22O

THE NON-LUSHEI CLANS

DEATH DUE.1

CHAP.

AMOUNT OF PRICE.

To WHOM PRICE is PAID AND

NAME OF PRICE.

No.
OTHER PARTICULARS IN REGARD TO THE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS OP

Common People.
Ruling Clan.

THE MARA TRIBES.

Ru ............
Rs. 10/- or more. Gong.
Rs- SO/- or more. One Mithan (large).
19
At the death of a wife this price has to be paid as a death due by the husband to the dead

This price is

wife's father or eldest brother as

often nearly as heavy as the " 0-kia."
This price is often nearly as heavy as the

the case may be. At the death of a husband the eldest son of the dead man has

"0-kia.'

to pay the price to his father's

mother's brother (the dead man's

uncle).

If there is no son, the dead

man's brother will pay, and then

the dead man's daughters, when

they marry, their marriage prices

will go to this brother of the

dead man (his nieces' marriage

prices).

If there are no daughters then

he has his dead brother's posses-

sions as a recompense, and he

will also care for the widow

unless she prefers to go to her

own family once again.

i The death-due upon a woman is heavier than that upon a man. The death-due upon a
prosperous man is more than that upon a poor man.

One out of each of the above prices has to be paid by the bridegroom before he is out of debt
for his bride, and it will be found that:—

(1) An ordinary person has to give for his bride about Rs. 153/-, or £10 4s.

(2) One of the ruling clan has to give for his bride about Rs. 671/-, or £44 14s. 8d.
Then at death the death-due must be met, for No. 1, from Rs. 10/-to 20/-, or 13/4 to £1 6s, Sd.

for No. 2, from Rs. SO/- to ISO/-, or £5 6s. 8d. to & 10.

Needless to say, many of these prices are kept on credit, and often have to be met after death
by the son or the son's son, making it a terribly complicated matter on the whole.

May 4th, 1911.

REGINALD A. LORRAIN,
Pioneer Missionary to the Lalchers' or Maras*.

Offences against property and person can generally be settled
by payment of a fine, but the Lakhers have no fixed custom in
such matters, and a person of quality generally takes the law
into his own hands if he considers himself aggrieved.

Head-hunting used to be indulged in and is still practised by
the Lakhers in unadministered tracks. In case of a chiefs
death it was proper to kill someone of a distant village before
drums or gongs were beaten, but it was thought " thianglo " to
bring back the head on such an occasion. As regards
their religious beliefs, the Lakher equivalent of Pathian is
Khazang. Mr. Whalley writes:—"All spirits, with one doubtful
exception to be noted later, whether malignant or benign, are
slaves of the great spirit Khazang or Loitha. Whereas the