NON MATERLAL CULTURE
OF
THE TANGKHUL
(Based on Anthropological field work)
Introduction
Non material culture is the intangible part of a culture (Tylor, E.B.,1987). It is the
abstract part of culture whereas the tangible product of human society is the material
culture (Scupin & Decorse, 2004). It includes customs, tradition, habits, manners,
attitude, beliefs, language, literature, art, value, norm, religion, organisations,
institutions, etc. It reflects the inward nature of man. It shapes its members’ thoughts,
feelings and behaviours. Material culture is the physical part such as man made cultural
products such as house, tool and implements, food, clothing, material remains of
unearthed culture, etc. It is taken as the sum total of atifacts (man made thing)
(Keesing, 1963). Every culture is the product of interaction between material and non
material aspects. Material aspects of culture are comparatively more changeable than
the non material aspects. However, within the complex whole of culture, it may be hard
to separate and distinguish sharply between material and nonmaterial culture. Because,
a tangible object may have different cultural meaning, for instance, the batik cloth that is
an article of clothing in Java becomes translated in another culture, into a wall hanging.
‘Know-how’, the nonmaterial aspect of technology is included by the hardest-bitten
engineer as part of the technical aspect of his profession (Herskovits, 1955).
In the present topic, let us discuss the non material aspect of culture based on
field work. The present field has been conducted by the students of Department of
anthropology, D.M. College of Science, Imphal, Manipur, India among the Tangkhul
tribe at New Canaan village of the same state for their undergraduate course.
Values
Values are an important aspect of nonmaterial
culture that influences the behaviour of the members of
a society. The Tangkhuls, the studied people tends to
emphasise cooperation and community interest. It is
also manifested in their economy, as they work on
reciprocity
helping
one
another
in
constructing,
agricultural activities, etc. Women society in church
even coordinate to help each other’s in their economic activities. Again, because of their
cultural values, the Tangkhul women still takes a unique role such as the role played by
pukreila in the past and sanaolong at present. If a girl of a village had married to a boy
of another village, she was known as pukreila. At the time of conflict, she acted like an
ambassador between her natal village and her husband’s village to avert conflict. A
pukreila can go without any obstruction within the jurisdictions of the two villages even
during the period of a conflict. Killing of a pukreila is known as raikassho. It is believed
that the killer and his village would face ruin and defeat. So, she was the right person to
act as mediator for peace and tranquillity. Shanaolong is women’s organization which
fights against drug addictions. It deals the cases of who bear the violence of drunken
husbands. Shanaolong group even tries to solve the problems related to arm conflicts
because of cultural view towards women.
Aesthetic value
Aesthetic values of the Tangkhuls are expressed through
material medium of house decorations. The concept of
sexuality and beauty engraved on the wall panel found at
Nungbi Tangkhul village, first depicts both male and
woman with large representations of sexual organs as
expression of beauty maintaining happiness with their okku
– basket of wealth, and second, their sexual organs are no
longer shown enlarged symbolizing the waning of the need of body beauty after
begetting their ward. At New Canaan village the vestige of art is found being depicted
on the wooden memorial post that conventionalized earning of prestige by throwing
public feasts as evidenced by the engraved mithun and buffalo horns in realistic form.
Beyond the idea of self and beauty the Tangkhul society is much aware of moral
goodness. The Tangkhul women maintain a high standard of morality. They were
honest, simple and hospitality. For personalising moral status, virginity was perfectly
maintained among the girls. Each year, the girls had to make sacred declaration of
virginity during the virgin dance. The virgin dance is a part of the festival known as luira
phanit. Any girl who participates the dance deceiving her people is believed to bring bad
luck in their harvest. Besides, avoiding participation in this dance by a girl means
darkness to her status of virginity.
Beliefs
Beliefs
are
cultural
conventions
that
concern
assumptions, specific descriptions of the nature of the nature
of universe and humanity’s place in it (Scupin & Decorse, op.
cit.). For example, the Tangkhul worldview consist restoring
dispute by involving appeal to supernatural powers. In oath, a
deity is called upon to bear witness to the truth of what one
says. To find the truth swearing while biting the tooth of tiger or spear head were
common. If someone swore deceiving his guiltiness he would be a prey of tiger or would
die from the infliction of spear. Today, one takes oath touching bible. In ordeal, to
determine guilt or innocence, the accused is subjected to dangerous or painful tests
believed to be under supernatural control. When the Tangkhuls can not find out justice,
the involved persons had to undergo the test of dipping in water after swearing in the
name of god. The guilt would come up sooner while the innocent remained longer
underwater. In case of land dispute between two families, the chief asked the heads of
family to drink the muddy water prepared with a lump of soil from the conflict area. The
guilt is believed to face ill luck within a span of one year.
Norms
Norms are the shared guidelines or rules that define the behaviour of a people
and these are generally connected to the values, beliefs and ideologies of their society.
An example is that the Tangkhuls extend their respect to the elders in such a way that
the clan elders known as amei are respected. An elder who resides at New Canaan
village after migrating from another village mentioned that he is an amei in his natal
village but he is not an amei at his present village. He still gets respect as an amei
whenever he visits his childhood village.
Social Organization
1) Social Division:
The Tangkhul society is divided into the following dimensions: i. Amei- Achon, ii.
Achui- Ayai and iii. Achei. The Amei- Achon stands at the pinnacle of the Tangkhul
social set up followed by Achui- Ayai and Achei. The Tangkhul social classification is
based on birth. But, it does not have religious notion of pollution and purity among the
different strata. It does not encompass any economical consideration or individual
achievements. It is a titular symbol designating one’s birth hierarchy. In the remote past,
when clans first spread out the eldest son became Amei and the eldest daughter
became Achon followed by Achui –Ayai and Achei. The term Achei is used
synonymously for both sexes. The eldest lineage of every clan is usually of AmeiAchon. As the Amei- Achon is the prestigious status symbol, the process of AmeiAchonization is well noticeable. And the Amei- Achon by dint of respect given by the
younger brothers and sisters became the most prestigious symbol of the Tangkhul.
2) Family:
Patriarchal, patrilineal and patrilocal are the fundamental basis of a Tangkhul
family. The father is the head of the family and all decisions rest with him. The nature of
Tangkhul family is nuclear in character with some exceptional cases. In this type of
family, both the spouse lives with their legitimate unmarried children.
3) Marriage:
Clan exogamy is prevalent in the Tangkhul society. One who does not follow the
rule of exogamy is known as shokals which means ‘up-side down’. The spouses are not
allowed to stay at their natal village and banished. Cross-cousin marriage is preferred to
the society of the Tangkhul. Monogamy is the general rule among the people after
conversion into Christianity. There were some exceptional cases of polygamy in the
early days in certain conditions such as if the wife did not bear a child or a son. The
man can remarry the second wife but without proper marriage ceremony just like that of
the first wife. Ways of acquiring a mate among the New Canaan villagers is either
through engagement or elopement. Sororate and levirate are sanctioned among the
Tangkhul people.
Marriage by Engagement locally termed as ‘ngarakhangsit’ is the ideal type of
marrage. They arrange it with a grand feast by killing one buffalo. The groom presents a
shawl called ‘houra’ as a gift to his to be father-in-law and one loin cloth called ‘kashen’
to his to be mother-in-law. Marriage by Elopement which is locally known as ‘khangasi’
is also known as love marriage. If the girl’s family agrees, they will get married. One
buffalo has to be given to the girl’s family as bride price. If not agreed by the girl’s
family, she is ex-communicated from her parental family. Ideal is not always the
dominant in the realistic situation as is evidenced by the dominancy in frequency by
elopement over engagement marriage.
4) Kinship:
The Tangkhuls of New Canaan village follow the patrilineal rule of descent and
patrilocal residence. Clan is the largest kin group. The kinship system of Tangkhuls
classificatory as a single term is used to describe more than one kin. For example, the
term Ava is used for father, father’s brothers and father’s parallel cousin brothers.
However, in order to denote the speaker’s exact relationship, suffixes such as Kharar
(elder) Gato (younger) are used; for example, Avakharar (father’s elder brother),
Avagato (father’s younger brother).
5) Inheritance of property:
Primogeniture is the fundamental rule of inheritance and succession. The eldest
son inherits the lion’s share of the family properties followed by the second son and so
on. In this way, the youngest son usually gets a few properties without any land
property. Women are generally not given any parental land properties. If the family has
no male issue, the nearest of male kin inherits the properties. In ideal norms, after the
death of husband who had no male issue, the properties are to be looked after by his
wife till her death, but in most case, the nearest of the male kin who is usually the
younger brother of the deceased husband makes the immediate claim. Children are
assigned their name under their father’s clan.
Polity
Traditionally, village levelled polity rests on the authority headed by a hereditary
chief assisted by clan representatives. But at the present field site, the authority
members are democratically elected on the basis of some personal qualities such as
educated, young, dynamic and capable personality. The tenure for village authority is
three years. It implies to change in their value system due to their nature of village set
up. But still women do not take part in polity.
The wrong doers are generally punished by imposing fine in case or kind or both
according to their customary laws. The fine is usually spent in giving a communal feast
or as an offering to the supernatural power for appeasing them. Capital punishment is
not known in the Tangkhul society. The heaviest form of punishment is banishment or
expulsion from the village.
Religion
After the adoption to Christianity, the Tangkhuls almost forget
their traditionalism. At the field site, Christianity is the only existing
religion.
Conclusion
Non material culture is the intangible part of a culture. It reflects the inward nature of
man. It shapes its members’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Values, beliefs, and
norms are important aspects of non material culture. Change on these aspects causes
change to behaviour. As observed at the present field site, change on value because of
their change in religious faith from traditionalism to Christianity has brought various
changes on their habit and behaviour.