Oath and ordeal: The Zeliangrongs of North East India - Part 1 -

Budha Kamei *

A Scene from The Zeliangrongs :: Pix by Haobam Ronel (Director)

The present article attempts to delve into the traditional oath and ordeal systems of the Zeliangrong and other native peoples of North East India. In many cultures, techniques are employed to establish the truth of an accusation or the merit of a dispute, but usually the means used are shot through with the magico-religious notions prevalent among the people. Under this head two sets of usages demand attention, oaths and ordeals. But, some say that the method normally does revolve not so much about exact determination of guilt or innocent as about the prevention of internecine strife. The ordeal sounds strange to the modern ear, but it does continue even in the present courts under the form of a special oath, if the parties agree to it.

When human judgment proves not enough for deciding a dispute, divine guidance is usually sought through oaths and ordeal. In other words, sometimes the cases are vague and cannot be settled peacefully, then the Pei (village court) resorts to taking of oath and ordeal. This is called Sengding Dingmei in local dialect. Usually, oath and ordeal are directed by and under the direct supervision of the elders of Pei. Oath is a solemn statement or agreement, calling upon the deity to witness to the truth of what a person says or to what he does promise to do. An oath must be taken before an official authorized by law to administer.

Hargovind Joshi writes, "Where there was some serious offence, an accused party denying guilt would be allowed to offer as a defence an oath which staked the lives not only of himself, but of his family, of his kindred, of his clan, or even of his whole village on the truth of his assertion." Among the Zeliangrongs, an important form of oath is that taken on a meteoric stone (Ganrih Tao); "May I be stricken and killed by thunderbolt, if I lie." In the same way, oaths are taken by biting the tooth of tiger, "tiger shall kill the liar", and on the paddy in which case "the liar shall die before harvest not eating the new crops."

Oath is also taken by the name of Bambu, the village presiding deity "the village presiding deity shall not protect the liar." These oaths are locally recognized as Ganrih Tao Sinmei, Kamang Neih Kaimei, Napgum Nenmei and Bambukhou Sengding Dingmei respectively. If the guilt of a person cannot be proved in a satisfactory manner, then he is made to pass through the oaths. He has to swear and bite the tiger's tooth or the paddy in the presence of the Nampou(village chief) and elders of Pei. If he can do so in the village court (Peikai), to which great divine sanctity is attached, he is regarded as innocent.

But, if he cannot do so, his guilt is proved. It is believed that when this oath is taken falsely, the swearer will be killed by the thunderbolt or tiger in due course or he or she will die before harvest not eating the standing crops (paddy). According to the Kharams, a tiger though is a man eater does not destroy anyone unless and until he or she commits some serious offense. To take an oath, holding the tooth is something very difficult and he takes not an ordinary courage, but the natural belief in one self that he or she is blameless.

After the oath, both the individuals/parties will hand over the meteoric stone (Ganrih Tao) or tooth of tiger (Kamang Nei) or paddy (Napgum) etc. to the Peipou (owner of Pei) for keeping in Peikai (House of Pei) as witness until and unless the result is not known. Ursula Graham Bower says that any guilty person will be directly or indirectly affected by certain force within a stipulated time. As a consequence, most of the culprits caught fatal diseases or death due to faulty oath taken before men, so as to save one's skin and exonerated the crime.

Usually, a period of one year from the date of oath is fixed as a time limit, and only deaths occurring during within this period are considered to have a bearing upon the result. After the result is known, the family of the culprit will offer a cock to the village Pei for purification of the entire village called Sengphekmei. It is only six month among the Maram Nagas. Among the Kirgiz, they have the curious rule of not having the defendant take the oath but some other man of known probity who thereby assumes the criminal's sin.

Among the Nagas, oath is taken very seriously. Oaths are ranked, but may perhaps be of the utmost gravity. In the Pitt River Museum in Oxford, one Naga artifact is the tip of a Sema man's finger, cut off by an oath-taker to attest to the seriousness of his oath in an adultery case in which his statement as a witness was questioned.

Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting him to an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. Classically, the test is one of life or death and proof of innocence is survival. In the ordeal an appeal is made to god to act as judge and the outcome of the trial is considered to be the judgment of god. In other words, an ordeal is a means used to determine guilt or innocence by submitting the accused to dangers of painful lists believed to be under supernatural control.

Duilupmei, diving in water is the common and easiest way to find out the righteous person or wrong doer. Because one can find out easily the right or wrong on the moment of the swearing in ceremony. Five days ahead of the Duilupmei, Nampou in the presence of Pei elders will offer crush ginger (Gushuk) along with an egg (Charungbung) and pray to the water deity in the words: "as man could not decide please show us the righteous person."

For this ceremony the two disputants will swear before the gatherings including the village Chief (Nampou) and elders of Pei by saying: "If I am the wrong doer I could not dive for a long time and float up soon. And if I am the righteous person I shall remain in water as stone for a long period." By swearing so they will plunge into the deep water of a nearby river or pond simultaneously. And the gathering people will watch and confirm the person who comes out first from the water. It is believed that the righteous person will be empowered by water deity to remain inside the water for a longer period of time while the liar or the false claimer will be prevented by water deity from doing so. Thus, the audience will examine the judgment of oath taking water deity.

It is a universal belief that water acts as cleansing or purifying the dirty. According to the result of the ordeal, the guilty person will not only lose or forfeit the property waged at the challenge, but also he is liable to pay the punitive fine inflicted by the Pei. If the accused is found guilty, he will have to pay the compensation in the form of an animal (buffalo/cow/mithun) to the righteous person in addition to the property forfeited and the punitive fine imposed. The punitive fine and the property will go to the Pei. Moreover, he has to offer a cock to the Pei for consecration of the village.

The oath and the ordeal serve as a means of voluntary submission of the accused to law. It is obeyed mainly because of the fear of the anger of the Supreme Being. Within five days after the ordeal, a ritual called Shengphekmei is performed in which the Nampou or an elder of Pei (who officiates as priest) with Ten Mhaimit, a kind of thatching grass purifies the whole village; after that he throws away the same outside the western gate of the village (Neikei Rou Raang) saying: 'our village is not your home, go away, your home is in the direction of sun set' (Aram Kairong Sengbam Hamme Sengji Hamme Sengbamko Sengjiko Neijun Neiba Keihang Heipuibam Khutathe).

And it is followed by Napkao, calling of paddy at the Peikai, where the same priest offers a big and beautiful cock to Tingkao Ragwang for bountiful harvest. The victim is cooked and distributed a piece of chicken to every household of the village. The mother of the household offers the mixture of chicken (Loijan), cooked rice (Napmin) and salt (Tei), on the hearth stones where the goddess of rice locally called Charaipui is supposed to dwell. This is recognized as Napchanmei. Therefore, they always try to avoid this practice as much as possible in village court cases and they prefer to pay fine.

Among the Meiteis, the use of ordeal is rare, but it was frequent before the conversion to Hinduism. For instance, in a trial for high treason and conspiracy against the Raja Chourajit in 1804 C. E, one of the accused persons "pleaded himself not guilty, so he was examined before the public, when he put his hands on a burning fire saying that 'If I be guilty in any way, and if I have any connection with this conspiracy, my hands will be burnt, otherwise the fire will not injure even a hair of my hands.' To the surprise of every one present there they saw his hands were quite untouched by the fire, consequently the Maharajah was pleased to discharge him."

To be continued..