Thadou

ETHNONYM: Thadu, New Kuki (in 19th century)

Orientation

The Thadou are a Kuki people located chiefly in the hill country adjacent to the Imphal Valley in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. This area encompasses some 26,000 square kilometers. The Thadou share many cultural affinities with the Koms, Aimols, Khotlhangs, Lusheis, Chins, Pois, Suktes, Paites, and Gangtes.

In 1983 there were 125,100 Thadou living in India and 26,200 living in Myanmar (Burma). The Thadou language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman Family of the Sino-Tibetan Phylum. It shares many elements with Metei, Kachin, Garo, Lushei, and other Old Kuki dialects.

History and Cultural Relations

Thadou tradition links their origin with an area south of their current habitat. Intertribal conflict and the need for cultivable land are two of the reasons cited as possible causes for the northerly migration of the Thadou. However, Shaw believes that they originated in the north. It is his contention that they moved down the Imphal or Gun River, then proceeded down the Tuihat (Chindwin) River until they reached the sea. Since they were unable to traverse this obstacle, they retreated up the Tuihat until they reached that point where it merged with the Teo (Tyao) River. The retreat continued until they reached their present location. The Thadou feel that they are destined to be rulers of the Earth and eschew any yoke of domination. This attitude led to the Kuki rebellion of 1918-1919. In spite of their defeat then, the Thadou maintain the belief that a promising future awaits them. The impact of Christian missionary activity was felt early in the twentieth century. William Shaw believed that the Christianization of the area would improve relations between the Thadou and neighboring peoples (felt by the Thadou to be their inferiors). He also noted that Thadou participation in the Manipur Labour Corps altered significantly the Thadou worldview (i.e., revealing the world to be larger than the Thadou had thought it to be).

Settlements

Thadou settlements are located in dense jungle. Sites on the tops of ridges or just below ridges are preferred. Villages are not arranged according to an established urban plan and no method obtains for marking the perimeter of a village. The village chiefs house is usually the largest dwelling within the village. Outside it (and outside the homes of wealthy villagers) there is a platform upon which men gather to discuss matters of importance and to mediate disputes. The typical Thadou dwelling is about 6 meters long and 5 meters wide. The rear of the house is elevated 1.5 to 2 meters above the ground while the front of the house rests on the surface of the sloping ground. Wooden posts and rafters are used for the household frame. Thatching grass held in place by split bamboo is used for the roof and bamboo matting is used for the walls. The house contains one large roof and a front veranda. The interior room is used for cooking, storage, general living, and sleeping. The veranda is used for the pounding of rice. An enclosure (of wood tied together by bamboo or cane) may surround the house to protect gayals and the household Garden. Fruit trees (with the exception of banana plants) are not usually found in Thadou villages.

Economy

Thadou subsistence activities include animal domestication (i.e., gayals, buffalo, pigs, goats, dogs, and various fowl), cultivation (e.g., rice, taro, beans, millet, Job's tears, sesame, maize, chilies, mustard leaves, cotton, ginger, turmeric, onions, pumpkins, cucumbers, and gourds), hunting, and fishing. Jhum (slash-and-burn) agriculture is predominant. Small hoes are used to dig holes into which seeds are planted. Sawedged sickles are used in crop harvesting. Guns and traps are used in hunting. Poison, bamboo rods, and various types of traps are used in fishing. Men and women share labor-related responsibilities. However, Thadou women assume a disproportionate share of these activities.

Industrial manufactures include the following: cloth, cups (of bamboo), plates (of wood), daos (adzes), and spearheads. Shaw reported that cooking utensils (of earthenware, aluminum, and iron) were purchased in Manipuri markets. He also noted that a number of indigenous metal implements once produced by the Thadou (e.g., gongs, basins, plates, head adornments, decorative iron racks, and knives) were, during his time, purchased from Burma.

The Thadou rely upon their market relationship with merchants in Manipur and Myanmar (Burma) to secure essential supplies that are not produced by Thadou artisans.

Little detailed information is available on the Thadou system of land tenure. In theory, all village land is owned by the village chief. Each village household pays an annual (changseo ) fee of one measure of rice to the village chief for the privilege of cultivating land.

Kinship

The Thadou are subdivided into several exogamous clans among which are the Shitlhous, the Dongngels, the Kipgens, the Shingshons, the Chonglois, the Hangshings, and the Phohils. Patrilineal descent obtains. Omaha-type kinship terminology is employed for first cousins.

Marriage and Family

Four forms of marriage exist among the Thadou: chongmu, sahapsat, jol-lha', and kijam mang. The latter two are nonCeremonial betrothal forms akin to elopement. The first of these forms involves the following elements: the negotiation of a bride-price between the parents of the groom and the parents of the bride; the establishment of a date for the removal of the bride from her parents' house to the home of her espoused; the sending (by the groom) of strong young men to retrieve the bride; ceremonial feasting and wrestling (with the throwing of mud, dung, and rotten eggs at the bridegroom's representatives); and the triumphant return of the groom's representatives with the bride. The sahapsat marriage form contains only the marital negotiations between families; the feasting and wrestling are absent. The jol-lha' marriage is resorted to in the case of a pregnancy resulting from premarital relations. In this case, a bride-price is usually agreed upon Before cohabitation begins. When the pregnancy is discovered, cohabitation begins immediately. The kijam mang is a marital arrangement that results from the union of two parties Without the consent of the parents of either bride, groom, or both. The bride-price is settled at some point after the union takes place. Postmarital residence is patrilocal. Divorce is frequent and permissible. Inheritance is exclusively through the male line. Thadou women are the chief agents of socialization. Children are permitted a great degree of independence once they are able to walk. Little structured education is provided by parents, thereby leaving the Thadou child to learn through experiential means.

Sociopolitical Organization

Shaw provided little information about the political structure of the traditional Thadou village. From what he has mentioned, the position of chief/headman was of primary importance. The chief was usually in possession of the largest domicile in a village. The gathering point for village males was adjacent to the chiefs home. The chief also had the right to confiscate standing crops and stored grain belonging to any member of the village who migrated from there without his permission. Further, in regional intervillage combat, it was customary to take chiefs hostage rather than to kill them. It has been suggested that this was due to the belief that all chiefs were related by blood. The chief is owner of all village lands and receives the benefit of dues (e.g., annual cultivation due, migration due, and the due paid by anyone selling gayals, buffalo, or other cattle) and required services from his subjects (e.g., each villager must work one day each month in the chief's fields). Social control is maintained by the imposition of required service (i.e., to the village chief), dues, oaths, trials, and fines. Conflict between the Thadou and their immediate neighbors was intermittent in the early nineteenth century. However, the taking of life was not treated lightly in Thadou society: just cause had to be established before life could be taken. Village raiding was common and the taking of heads usually accompanied armed conflict. The taking of heads was associated closely with the cult of the dead. Heads secured in battle were placed on the graves of deceased relatives and it was believed that these captives would act as servants for these individuals in the afterlife. Raids were also conducted during this time for the purpose of securing heads for the burial of a village chief. In such an instance, village authorities would select a group for attack that had an unsettled debt or had committed an offense against the village.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The god Pathen is believed by the Thadou to have created everything. He is also believed to be the ruler of the universe. Sacrifice is offered to Pathen for health or assistance in time of trouble. Thunder and lightning are manifestations of Pathen's anger. Beings of a more malevolent nature are also a part of Thadou cosmology. These are the Thailhas. Earthquakes, according to one myth, are believed to be caused by Chongja (elder brother of Chongthu, primordial ancestor of the Thadou), who failed to lead his party from the Underworld along with that of Chongthu in order to establish life on Earth. Chongja shakes the Earth from his Underworld home in order to make certain that the party of Chongthu is still alive.

Religious Practitioners . The thempu (medicine man/priest) is the chief religious practitioner of the Thadou. This individual functions in a variety of capacities and in a number of settings. He prepares charms, manufactures household gods, offers sacrifices, administers oaths, and participates in ceremonies associated with certain life crises (e.g., birth and death).

Ceremonies. A variety of Thadou magicoreligious Ceremonies may be noted. Among the more important individually sponsored ceremonies are the following: Chang Ai (offered only by women and intended to secure a preferential place in Mithikho, the afterworld, after death); Sha Ai (a feast offered by men who have killed all, or at least some, of the various dangerous animals known to the Thadou); and Chon (a very important feast that may be offered only by those who have offered the Sha Ai feast three times; it ensures the sponsor eternal happiness in Mithikho). Additional village ceremonies are performed by the thempu for a variety of reasons (e.g., to secure the village from disease and to protect it from the incursion of evil spirits). Other ceremonies are associated with the agricultural cycle (e.g., the Daiphu ceremony that accompanies the burning of a field and the Changlhakou ceremony that follows the reaping and storing of the rice crop).

Arts. Thadou visual art is not well attested. Tattooing may be cited as one example, but it is practiced to a very limited extent. Thadou oral literature is, however, rich in folklore. As art forms, music (vocal and instrumental) and dance are important elements in the magicoreligious ceremonies of the Thadou.

Medicine. The Thadou believe that illness is caused by Supernatural forces and resort to ceremonial (magicoreligious) methods of treatment almost exclusively. Medicinal plants are used to a very limited extent. The success of European medicine is accounted for, in the Thadou worldview, by the European discovery of odors that repel particular disease-bearing spirits.

Death and Afterlife. The Thadou believe that the spirits of the dead move on to Mithikho, the village of the dead, after their earthly existence has ended.

See also Mizo; Purum

Bibliography

Shakespear, John (1912). The Lushei Kuki Clans. London: Macmillan.

Shaw, William (1929). Notes on the Thadou Kukis. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Simoons, Frederick J., and Elizabeth S. Simoons (1968). A Ceremonial Ox of India: The Mithan in Nature, Culture, and History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

HUGH R. PAGE, JR.