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212
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JULY, 1907
frequently kneel before the Buddha's image and join with the Burmese in their festivals, and yet they follow the customs of their forefathers, They dread the evil spirits and revere the name of the Great Parent of all good, but hardly worship that power. Their worship is mainly & propitiation ; and what need, think they, is there to propitiate their Parent who loves them dearly, and ever does them good? Very few Chins have any real affection for Buddhism, though they can see the beanty of the moral law laid down as binding on the Bnddhist householders' or laity. Since the British occupation the Chins have been less attentive, as I have been informed by the people themselves, to the religious ordinances incumbent on Buddhists than they were before ; for now they do not need the material protection which the profession of Buddhism used to give them, by raising them from the state of 'savages,' the lawful prey of any one, to that of civilized men.
Marriage Customs. When a little girl is born she is placed under the guardianship of an elder brother, or cousin or uncle, on her father's side, and when she grows up she may not marry without his consent, – though this is rarely denied when there is persistence on the part of the sweethearts. Of course, the parties to Chin marriage must be of different clans, and the ancient customs must be followed. Pre-nuptial chastity does not seem to be very highly esteemed among the Chins, and the parties often, if not generally, live together openly before marriage. Infidelity after marriage is not very common in the remote villages. Girls are generally married at fifteen years of age onwards; boys when two or three years older. If a girl reaches twenty or twenty-five years of age and is yet unmarried, she is counted an old maid and avoided by the young men ; indeed, it is not considered creditable, and hardly reputable. A marriage should take place only in the hot weather, on or just before the fall moon of the months of Tabodwè and Katsóng. If the parties elope together, the youth may then, or afterwards, be fined Rs. 60; but this is rather a following of Burmese customary law.
Some time previous to the marriage the youth will have gone with some comrades to the house of his prospective brother-in-law, taking some "kaung with him. This time nothing is said about marriage; but, I suppose, if the "kaung is tacitly accepted it implies consent on the part of the guardians of the girl. After that the parents of the youth will go with him to her brother or parents, and formally ask for her in marriage for their son. The girl's parents or brother will then settlo what kind of wedding feast the youth's parents must provide, that is to say, what pigs have to be sacrificed for the feast. On the day fixed for the wedding the friends and relatives of the bridegroom will assemble very early at the bride's house, the men bringing the pigs required, and the girls carrying 'la ung in gourds. Sometimes there will be as many as twenty or thirty girls thus carrying "kaung. These will all sit on or by the steps of the house where the bride lives, and none of the bridegroom's party may go in without contributing a pot of "kaung. The friends and relatives of the bride also bring 'kaung in pots, and in addition chickens and rice for the feast. The "kaung is put into a hage jar into which two bamboo tubos are inserted, and through these they all suck the beer.
In the meanwhile a little porker has been killed, and the village elders examine its liver. It certain marks are seen on the liver, it is declared to be inauspicious, and a second porker is killed. When the bridegroom is in real earnest, if this second liver, too, is pronounced to be inauspicious, a third little pig is offered; but if now, too, the fatos declare against it, the marringe may not take place. The brother or parents of the girl would not allow the marriage, for there would be no children born of it, or, if there should be, they would 'die early, or some other dread misfortune would befall them. So the wedding is stopped, and they give the youth a present on account of the expense and inconvenience he has been put to, and this present is called a "wiper away of tears." But if, as is ordinarily the case, the fates have been more propitions, the tangö pig, of medium size, which has been presented by the youth to his father-in-law, is slaughtered and cooked to serve as food for the bride's company,
