhu = ‘that’
The first person has three allomorph; Kei, Kin and ka. Kei is used when the whole sentence is used. But since Thadou allows the dropping of the subject, ka is used when the subject is dropped
Examples: kei kahung e I I come aux ‘I came’ Kahung e I came aux ‘I came’ The 2nd person has two allomorph nag and na
When the whole sentence is pronoun, nang is used in the subject position whereas na is reflected in the verb. The 3rd personal pronoun consists of ‘he or she’. The feminine and masculine marker/nu/ and /pa/ are suffixed to the 3rd personal pronoun when referring to male or female.
Demonstrative determiner: in Thadou, demonstrative determiners like hi and khu occur in complementary distribution with reference to time and space:
Example 1. lekha hi book det ‘this book’ 2. mengcha khu cat det ‘that cat’ 3. Possessive pronoun are formed by suffixation of genitive suffix a in the following illustrations: Kei a ‘mine’ Keini a ‘ours’ (two) eiho a ‘ours’ (we) Nang a ‘yours’ nang ni a your (two) nangho a ‘yours Ama a ‘his or hers’ amani a (theirs (two) amaho a ‘theirs’
Reflexives are derived by repeating respective pronominal marker like kei, for first person, nang, for second person and ama, for third person after the conjunctive leh ‘and’.
Kei leh kei ‘myself’ Nang leh nang ‘yourself’ Ama leh ama ‘himself/ herself’
Thadou politeness is also expressed by using kinship terms. In this case it is not used exactly to what is used in kinship term. But when a person is not related to him he uses it to show respect or politeness.
Hepi/hepu ‘for old person. Henu ‘for elderly person. (Female) Hepa ‘for elderly person. (male) He-u ‘for someone who is older. Boinu/ ‘for some younger to show concern and affection. (female) Boipu ‘for some younger to show concern and affection. (male)
Interrogative: In Thadou, interrogative do not change according to gender, they don’t serve as relatives. The interrogatives in Thadou are:
Ipi ‘what’ Hoiham ‘which’ Kui a ‘whose’ Huilai ‘where’ Ipizih’ ‘why’
Greeting and departure: In Thadou, greeting and departure are expressed both verbally and through gestures: Greeting is done through handshake and thereby saying henu, hepa, hepu, hepi or he-u etc. Greeting is always simple and one tends to say “when have you come?” or “where had you been?” etc. The terms for departure are
Mangpha ‘bye bye’ Jingkahpa ‘good morning’ Mangpha ‘used to say good night’ Damselin ‘leave in good health’
The staple food of the Thadou is rice. Apart from rice they also eat maize, wheat, potato, sweet carrot, local carrot (thingkokai), bal (taro), kolbu (maize), mai (pumpkin), ankam (mustard leaf), thing (ginger). The Thadou eat all kind of meats; ahsa (chicken), vohsa (pork)’ uisa (dog meat), nga (fish), tuilung (snail), zusa (squirrel), tang (crocodile), vasa (bird) ai (crab), jong (monkey), gulpi (python). They don’t eat tiger, leopard, and ‘frog’ Other items eaten by the Thadou includes; gotoi’ bamboo shoot’, malcha ‘chilly, Drinks are made from fermented rice. Different types of wine are made like vaiju ‘wine made by fermenting the husk of paddy along with powdered rice’ Juikha ‘distilled wine from rice’ anthom ‘ cooked fermented rice, juiting ‘liquid wine’ etc. The longer they are kept the more intoxicating it becomes. On the occasions of festival and ceremonies, large quantity of wine is consumed. The Thadou grow all kinds of vegetables such as peas, mustard leaves, cabbage, bean, etc, which forms part of the food system.
The Kuki male traditionally wore his hair long in the form of tucha (long haired rolled up in a bunch at the nape). His dress consisted of Boitong-Sangkhol (half-sleeves jacket) and pheichawm (short lungi) worn around the waist with one or more cloth to wrap around their shoulder. They also wear a cloth as a Pugri about a yard or just a little longer. The Kuki women traditionally wore their hair in two plaits braided around the head. They wore a Neh-San (red slip) underneath a ponve (which is wrapped round their waists and reaches a little over half-way down their thighs). Their ornaments includes Bilba (earing), Hah le Chao (bracelets and bangles), khi (necklace and on their neck), and occasionally Bilkam (atype of ring-shaped earring worn to stretch the earlobes). There are different designs of ponve such as Khamtang, pondum, thangnang, saipikhup and ponmangvom etc. In addition they wear a breast cloth, which is wrapped round the torso. Sometimes an additional wrapper is thrown over the shoulders thus completing their wardrobe. The Thadou man uses a king of turban called Dilkop wrapped around their head.
The Thadou-Kuki’s grow cotton and they spun cloth from this cotton. In the past they were self-dependent as the women folks were expert in weaving clothes including blankets. In the present day they buy thread of varied colour and weave cloths like Sapikhup, Thangnang, Pounpol, poundum, coat-shirt with short sleeves and collar etc. The younger generation due to the Western influence wear all sorts of western cloth like Jeans, leather jacket including suits etc. They are very stylish regarding their dress. Different types of knives are used and manufactured by the Thadou-Kuki like Chemjam (sword) tengcha (spear), Thalpi (arrow) etc. Thadou-Kukis are identified by different types of baskets viz, Longkai (basket like used for carrying vegetable), Bengkong (for carrying wood), and Tongkul (smaller basket for carrying utensils and other things).
Among the costumes of the Thadou, following are the most valuable ones:
(i) Thangnangpon: (black colour background, embroidered in both ends, white, and yellow cotton; a shawl meant for man).
(ii) Saipikhup: Colour same as (i) embroidered in different pattern, a shawl meant for man) (iii) Pondum: (plain dark blue with no border worn both by men and women) (iv) Ponmangvom: white background cloth with one black stripe at each border; a shawl for women) (v) Ponlhe (plain white shawl, bigger than man’s shawl, used as nightgown or winter shawl by both sexes) (vi) Del: (white thin lengthy cloth used as a ‘pugri’ meant for man)
(vii) Phoi (a very thick white cloth made of coarse thread; the woof wads are used as the weft and fasted with coarse thread in between, used as a family night gown).
(viii) Ponphoh (plain cloth made of coarse thread used as night gown) (ix) Nih (inner skirt for women with a mixture of black and red thread in length) (x) Ponve: ( lungi for women) (xi) Boitong sangkhol (shirt woven with white thread, sleeveless, no collar, meant for man)
Musical Instrument: Music plays an important role in the social and cultural life of the Thadou-Kuki and is indispensable in all the festivals. It is used during merry making, good time, bad time, marriages, burial ceremonies. The musical instruments used by Thadou-Kukis are:
Goshem: It is a combination of gourd (dry local type pumpkin) and bamboo tube. (Go=bamboo, Sem= blowing) Seven pieces of bamboo which indicates the seven devil brothers who were defeated when the latter tried to chase them out are used.
Pengkul: It is made from rare species of Bamboo called Gotha and mithun horn. In olden days this instrument was used as a bell or timetables for the villagers. It includes time to raise, time to go to field, and time to return back from field. Pengkul is also used to welcome important persons and chiefs. Today, it is used in festivals to preserve their traditions.
Theile (Flute): It is made up of a bamboo tube. It has six holes. It has a base hole, bigger than the rest, which is used for blowing, and the rest hole is used for controlling the sounds. The boys use it when their lover deserts them. They blow the melancholic tune near their lover’s house to show their despair towards their lovers.
Lhemlhei: It is the musical instrument of the Thadou. It is made up of a piece of brass plate. A stripe of brass is made hollowed near the basal end. A string made of thread is inserted in it. A smaller piece is curved out in the middle of the stripe in such a way that except the basal part, the other sides are free from attachment to the main part. Another hole is made at the end of the middle piece and the string is inserted in it. This allows the vibration movement of the inner piece when it is pulled through the string. The random movement of the vibrating piece is converted into desirable sound by the tongue and the mouth.
Khong(Drum): There are different types of Kong used by the Thadou, these include village khongpi, the chief’s khongpi, and Dormitory khongpi. The Khongpi (Drum) is made from the skin of wild goat, cow, mithun, etc. The manner in which it is made is simple, a big hollow is made from typical kind of tree called vongthing and the skin of the animal is wrapped closed with cane so that air cannot escape. A small piece of hole is made in the side of the drum. Khong is used to control the beatings of folk songs and is used while performing traditional dances. It is also used during great festivals like village lom. The chief’s drum is used for indicating dangers and outbreaks of war.
Dahpi (Gong): It is made of huge mass of brass. There are three types of brass, Dahpi (big Gong) dahgol (medium gong) and dahcha (small gong). It is used during marriage and divorce. It is also used on festivals, death, village meeting and on rituals. Selangdah (Guitar): it is a musical instrument played with six strings. This has been in use from generations. It is made of typical wood called Vongthing and is used mostly by youth to sing song and is even used in church.
CULTIVATION: The main method of cultivation practiced by the Thadou is Jhuming. After selecting a suitable site, the forest is cleared and the trees are cut. It is exposed to the sun for almost a month or two and then it is burnt. The land is ploughed with tucha. Once it is ready, the seed is sown in the month of April or May. In the month of October harvest is done. Another type of cultivation practiced is through terrain system. The field is irrigated through water. This is done during the month of May or June and the harvest is done in the month of November. The main crop cultivated by the Thadou-Kukis is rice which is mostly grown on the hill slope. But today most of the rice cultivation is done through irrigation. Apart from rice they also grow bal (taro), maize, vegetables like pumpkin, mustard leaf, chillies, cotton, ginger, beans etc. Apart from these the Kukis sell timber products like planks, post (khom), bar (jol) ting, cane, go (bamboo) Nowadays, with the change of time, the pattern technique of agriculture is partially different. Methods of cultivation, which was unknown to them, are now adopted. Animals like cows, buffalo are used to plough the field.
During off-season, men will be engaged in hunting, fishing, trapping, handicraft etc. In the past women were mainly engaged in waving clothes. Women who have skill in embroidery technique make cloths of different varieties.
The Thadous are famous for their skill of hunting and war. This is the most favourite hobby of the Thadou-Kuki. Hunting is done in different ways like Changvai in which a group along with dogs will go for hunting and in that the men with gun will hide themselves in the goal where the animals are to appear and other will shout hoh… hoh… to chase the animals. Similar to this is Sanghal in which they will set fire from below and the man with the gun will be on the top where the fire is supposed to go. They also use traps of different types to trap animals like tang, songpel tang etc.
To many primitive people, their world was full of play and counter play of music power, which supposedly influenced the shape and destiny of men. It is true that some groups of people being confronted with problems and having failed to grapple with them, tried to attribute the cause of these problems to some unknown and unseen forces. These mysterious powers are generally called super naturals. Nanda (1984:196) describes: Super natural refers to those powers, events and experience that are beyond ordinary human control and the laws of nature and outside reality as normally experienced. Every society has some set of beliefs and practices that enter in to the relationship of the humans and the super naturals. Tylor (1874:425-47) also gives the definition of ‘religion’ as the belief in super naturals. However, each society or a group of society has a traditional method of controlling these powers or to subordinate them through certain actions of occultism or esoteric practices, rites, rituals and ceremonies or celebrations in accompaniment with offerings, prayer or sacrifices so as to appease, placate or propitiate in order to enjoy a trouble-free life, having no anxiety or tension. This in course of time, gradually take the shape of an institutionalised system of beliefs, rituals, rules, procedures, etc. through cults or systematized celebrated rituals or manifestations. With the passage of time, these are handed down from generation to generation and are entrenched into the thickly woven fabric of culture. Durkheim (1915:10), therefore, propounded the concept of religion as having grown out of the social experience of man.
Probably, the Kuki group of people have adopted themselves with ecology and environment, and thereby fashioned their life style. Interactions with varied situations might have weathered or attuned the cultural core through their migrations from time immemorial. Series of rolling ridges with disproportionate undulations, forest clad mountains of variable intensities and gorging rivers might have influenced their cognitive system or cosmology. Seasonal variations and distinctive action patterns for survival strategies have perhaps contributed to their own understanding.
The transforming world with some concept of hitherto unseen forces, considered as super naturals, also could be discernible to them. Thus supernaturalism has variations and distinction categories.
It is the concept of Chung Pathein or the source of All Creations’ that is considered to be the highest benevolent God who lives in heaven or sky. Such concept of religion, according to Andrew Lang (1887:327), manifests in the belief in High Gods. He is believed to have created the universe and all the living beings. All people firmly believe that every thing concerned with prosperity, growth and strength in life is nothing but omniscient. Thus, he is all-powerful but does not want propitiation or worship or appeasement through sacrifices and offerings. He does good to all and sundry. The concept of Chung-Pathien is abstract and thus it has no anthropomorphic form or a permanent place or residence. The nomenclature of Chung-Pathien signifies an honorific term addressing a male person with respect and veneration. Dichotomy prevails while conceptualising Chung-Pathien, viz, the benevolent with also evil or bad power having the forces of destruction, and all other forms of evil activities. He is supposed to live in the underworld and is called Noimangpa. He is believed to have been sent by Chung-Pathien from the heaven or the sky to dwell at Kholmun, where all living being are found.
Therefore, the world of super naturals reigns supreme among the Kukis, while the other entities are related to evil and are susceptible of being appeased or placated through performance of ‘Phuisap’: the priest called ‘Thiempu’, who officiates the ceremony among the Kukis. Some evil spirits are:
1. GAMHOISE: devil of the jungle and ‘Inmunse’ is devil of the house, meaning thereby ‘a cursed place’ by a combination of the two words. Souls of the persons meeting unnatural death become this type of dangerous spirits. They are supposed to create trouble to the people according to their own sweet will, at the place where such unnatural deaths occur. In other words, the place is haunted by the soul of the person.
2. JOUMI: is a dangerous male spirit. It frightens people and people may die out of shock and fear. It is active during night and its form is said to vary; though mostly it is seen very tall. It is said that it usually stands at the same height of any tree nearby which it happens to appear. The ‘JOUMI’ is reportedly very fond of chicken. It kills cocks and hen by throttling the neck and sucking its blood.
3. KULSAMNU: is considered to be a female spirit, which is in-charge of keeping the souls of the individuals. After the death of a person it has to take away the soul and keep the same in a permanent resting place, known as ‘Van’.
4. CHOMNU: is another female spirit, but it rarely causes trouble to mankind. It is considered to be a harmless spirit.
5. GAMLAHLEN: is another male spirit who causes disease or sickness to the people. It resides in the jungle and to appease it, effigy of a buffalo made of clay is offered along with ‘Zu’ and cock, un-boiled rice.
6. GAMKAO: is an evil spirit of a particular place of a jungle which can cause serious illness to person who meets such spirit.
7. KAOMEI: is an evil spirit which flies at night like a fire-fly in a much bigger volume of fire-ball.
8. KAOSIE: is a greedy spirit which can enter in a person and convert such person into different personality, changing the voice, the behaviour and strength. Such spirit can be released only when it is appeased with what it wants.
Herskovits (1955: 223) observed: The ways in which men seek to bring themselves into harmony with the powers of the universe are many. They may be intensely personal, or require participation by the entire group. They may be public or private. They may involve highly keyed emotional improvisation, or demand precision of movement, set by an ancient tradition. They may call for the recitation of elaborate formulas, or may be wordless. They utilize special objects, carefully made and of intricate form or they may be restricted to non-material expression in word or song or dance. Any of these, moreover, may be found alone or in combination with others. And any of them, or all, may be used to petition or compel action by powers whose resources transcend those of the human being who invokes them. Prayer is one of the principal categories of worship. It may be defined as the use of words to bring about the favourable intervention of powers of the universe in the affairs of men. It can vary from casual address to formalized plea, and may be specific or general in its reference. Rituals or ceremonies are the pivots round which some thoughts about supernatural rotate. Myths, Lore or some incantations are there and these are woven esoteric words which express gratitude and promises for future, vis-à-vis prayer for protection, help and security against rainy days. It is chanted in their own broken doggerel language, which is known as ‘Phuisam’ meaning thereby utterances of words of magic called ‘Doithu’. These are impregnated with magical potentialities and are believed to have tremendous impact on the spirit. The sacred complex (Vidyarthi: 1962) as found elsewhere is not pronounced in the life of the Kukis, while dealing with the super naturals. The idea of a sanctuary is absent among them. As one finds elsewhere, certain specific site, either fixed traditionally or finalized by the people, is conspicuous by their absence. It is done or finalized by the priest, ‘Thiempu’; His post is hereditary and practically he has to hold his position by his capabilities and social image. Then there are elaborate rituals, sometimes with offerings and sacrifices, as there is no anthropomorphic form of the deity and only one God is present. Their religion therefore, is not based on pantheon but on monotheism, though some evil spirits are named which have specific activities, and manifestations. The Thiempu has to do everything through Oneirology, which he gets during night while sleeping. Through dreams and visions, he gets all directions as to what he should do, when and with what materials or ingredients, what incantations are to be used are also indicated as his guidelines by the spirit who appears in dream to the priest. Theoretically, the priest is the only professional specialist in the trade in the Kuki society in the interpretation of dreams, visions, stars, omen etc. He is the individual who has to maintain communion in the form of sorcery or magic with the supernatural elements and the human beings. And some in the profession has acquired so much of knowledge that they can even counter any spell cast by evil witchcraft. Naturally, therefore, his position in the society is highly esteemed as the ‘Thiempu’ who is the priest of whatever religious form of belief they attribute. Hills, forest and rivers are conceived as having some potentialities and the people have to interact with them all the time for their existence and perpetuations. The bounty of nature is reflected through these natural phenomena. As such, the veneration and respect for these are unquestionable. Therefore, some formalities are maintained by the priest on the following causes: In the case of forest or sylvan spirit, locally called Gamlah vei, pig is sacrificed as an important item. Besides pig, a little Kolbu- Kanpoh (Pop-corn), Chang-Kanpoh (Pop-rice) and Nakena ( a kind of leaf, the tree of which is called ‘Nake’. One side of the leaf is white, while the other is green). The Phelex, which is made of thin bamboo split, is normally used in building construction for fixing up the joints. This is also called Nang which is coloured with white, black and red colors. It is quadrangular in shape. On top of it, another ‘Nang’, thinned further, constitutes the decorative part. Generally, all these ingredients are placed on a small cane-built platform which is normally used as a contraption for dining table, usually about six inches above the ground. It is known as Ankong Lui Na. This is called Maicham-the holy platform. All the above ingredients are spread over the Maicham on which blood of the sacrificed animal is sprinkled. The meat of the sacrificed animal is also placed on it in the following manner: a)A small portion of the meat taken from the end of the mouth, b). Toes (the tips), c)Uppermost part of the ears, and d)End of the tail. But, in the case of ceremonies associated with water-spirit living in the lake, stream or brook, known as Tui Thilha, a goat is sacrificed instead of a pig. All the evil spirits require different kinds of animal as sacrifices. These are village rituals and these are performed during the spread of epidemic disease, like cholera and other which spread very fast and are contagious in nature. Excepting these festivities and elaborate rituals, there are familial worships or rituals, which are done as per vows. It has been stated earlier that there is no specific date or place for performing the rituals associated with a particular spirit and meticulous directions are received by the ‘Thiempu’ in dreams. As is the prime duty of a physician in any society, amongst the Kukis also it is the responsibility of the priest call ‘Thiempu’ to find out causation (Herskovite, 1955-221). Causation of disease and the nature of divination are to counter the evil spirit. Calamities/diseases/misfortunes are considered to be the handiwork of some evil spirits. The Kukis have a clear idea of the seasonal variations and the whole year is grouped into 12 months, which have great influence in the propitiation and rituals.
It is very clear from the above description that the monotheist Kukis, in olden days, were happy with one God-the All Creator- who had no anthromorphic form to appear before the people, demanding any special worship or offerings. But a few minor mischievous spirits have already occupied their vast supernatural pantheon and it is they, in many cases, who demand rituals along with other formalities, like offerings and sacrifices. The colourful display of the rituals, through ceremonies, has cut across the familial cult. Other people for such specific purposes have to reinforce the group solidarity through bindings and obligations. It is quiet discernable that the less affluence, leisure and free time of the people and their movement from one place to another, have practically set the people with limited world view and thus they have capsulated their group identities. So, they have very minimal scope for proliferation. Rather Chieftainship which compelled the group to be ruled by one and only spiritual head, the ‘Thiempu’ or the priest, had to brave all supernatural and spiritual confrontations through offerings, sacrifices and ceremonies. Their nature of offerings is less, items of worship are small and esoteric charms or incantations are not prolific to make every thing more colourful, rhythmic and vibrant. However, procedures to overcome diseases and sickness, through magic, divination and with occult practices are still in vogue and all these clouded them and have dazzled with rituals and ceremonies. But, slowly and inevitably, the force of conversion to Christianity proselytized the society drastically, though some have retained it through their rituals and ceremonies.
Copyright CIIL-India Mysore