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DECEMBER, 1891.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
423
been an early practice, more or less binding, of friendship or fraternity. If the blood is that of the kind which appears to exist now in Manipur. a human being, it is generally obtained from a
The matter seems worth looking into further; puncture in the arm; and if that of an animal, it is especially with a view to ascertaining whether the obtained by killing a fowl, as among the Chinese Dharmasastras prescribe any such rule of in- and Karens, a buffalo, as among the Kachins,' or heritance and succession for the warrior and a dog, as among the Chins. It is believed that regal caste.
this drinking of blood effects, as it were, the
amalgamation of the natures, both material and SOCIAL CUSTOMS; MARRIAGE.
moral, of the parties contracting friendship, and
that this would cause a feeling of reciprocity in In Telingana.
each other's breast. (1) The custom of sending a sword to re
This custom obtains among the Chinese and present an unavoidably absent bridegroom at
Indo-Chinese nations. Among Chinamen, the a wedding, is not uncommon among Rajus and
ceremony is performed in a temple, and the gods Velamas. It is considered allowable among other
are called upon to witness the compact. The tie Hindus also. See Indian Notes and Queries,
existing between two 'blood-drunk' brothers is Vol. I. note 669.
even stronger than that between brothers born of (2) With reference to Indian Notes and
the same parents. In the case of the latter, the Queries, Vol. I. note 678, Khônds, Sauras, Ga
motive power is natural fraternal affection, which dabas, Jâtapas, Pános, Dóms (Gañjám and may sometimes be made subservient to private Vizagapatam Hills), Paidis, Rellis, Yerukalas, interests, but in the case of the former, the tio is Dönmaras, Påmulavanda, Mandulavandlu, Gan.
surrounded by a halo of honour and religious gir dlavândlu, Mondvândlu, Jalagadugulavandlu,
sanction, which every Chinaman is taught to Baitakummaras (wandering smiths), Yanadis,
respect. Oddi Upparas (Oddars), Upparas, Chachchudis
Among the Karens, Kachins, Chins, and (Mehtars), Malas, and Madigas, permit the re- !
| other wild tribes of Burma, the custom is still in marriage of deserted or divorced women and
force and is as punctiliously observed as ever. widows. If a superseded woman means in this
But among the Burmans, it has died out through connection a woman who has declared herself
the influence of Buddhism, the humanitarian divorced before a panchayat because her husband
doctrines of which discountenance the shedding married again without her consent, such a
of blood and the placing of reliance in the superwoman is permitted by any of these castes
natural powers, whose presence is invoked in the to re-marry. A man of any of these castes may
ceremony. Still the Burmese language possesses marry a woman outcasted on his account from
certain words, which attest to the fact that, in his a caste higher than his own.
pre-Buddhistic days, the Burman was not loath Masulipatam. H.G. PRENDERGAST.
to contract friendship or fraternity by blood
drinking.' A petty officer in the Burman THWE-THAUK.
army was called a Thwe-thauk, and when King Thwe-thauk in Burmese means 'one who bas Mindôn invited all the scions of royalty to live at drunk blood,' .e., one who has drunk the blood the capital, he placed them under thwe-thauks, who of either an animal or a human being, infused were to keep watch and ward over them. In in water or spirit, as a mark of exchange of Upper Burma, an upper menial servant is called
See my paper on Modern Panjabi Coins, ante, has always been a common practice with all Chinese Yol XVIII. pp. 329-330, The Muslman State of Maler secret societies. - Rangoon Gazette of 2nd October, Kit was founded by a Sufi snint, Sarwini Afghân 1891. by descent, in the Panjab, in tho middle of the 15th Cen. A small quantity of the blood of the slaughtered tury A. D. Ho merried a daughter of Sultan Bahlol animal has been caught, and is now mixed in a large vessel LAI, and also a drughter of a local, magnate. His with an abundant supply of raw native spirits. The whole despondants by the latter are the present Nawabs of is stirred up with the points of swords and shears. which MAlèr Kötla, and their rule of succession was that are dipped into the liquor; and each chicf, as he comes up obtaining in Manipur until the British Government in the supposed presence of the attendant deitics and takes interfered in 1871 nnd made primogeniture the rule of his draught from the sacred bowl, swears his oath of fide. descont. - R. C. T.)
lity in muttered prayers, which imply the most foarfal ? The Koldc Hui, the secret society to which the recent results as a certain consequence of infidelity. The dipping
toreign outrages in the rangtse Valley are attributed, i of the spears and swords in the liquor, in which the oath is at present the most powerful of these troublesome is drank, is said to be typical of the violent death which organizations in China... . It is believed that the would, of a certainty, be incurred by a departure from the coreony of initiation consists in killing a cock and drink. engagements contained in the oath. Fytobe's Burma: ing the blood, either alone or mixed with wine. This Past and Present, Vol. II. p. 111.
