The Zeliangrong lifecycle: Rites and ceremonies
- Part 6 -

Budha Kamei *

Gaan Ngai Celebrations in Imphal on December 29 2009

The Zeliangrongs believe that the dead has to make a journey to the other world, to which they actually belong. So, the living descendents prepare food packets for the dead to eat and drink on different places through which he will pass his travel to the land of the dead. The cooked curry of Theipha, Takan with rice is cloaked with seven plaintain leaves and thus prepares the seven packets of food. It is performed by an elder of Pei.

These seven food packets are locally known as Thei Napdom. The same elder puts all the seven packets in a basket called Kah in the following orders by saying the name of the deceased.

(1) This first packet is for eating at the Narangbang, beyond the village gate. After saying this, the same packet will be put in the Kah. The similar performance is done with the rest of the six food packets.

(2) This second packet is for eating at the Bamdondai, the big resting place.

(3) The third is for eating near the Kanung River.

(4) The fourth one is for giving to them who receive you at Taroilam.

(5) The fifth is for giving to your parents and grand parents [those elders who died ahead of the person].

(6) The sixth one is for feeding the dog of the Taroilam.

(7)The seventh is for giving to the khanana, the evil spirits of the Taroilam. This process is locally called Thei Napdom Nimmei. No one [who gathered in and around the house] is allowed to eat and drink during the performance of Thei Napdom Nimmei because it is a taboo and it is permitted only after its performance.

Mourners will sing traditional songs such as Magenluh, Lamlonlu etc. for the departed soul. It is believed that funeral songs help the deceased to enter the land of the dead with his head held high. When the necessary preparation is completed, the coffin is brought inside the house. After that a man with the fire of thatching grass waves inside the coffin to ward off the evil forces.

Pon [salt] is also spread inside the coffin. They carefully wrap the dead body with a cloth which is supposed to contain the soul and then put the body in the coffin with a pillow of unginned cloth under its head. Next, the coffin is closed with a wooden plate and nailed. Tanthing, three sticks are put under the coffin and tied by the Phounamloi, bamboo splints.

Tying the coffin is prompted by fear of the dead. It also implies that the dead may be malevolent and has power to harm the living because the dead can come forth from the grave not merely as spirits, but in the bodily form. The coffin is covered with a traditional cloth like Pheingao or Mareipan as a precaution to protect from evil spirits.

After this, they lift up the coffin on their shoulders by pronouncing: 'Ho-ou-we' and start to go with its feet forward. The practice of carrying out the dead with its forward is to prevent from seeing the way back. Just before crossing the main entrance, they turn around the coffin thrice anti clockwise and move in the direction of the grave. At the very moment, an elder with a Dao performs a ritual called Rah Hamei at the entrance to drive away the evil forces. The custom of turning around the coffin is to deceive the deceased not to come back again and make trouble the family.

Basically, the funeral consists of conveying the deceased from his home to the place of burial. This act of transportation has generally been made into a procession of mourners who lament the deceased and it has often afforded an opportunity of advertising his wealth, status or achievements.

When the coffin is arrived at the grave, the same process of turning around the coffin is performed. Finally, the coffin is inserted in the niche. This is called Theilimei. Just before it, Phounamloi, the bamboo splints which bound the coffin is removed. Now, the Phounamloi comes to be recognised as Pushi. An elder with the Pushi hits once in the grave by pronouncing: 'Kumeipu/kumeilu nangkaimeinum nangthei Jon-gangmei Naiyethai Mei Pushirui kathamna kathao Gang-o-de,' meaning: if any one of your relative follows you turn him back by hitting with this Pushi. Then, it is placed near the coffin.

"His survivors are careful to equip him with all the necessary material objects such as clothing, food, arms and tools as well as those of a magico religious nature- amulets, passwords signs etc. which will assure him of a safe journey or crossing and a favourable reception as they would a living traveler". The Zeliangrongs burry the dead along with articles like Napdom Khatni Taktu [Food packets]; Khengmu Deimu [rice-beer]; Shaobon [one set of pointed thorny for the purpose of defending from the attack of enemies or evil spirits]; Bui [a spear for throwing to the enemies or evil spirits]; Bang [a Dao for chopping the evil spirits or enemies]; Buirong [a walking stick]; Laogai [a small spade for cultivation in the next world]; Tambem, Tangnuk, Tangnam [Weaving equipments for female] for his or her safe passage to the land of the dead. Among the Nagas, the dead body is buried along with a spear and Dao. R. Brown says, the corpse is buried on the day of death in a coffin, in which, under the body, are placed a hoe, spear, cooking pots and cloths for his use in the other world.

Then, the son or a near male relative of the deceased uprights a bamboos stick about 3ft long close to the niche saying: 'Ho-ou-we Tameipule Lampingleo Ai naiye'. This is called Loukham Teng Khunmei. A woman is not allowed to perform. Loukham Teng Khunmei gives two meanings: the last thing for the dead and the pillar which divides life and death. 165 Finally, the grave diggers fill in the grave with earth. With the burial of the dead; the man is incorporated to the land of the dead as a new member166 because the underworld is supposed to be the land of the dead.

Carl Clemen has rightly stated that the earth is the soul of life, but it is also the realm of dead. The grave diggers with their spades on their shoulders go around the grave thrice in clockwise and also repeat the same anti clockwise. This custom is locally known as Tarou lam Lamei, dancing of grave dance. Grave dance signifies to the dead man that he is no more. Then, they will break the gourd which is placed on the grave. Kharou, a fish bone made of bamboo splints is also placed on the grave which symbolizes a division between life and dead. On the fifth day accounting from the day of death, the fish bone will be removed from the grave. The deceased is thus comfortably provided for and admonished by word and deed to go into the other world, and in any case not to meddle with living, the mourners return from the grave.

Funerary rites do not usually terminate with the disposal of the corpse by burial. Post funerary ceremonies and customs generally have two not necessarily mutually exclusive motives: to purify the mourners and to mourn the dead. When the funeral is ended, all who have taken part in the funeral must commonly be purified. Purification means the ritual which is used to protect against unclean, sinful and undesirable situations. The purification of the mourners is the other post funerary action. A corpse straddles the boundary between this world and the next and as with most such liminal objects it is regarded as simultaneously powerful and polluting.

All the participants in the funeral therefore are in need of cleansing before they can rejoin normal society. Consequently, they perform various forms of purification, chiefly: bathing or sprinkling of water, Gahroumei, to rub a slice of the mixture of Gah, a kind of turmeric, leaves of kaa plant, Ngeinem, a kind of thatch grass and water at the jaw and Thanjoujangmei, drinking of holy wine. The ancient Greeks put all the door of the death chamber a vessel full of pure water obtained from another house, so that all who came out might purify themselves. Finally, fire is contacted by all the participants in the funeral to drive off the evil forces that comes along or follows and only after this, they are permitted to enter their respectively houses. Frank Byron Jevons states, they pass through or over a fire is to make communion with the fire-God because it has the purificatory power.

In spite of the elaborate precautions to prevent the dead man from returning he is often thought to be present in the dwelling after the actual disposal of the corpse. Accordingly, measures are taken by them to purify the place and remove the tabu. This may be accomplished by driving away the ghost. In this connection, an elder of Pei with Ten Maimit, a kind of grass will purify the house and the whole village. This is known as Kaiphekmei.

A feast is usually a part of the funeral. Among the Zeliangrongs, the funeral banquet is held in presence of the corpse before burial. This meal is the sacrificial food, Takan Jan which offers for the deceased. The purpose of funeral feast is to bring all the survivors together, and sometimes with deceased in the same way a chain which has been broken by the removal of one of its links must be rejoined. It is a rite of incorporation. Funeral feast may be interpreted as in honour of the dead.

It may also be a farewell banquet– a send off one who is unwilling to go at the termination of which the deceased is formally but firmly shown the door. R. Brown states that on the death of a Kauwpoi Naga, a feast is given by his surviving relations to the friends of the family and others should the parties be well off. The funeral rites themselves are also held to place the obligation on a dead man to give the survivors the benefit of his supernatural power.

When a man dies with debt and at the same time there is no one in the village to repay his debt; in that case, the dead is buried with formal ceremonies and every requirements in the funeral will be brought out by the village. A ritual locally known as Kakhukdoudanmei is accomplished to make the dead man free from debt both in the living world and in the land of the dead. In this ritual, an elder of Pei who acts as priest divides his khuk, a kind of money bag made of bamboo splints into two halves and places on the grave. This act signifies to God and mankind that this man has nothing and free from debt.

On the fifth day counting from the day of death, Tarou kashemmei, grave beautification is accomplished. All the relatives, friends and elders of the village participate in the ceremony. A stone flat is also erected over the grave187in honour of the dead. Offerings like cooked rice, curry, wine, fruits etc are also placed on the grave for the departed soul.

In Zeliangrong society, the period of mourning of a death is observed for one year until the celebration of next Gaangai festival. The family of the deceased observes the mourning in the form of abstention from amusement. The meaning of such action seems evident: grief felt for the loss of a dear relative or friend naturally expresses itself in forms of self denial. But the purpose may sometimes have been intended to divert the ill humour of the dead from those who still enjoyed life in this world.

In view of Arnold van Gennep, mourning seems to be as an aggregate of taboos and negative practices marking society of those whom death, in its physical reality, had placed in a sacred impure state. It is believed that during mourning, the living mourners and the deceased constitute a special group, situated between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Gaan- Ngai is the biggest post harvest festival of the Zeliangrong people which normally falls in the month of December or January every year.

In the festival, ritual farewell is given to all those who died in the previous year. Emile Durkheim says, when an individual dies, his soul quits the body in which it dwelt, and after the mourning is accomplished, it goes to the land of the souls. On the first day of Gaan-Ngai, a fare well feast is given by the family for the deceased in which all the near and dear ones take part. The grave of the dead is beautified and offering in the form of food and drink are placed on the grave. On the fourth day of the festival, farewell dance is also given by the dormitory in which he or she belongs. It is believed that the spirit of the dead leaves the burial place after the festival. These rites lift the prohibitions of mourning and make reintegration into the life of society.

The death of a person reduces the strength of a group or community is an important event. The nearest relatives are severely disturbed and the community is mutilated. The whole event breaks the normal course of life and shaken the moral foundations of the society. Death is, therefore much worse than the removal of a member. It threatens the very cohesion and solidarity of the group upon which the organization of the society, its tradition and the whole culture depend.

As we have seen, the critical junctures in the life cycle of an individual are replete with danger. The individual is himself in danger. He also passes this danger on to his family and village at large. Besides the individual, his family and village are also defiled.

In view of this, we can say that the main object of all the rites and ceremonies attending birth, initiation, marriage and death, is of two folds: -

(i) to remove the pollution attendant on the individual's household and village, and to protect them against any calamities at the hands of the evils spirits and powers;

(ii) to purify the individual himself, keep him away from any hostile agencies, and to ensure for him the security and care given by the God.

Thus, Najum Gaimei Khatni Nasan Kanmei reveals an anxiety to integrate the new born child into its father's clan and a member of the society. Various marriage rituals manifest the anxiety for the future welfare of the married couple, guarding its luck, and warding off evil spirits and impersonal powers. The funeral rites help the departed soul to the land of the dead to join its ancestors.

We have seen how these ceremonies serve as occasions for emphasizing the relations of mutual harmony and dependence between the individual and his society and how, in so doing, village solidarity is strengthened. The person who conducts each ritual is merely the active representative of the community. The feasting, social reunion and rejoicing that mark their successful termination, make it clear that each rite of passage is a matter which concerns not only the individual who inters into it, but the whole community. The various gifts bestowed upon him, are a clear expression of the general goodwill towards him.

concluded .....