A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill TribesButler, John, Major
History
A Sketch of Assam: With some account of the Hill Tribes
Butler, John, Major
Assam (India) -- Description and travel; Assam (India) -- Social life and customs; Ethnology -- India -- Assam
The superstition of the Nagas is strikingly exhibited in the great
attention paid by them to all signs of good and evil, before they
attempt the execution of any project: whether it be to prepare the
land to receive the seed, to proceed on hunting or fishing excursions,
or to enter upon any war expedition. On these occasions the Khonbao,
Sundekae, and Khonsae, assemble the people, and a grand consultation
is held between the chief ruler and the elders of the village,
in order to divine the most auspicious moment, and to ascertain
whether the affair under consideration will turn out favourably or
otherwise. To aid the deliberation, new-laid eggs are procured, which
they address in these terms:--"Oh eggs, you are enjoined to speak
the truth and not to mislead us by false representations." The eggs
are then perforated and roasted on a fire, and the yolk is minutely
examined: if it appears entire, the omen is considered good; if broken,
the reverse, and auspicious for their enemies. In this conclusion the
senate are likewise confirmed by a peculiar appearance of the white of
the egg. Another simple mode of divining the propriety or expediency of
carrying out certain plans is by burning the Bujjal bamboo. Should it
crackle and fall out of the fire on the left side, it is a good omen;
should it fly out on the right, the event is accepted as a warning
of failure and disaster. By these simple and strange proceedings are
the acts of these people guided.
Husbandry.
In their agricultural operations, the implements of the Nagas are
simple and rude in the extreme; but bullocks and buffaloes are used
as in Assam. At the commencement of the season, the Khonbao having
assembled the people after the usual ceremonies of consulting the
omens, the land is apportioned out to each clan, the jungle is cleared,
and sowing commences. Konee dhan, a small grain, and Indian corn,
or goom dhan, is sown in January and gathered in about June, when
the Behoo is celebrated with great festivities; resembling the old
English custom of harvest-home. After the goom dhan and konee dhan
is cut, ahoo dhan is sown; and after this crop, kuchoos, a kind of
root resembling the arrow root, are planted; so that in the course
of the year three crops are raised from the same land. This is done
for three successive years; when, the land being impoverished, new
land is broken up for the same period, until the usual time of fallow
admits of the old land being again resumed. Yet, with all the means of
avoiding famine, blessed with a fertile soil and a wonderful rapidity
of vegetation, so improvident are these savages, that in a few months
the whole produce of the land is consumed, and they are compelled to
subsist on roots and leaves of the forests till the return of harvest.
Salt Wells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account