ch. in	THE  OLD KUKI  CLANS	149
among the New ones. A headman called the' ghalim' is appointed
by themselves over each village, but he is much more a priest than
a potentate, and his temporal power is much limited. Internal
administration among them always takes a provisional form.
When any par by considers himself aggrieved, he makes an
appeal to the elders, or the most powerful householders in the
village, by inviting them to dinner and plying them with
victuals and wine."
Among the clans which settled early in Manipur, each
village has been provided with a number of officials with high-
sounding titles and little power, in imitation of the Manipur
system. Among those who have settled in British territory the
ghalim has been transformed into the " gaonbura"—^e.,, head of
the village—and has acquired a certain amount of authority,
whilst among the Khawtlang and Khawchhak clans, which after
various vicissitudes, including a more or less lengthy sojourn
among the Lushais, recently entered Manipur territory, the
ghalim has become a feeble imitation of a Lushai lal.
11
The Old KuJci Clans of Manipur.
Under this heading I propose dealing with the Aimol, Anal,
Chawte, Chiru, Kolhen, Kom, Lamgang, Purum, Tikhup, and
Vaiphei, who are now found in various parts of the hills
bordering the Manipur valley, and who resemble each other in
very many respects. In spite of this resemblance, the clans,
while acknowledging their relationship to one another, keep
entirely apart, living in separate villages and never inter-
marrying*
In the Manipur chronicle the Chiru and Anal are mentioned
as early as the middle of the sixteenth century, while the
Aimol make their first appearance in 1723. They are said to
have come from Tipperah, but at that time the eastern
boundary of Tipperah was not determined, and the greater
part of the present Lushai Hills district was supposed to be
more or less under the control of the Rajah of that State. A
short distance to the east of Aijal there is a village site called
Vai-tui-chhun—i.e., the watering place of the Vai—which is said
to commemorate a former settlement of the Vaiphei. It
seems probable, therefore, that the Aimol and Vaiphei left