People

The Slave system 

Aka society freely entertains the idea of slavery. The slaves are known as Khulo. The khulo have to till the soil, look after the palm and the jhum-field, the cattle and the house hold and do all such menial jobs as their masters may entrust them.

Ways of punishment

The ordeal 

Where a case of suspected black magic or murder is brought to the notice of the village council and where the suspect denies the charges, it may arrange an ordeal to decide the case. To the Akas, the most common way of practicing the ordeal is to ask the suspect to put  his hands into boiling water.

Water is boiled in a vessel with the head of a snake or piece of skin of tiger or panther in it. The culprit is then asked to put his hands into the boiling water which might have been poisoned. If the culprit can bring himself out of the ordeal triumphantly, without injury to his hands, he proves himself innocent of the crime with which he is charged and is set free from the clutches of the tribal law. If on the other hand, burns appear on his hand, he is supposed to have succumbed to be ordeal  and thus is proved guilty of the charge beyond doubt. He is required to abide by the decision of the council which may require him to pay some adequate compensation to the sufferer. But in either case he has to give a feast to the village community.

In the Aka society, there are gods, deities and spirits who rule over man kinds. The Aka people periodically worship these super natural powers and try to appease them by sacrificing pigs, mithuns, chickens etc, in the form of festival where all the people get together to grace such occasion.

Supreme among the Aka deities is 'Teharo', who looks after the human beings and protect the cattle. The propitiation of the deity is made at least once in a year when sacrifices are offered along with the prayers.

Magic 

Among most of the tribal communities the initiative magic is common. The popular method of magic among the Akas is called Shizou. A man who has a quarrel with some person and is overwhelmed with a feeling of revenge and if he is a little versed in magical knowledge may take resort to this form of magic. He may slaughter a dog and take out its blood. He sprinkles the blood up on his enemy without being detected or throw a few drops of blood into his enemy's house or burn them in his enemy's hearth. If the magic bears result, the person is supposed to lose his life.      

Another common type is Fakhu-sisto-charsa magic. The man searches for teeth of any of the wild animals such as tiger, panther, bear or a snake. The magician may put the teeth over the foot prints of the person on whom he wishes to aim his black magic. It is supposed that the species of the animal whose teeth may have been used would kill the person.