The Zeliangrong lifecycle: Rites and ceremonies
- Part 1 -

Budha Kamei *

Gaan-Ngai 2012 celebrations - the biggest festival of Zeliangrong :: Pix by Jinendra Maibam

There are no people without religion. The Zeliangrong people of North East India, too, follow a profound indigenous religion known as Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak. Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak is basically based on the fundamental belief of Tingkao Ragwang, the Supreme God. Tingkao Ragwang literally means the Heavenly God, or God of the sky or Lord of the Universe. R. Brown has made a reference that the Zeliangrong people worship a Supreme Being who is the creator of all things. Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak means the religion of Tingkao Ragwang. This profound religious tradition is preserved and practiced through oral traditions by the ancient Zeliangrong community through the ages. The population of Tingkao Ragwang Chapriak in the three States of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland is about 29,000 souls.

The present article attempts to examine the various religious rites and ceremonies by which Zeliangrong society marks the physiological phases of human life and all its crises and transitions. These rites and ceremonies are mainly concerned with securing the active help of the God and passive for aberrant of the malignant spirits, so as to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the individual and his family at the different turning points in his life cycle. They are also public and collective occasions which emphasize the relations of mutual harmony and solidarity between the individual and society and the dependence of the former on the latter.

The turning points in the life cycle of an individual Zeliangrong are the critical transitions of birth, marriage and death. These rites of passage, as Van Gennep called them, are practiced universally through their number and stages of life selected vary from society to society. They consecrate the crises and marginal situations in individual and collective life. The gravity of these events is also marked by a whole repertoire of idea regarding pollution and purification. Van Gennep argued that alterations status or movements into new statues, such as in pregnancy, childbirth, at initiation, betrothals, marriage and funerals, disturb both the life of the individual and that of the society in which he lives. Danger lies in transitional states because transition is indefinable, it is neither one state to another is himself in danger and emanates danger to other. The purpose of the rites of passage is to reduce the harmful effect of these disturbances.

Pregnancy begins with conception. There are different ideas and beliefs, regarding sexual intercourse and pregnancy in different parts of the world. The phenomenon of conception, pregnancy and delivery are known rarely in a biological sense. Throughout the world, the health behaviour of people is instructed by folk or lay definitions of the body form and its acts. Among the Zeliangrongs, the role of man and woman in the formation of a child is completely known. They are aware of the fact that without cohabitation childbirth is impossible. The exact duration is also known to them. According to local myth, human being is created by another God, named Dampapui by the orders of Tingkao Ragwang. Dampapui took a long time in creating the human being [human child in the womb of the mother] but it was lifeless. Ultimately, Tingkao Ragwang gave life only then the child began to move. Both the father and mother are possessed absolutely responsible for giving birth however Tingkao Ragwang is believed to be the sole and final authority. The native calculation of twelve months was also closely conjoined with the philosophic assertion of the creation of human body from the spermatic fluid in the father to the formation of embryo in the mother, the entering of the soul called Buhmang in the foetus and the phases of the development of the child in the womb of the mother. The months during which the spermatic fluid is in the father are Ginkibw [April-May]; and Maliangbw [May-June]; and the remaining ten months, the mother carries the fluid, which is converted into a baby in her womb till the delivery or birth are Tonngaibw [June-July]; Duilongbw [July-August]; Pukphabw [August-September]; Lautybw [September-October]; Baanchatbw [October-Nobember]; Matuibw [November-December]; Gaanbw [December-January]; Chagabw [January-February]; Nahnubw [February-March]; and Baanraubw [March-April].The planting of the plant of the father in the womb of the mother is just like ploughing, sowing and harvesting of rice because rice cultivation is expedited by seasonal rain or monsoon.

Pregnancy is a transitional period and it is splited into phases according to whatever months are thought important normally the third, seventh, eight and ninth. Fear of the God, the wish to turn away their anger, and the desire to secure their favour and help are forever present in the mind of the people. The malignant spirits [Rasi-Rarou] are not worshipped but they are propitiated not to give trouble to man. It is believed that there is a water deity called Dui Rah who generally dwells in the pond or river or stream far from the habitation of men. At the seventh or eight month of pregnancy, they propitiate to the water deity on behalf of a pregnant by offering sacrifice not to give trouble during labour. Offerings are made by the Roman women to the Nymph, water spirits during pregnancy in order to get a painless delivery. Another rite called Khumkara is observed for the safety and well being of the expected mother and it is done at the eight or ninth month of pregnancy. The Zeliangrong people believe that there is a Supreme God called Tingkao Ragwang who is the creator of the universe, nature, gods, men and animals. And at the ninth month, Pumkanmei ceremony [a ritual worship of Tingkao Ragwang] is observed for safety and protection of both the mother and child.

Like many other communities of the world, they, too, have a strong belief that if the ancestors [Kairao] are pleased, the family or lineage will get safety, well being, a long line of generation and prosperity. In this faith, at the ninth month of pregnancy, a ritual worship of Kairao-Kalumei is performed for the expected baby to be born as a normal one without any defect or disfigured. This ritual worship is observed only in case of first born baby. The rites of the above are concluded by libation of holy wine to Tingkao Ragwang, Shong, presiding deity of the village and Kairao, ancestors of the family. According to Van Gennep, the rites that are observing during pregnancy of a woman for alarm of deformed, misfortune and hazard of the expectant baby and mother, which are at the same time are dynamic, contagious, direct and negative.

The earliest stage of parenthood is a stage of apprehension, interfused with longing and anticipation. No doubt, it is a union of joy and waiting. It is eagerness and longing to have the first arrival and often the first parenthood accompanies total change in the man. He becomes master and responsible. His conduct changes with life and duties, likewise the woman, changes to motherly and womanly. It is like purification for both of them.

Birth is always believed to be an important social event; round which gather many traditional practices and often associated with religion. The Zeliangrong women normally bear children without great difficulty and pain. When the pregnant woman starts to feel labour pain; arrangements for birth are made as quickly as possible. And a local mid wife or in the absence of mid wife, an old woman attends her to accomplish the process of birth. If the labour pain goes on for a long time without any result or if there seems to be trouble while delivering the child, Changkham Gaatmei ritual is performed by sacrificing a small fowl and a little blood of the victim is poured on the forehead of the expectant mother to drive off the evil forces. There is a belief that a popular charm or incantation against difficult labour is the opening of all doors and cupboards, the untying of all knots, the loosening of garments.

All the perfect arrangements which they made before the birth are designed to ensure for the safety of the baby and mother. But the foremost aim is to save the mother from the awful contingency of death because birth is a question of life and death of a woman. From this point of view, therefore the apprehensive care which surrounds the birth chamber may be assumed to be charged with religious significance. Dampapui, a female deity is believed to be as an originator of human being. She is indeed, the ancestress of the human-being. The child after maturing ten months in the womb of the mother is sent off by Dampapui who was unwilling to move out for fear of human-being. Thus, the mother delivers to the child. This is called Nah Ponmei. After birth, the young baby is developed, severed from the mother's body and becomes an independent individual. And the woman also has changed to a socially responsible mother. The transition period of a woman continues for five days and after five days, she is returned to the society with a new status.

Soon after birth of a child, a ritual called Buh Kaomei, calling of the soul is observed by pronouncing: "Please come on the soul of long life, eternal soul of Tuk Tarou, come on," thus repeats thrice. The main objective of this ritual is for longevity of life of the child. This is followed by tying the umbilical cord at the suitable place with a black thread called Khim. Then, the priestess cuts the cord with a Nuhbang, a bamboo blade which symbolizes the separation of the child from its mother. This is locally called Karaleng Lommei. Usually, bamboo scale is employed by the Zeliangrong for the purpose of cutting the umbilical cord but it is doubtful regarding the origin of this culture. It may be stated that this material aspect of culture is associated with ecological factor because 'Mongoloid culture' is invariably directed as bamboo culture since the whole of south Asia is prosperous in bamboo. Most of the Naga tribes have such practices. The mother lays a few drops of her breast milk on the wound of the navel to dry it quickly. The ritual of an individual starts from the cutting of the umbilical cord and it disconnects the child from his mother and from the land of the dead. Because, the umbilical cord that attached to the mother is cut, the child is no longer depending on his mother and independent life begins.

On the very day of the birth of a child, the boys or girls of the dormitory according to the sex will come to the family of the newly born baby and present an ear-ring as a proper request to become a member of the particular dormitory when it grows up. This part of the rites of passage would not be taken as complete without saying a word on the importance of the birth of the male child in Zeliangrong society. The story of Luwang Khunthiba Pokpa, the birth of Luwang Khunthiba in Ningthoulol Sheireng gives us the importance of the birth of a male child for preservation, safeguard, welfare, growth and expansion of the clan to which he developed. Thus, the birth of a male was received with pleasure. But it does mean the birth of a female was at all undesirable. However, birth of a male was preferred due to inter-village and clan feuds rather than the social and economic condition in olden days.

To be continued .....