ZOLENGTHE

Monday, December 03, 2007

Historical and cultural background of the Mizos - Part 9 -

By: Priyadarshni M Gangte *

Observance of Kuts by our forefathers was marked by many significant rituals. Some salient features are given as follows briefly.

In the early hour of the morning of Kut, the man in-charge of information of the village, called, ‘Tangsampa’ or ‘Lhangsampa’ or ‘Tualteekpa’, etc., etc., would herald the advent of Kut, shouting aloud, throughout the village with the words,

“The sun rises, the sun rises;
the sky is clear, the sky is clear”;
and would enter every household, arming himself with a burning torch of fire-wood in his left hand and a hammer in his right hand, saying,
“Your days are over, you evil spirit!
Be away from our midst, and
be with your wife and children.
We are sick of your filthy waste”.

Having performed his part, he will handover the proceedings to the ‘Village Priest’. Then, the ‘Village Priest’ shall arrange jars of ‘Ju’ (rice beer) for all the villagers to sip, and shall intercede for all the villagers to the deities of harvests.

The common ritualistic rites for this purpose are the offering of a cock and a bowl of rice placed at the altar of the deities. The rice is crushed to turn it into powder. The neck of the cock is throttled and cut with a sharp knife, and the blood that oozes out therefrom is strewn on the altar and on the powdered rice.

Thereafter, the village priest shall start sipping the ‘Ju’ from the ‘Jar’ prepared for the occasion. The priest shall spit out the first mouthful of ‘Ju’ he thus sipped which is called ‘Juphi’ (spraying of the ‘Ju’) in symbolic offering to the deities.

He then shall invite the Chief of the village, followed by the eldest villager present to start sipping of the ‘Ju’. The sipping bout continues by turn till the last person. With it, the celebration commences being followed soon by drinking, singing, merry-making, dancing, sporting and feasting.

It is time when even the poorest man of the village forgets his state of poverty.

Growth:

With the passage of time, contacts with outside of their own homogeneous communities entered into the fibre of their social life. People who observed such Kut festivals became aware of the world beyond their own small community.

Gradually, western education began to hold its roots followed by Christianity that propagated to dispense with hitherto known ‘culture and tradition’. Ultimately, when increasing number of people started embracing Christianity, observance of Kut as provided for by their customary laws, became less and less important and ignored, culminating into complete abandonment of the same. People have almost forgotten even existence of such a ‘cultural heritage’ as the Kut festivity.

Identity of a community is known by its rich cultural heritage and perpetuation thereof. Rapid vanishing of the age-old tradition and direction placed the resurgent generation at a loss, and became aware of the vacuum that had been created by such abandonment of the Kut culture due to Christianity. It was dreaded that with such relegation of the rich cultural heritage into oblivion, posterity would be at the cross-road of life.

It was found that there was no conflict whatsoever between Christianity and culture. The two could go hand in hand without being encroached upon each other. While the part of ‘village priest’ can be appropriately substituted by the role of Christian Pastor, the glamour of ‘Ju’ and its resultant pleasantries can be replaced by tea and snacks, fun and frolics of all kinds, etc. More innovatives can be incorporated into the system retaining the intrinsic social values.

Modernized items, such as, beauty contest and fashion show are changes that have been fed into the new fibres of Kut culture.

Likewise, with a view to harmonizing the festival with modernity and new way of life which are completely divorced from the traditional homogeneous village life, the many Kut festivals observed in the days of yore have been moduled into a single occasion of Kut on November 1 of every year.

Radcliffe Brown contends that such changes reflect the changing aspects of society signifying creation of new aspects in the form of new tradition or redefinition of an old one.

Tradition and culture should not be static. It must be dynamic in its growth, assimilating what good things have been provided by a living society, absorbing local and outside elements in its vibrant whole so as to enter into uncharted areas to make it possible to withstand the winds of change from all directions without the original framework and values being sacrificed at the altar of change and dynamism.

http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=manipur.Ethnic_Races_Manipur.Mizos_Background.Mizos_Background_9

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Structure of Chin-Kuki-Mizo's social institutions :: Sominthang Doungel
A case study of the CHIKIMS :: Priyadarshni Gangte
Gangtes : Into the modern mist of no return :: Paulathuom Gangte
Paite women in the changing power structure :: Dr Rita Mairembam Concluded..

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* Priyadarshni M Gangte wrote this article for The Sangai Express . This article was webcasted on December 1 , 2007 .

Historical and cultural background of the Mizos A series by Priyadarshni M Gangte

Society and Economy minus Polity. The increasing disconnect in Manipur

By Amar Yumnam

Until the beginning of the 1990s, any instability in the government was a concern for all the citizenry of the State; it would be a theme dominating every leikai tea-stall, office rooms and private corridors. But it is no longer so.

It has been almost a month that the move to change the head of the people has been in top gear. In an earlier situation similar to the current one, this definitely would have shaken the minds of every democratic voter in the land. But this time round, the population are just conducting their daily business as if nothing is happening around concerning their polity.

The Needs: This prevailing scenario needs active scrutiny by all the concerned citizens of the State for it is different from what we should expect theoretically and find empirically in thriving societies and economies. In any thriving economy, there definitely would be symmetry in the vibrations and movements of the polity, economy and society. If there arises any asymmetry, it would rather be of a positive kind with certain catalysts emanating from one of the three components and the other components living up to the challenges of the emerging changes. This cycle of symmetry and asymmetry would keep repeating, and thereby taking the land to ever higher levels of development.

The Context: But what has happened to Manipur is quite the contrary to this global requirement for societal transformation. That the society of Manipur now faces a veritable crisis and the economy is in transitory shambles are known to all. It is exactly at this juncture that we are witnessing a scenario where the citizenry are wholly unconcerned with the tremors facing the polity. Whereas the onus for giving direction and dovetailing the loose ends in the economy and the society lies with the polity, it is as if the people have fully debarred the issues of polity from occupying any space in their mental calculus. This definitely is not a grammar which can sustain any society.

The Whys: What we should be worrying and endeavouring to analyse is why such a situation arose in the State. There can be many explanations for this phenomenon, but I would rather confine myself to only a few I consider core. One possible explanation could be the accumulated failures of the government to deliver on anything concerning the people. Examples of this are galore, one can cite from such individually delivered items like health to such publicly delivered goods like transport. This might have made the people to stop expecting anything from the government; ‘people do analyse the surroundings and respond to the incentives around’ says Economics. The repeated and constant failures of the government to deliver might have led the people to distance themselves from the happening in the polity except in circumstances where clear opportunities arise for personalized benefits. So the polity became disconnected from society and economy.

The other possible explanation might be that the oft-repetition by the polity of the disturbances making its functioning non-effective in reaching to the public might have sunk to the psyche of the people. Realizing that the polity cannot and would not deliver in the prevailing circumstances, people have found it prudent not to waste their time and energy on the happenings in the polity. So we see the disconnect of society and economy on the one hand and the polity on the other.

Whatever It Is: Whatever the explanation we take, certain features do emerge which need emphasis. First, it points squarely on the governance failures across space and time in the State. Secondly, as mentioned above, such disconnects can only lead the economy and society further downhill. Thirdly, the time for the polity to make itself relevant to the society and economy is fast running out. If we closely observe the recent responses of the general public to the shivering of the government and the reaction to the collapse of the head of the people in public in the same way as they wont in the case of encounter killings, well we are already almost at the borderline in this time chart.

The Search: The above meanderings lead us to identify the area where we should now be concentrating so that the polity can be reconnected with the society and the economy. Well, once again I would rather emphasise on the necessity and urgency of improving the governance of the State. It is not the law and order problem as the primary concern, but the lapses in governance which the polity should rather be applying its mind. Indian as well as global experiences establish beyond ambiguity that governance addresses many of the core issues of an economy and society, including those relating to law and order. Either we follow this or the polity

becomes irretrievably disconnected from the society. The latter is indeed a highly possible grim outcome.

http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/Others/Citizens'%20Concerns.html