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Marriage
price differs from tribe to tribe and is highest among the Semas. The
daughter of the Sema chief gets a fabulous dowry. Part of this given in cash and
part in kind in the form of land, mithun or any other movable or immovable
property. The girls father gives ornaments also to the bride but this is much
less than the dowry received.
The price of a girl also depends upon her
accomplishments, an educated girl will fetch a higher dowry. In the past her
appearance was not an important consideration but today, the boys and girls
alike, have become beauty and fashion conscious.
The Angamis are monogamous. The Semas are polygamous and take
as many wives as they can afford. One of the wives, takes position of
the head wife, though she is not necessarily the first wife. Among the
Lothas a rich man may take a second wife. The Changs may have anything
like four to six wives. Among the Konyaks, the chief may have several
wives and even the exogamous restrictions do not apply to him, but the
commoner must be monogamous. The Khemungans may have any number of wives.
This is due to their strange marriage custom. A Khemungam boy, wanting
to marry a particular girl merely tells his father, brother or other near
relatives of his choice. These people raid the girls house one fine morning
and abduct her. The boy and the girl thereafter live as husband and wife.
There is no question of any dowry.
Divorce is easy in all tribes. Among the Aos it
used to be very common. It was very rare to meet an Ao man or woman who had married only once. The
Sema is less inclined to change his partner because of financial
obligations which it would be invariably entail. In the case of a woman
committing
adultery, the husband could abandon her while he would keep with him the
ornaments brought by the girl at the time of marriage and also claim fine, from
the paramour. If this happened within three years of marriage, the husband could
even demand return of the dowry. If the husband ill-treated the women, she
could separate and demand the return of her personal jewellery. Among the
Khemungans, divorce is as easy as marriage. The girl wanting to separate gets up
early one morning, cleans the house, prepares the food and then just
walks out.
Sex-intrigues are not frowned upon among the non Christian
Nagas. The
Angamis and Chakhesangs have three lines of cowries embroidered on their kilt.
A fourth line signifies powers not in war but love and could denote any of the
following achievements:
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an intrigue with a married woman living with her husband
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a simultaneous intrigue with two girls of the same name
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or with two daughters of one father
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or with a mother and her daughter
An
Ao would not hesitate to make advances to a woman whose husband was away. Among
the Lothas, if the man was going to be away from the village for a long time he
could permit his brother or a near relative from the father's side to co-habit
with her during his absence. In Naga warfare valour was always tempered by
caution. To die in battle was not considered glorious but was disaster for the
spirit of dead warrior and a disgrace for his family. It was believed that the
spirit would remain restless and earth-bound until the victor had died and that
it would then follow him as a slave to the next world. The outright flight
was considered better than the disgraceful fate of death at the hands of
the enemy.
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