A Brief Profile Of The Chothe Tribe
- Part 3 -

Shyleyn *

Chothe Dance at the Festival of Tribal Dance in March 2012 :: Pix - Phurailatpam Banti

BELIEFS & RELIGION:

Traditional festivals were generally celebrated to appease their deities like LUNGCHUNGPA, and other spirits. They also worshipped deity LAMTAIBA, believed to be the spirit of ancient Chothe elders called ANGTE and ANGSHUH who had ascended to the heavens alive. Ancient Chothes also believed in the existence of 'god of above' and 'god of below'. They also believed about an aged man turning into stone and also about two elders disappearing, and whom they feared and sometimes worshipped. The ancient Chothes believed that there are people called DOPSANTE living underneath the earth. Just before the advent of Christianity in their midst, they had also followed SANAMAHI, the indigenous religion of the Meiteis. [TC Das, in his book, The Purums, noted that the Chothes believed that, the lightning is the belt of 'God'].

The Chothes had, at one time, feared to eat before the statue of the deity ROKUNGPU. If anyone ate near this deity without offering it a portion of what was being eaten, the invisible spirit of this deity tickeled the man even resulting to death. Therefore, they offered a bit of what they ate to his deity before continuing eating. All of the Chothes are now Christians.

COMMUNAL GRAVEYARD: Every Chothe village has a common graveyard (HLAAN OR HLAANKUNG) usually located at the interior areas of the village. The graveyard is divided into portions, one for every major clan and it sub-sibs to bury their deaths. The boundary of each portion or area is mutually demarcated. If a married woman dies, she is buried in the area of the graveyard reserved for her husband's clan. Nothing sort of wooden coffin were used in the olden days. The corpse was laid upon chopped off bamboos and covered with clothes, flowers and his favorite belongings. He was tied to the bamboo and carried by his nephews or the clansmen related as nephews with him.

No permanent object in memory of the dead is allowed to be built in the graveyard. The same spot may be used for burials repeatedly. During ancient days, the village priest erected pillars called Palthong-thing between the graveyard and the habited areas of the village to mark the boundary of the dead and the living. According to the Chothe customs, it is mandatory to carry a corpse with his head at the front; it is also a trend to let the corpse's head turn towards the westward direction when buried.

DANCES: Dances were a regular feature in all the celebrations. Some of the traditional dance forms of the Chothes are
Horang Laam,
Thangko Laam,
Alaam-tulshuk,
Sortui-chawm Laam,
Siki Laam,
Hungchong Laam,
Chamtlun Laam,
Huchamplak Laam, and
Foh (Aarshul) Laam etc.

The word 'LAAM' means dance. The last three are War dances.

Of all the dances, Huchamplak was the most difficult, since it involves unlimited agility and skill. Huchamplak means 'lightning'.

CLOTHES: In the festivals, the Chothes would dress themselves up in their traditional attires.

Their traditional shawls are
AVA-AAMPI,
PULUP-LAMHOR,
UIKECHUNG,
RANGAM-BUSUN,
KUTTRING-AAM,
PURUM-PAL,
LANGOU-AAM,
DONGTHO-AAM,
ACHOI-AAM,
AAM-TLANG,
CHOUCHUN-AAM,
THALRU-AAM,
LEIRUM-AAM, and
AIPHUL-PAAR.

Of these clothes, Ava-Aampi was normally reserved for the village elders and the Pulup-Lamhor for the youths.

WOMEN'S LOWER GARMENTS: Popular lower garments (sarong) of the Chothe women are
IKUK- PUNBIL,
SANDOLIK,
AKOL-PUNBIL,
SANDOH-ROL,
AHO-PUNSAN,
KHENTRA, and
SIPER-SIBUP.

'Punbil', means 'woman's lower garment' (sarong).

CHOTHE MARRIAGE TRADITION: In this modern world, the Chothe traditional system pertaining to marriage is more popular as 'PURUM TYPE OF MARRIAGE'. The peculiar manner of the Chothes in naming most of their villagers by using the word 'PURUM' as a prefix could have been the obvious reason behind such error. Those were the days when illiteracy and backwardness caused a communication gap between the scholars and the locals. Another point is we are aware of the fact that, anthropologists and social scientists have this odd habit of believing that a village's name is the name of the tribe they researched upon.

Apart from us, there are many tribes who were mistakenly more popular in the name of their villages. This scholarly error, and very unintentional, was corrected by scholars of Calcutta (now Kolkota) led by Bimal Kumar Das Gupta. A book clarifying the differences between the terms PURUM and CHOTHE, and titled THE PURUM CHOTE REVISITED, was eventually published. In the seventies, scholars recorded about the non-existence of the Purums, anymore. In other words, the Purums were found to have just 'vanished'. This discovery provoked many scholars and writers to come all the way to Manipur. They found out that, the Purums had not actually disappeared but were in fact the CHOTHES while at the same time, denouncing the terminology "Purum".

The aforementioned book was the result of those happenings. Anyone claiming the existence of the Purum tribe would only be a fraud. Unfortunately, the government of Manipur still listed Purum as a recognized tribe in its official records. There is a so-called Purum tribe in the list of all the recognized tribes of Manipur maintained by the Directorate of Development of Tribals and Backward Classes (more popular as Tribal Welfare), Government of Manipur. The population of each tribe is given in the list too. Among them, the population of the 'PURUM' is NIL, i.e. no population at all. The inefficiency and ignorance of the government is amazing!

Using logical arguments, how can a tribe with no population, be still listed in the official notice board? Having no population means, that tribe has either extinct or amalgamated under a different name. Like stated in the previous paragraph, scholars had discovered that the Purums are actually CHOTHES. Purum is a prefix used in a village's name. There are also villages called Purum Likli, and Purum Khullen in Senapati district of Manipur. The inhabitants of these villages belong to the Kom tribal community, and nothing more. I point out these facts, because some people of Manipur are presently in the belief that, the so-called Purum tribe still exists.

Pilfering various schemes in the name of this non-existent tribe by some officials can never be ruled out. Else, how would you explain this 'error'? A radio program aired by All India Radio, Imphal in 2013 discussed with some tribal individuals and claimed that the Purum people still exists. It is a miracle that the people who were listed as non-existent all these through these decades are found existing. AIR Imphal deserves an award. Nevertheless, the Purum (Chothe) type of marriage is so peculiar and controversial that, there are only a few instances where a Chothe couple would have to be 'legally' married.

Even Churches in Chothe villages refuse to administer 'Holy Matrimonial' ceremony if the couples are to marry by violating these marriage traditions. Therefore, elopement by lovers is common and instances of Holy Marriage are a rarity. However, the Church has no authority over such issues.

CHOTHE SYSTEM OF MARRIAGE: A man from a Chothe clan cannot just marry another Chothe woman, as he wanted. In ancient days, our ways of marriage would have been zealously adhered to. At one time, a PARPA man was allowed to marry a THAO woman. Yet, since centuries back, it was the other way around. Now, men from Thao clans marry the women of Parpa clan. There are bride-givers, and bride-takers; breaking the law and manipulating or otherwise, was a taboo. In the olden days, a person breaking this sacred tradition was exiled from the village.

He or She was even sometimes speared to death. The exact details about the dresses, trends, and rituals concerning the marriage process during the ancient days are all but forgotten. However, some folk songs concerning marriage in the past centuries still survive in oral forms. Incidentally, people of this modern age are freely violating these sacred traditions of marriage. Despite all that, the archaic laws remain the same as they were. Eloping by lovers is discouraged in Chothe society. A Chothe man can choose a bride from the bride giving clans. A man from the bride giving clan cannot legally marry a woman from the bride taking clan.

BRIDE-TAKING CLANS----BRIDE GIVING CLANS MAREEM----THAO and all its sub-sibs.
KHIYAANG and all its sub-sibs.
THAO----PARPA, MAKAN and all its sub-sibs
PARPA-RAKUNG----MAREEM and all its sub-sibs,
RANGSHAI and its sub-sib, and
KHIYAANG-INPI MAKAN----PARPA, KHIYAANG and all its sub-sibs.
MAREEM and all its sub-sibs.
KHIYAANG----THAO and all its sub-sibs,
PARPA (its sub-sib KHIYAANG-INPI cannot marry a PARPA woman).
YUHLUNG---THAO and all its sub-sibs.
RAANGSHAI----KHIYAANG and all its sub-sibs.

When a man likes a woman from a bride-giving clan to be his wife, his family elders would carry with them Jars of Rice beer, traditional clothes, eatables, and sometimes animals to the woman's elders. They would ask for the woman's hand. Eventually, the man and woman would be engaged to one another. According to traditions, the man would stay in the woman's residence for three years. There would be no form of interaction between the couple during this time. In fact, the man had to stay for doing odd jobs for the woman's family like grazing the cattle, help plough fields, construct or repair the house/sheds etc. He slept outside the house at a corner of the door (THONGKING). He ate at a corner of the woman's residence (LUCHUNG THONGKI). This system is called NUMEI-LO TRUN.

Even after these three years, if the woman's family is not impressed with the works of the groom-to-be, they still have the right to cancel the marriage between the two. For some period, this tradition of working for a bride was stopped. Instead, the man would offer the woman's family large numbers of cattle, swine, and paddy fields among others.

The RAANGSHAI clansmen were said to have introduced this new trend. The Raangshai clans were very influential at that time. A new system called Mankat was also introduced during that time. Under this MANKAT system, when a man marries a woman, it was compulsory for the man or the man's family to give fees that used to include spears, clothes, paddies, and others as mandated by the elders of the woman's family. The family of the woman is the recipient of such fees. Soon, the gap between the rich and poor became wider. The poor could hardly find a bride under the new marriage law. People composed folk songs about the ills of this tradition too.

A song goes like this, 'Rangshai chu-o shiel thul dawn-e, Ove Honril Namei man-ang Honril man-e, kaloh senu-oh Ove sarah hujing-o, traichangnu-o Rangsai chu o, sum thul dawn-e, Ove Honril man rang, Honril man-e, Kalo senu-oh Ove sarah hujing-o, traichangnu-o. (The song speaks about the wealth owned by the Raangshai clans, and of the plight of the poor who could not find a bride). However, when the Chothe settled at Ngente kingdom, they discarded this MANKAT law. From there, they again introduced the earlier NUMEI LO TRUN tradition in their society. (NB: The present generation of the 21st century has re-introduced the MANKAT system with some modifications. The NUMEI-LO TRUN is not, understandably, appropriate for the present world). Their marriage customs also say that, a man cannot marry a woman just because she belongs to a bride-giving clan.

The woman should be in such a position that she can address the man as 'Uba. "UBA" means brother-in-law. There are various types of addressing one another in the Chothe tribe, known as AKOK-LAM. Fines are levied when this formal way of addressing one another is violated. A man cannot just marry the daughter of his mother's brother, if his' or the girl's parents had married violating the traditions of their marriage system. Generational gaps cause such situation that, sometimes the woman of his age and belonging to the bride-giving clan happens to be related to the man as a 'daughter-on-law'. That is, the woman actually belongs to the generation of his 'sons'.

There are even cases when a woman much younger to the man from the bride-taking clan is related as an 'aunt' to the man. That is, the young woman actually belongs to the generation of the man's mother. However, the marriage between such couple is legitimate. The Church may or may not 'sanctify' such type of marriages. The man from the bride-taking clan has to offer cattle and other mandated things (tradition of formal way of addressing one another called AKOKLAM LALNA) to the woman's clan elders and legitimately marry the woman.

The family of the bride is the recipient of such fines. Marrying by not following the traditional norms also affect the formal traditions of addressing one another. If a man marries a woman of his own age, but related to him as a daughter in law, the woman has to address him as Uba. Consequently, the man who was earlier addressed to as Aarang (father in law) or such would now be addressed in a different form.

To be continued....