Some sacred customary and traditional taboos of Liangmai

By Tunchapbou *

'Ancient artificial things cannot touch or destroy'.

Every tribe has its own cultures, customs and traditions and there is not a single tribe or community devoid of such set of belief systems and practices handed down from generation to generation. The ZLR tribe is no exception to this fact, and if we are to be proud of anything at all, our rich cultural heritage is one.

In the first place, God the Almighty created the Universe and everything in it, put and set every creature and things in its own appropriate and destined place and environment, nourishes it and let it multiply and increase either on land or in water respectively.

Animals are one such creation of God having no permanent habitat, but change from one place to another according to change of seasons and climate, presence or absence of nourishment and overall environment.

But, we human beings, since the beginning of creation to this day and certainly till eternity, settle down and make our dwelling place permanent. To mark such permanence of human occupation or settlement, we find different kinds of monolith/monument in most villages, which some are found to have been erected with extraordinary zest and superhuman powers.

It is believed that, in ancient days, the gods and humans lived together or had direct relationship and such enormous structures could be erected through the power of those gods only.

Multiple mammoth stone structures measuring approximately 23-25 ft. in height, 8-9 ft. in breadth and 3-4 ft. in thickness put in place at Willong Maram village stand as good evidence to this point. Monoliths with varied significance and symbols can also be found at certain ancient villages lying in the slopes and foothills of the Koubru range.

Among the ruins of every village, the following basic characteristics are found to have been left behind as remnants:

1. Dwelling place/homestead;
2. Separate pitches for long jump and shot put;
3. Fortification of the village's main entrance;
4. Monoliths of various kinds;
5. Priest's platform (Singku Bam), etc.

As we come across all these features, we will come to know of their relative significance and sanctity, as they were built and mould by man through the inspiration of God and dedicated to certain respective deities following religious rituals and ceremonies.

Man and God exchanged vows and oaths on the occasion of such rituals which was held as sacred. Otherwise, it is beyond human capacity to lift and carry such huge boulders with the limited implements and tools available in those days.

In such rituals, man set up sacrificial altars and performed burnt offerings of oxen, buffalo, pig, fowl, etc along with pure and tasty rice beer as the case may be. In return for the faithful sacrifices, God blessed and granted them with enormous power to lift and carry those huge boulders and erect them permanently in His honour with the God sternly warning against destruction and the intolerable consequences thereof.

Following the stern warning by God, mankind continue to hold it as taboos to this day to remove or destroy these structures built during our forefather's time.

Following are some few examples of dishonouring such taboos and the consequent calamity that befell upon the violators:

1. In the 19th Century A.D. a chieftain/king of one Poumai village left his village for certain reasons and settled somewhere else. After sometime, another man came and levelled the king's plot and converted into a garden paying no heed to the warning against his disobedient act. Consequently, 3/4 years later, his mouth was swollen by a disease, his eyesight grew dim and became a deaf and died shortly after.

2. In the 20th Century A.D. Mr. Supao and Mr. Khupsei, both of Kuki tribe adamantly dismantled the colossal memorial stone of one Mr. Karengmang of Tunglong (Tokpa) village, Kangpokpi Sub-division, Taharnzam District in spite of many warnings telling 'You cannot destroy any ancient Naga monument heartlessly and thoughtlessly, otherwise you would be cursed'. True to the warning, both suffered paralysis and died one after another.

3. On 10 Oct, 1987 Mr. Letkhohao in his effort to pull down and destroy one ancient monolith of Golangmai village died on the spot when he was suddenly hit by a falling stone on his head. The family of Letkhohao was imposed a fine for wilful attempt to demolish the ancient monument of the Golangmai village with one pure black oxen, without any blemish and disease as per Naga customary law. The matter was settled and closed on 7/9/1988 with witnesses who lived to tell the tale of woe.

4. Mr. Puke, in 1960 attempted to pull down and take possession of the monument of Mr. Nchuang of Tokpa village. Shortly later on, he became insane and invalid even to groom and tidy himself up again. He died a sorrowful death.

These few instances of breaking the taboos since time of old by some stubborn and reckless mongers and the resulting consequences demonstrate how sacred our ancient artifacts are and the need to preserve and treasure them as our heritage.

This write-up intends to enlighten the ignorant and those irresponsible individuals who put to mockery one's own or other's rich cultures, customs and traditions and the relative taboos to avoid unwanted calamity of any sort and, towards projection of our true identity and unique history to others and the outside world.

Further relay of the message of this document by the readers to the un-reached shall greatly enhance the good intention of the writer.

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* Tunchapbou wrote this article for The Sangai Express . This article was webcasted on March 29, 2008.

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