Description of the Zeliangrong community then.
Every village was like an independent state politically, economically, and geographically. There was constant fear and anticipation of invasion by neighboring village or tribes. Therefore, alertness and preparedness for any eventuality was a normal response by all villagers especially all the male who could fight in the battle. This might have been one of the reasons, men were considered as head of the village and family or authoritative figure. Distinction has to be made pertaining to the concept of male dominant among the Zeliangrong as compare to the western concept of dominance. Zeliangrong male dominant concept was solely base on ability to protect women and children from the enemy. It is another kind of patriarchal system devoid of discrimination of gender. In Zeliangrong belief, creation especially the earth (or land) is considered as mother. Everything we do and our lives are because we have land. The picture of mother is central in the spirituality of Zeliangrong. In practical daily life, usually the task of mid-wife and rituals associated with childbirth are done by the women. Then and now, women are considered as protectors of the community especially where men folk cannot influenced or cannot accomplish. In recent Zeliangrong history there have been several occurrences of political and judicial upheavals. The Government, in most of the cases resort to the tactic of repressing the people by enforcing draconian law such as Arm Force Act, an act which has little or no place for the basic rights of the people. Zeliangrong community, through out its history, desist using of arms and violence means to fight our causes. Public peaceful rally or demonstration has been the most popular way of putting acr. In such instances, Zeliangrong women folk take the lead by creating an atmosphere for a dialogue with the disputing groups.
2. Concept of Supreme Being and religious beliefs in Zeliangrong tribe
Many people perceive religious systems of tribal community in the North East India as being very complex and polytheistic. However, a careful analysis will prove otherwise. Kamei Sanjit Rongmei and Satwanti Kapor observed that Pre-Christian Zeliangrong;
“…did not practice Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, or Islam as their traditional religion. They sacrifices to different deities, both living and non-living objects such as – sun, moon, sky, stars, rocks, mountains, river stream, earth, fire, etc. which they (Zeliangrong) believed to possessed both benevolent and malevolent power. They also classify male and female deities according to their belief. They have very strong cultural practices of offering efficacious things like egg, fowl, in some cases giblets, spirituous liquor, pig, cattle, mithun (Carabou in the Philippines), cloth, pieces of iron etc., in case of sickness, mania, ill luck, and variety of other calamities for which they are sometimes called devil worshipers. There are also other ritual ceremonies, prayers, incantations, taboos, gennas performed by the Zeliangrong to have a religious moral and philosophical wish to prolong life, to ward off evil, to obtain children and to destroy or harass sworn enemies.” [2]
Kamei and Kapor rightly point out that Zeliangrong people did not subscribed to any major religions but they had their own distinct and unique religious system. Now, one has to differentiate between “worship” and “appeasement”. Worship has something to do with love and reverential fear while appeasing is absent of love but instead fear of harms. In Pre-Christianity Zeliangrong, they offered gifts and sacrifices, so that no harm would come to them but in no way did they worship those spirits. Many visitors misinterpreted these practices and even some Zeliangrong people misinterpreted these practices as signs of polytheism. However, the truth is, though Zeliangrong people believed in the Supreme Being, yet there were still all sorts of sickness and calamities around them. The people could not believed that such a loving and caring Supreme Being could bring such miseries to the people then the Zeliangrong people discerned that evil spirits were the ones who inflicted sufferings upon them. Therefore, they offered something to appease the spirits so that no harm would come to them. Zeliangrong people considered all these spirits to be gods and goddesses for they seem to be more powerful than human beings. They also believed that such spirits dwelled in the trees, mountain, rivers, big stones, etc. So they offer their gifts in such places. They did not worship these spirits, instead their gifts were meant to appease the evil spirits. Above all gods and goddesses, our ancestors acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being who created all the things that existed.
3. Cultures of the Zeliangrong tribe
The rich cultural heritage of the Zeliangrong is reflected in their varieties of arts. This project will not be able to contain the whole cultural practices and beliefs of the Zeliangrong people. However, it will highlight few vital aspects of the people. Racially or physically and linguistically, Zeliangrong are Tibeto-Burman (Indo-Mongoloid) of Sino-Tibetan family of the Mongolian race. Culture is a social setting in which, a certain reference framework has taken a concrete form, or has been institutionalized. It is a storehouse of knowledge, experiences, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, timing, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and the objects and possessions acquired by a large group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving (Samova and Porter).[3]
Based on the oral tradition of history, it is assumed that Mongoloid groups including Zeliangrong inhabited the upper course of the Yangtze and Howang (Wang) Ho rivers in China in the prehistoric times. N.B Panmei wrote, “… The people (Zeliangrong ancestors) undertook a strenuous journey with their old, their young and their women finally reached the new site for the settlement…”[4] Finally, Zeliangrong settled at the North East region of India. The Igorot people in the mountain province of Philippines have also shared some common features in terms of their dresses, love for the beads, cultivation, etc. In the Zeliangrong community, each clan enjoys equal status.
Clan exogamy is strictly observed. Cross-cousin marriage is most preferred but parallel cross-cousin is seldom. Besides following many other normal customs of a Naga-tribe, they also have some peculiar customs. For instance, besides normal marriage by engagement or by elopement there are also other kinds of marriages.
i. Noumang-mei-Nou-kao (Marriage by Service). With the agreement of both parties the boy stay at the girl's parents' house and stay for three to four years and live as husband and wife then finally return home.
ii. Chamemei. Here a girl is given in marriage even against her consent to a family to whom the girls’ parents are in debt or some obligations.
iii. Naokakhaomei. In an accidental death of a man, the nearest next brother will look after the children and remarry the wife of his brother.
There are also some strange cultural practices such as “Nasitheimei or Nathitheimei”. In this particular practice, should a woman die in childbirth the child is not permitted to live but buried with the dead mother. This practice was savage in any human term. However, all Zeliangrong people did not subscribed to this practice. Another cultural practice which is typical to Zeliangrong people is Mandu (Bone money). It is the bone price of wife. Patrilineal relatives of the wife demand this. On the death of a wife her father demands Mandu from the husband, or if he is dead, the late husband's nearest relative. Mandu ensures that every care will be taken both of wife and offspring.
4. Festivals and Dances of the Zeliangrong tribe
Festivals of the Zeliangrong are closely linked up with religion, which is associated with their economic vocation and socio-cultural ethos. Festivals reflect different stages of agricultural activities. Artist Varsha Das writes “Festivals are considered safety valves for the society … No folk dramas, songs or dances were performed purely for public entertainment. There was always a myth-ritual performance relationship in all of them. Folk worship and cults are associated with ritualistic theatre forms.”[5] In dances and songs, physical strengths are expressed. Traditionally, the Zeliangrong celebrated a festival every month. Various rituals and offerings were made during the celebrations. Listed below are some of the important festivals:
4.1. Gan-Ngai. Gaan-Ngai is the biggest annual festival of the Zeliangrong people, celebrated in the beginning of every New Year. This festival is celebrated in the month of December-January after harvest for 5 (five) days. Blowing a horn heralds the festival. Fresh fire is made with the ancient friction method and distributed in every household. Villagers, irrespective of age dressed in their best attire, keep up the dance and songs, intercepting only by short intervals of repose and break dedicated to feasting. The Zeliangrong follow a lunar calendar based on the agricultural cycles. According to the Zeliangrong tradition, the year comes to a close along with the completion of cultivation works and harvest of the year; and the winter sets in. After the completion of one agricultural cycle and just before the beginning of the next cycle, this annual festival is celebrated to mark the end of the old year and to herald the New Year. Although the timings of the Gaan-Ngai Festival is slightly different from place to place, and from region to region, depending on the completion of their respective cultivation and harvest of the year, the theme and spirit of the festival are the same everywhere, viz, bidding farewell to the dead and departed souls of the year; and worship of God for health and longevity of the living ones, for protection of crops and bountiful harvest, for success in hunting and fishing, in war and in every walk of life, and for prosperity in the incoming new year. The Festival is characterized by worship, offerings, rites and rituals mingled with songs, dances, traditional games and sports, feasts and entertainments, for days together.[6]
4.2. Rih-Ngai (Chaga Ngai). This festival is celebrate during January-February is this War festival which is exclusively for male. No stranger is allowed to enter the village. Men abstain from sexual intercourse and foods cooked by women are not taken. An interesting feature is Raangh-Kapmei or shooting at an effigy of a warrior with pointed bamboo splits.
4.3. Gudui-Ngai. This festival is celebrated during the seed-sowing season in April. After completion of task like clearance of jungle for cultivation everyone will drink juice (dui) of ginger (Gu). Tug of war is performed between male and female as a symbolic representation of competition between god and goddess for possessing the paddy. If the girls win it indicates a good harvest.
The Zeliangrong people are undergoing a state of transition due to several factors. Gaan-Ngai is no longer celebrated by majority of the Zeliangrong Naga. Modern education is one such factor which has led to rationalization of practices resulting in people beginning to consider the merits and demerits of their own practices based on the principle of relevance. So, if certain customs do not stand in test of the days they are modified eventually.[7] But festivals are expressions of Zeliangrong spirituality. It is an expression of gratitude for the bountiful harvest, blessings, and protection from all dangers through the year. It is also a time of invoking the Almighty for blessings and protection for the year to come. Like any other people group in the world, the Zeliangrong have their own way of reading time. Most Christian world followed Gregorian calendar but pre-Christianity Zeliangrong had its own calendar based on the agricultural cycle. Zeliangrong people never failed to acknowledge Almighty for the time. For that reason, every season they honor God through celebrating festivals and dances. Vatsyayan, Kapila writes, “…the dances of the Nagas incorporate all aspects of Naga life and present a variegated picture of movement, of choreographical patterns, and of dress and costuming…” [8] It is our history in colourful display. It tells of our story.
Some of the popular dances among the Zeliangrong people are:
· Jaopa lam - Victory dance.
· Ri lam - War Dance.
· Hansiangmai lam - Bamboo Dance.
· Rangdai Lam - Dance of Hornbill.
· Mangrelam - Dance of Fly.
· Khuairuna lam - Bee's (Honey Bee) Dance.
· Tariang lam - Spinning Dance.
· Ga lam - Crab dance.
· Maukana lam - Hawk Dance.
· Makhom lam - Fertility Dance.
Zeliangrong people love to dance. Each dance is distinct in their steps, forms and seasons. Zeliangrong enjoy dancing throughout the day and the night. Deep thudding of log drum shakes the ground underfoot and jars the body. Endless steps and forms under the moonlight and glares of the torches, dances of the night is quite an experience. Aside from entertaining, it also conveys a message, a continuation of the history. It is like a honey bee conveying the source of nectar to other bees in the bee hives through various dancing movements.[9]
[1] This composite name came into being with the formation of the Zeliangrong Naga Council for the first time on the 15th February 1947 at Keishamthong Imphal. However, this unity of four kindred tribes was first started in 1925 and called themselves “Agangmei”. Later they change into “Kabui Chingsaeng” in 1927. In 1934, it was renamed “Kabui Samiti”. Despite all attempts by the leaders, there were still ill feelings among some sections of the kindred, land disputes, and other forms of hostilities. So to an end to all hostilities, on 1st April, 1934, leaders from all tribes came together at Tamenglong and performed highest customary of rite called “Chukh Thuoibo”. In this rite, a head of cat was cut out and break into two pieces. This signifies that if anyone tries to break the unity of these kindred will be like the head of a cat. It is sort of curse spell on whosoever try to disintegrate the unity among the four tribes. This was done with an objective of closer affinity and stronger unity of Zeliangrong Naga and for furthering the economic, socio-cultural, educational and political achievement of their tribes.
[2] Kamei, Sanjit Rongmei and Kapoor, Satwanti Study of Tribes and Tribals Zeliangrong Today: A Naga Tribe of Manipur. New Delhi: Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi India. 2005, p. 109
[3] Samova and Porter cited by Machunwang Kamei, in her unpublished Synopsis paper on Zeliangrong, Hyderabad, February 6, 2009.
[4] Pamei. N.. The Trail from Makuilongdi. - The Continuing Saga of the Zeliangrong People, Tamenglong: Girronta Charitable Foundation Joyousgard. 2001, p 36
[5] Das, Varsha.1992. Traditional Performing Arts. New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Limited. Pp. 36-37
[6] For this insight, I deeply owe to Prof. Gangmumei Kamei’s article on “Gaan Ngai – the Greatest Festival of the Zeliangrong” appeared in several Dailies of Manipur especially by Sangai Express, one of leading news paper in Manipur on January 20, 2003.
[7] Kamei, Machunwang. In her unpublished Synopsis paper on Zeliangrong, Hyderabad, February 6, 2009.
[8] Vatsyayan, Kapila. 1976. Traditions of Indian folk dance. New Delhi: Indian Book Company. p.75.
[9] Ewen, Pamela Binnings., Faith on Trial, Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1999, p.3
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