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A GLIMPSE OF SELECTED WRITINGS/
TRAVELOGUES ON KUKI AREAS (1850 - 1910)
By Paominlen (Lenjose), Jawaharlal Nehru University
TC Hodson, the then Assistant Political Agent of Manipur and Superintendent of
the State in early twentieth century wrote interesting accounts about his
travels in the tribal habited areas of Manipur state and wrote books like the
Nagas of Manipur and the Meitheis, etc and the followings are
a few information gathered from his original writings and those of Colonel J.
Shakespeare, Dr R Brown and Mc Culloch. In this article, the introductory on the
Kuki settlements, sociological setting, and traditional beliefs of latter
nineteenth century and early twentieth century are briefly discussed. Hudson in
one of his writings, asserted the brotherhood of the Kukis, the Nagas and the
Manipuris on the basis of the widely spread tradition and he wrote- This
tradition, which is widely spread, agrees in its many versions in assigning the
primacy of descent to the kukis, the next place being given to the Nagas, while
the Manipuris are said to be the children of the youngest of these three
brothers
( TC
Hodson, The Nagas of Manipur, DK Publishers and distributers, 1911,p.9)
He mentioned what he found to
be a “ a variant of the legend” among the Mao Nagas which connected the hill
tribes Nagas as well as Kuki with the Manipuris- Once upon a time there
was a jumping match between the three sons of the common ancestor. The Kuki
leapt from the top of one range of hills to the crest of the next, while the
Naga, nearly as good, cleared the intervening valley, but his foot slipped
and touched the river. Hence the limit on his ablutions, while the stronger
Kuki to this day avoids all use of water. The Manipuri tumbled headlong,
which explains his fondness for bathing (ibid.p.11-12)
The vastness of the habitation and settlements of the Kukis were evident
from the following as noted by Hudson- Kuki settlements exist not only in
the British District of the Naga hills in the vicinity of Henema but also
far away on the north-east of the Manipur State, in the neighbourhood of
Melome and Lapvome where the frontier has been delimitated and ascertained
only within the last few years. Indeed the Kuki is to be found everywhere in
the State except in the territory occupied by the Mao confederacy. (Ibid,
P.1-2)
Regarding the uniqueness of the type of houses built by the Kukis of those
days, Hodson observed- the houses of the kukis are totally
distinct and though smaller than the Naga house which is not far evolved
from the communal house of other early communities, are more comfortable
according to the European ideas than even a large morang ghar of a
prosperous Naga village. (Ibid.p.43)
Colonel W.
McCulloch, the Political Agent of Manipur in 1850s wrote about the rice
cultivation of the Kukis in the hills of Manipur. He stated the following,
the rice grown in the hills is said to be very much coarser than the
delicate varieties cultivated in the valley, and there is a tale current
that the rice grown by the Kukis in their Jhums, which is undoubtedly
superior to the ordinary hill rice, was given to them by Ching Thang
Khomba, who was sheltered by them when driven out of the valley by the
Burmese. ( Mc
Culloch, Colonel W., Political Agent of Manipur,”Account of the valley of
Munnipore, Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign
Department,” No.XXVII, 1859,p.61)
Hodson without any shadow of
doubt stated the linguistically based identities of a few groups of
communities like Chirus, Aimol, Kom, Anal, Mhar (sic) etc., as stated below-
The Chirus speak a
language which belongs to the old Kuki subgroup of the Kuki-Chin languages,
in which its fellows are Rangkhol, Bete, Hallam, Langrong, Aimol, Kolren,
Kom, Cha, mhar, Anal, Hiroi-Lamgang and Purum.This last must not be confused
with the Naga village of the same name, which belongs to the Maram group.
(Ibid, p.18-19)
The
indisputable authority of Chieftainship as the then prevalent mode of
administration among the kukis was undoubtedly a secular one, as
distinguishable from that of the neighboring clans, the Nagas. With regard
to this, Hodson lucidly stated as follows-
We
are sometimes able to distinguish a Kuki from a Naga clan by the development
of the Chieftain in the former instance into a secular leader who takes only
a ceremonial part in the tribal rites, and in the latter case by the
diminution of the secular authority of the gennabura, who remains the
religious head of his village. (Ibid.P.20)
On
analysis, this nature of the evolution of secular authority of the Kuki
Chief, according to Hodson, was due to the urgency of the need among such
communities of strong administration unimpeded by “turbulent priests”.
One of the most beautiful
natural endowments upon the kukis, desirably alluring to those who had been
in contact with them was their gift for music and songs. Dr R Brown had a
lot to say on this and the following is taken from one of his records on the
possible origin for divergent qualitative possession of the gift for songs
among the kukis-
“When the Deity
distributed songs to the inhabitants of the world, some caught them in their
hands, some secure them carefully in their clothes and thus retained them,
but the Marrings unfortunately caught their share in a wide meshed basket,
through which the songs escaped, never to be recovered”. This tale is told
by the kukis, who explain their Superiority in this respect by the fact that
on this occasion they caught their share of songs in their leather bag (khau)
which they always carry. (Brown, Dr R, Political Agent in
Manipur,”Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign
Department, No.LXXVIII, 1870)
The peculiar Kuki musical
instrument in vogue those days, widely acclaimed was goshem (still featuring
the AIR thadou-kuki program with its melodious introductory note).
In one of his travelogues,
Hudson wrote, in a Chiru village near Thobal, in the valley, I saw the
men playing on a goshem, or kuki reeded instrument, which is
described by Colonel Lewin as in use among the Mrungs. Colonel J.
Shakespear said, this instrument is distinctly kuki as opposed to Naga.I
believe every kuki clan uses it. (Shakespear, Colonel J., C.I.E, D.S.O,
Political Agent in Manipur, “The Kuki-Lushai Clans,”J.R.A.I.Vol.XXXIX,
pp.371-385, “Journal of the society of Arts”, Vol.XLIII)
Posted on February 07, 2005
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