in THE OLD KUKI CLANS 175

in the case of old men, whose corpses are kept for a day while
their friends eat, drink, and dance before them. Whatever
animals can be spared are killed in the honour of the deceased,,
and their sherh are buried with him, together with some rice.
Every day till the " Papek " feast, in honour of those who have
died within the year, rice and zu are placed on the grave. At
Papek a platform of bamboo is constructed near the cemetery,,
and on it are placed such offering of flesh as the family
can afford; much zu is drunk and all dance. The Ronte
Sakhua sacrifice consists of a goat, dogs and mithan being
prohibited.

Although the Tarau, from their language, are evidently
closely allied to the Lushais, they are the only Old Kuki clan I
have met which does not worship Pathian. They denied all
knowledge of that name, affirming the name of their god was
"Rapu," to whom the Manipuri name of " Sankhulairenma " has
been given. Rapu has a shrine just above the Burma road
near to Tegnopal, where every year fish, rice, and zu are offered
to him. When the rice begins to fill in the ear there is a five
days' feast in the village, during which time the young people
dance and drink. A pig is killed, and the liver, ears, feet, and
snout are offered to Rapu. These are called " sar " (of. Lushai
"sherh"). Before the cutting of jhums commences a small
pig or a fowl is sacrificed to Rapu so that no one may be cut
with a dao during the clearing of the jhums. Dogs are not
eaten or sacrificed by the Tarau or the Ronte; the latter also
consider the mithan unfit for a sacrifice. In these particulars
they form an exception to the general custom of Kuki
clans.

The Ronte have a feast called " Va-en-la," which is given with
the idea of enhancing the giver's importance in this world and
assuring him comfort in the next. A pig is killed and thirty
pots of zu are prepared, and the whole village makes merry.
A long bamboo is planted in front of the house of the giver of
the feast. Throughout its length this bamboo is transfixed
with crosspieces of bamboo about 18 inches long; from its end
depends a bamboo representation of a bird, whence the name
of the feast—"va," in Ronte, as in Lushai, meaning "a bird," and
" en," «to see."