The People

Customs of Lushai Society

Religion

Like other tribal people, the Lushais followed a religion which could be called animism.

The Lushais believed that there was a guardian angel for each clan or family. Sacrifice of this spirit (sakhua) was the most important one in a Lushai's life. It was the sakhua who built up, protected and cared for the family. Women were considered to have no sakhua of their own. It was the sakhua of her parents or husband which was responsible for her continued welfare and existence. Children look after the sakhua of their fathers.  If one neglected this sacrifice, sakhua would become angry and he would withdraw his protection. The family would then be move vulnerable to the attacks of evil spirits.  Frequent illness in the family was also an indication that  sakhua had been neglected.  When the sacrifice was made, only the very nearest relatives of the clan could share in the feast that followed.  It was, therefore, a sort of fellowship meal of the clan with their sakhua whose share of cooked meat and rice was placed in a basket on top of the house. The sakhua had eat his meal during the night and what remained in the morning could be removed and eaten by the family next morning. No Mizo would embrace the sakhua of another people unless he was sure that the new sakhua would be powerful enough to protect him from these evil spirits.

Apart from the spirit for the clan and the family, there were also spirits guiding the individuals who were called Khaltu.  These spirits were responsible for the welfare of the individuals. Every living creature was believed to have a thla who would stay inside the body of a living being. The thla would leave at death and then it would be called thlarau or spirit of the creature. To see that thla has normal relationship with Khaltu, proper sacrifices must be made.  This would be necessary when one died of fright as when attacked by a wild animal.  The thla would also sometimes leave the body and roam about. This happened particularly during illness. Then the thla would be called back to get into the body for a cure.

For curing various diseases in thawina or curing ceremonies would be performed by the puithiam. Anybody could become a puithiam provided he was prepared to learn the chants from established puithiams.  To be a successful puithiam, however, one had to possess certain gifts. One of the tests to find out of the aspirant could become a successful puithiam was to let him guess whether a pinch of rice grains taken at random would contain even or odd numbers. He had to guess correctly seven times out of ten. The puithiams possessed a good knowledge of medicinal herbs but would disclose the most poisonous ones only when they were satisfied that it would not be misused.  The sacrifices were not taken too seriously either. However, after the ceremony was over, no one paid reverence to the sacrificial platform.

Sacrifices

There were different types of sacrifices. Sacrifices offered to huais of homesteads and villages were called khals.  There were khals named after the types of animals sacrificed. Thus vawkte khal was performed, sacrificing a vawk (pig), kel Khal  sacrificing a kel (goat) and ar khal sacrificing an ar (cock).  These three sacrifices were performed soon after marriage. Dawibawl was the sacrifice offered to propitiate the huais in the mountains, rivers and trees. In dawibawl a cock and a hen would be sacrificed outside the village to propitiate the huais of rivers and forests.  A sacrifice particularly for cure from illness was bawlpui in which two clay figures - one of a man and the other of a woman, would be put on a platform and a pig would be killed in front of these figures. The sacrifice to make a woman fertile was called chhim.  The sacrifice was of a white hen killed at the head of the sleeping platform.

There were prescribed ceremonies connected with child birth.  Two days after the birth of a child a feast would be given by the father of the child.  A pu or godfather would be appointed who would give a name to the child.  On the seventh day some fowls would be sacrificed and a second feast would be given.

There were many prescribed sacrifices to ward off illness. Some of these sacrifices would be performed so that the children did not become sick. The sacrifices were : hmar phir (cock and hen killed on the entrance ladder), vaurkte luilam (piglet killed outside the house), uite luilam (puppy killed outside the house), uihaawr (dog killed in front of a platform).

Ai sacrifice was an important sacrifice performed after a man was killed in a raid or an animal was killed in a hunt. In this, a mithun or a goat or a dog would be killed and there would be chanting and dancing. It was believed that the ceremony would give the killer power over the killed man or animal.

There were sacrifices before going for hunting or for jhum. The ram huai had to be propitiated at the start of the jhum. Fowls were killed and the puithiam performed certain ceremonies near the jhum hut of each cultivator.

The lushais believed in a supreme God, called Pathian who was the creator of the world. He was benign to all his creatures and he was the supreme authority deciding the destiny of every one.

The Lushais also believed in life after death. Their belief was that all people after death would go to mithikhua, dead man's village, which they believed was situated near Rih Lake, in Burma. On the other side of mithikhua, ran the mythical pial river, across which was situated pialrah the abode of bliss. Everyone after death would travel to mithikhua.

The Lushai code of religious conduct contained  two basic prohibitions. Hrilh was the concept of no work. While a man would be performing a sacrifice, he was not allowed to do any work on the day of the sacrifice or the day preceding or the day following. Similarly a village could be under hrilh. During this period the people did not move out of the house or the village. Another concept was sherh. A portion of sacrificed animal, generally consisting of the heart, liver, kidney and entrails would be kept reserved for the spirit to whom the sacrifice was made. A house where a sacrifice was done was also considered sherh. No outsider would enter such a house during the prescribed number of days when it was under sherh. Women would also be sherh for a few days after confinement when she would not move out.  There was a similar concept of thianglo which mean certain actions were not to be done. There were taboo.  For example, it was considered thianglo to build a house obstructing a path.

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