CHAPTER IV

THE THADO CLAN

THE term New Kukis, which appears so often in the records
of Cachar and Sylhet in the middle of the last century, and
which has been adopted by Dr. Grierson in the "Linguistic
Survey of India," may be taken as synonymous with the Thado
clan. The clan is a very large one ; Dr. Grierson in the " Lin-
guistic Survey " estimates the numbers as follows:—

In Manipur............... 20,000.

In Naga Hills...... ...... 5,500.

In Cachar Plains............ 5,403.

In Sylhet ......... ...... 534.

Total 31,437.

This estimate omits the members of the clan in North Cachar
Hills and in the unadministered tracts between the Naga Hills
and Manipur on the west and the Upper Chindwin district of
Burma on the east. Allowing for these, we may safely conclude
that the clan now numbers about 37,000 souls.

The clan is divided in a manner exactly similar to the Lushei.
There are four main families, all named after their progenitors,
and these are further sub-divided into many eponymous
branches. The whole clan traces its genealogy back to Thado and
his elder brother Dongel, and beyond them to mythical heroes
who lived below the surface of the ground. The late Colonel
McCulloch, in his most interesting " Account of the Valley of
Manipur," says, " About the names of those previous to Thado
there may be some doubt, but from this great chief, from whom

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