The Mikir people proper—that is, those who continue to live in the hills—are divided into three sections, called ChintÒng, RÒnghÀng, and Amri. In the days of the migration eastward from the Kopili region, Amri stayed behind, or loitered, and ChintÒng and RÒnghÀng waited for him as they moved from stage to stage. At last, on arriving at the Dhansiri river, ChintÒng and RÒnghÀng resolved to be only two sections in future. The laggard Amri afterwards arrived, but was not received back into full fellowship. He has no honour at the general festivals, and in the distribution of rice-beer at feasts he gets no gourd for himself, but has to drink from those of the other two. These are the conditions as they exist in the Mikir Hills and Nowgong (Duar Baguri); in Ni-hÀng, however (the region of the Kopili), Amri is on an equality with the others. The Mikir Hills are chiefly inhabited by the ChintÒng section, North Cachar and the hilly parts of Nowgong by the RÒnghÀng, and the Khasi and Jaintia Hills by Amri; but individuals of all three are found dwelling among the others.

These names, however, do not indicate true tribal divisions, supposed to be derived from a common ancestor and united in blood, and are probably in reality local- or place-names. Amri, in particular, seems to be a Khasi river-name, and RÒnghÀng is the legendary site of SÒt Recho’s capital. The real tribal exogamous divisions run through all three, and are called kur (a Khasi word: Assamese, phoid). Each of the three sections of the race has within it the same kurs, and the individuals belonging to these kurs, whether in ChintÒng, RÒnghÀng, or Amri, observe the same rules of exogamy.

The number and names of the kurs, or exogamous groups, are differently given by different authorities. The differences appear to be partly explained by the fact that one authority has taken for a principal group-name what another has entered as a sub-group under another larger section. In an appendix will be found the grouping according to several different authorities. Here the data given by Mr. Stack, who appears to have relied chiefly on information obtained in Duar Baguri, are reproduced.

He found that the people recognized four kurs, called respectively Ingti, TerÀng,1 LÈkthe, and Timung, under which the smaller groups (also called kur) are ranged thus—

• I. Ingti.

  (1) Taro. (2) Katar.

  (3) HÈnsÈk. (4) InglÈng.

• II. TerÀng.

  (1) Be. (2) Kro.

  (3) Ingjar.

• III. LÈkthe.

  (1) HÀnse. (2) Tutso.

  (3) BÒngrun. (4) KrÀmsa.

• IV. Timung.

  (1) TÒkbi. (2) SÈngnar.

  (3) RÒngphar.

As already mentioned, these kurs are exogamous: an individual belonging to kur Ingti must go outside that kur for his wife; and similarly TerÀng, LÈkthe, and Timung cannot marry wives drawn from within the kur. The sub-groups are, of course, as parts of the larger groups, also exogamous; and it is easy to perceive how one informant may count as a principal group-division what another may regard as a sub-division. All the kurs are now socially on an equality, and have no scruples as to eating together or intermarriage; their traditional rank is, however, as given above. Ingti is said to have been in former times the priestly clan (Ass. gohain?); TerÀng also claims this dignity, but is thought to be of lower rank; but in both cases the office has fallen entirely into desuetude. LÈkthe is said to have been the military clan, while Timung represented the rest of the people.

The Mikirs who settled in the plains of Nowgong and took to plough cultivation are called Dumrali by the Mikirs and Tholua by the Assamese. They are said to have acted as interpreters to the mission which visited the Ahom king at Sibsagar. They also have the same kurs as the other three sections of hill Mikirs.

The children are counted to their father’s kur, and cannot marry within it. They may, however, marry their first cousins on the mother’s side, and indeed this appears to have been formerly the most usual match. This absence of matriarchal institutions strongly marks off the Mikirs from the Khasis, from whom they have in other respects borrowed much.

The following are common personal names among the Mikirs:—

It is said that no meaning is attached to these names; that is, they are not given because of any meaning which they may possess. (It is evident that many of them have a meaning: e.g. Bi is a goat, LÒng a stone, Pator is a village official among the Khasis, Bura is Assamese for “an old man,” Tamoi is probably the Assamese for the betel-nut (tamol.) Sotera may be corrupted from sangtara, orange.) The prefix Ka- in women’s names is manifestly taken from Khasi usage. There are no surnames, but the name of the kur is used to distinguish one individual from another, as MÒn LÈkthe, MÒn Timung.

The age for marriage is from fourteen to twenty-five for the man, ten to fifteen for the girl; eighteen or nineteen and fifteen are the most usual ages. Child marriage is unknown. If a young man fancies a girl (from meeting her at dances and the like), he sends one or both parents to her father’s house, and if the girl’s parents agree, the lad’s father leaves a betrothal ring or bracelet with the girl (this is called ke-roi-dun); sometimes a gourd of rice beer is taken and accepted, and in that case, if she subsequently marries another, the village council fine her family 25 to 35 rupees; otherwise only the betrothal ring or bracelet is returned. The length of the engagement is uncertain, but the actual marriage does not take place till after puberty. When the marriage day is fixed, both families prepare beer and spirits; if the bridegroom is rich, he provides drink for the whole country-side (hÒr-hÀk hÒr-tibuk). The bridegroom’s party, giving a gourd of beer to each village they pass through, arrive at the bride’s house in the evening. There they sit awhile, and then offer one gourd of beer and one glass bottle of spirits to the bride’s father on the hÒng. A colloquy ensues: the bride’s father asks the bridegroom’s why they have come, and why these offerings. He answers, “Your sister (i.e. the wife of the speaker) is becoming old and cannot work, so we have brought our son to marry your daughter.” (The custom formerly was that a boy must marry his first cousin on the mother’s side, and if he did not, the maternal uncle could beat the lad as much as he liked; but now they can do as they please.) The reply follows: “My daughter is unworthy, she does not know weaving and other household work.” “Never mind, we will teach her ourselves.” The bride’s father then asks his wife to enquire of the girl if she will take the lad; without her consent the beer and spirits cannot be accepted. If the wife reports consent, the beer and spirits are drunk by the two fathers. Sometimes they sit the whole night before the girl’s consent is obtained. If any knowing old men are there, they sing in two parties: “We cannot send our daughter to your house!” “We cannot leave our boy to stay with you!” When the question of consent is settled, all eat together. Then the bride prepares the bed inside the house for the bridegroom, in the kÀm; in the tibung (see plan2) if there is room: if not, in the thÈngthÒr; but if the lad is ashamed, he sends one of his garments to take his place in the bed.

What follows depends upon the wealth and standing of the parties. If the wedding is akejoi—that is, if no payment is to be made for the bride—the girl goes with her husband next day to her new home. Her parents accompany her, and are entertained with food and drink, returning the following day. If the wedding is akemÈn (literally, ripe, pakka), the lad stays in his father-in-law’s house. He rests one day, and then works for his father-in-law for a year, or two years, or even it may be for life, according to agreement. There is no money payment in any case. If the girl is an heiress or only daughter, the marriage is usually akemÈn; but in the great majority of cases it is akejoi. The neighbours of both villages assemble at the marriage, and when the bride goes to her husband’s house, the neighbours of the village accompany her and are hospitably entertained.

Before marriage it was reported, when Mr. Stack made his enquiries, that there was little intercourse between the sexes. Seduction rarely occurred, but when it did, the parents of the girl had to give her to the lad in marriage. It was not punished. Old men, however, could remember (1885) when the terÀng or “bachelors’ house” used to be the abode not only of the lads, but also of the maids, and illegitimate births were common. The girls used even to work in the fields with the boys; there was not even a matron to look after them!

After marriage adultery is said to be rare. The case is judged by the me, or village council, who inflict a fine. The guilty pair are tied up and exposed to the scorn of the neighbours until the fine is paid by the man. Adultery was never capitally punished. After the fine is paid, the husband has to take his wife back, unless there are no children, when he might refuse to do so. The fine is not given to the offended husband, but distributed among the elders who compose the me.

The authorities differ on the question whether more than one wife is allowed. When Mr. Stack wrote, in 1883, the chapter on “Castes and Tribes” in the Report on the Assam Census of 1881, he stated that “polygamy is permitted if a man can afford it.” His subsequent notes of 1885–86, however, record that monogamy is the rule, and no one is allowed to marry two wives. Mr. W. C. M. Dundas, Subdivisional Officer of North Cachar, writing in 1903, says that an ArlÈng may marry only one wife. On the other hand, the Rev. P. E. Moore, who has a long experience of the Mikirs, writing in 1902, says, “Polygamy is not common. A man sometimes takes a second wife. In one instance which came to my notice recently the two wives were married on the same day. The man is usually fined Rs. 12.8 for this irregularity. The father of a boy who is now in my service had six wives, and was not punished at all.”3 Perhaps it may be concluded that monogamy is the general rule, and that cases of polygamy have occurred in consequence of the effect of the example of the Assamese, and the weakening of tribal sanctions.

The young couple live in the bridegroom’s father’s house. The old people often get separate rooms allotted to them as they advance in life, and are supported in idleness.

Widow marriage is allowed. Divorce is rare, but permissible if there is no offspring, or if the girl goes home after marriage and refuses to return to her husband. In that case the husband takes a gourd of beer to her parents and declares himself free. Both parties, after the divorce, can marry again.

[Note by Editor.

The following list of Mikir words for family relationship has some points of interest:—

The remarkable point about these names is that most of them are the same for both sexes, and that the sexes are distinguished only by words indicating gender where this is required. Po is the index for the male, pi that for the female.

Again, the same word appears to be used in different senses: e.g. Òng is maternal uncle, but Òng-so (so is the syllable indicating a diminutive) is the wife’s brother, the “little uncle;” osa is both nephew (sister’s son) and son-in-law (pointing to the custom of intermarriage of first cousins on the mother’s side). Te is sister, but tepi (pi indicates greatness) is brother’s wife. Similarly, kÒr is sister (or brother), kÒrpi is wife’s sister, kÒrpo sister’s husband.

It will be observed that brothers and sisters, and brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, use different forms of address when speaking of their relationship inter se.

The whole subject seems to demand further investigation, in the light of comparison with the system of family grouping in other allied tribes, and the history and etymology, so far as it is possible to ascertain them, of the words indicating relationship.]

The sons inherit; if there are none, the brothers; after them the deceased’s nearest agnate of his own kur. The wife and daughters get nothing. But if the deceased has no sons or brothers, the widow can retain the property by marrying into her husband’s kur. In any case she retains her personal property, ornaments, clothes, etc. If the widow will not surrender the property, the case has to come before the me.

The eldest son gets somewhat more than the others on the father’s death. Generally, however, the property is divided beforehand by the father, who often prefers one son to another. The family usually continues to dwell together, the grown-up sons supporting the widowed mother. Adoption is unknown.

Villages have no fixed or recognized boundaries, but are moved from place to place according to the needs of cultivation. Only house-tax is paid, except by Mikirs cultivating land with the plough in the submontane tracts, who are treated in all respects like other Assamese raiyats. In the hills the culturable land, at the first settlement of a village in a new locality, is divided among the householders by the me, or village council, presided over by the gaon?bura, the head of each household choosing his own land for cultivation, and any dispute being referred to the me. Should the dispute not be settled in this manner, the majority prevails, and the dissident households, if they do not acquiesce, may remove elsewhere and set up for themselves as a new community with a gaon?bura of their own.

The following are the Mikir mauzas, or territorial divisions including a number of villages, in the Nowgong district:—

Duar Baguri, Duar Bamuni, Duar Salona, RÒngkhÀng, Duar Amla Parbat, Duar Dikhoru, Duar Kothiatali, Jamuna-par, LÀngpher, Lumding Mikir. The last two are new mauzas, the opening-out of which is due to the Assam-Bengal Railway, which traverses the tract. Each mauza has a Mikir mauzadar or bikhoya.

The decision of disputes is the business of the village me, or council,4 presided over by the gaon?bura (Mikir, sar-the). The me is composed of all the male householders. The gaon?bura is chosen for his personal character by the householders. On election, he repairs, with beer and spirits, to the head gaon?bura or mauzadar, bringing with him two or three other gaon?buras. A pig is killed, the company eat and drink together, and the gaon?bura is declared duly elected. The me is summoned by the gaon?bura. It decides all village disputes, and inflicts small fines. It also determines whether the village shall be shifted, and where it shall be removed to. A me-pi (“great council”) consists of gaon?buras only, presided over by a mauzadar or head gaon?bura. Graver matters, such as charges of adultery, witchcraft aimed at life (maja kechÒnghoi), tigers in the mauza, questions affecting the mauza at large, the arrangements for the RÒngker or annual village festival, and such like, are referred to the me-pi.

The Mikirs have never been a warlike race, nor are there any traditions of inter-village feuds. Head-hunting has not been practised, but the tribe have often been the victim of raids for this purpose by their neighbours, the Angami Nagas. There are said to have formerly been vendettas between families.

During the Burmese wars in the early part of the last century, the tribe deserted its settlements in the submontane tract, and fled into the higher hills. Many Assamese are reported to have taken refuge with them during this time, and to have become Mikirs. [Mr. Dundas also mentions that in North Cachar outsiders are admitted into the tribe and are enrolled as members of one of the kurs, after purification by one of the Be-kuru kur (Mr. Stack’s Be and Kro, sub-kurs of TerÀng). In the group opposite, taken from a photograph supplied by Mr. Dundas, the short man is evidently a Khasi, while the man to his left appears to be an Assamese.]

The Mikirs call their Kachari neighbours ParÒk, the Mikir pronunciation of Boro (in the allied dialect of Tipperah borÒk means “man”); the Assamese are AhÒm, the Bengalis BÒngnai (BÒngnai-adin, “British rule”), the Nagas Naka. The Khasis generally are called ChomÀng, the border race of Khasis, adjoining the Kopili or Kupli river, being ChomÀng-Keche. Keche is, no doubt, equivalent to Khasi, the vowel-change being the same as in Recho for Raja.