Traditional knowledge system in hunting method among the Zeliangrong of Manipur
- Part 4 -

Budha Kamei *

A Scene from 'The Zeliangrongs' :: Provided by Director - Ronel Haobam

Though the Zeliangrong have a wonderful sense of direction, it sometimes does occur that a man out of hunting loses his way in the jungle. Should this happen he cuts a stick and makes a few cuts in the bark to represent the pattern on a python's skin. This stick he leaves on the ground and then sure to be able to find his way without difficulty.

This custom is connected with the belief that the python has a habit of leaving its saliva on leaves, and that anyone who touches one of these leaves by accident will go mad and lose his way. A Chang Naga who loses his way cuts off a bit of his hair and sticks it in a cleft stick or the fork of a tree, no doubt as a replacement for his own person.

After which the python lets him go and he finds his way home. A Sema Naga under similar circumstances does offer a bit of the fringe of his cloth. Hunting game has also been a mechanism for maintaining the structural relationship of certain kin groups in many of the Naga and Kuki tribes. Among the Zeliangrongs, the person who first injures the animal is entitled to claim the head. According to the rule of sharing the hunted game, parts like head, lungs, heart and lower part of a leg will go to the owner as part of his due share. If there are more than two hunters, part of another leg will be given to the eldest one among the hunters.

Other parts of the animal will be shared equally by the team members. The owner of the hunting dog is entitled to take the dog's share and part of this share is always given to the dog. As a tradition, a share is also given to the Nampou , village chief. But, in the case of tiger/bear the killer cannot share of the meal.

He has to offer a pig to the village elders; the pig is killed and observed its spleen. All the able-bodied men of the village perform Rishangtuna Kavoumei whole night at the residence of the person who killed the game.

The meat of the game is divided among the villagers as well as his sisters; all the sisters in turn will give meat to their brother. Among the Paites, each member of the household gets a share of the killed animal. Thus, the householder gets the head, liver, lungs, heart and entrails; the married brother of the father (Thallouh) gets the distal part of the thigh; a non-clan member gets one scapular half; brother of the father (Thallouhthusa) gets the distal and of one fore thigh; the last office (Hanzutung) among the member of Thusa gets distal thigh.

The office of Tuna is held by married sisters, father's sister and married female member of the father of the household. It is graded on the proximity of kinship and seniority: Tanupi and Tanunau of the Tanu get one side of the rib portion each and the Tanuthumna and Tanulina get the shoulder blades. There are a set of Puu: the mother's father (Pupi) or brother gets the shoulder blade and the Punau or the junior Puu gets one side of the is-chi-al part; Zawl or a pack of friends gets one side of the is-chi-al part; one's wife married sister (the Nuphal) and extra member of the lineage or extra sibling (Behavaal) gets the unspecified cook meat each.

Among the Tangkhuls, the hunting team's leader gets the head of the game killed. The first who hits the animal with spear will get the right leg of the forelimb. The second gets left leg of forelimb. And as share of the dog, the chest portion of the animal is given to the dog's owner. If there is more than one owner of dogs, then it is distributed equally. The rest is divided among the members who join in the hunting.

Among the Lhotas, the division of the killed animal is carefully regulated by custom. In the case of deer the first spear gets a hind-leg, second spear a fore-leg, and the owner of the dogs a hind-leg, the head, liver and heart, the remaining fore-leg going to the oldest man of the hunting party. The rest of the meat is divided among the spearmen, the older men getting slightly bigger shares than the younger. A spear which only hits the animal in the face or on the hock does not count.

Was the thrower to claim a share of the meat on the strength of such a hit it is believed that either he or one of his family would die. From every deer killed Sityingo, (the forest deity who owns all wild animals as a man owns domestic animals) is given his share. This includes six little bits of liver wrapped in one leaf and five little bits in another.

The same are eaten by the oldest man in the village of the clan of the owner of the dogs. In the case of animals like pig and bear without the aid of dogs, the first spear gets the head, hind-leg, for-leg, liver and heart, and the second spear the other fore-leg and hind-leg. The remaining members of the party take the rest of the meat.

Should the animal be killed on the land of a friendly village, something is given to the chief-often one of the legs of the dogs' share, if the proper recipients agree to this, or a fore-quarter or part of the ribs. Should game be killed, before pursuit by the original pursuers has ceased, by a different hunting party or a cultivating party in the fields of another village, as often happens, the dogs' share, must be given to the huntsmen whose dogs put up the game to start with.

This is a point of etiquette most strictly enforced. A peculiar custom found among the Zeliangrong, head of the enemy (Rihpi) is accorded with highest ritual celebration and the second highest honour is the killing of a tiger. The killing of python, bear and wild pig are the third grade.

Success in hunting was considered a trial of strength and valour of an individual among the Naga tribes—an achievement which earns reputation for an individual in various spheres of social and cultural life including the marriage market. It is stated that a man possessing the "skill in hunting and warfare inevitably acquires a position of influence" in the community.

The Zeliangrong, like other Naga and Kuki tribes, continue to hunt and trap through the employment of different traditional techniques/methods along with domestication of animals, fishing and jhum cultivation/wet cultivation. However, the practice of mass hunting is now given up among the hill tribes of Manipur.

Concluded..