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THE MIKIRS I. GENERAL.
THE MIKIRS I. GENERAL.
It is in this hilly country, and in the plains at its base, that the Mikir people are found. The region is continuous, and is distributed, as the figures just given show, between the districts (from east to west) of Sibsagar, Nowgong, North Cachar, the Jaintia and Khasi Hills, and Kamrup. It is malarious and unhealthy for unacclimatized persons, with a very moist climate, and is wanting in the breezy amenities of the higher plateaus of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills; but (save during the recent pre
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II. DOMESTIC LIFE.
II. DOMESTIC LIFE.
In kàm , if the house is large, there are two fireplaces. Before the fire the space is called kàm-āthèngthòt , or nòksèk . In the corner of the front wall and the partition ( ārpòng ) are put the water- chungas ( làng-bòng ); it is called làng-tēnun . The front door is called hòngthū , the back door pàn , or pàn-hòngthū . The front veranda is called hòng-kup . The tibung runs out into it, and the part beyond the front wall of the house is called thèng-roi-rai , “the place for bringing (or storin
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APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
1. Inghī. II. Timūng. III. Tērŏn. IV. Kāthār. V. Bē. VI. Injāi. I. Inghī has the following subdivisions:— (Nos. 4, 6, and 7 agree with Mr. Stack’s list under Lèkthē, and Mr. Stack’s Kràmsā appears as a further subdivision of Bòngrung. As regards the others, the names beginning with Rong may be local village names; Chinthong and Ronghang are the names of great sections of the Mikir population, not of exogamous groups; Hèmpi and Hèmsō mean merely “great house” and “little house.”) II. Timung (Mr.
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Beliefs about the Dead.
Beliefs about the Dead.
The Mikirs have no idols, temples, or shrines. Some people, however, have fetishes or amulets, called bòr . These are pieces of stone or metal, by keeping which they become rich. Sometimes, however, a man unwittingly keeps a bòr that brings him ill-luck and loss. A man is said to have got a bòr , bòr kelòng ; Bòr do-kòklē, plàng-plē-jī mā? “If you have got a bòr , will you not become rich?” Bòrs are not common; one gets them by chance in river, field, or jungle. Or a man dreams that he can get a
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Religion—Divinities.
Religion—Divinities.
Chomàng-āsē (“Khasi fever”), a Khasi god, who lives in the house and is propitiated with a goat; he is comparatively rare. This god appears to be identical with Kēchē-āsē , which is the rheumatism. ( Chomàng is the name for the interior Khasis, Kēchē for those immediately in contact with the Mikirs.) Ājō-āsē (“the night fever”) is the deity of cholera ( mā-vur or pòk-āvur ). The sacrifice to him is two fowls and many eggs, and is offered at night, on the path outside the village. The whole villa
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Divination and Magic.
Divination and Magic.
The Lodèt is an ordinary woman (not belonging to any particular family or kur ), who feels the divine afflatus , and, when it is upon her, yawns continually and calls out the names and the will of the gods. Another lodètpī is summoned in to question her, and ascertain if her possession is really divine; a sàng-kelàng ābàng may also be consulted. If the report is favourable, a purificatory offering of a fowl is made to Hèmphū and Mukràng, the preservers of men, and the woman is accepted as a lodè
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Oaths and Ordeals.
Oaths and Ordeals.
The funeral is the most elaborate, costly, and important of all the ceremonies performed by the Mikirs. Such ceremonies are considered obligatory in all cases except that of a child who has been born dead, or who has died before the after-birth has left the mother; such a child is buried without any ceremony. Victims of small-pox or cholera are buried shortly after death, but the funeral service is performed for them later on, the bones being sometimes dug up and duly cremated. When a person is
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Funeral Ceremonies.
Funeral Ceremonies.
The uchēpī has now prepared all the food. The obòkpī takes the beer-gourd on her back, and one egg in her hand, and the uchēpī a beer-gourd, and they break the egg and the gourd against the tèlē as it lies upon the house-ladder ( dòndòn ). The duhuidī tolls the drum, and dancing as before takes place on the hòng and in the kàm , but not with the serōsōs . The uchēpī and the obòkpī then go on to the burning-place. The tèlē is now taken up by the old men into the house, and the corpse tied to it a
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Festivities.
Festivities.
1 This name, which means “Jòm or Yama’s town,” is often incorrectly written Chomarong or Chumarong. ↑ 2 Sentences enclosed in quotation marks were so written by Mr. Stack, and are probably the ipsissima verba of his informants. ↑ 3 Sir Joseph Hooker ( Himalayan Journals , ed. 1855, vol. ii. p. 182) relates that at the Donkia Pass, one of his servants, a Lepcha, being taken ill, “a Lama of our party offered up prayers to Kinchinjhow for his recovery.” Perching a saddle on a stone, and burning i
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1. Story of a Frog.
1. Story of a Frog.
The Raja said, “Oh, then that frog caused the mischief,” and summoned the frog. “O frog, frog! what did you jump on the squirrel’s ladder and break it for?” The frog answered, “How was I to help it? A big black ant bit me sharply in the loins, and with the pain of the bite, not knowing what I was doing, I jumped on the squirrel’s ladder and broke it.” Again the Raja said, “Oh, it was the ant that caused all the trouble,” and summoned the ant. “O ant, ant! what did you bite the frog in the loins
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2. Story of an Orphan and his Uncles.
2. Story of an Orphan and his Uncles.
When they got there, lo! they saw the orphan again, not dead at all, wearing the king’s son’s clothes, necklace, and bracelets, splendidly adorned and decked out as you could not imagine! They said one to another, “The orphan is not dead after all! There he is, decked out and strutting in his finery!” They went up to him and asked, “Nephew, how is it that you arrived here so soon?” The orphan answered, “Oh, uncles, my grandmothers and grandfathers sent me back here in a pālkī very quickly. Immed
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3. Story of Harata Kunwar
3. Story of Harata Kunwar
So one year came to an end. “O Granny, I say to myself, ‘I will go home’; what am I to do?” said Harata Kunwar. “Sure, you have your own house, you have your own field; you can go if you like; nevertheless your wife is not yet entirely at one with you here.” “Nay, but,” said Harata Kunwar, “is it not a whole year (since we were married), granny?” “Nevertheless, you have not come to perfect agreement yet.” “Oh, then,” said Harata Kunwar, “I cannot go yet.” So Harata Kunwar stayed there, working i
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APPENDIX. THE LEGEND OF CREATION.
APPENDIX. THE LEGEND OF CREATION.
1 “Gourd”: the word hànthār in the original is explained by Mr. Stack as the name of “a creeper, with a fruit as big as a small pumpkin, with a hard kernel in soft rind; the kernel is the size of a mango-stone; the marrow inside is in two slices; when washed, it loses its bitter taste, and can be fried, oil exuding. It is a favourite dish with the Mikirs.” It is, therefore, not really a gourd, but I am unable to identify the species. ↑ 2 “Sparrow”: vo-ār-bipi , explained as a small bird, the si
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Sounds.
Sounds.
ō , the long o in bone ; o , the same shortened, as in obey ; ò , the sharp abrupt sound in pot (always in closed syllables); ū , the long u in June ; u , the short u in full . The diphthongs are— ai , as in aisle ; ei , almost as in feign , with the i audible; oi , as in boil ; ui , long ū with i added: no English equivalent. The consonants used in Mikir are b , ch , d , h , j , k , l , m , n , ng , p , r , s , t , v (all with their value as in English), and the aspirates kh , ph , th (pronounc
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Monosyllabic Roots.
Monosyllabic Roots.
Gender is not distinguished except for animated beings, and in them either (1) by added words indicating sex (as sō-pō , “boy,” sō-pī , “girl”; āsō-pinsō , “male child”; āsō-pī , “daughter”; chainòng-ālō , “bull”; chainòng-āpī , “cow”), or (2) by the use of different terms ( pō , “father,” pē or pei , “mother,” phū , “grandfather,” phī , “grandmother,” etc.)....
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Gender.
Gender.
The ordinary suffix for the plural is -tum (which is originally a separate word meaning “company,” “followers”); but other words are occasionally employed, as mār , a “mass, quantity, or company”; òng , “many”; and lī , a respectful form used in addressing a number of persons. When -tum is suffixed to a noun, it takes the prefixed ā- of relation, as ārlèng-ātum , “men”; when added to a personal pronoun it does not require this adjunct, as will be explained below ( nē , “I,” nē-tum , “we”; nàng ,
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Number.
Number.
Case is indicated by position, or by postpositions. The nominative, and, generally speaking, the accusative, have no postpositions, but are ascertained by their position in the sentence, the nominative at the beginning, the accusative following it before the verb. Both, when necessary, can be emphasised by the addition of the particles -kē and -sī , which in some sort play the part of the definite article; but these are not case-postpositions. There is no device (as in Tibetan) for distinguishin
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Case.
Case.
Adjectives are regularly formed by prefixing ke- , ki- , or kā- to the root, and do not change for gender, number, or case. Thus, from the root mē , “to be good,” we have kemē , “good”; hēlō , “distance,” kāhēlō , “far off”; dòk , “to have savour,” kedòk , “savoury”; hō , “to be bitter,” kehō , “bitter”; lòk , “to be white,” kelòk , “white”; rī , “to be rich, ” kirī , “rich.” Ke- and ki- are generally used with monosyllables, kā- with longer words; kā- with ing- forms kàng . The form of the adje
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Adjectives.
Adjectives.
The cardinal numerals are īsī , one; hīnī , two; kethòm , three; philī , four; phòngō , five; theròk , six; theròk-sī , seven; nērkèp , eight; sirkèp , nine; kèp , ten. It will be seen that seven is six plus one, eight ten minus two, nine ten minus one. From eleven to nineteen krē takes the place of kèp : krē-īsī , eleven; krē-hīnī , twelve; krē-kethòm , thirteen, etc. A score is ingkoi , and from this point onwards the syllable rā is inserted between the multiple of ten and the added units: ing
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Numerals.
Numerals.
with globular things, as an egg, a gourd, a vessel, pum : as vo-tī pum-nī , “two eggs”; bòng pum-theròksī , “seven gourds”; with parts of the body, and also with rings, bracelets, and other ornaments, hòng : as kèng ē-hòng , “one leg”; roi hòng-nī , “two bracelets.” One of anything is not formed with īsī , but, if a person is spoken of, īnut (a Khasi loan-word) is used: if anything else, ē- is prefixed to the generic determinative; “one cow,” chainòng ē-jòn ; “one tree,” thèngpī ē-ròng ; “one bo
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Pronouns.
Pronouns.
As in other Tibeto-Burman languages, there is no relative pronoun ; its place is taken by descriptive adjectival phrases. Thus “those six brothers who had gone to sell cow’s flesh” is— “The man whom Tenton had tied with an iron chain” is— In these constructions, it will be seen, the adjective or qualifying participle precedes the noun. The interrogative syllable, used to form interrogative pronouns , is ko- : komàt , komàt-sī , who? kopī , pī , what? ko-pu , ko-pu-sī , kolopu , kolopu-sòn , how?
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Verbs.
Verbs.
A compound future may be formed by adding to the root with -jī the words dòkdòk-lo : lā thī-jī dòkdòk-lo , “he is just about to die”; àn chō-jī dòkdòk-lo , “it is near breakfast-time” (rice-eating); àn īk-jī dòkdòk-lo , “the rice is nearly all done.” A doubtful future may be expressed by -jī added to the present participle: konàt chainòng ā-òk-sī dàk-sī kedo-jī , “where should cow’s flesh be here?” From the above it will be seen that there is much indefiniteness in the indications of time afford
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I.
I.
This simple and direct narrative, easy of analysis, affords an excellent illustration of the mechanism of Mikir speech. First, we observe that the indication of time is put at the beginning of the sentence: ārnī-sī , “one day”; ādàp , “in the morning.” Then follows the subject, then the object, and last the verb, with all its qualifications. The most frequent conjunction is ànsī , “and, so,” which appears to be made up of àn , the particle indicating quantity, and sī , the particle indicating lo
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II.
II.
Here we have a narrative of a more complex character than that of the first story, with a richer vocabulary, and abounding in the descriptive adverbial particles which are the main feature of the language. Jàngrē , orphan: sō is a diminutive particle. Jàngrē indicates that one parent is dead; jàngrèng is used when neither survives. Inut , a loan-word from the Khasi ngut , used for the enumeration of persons: in Mikir initial ng is inadmissible. Hèm-ēpī , widow, literally, “sole mistress of the h
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NOTES.
NOTES.
Làng , water, stream: làng-thàk up-stream, lāng-bēr down-stream. Che- prefixed to verbs gives them a reflexive meaning, and indicates that the action relates to the subject; hèm che-voi-lo , “he went home, to his own house”; che-pu-lo , “they said to one another ”; rū che-vàt-dàm-lo , “they went to inspect their own fish-trap.” Chikung , a cray-fish; chikàng is an imitative sequent; similarly phàng-ō , carelessly, is followed by phàng-ā . Jàng , as a verb, means to fill up, or, of the containing
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III.
III.
This story is a much more elaborate piece of composition than the last, and may be said to exhibit distinct marks of literary style. Its vocabulary is copious and varied, and it makes large use of a device which is employed in Mikir, as in Khasi, 3 to give amplitude to the phrase by duplicating the leading words; nearly every important term has its doublet, with the same meaning, following it. Āmehàng-kethèk-pèn-āpārā : āmehàng-kethèk , “to see the face,” is equivalent to “being born”; pèn and ā
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NOTES.
NOTES.
An-tàngtē , “and also,” literally, “so much not finished.” Pherē nàng-nē : nàng is the verb of necessity, nē the negative particle: “there is no need for fear.” Promàn , “proof,” Ass. Chitū , the plant called in Assamese puroi-sāk , Basella lucida ; its fruit has a red juice. Ārlèng ki-ī , “a sleeping man”: observe that ārlèng here evidently means a human being in general (see note, p. 4 ). Àn-chō-mèk-bur : see note, p. 96 . Vàng-noi ; noi is a variant of nòn , imperative particle. Chīr-ēpàk : “
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Additional Notes.
Additional Notes.
The place of the Mikirs in the Tibeto-Burman family. Some idea of the mental equipment of the Arlengs will have been gathered from the two preceding sections. It has been seen that, within the limited circle of their experience, they possess a medium of expression which may be described as adequate to their needs, well knit together in its mechanism, and copious in concrete terms, though, like all such languages, wanting in the abstract and general. Their folk-tales are lively and effective as n
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Adjectives.
Adjectives.
The above list exhibits all the coincidences which could be found on a search through the vocabulary appended to Mr. Endle’s Kachāri grammar, and it will be seen that the agreement is not extensive. The words in which Tibeto-Burman languages agree most widely with one another are perhaps those for water and village ; for the former dī , tī , tui , dzü , zu , jī , chī , and other similar forms, all apparently identical with the Tibetan chhu and the Turki su , run through the whole family: for the
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Nouns.
Nouns.
A few words from Lushei may be added, for which Southern Chin does not appear to possess corresponding terms:— These close and numerous correspondences between Mikir and the Kuki-Chin family appear to warrant the conclusion that the former is intimately connected with the latter. The institutions of the southern tribes, as already pointed out, confirm this conclusion; and it may be asserted with some confidence that no such extensive affinity can be proved between Mikir and the Boṛo family. As r
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Verbs.
Verbs.
1 Reference may here be made to a summary of the Gospel history in Mikir entitled Birtā Kemē , “Glad tidings,” published by the American Baptist Mission Press, Tika, Nowgong, in 1904. ↑ 2 This seems to have taken place in or about 1765 A.D. See Gait, History of Assam, p. 181. ↑ 3 Words resembling kèp are found for ten in some of the pronominalized languages of the lower Himalayas of Nepal; but these do not enter into our present field of comparison. ↑ 4 Lepcha khā , Khaling khāl , are probabl
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BIBLIOGRAPHY.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
4. Notes on Northern Cachar , by Lieut. R. Stewart. J.A.S.B., vol. xxiv. (1855), pp. 582–701. This treatise is an excellent account of the various tribes inhabiting the tract. The Mikirs are dealt with at pp. 604–607. There is a full and useful comparative vocabulary at pp. 658–675 of more than 400 words, besides verbal and adverbial forms, in Manipuri, Hill Kachāri (Dīmāsā), New Kuki (Thado), Angāmi Naga, Arung Naga (or Ēmpēo), Old Kuki (Bētē), and Mikir. This is much the most important evidenc
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Corrections
Corrections
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