The People

Customs of Lushai Society

Lushai Customs Regarding Marriage

Woman's Property

A woman would invariably have some property of her own. She would also get dowry from her parents (thuam) during the marriage.

There were other properties belonging exclusively to women. Women invariably possessed a puanpui, a thick cotton blanket and a thual, a basket for keeping clothes.  The bride would take these two things with her to her husbands house. If she did not carry these to the husbands' house and the husband had to purchase the items or if she made them in the husband's house, her bride price would be reduced by a tlai. Other exclusive possessions of a woman, known as hmei chhe bangura consisted of puans (ordinary cloth), thembes (weaving machine) hmui (spindle), phurkhlan (various kinds of baskets used for a woman's everyday work), tingduang (blue threads) and thi-nghawng-thlun (bead necklaces).

There were occasions when one would go over to a woman's place and live with her as husband and wife without going through the usual marriage ceremonies. He would be called fan. This was regarded as disgraceful for the man. In case of subsequent marriage to compensate for her disgrace the bride price would be reduced by a tlai. The opposite also would happen when a woman would go over to a man's place and live together, which was known as luhkhung.

There were cases of marriage by elopement when a young man and a girl in love would secretly go to some other village and get married without going through the usual formalities. This was called tlanduan. This was regarded as disgraceful for the girl and her bride price would be increased by a tlai if the marriage was subsequently regularised.

Sazumeidawh was a form of marriage without any bride price. In such  case a man would be free to divorce her without incurring any penalty. Hence such marriage was disadvantageous to the girl. Mostly, orphan girls or daughters of widows would agree to such a marriage. The wife also would be free to leave the husband and he could not claim any compensation.

There was system of payment of a sort of earnest money, called sebomawh, when the bonafide of the man marrying would be in doubt. A payment of forty rupees as sebomawh could be claimed when, for example, a man wanting to marry a girl could be suspected of deserting her after marriage, by paying only a part of the bride price. Hence to ensure long duration of marriage parents of girl could demand sebomawh, before allowing the marriage. This was in addition to bride price and could not be claimed back by the husband, excepting in case of adultery by the wife.

Under the custom called makpa hnamhrual chat in case of death of the wife, the husband could marry a second time and pay for the first installment of the  second wife's bride price, but before he could pay any further amount, he was obliged to pay the balance of the bride price to the relations of the deceased wife.  In default, his property could be seized by such entitled persons for payment of the due amount.

A woman was called thisenpal when she had children by the husband.  She was thisenpallo, if she did not have any child. If a thisenpallo died, her relations could not demand the unpaid bride price.

A man was allowed to keep a concubine (hmei). But generally, only a chief or a rich person could afford to keep a hmei. The conditions of bride price, divorce, etc. were exactly the same for a hmet as in case of a married wife. But generally, a chief would pay less price for a hmei, as some fathers would be eager to have their daughters as hmeis to the chiefs, for the advantage of being a friend to the chief and having an easy time in the village.

In some cases instead of paying bride price, the man would agree to provide life long support to some close relation like mother or sister of the bride. This custom was called manaia inchawm. In case he refused to support after agreement, he would have to pay the price, reduced by corresponding amount for the support already provided.

By the custom of mupui pawikhauich, the compensation payable by a woman for an offence committed by her would be paid by her husband or parents or brothers, depending in the type of offence.  If it was a theft of thingthul, woman's property, her parents or brothers would pay the fine. If the husband paid it, he could reduce the bride price to the extend of the fine paid by him. Similarly in some cases of offences against women, the fine realised would go to the brothers and in some other cases like beating of the woman or defaming her, the fine would go to the husband.

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