Method of cultivation. The Lhota is above all an agriculturist. Rarely does his ambition extend beyond a bumper crop. Service under Government has few attractions for him. Even if he takes a post he often throws it up after a year or two and says he would rather go back and live in his village and cultivate his land. Rice is the staple food of the tribe and is far and away the most important crop grown. The method of cultivation is that known as “jhuming.” A piece of jungle is cut and burnt, and the land cultivated for two years and then allowed to go back to jungle, under which it remains for a period varying from four to fifteen years. If a man is short of land he obviously has to cultivate each piece at shorter intervals. If he is the lord of wide acres the intervals are longer. The bigger the jungle is allowed to grow the more will mould accumulate and the thicker will be the deposit of ash when it is burnt. On an average among the Lhotas a piece of land is cultivated once in ten years. The whole village cultivates in one block, each man having his own piece of land. Isolated patches of cultivation would merely provide food for wild pig, monkeys and other pests. The jungle is cut about December.8 (The times [46]of agricultural operations vary a good deal according to the height and climate of the village concerned.) When the time comes to begin operations each man goes to his land and clears a little piece of jungle. Should he see a snake while so occupied he probably runs home as fast as his legs will carry him, for he would die were he to cultivate that piece of land. If no such evil omen occurs he cuts a stake, sets it up, cuts a notch in the side, puts a little earth from a worm-cast in the notch and goes home. This is regarded as a sort of oath that the owner proposes to clear that piece of jungle. He carefully notes what dreams he has that night. Sometimes he puts a twig from the jungle in question under his head. A bad dream would be enough to make him select another piece of land for that year. On the day when he puts up the stake he must not eat meat from a tiger’s kill or the flesh of dog, goat or cattle. His wife may cook his food for him, but he must eat separately from her in the morning, having remained chaste the night before. In clearing the jungle everyone takes part—men, women and children. A man helps his friends and they help him. The jungle is cleared from the bottom of the slope upwards. Bushes and saplings are cut close to the ground. Big trees are left standing, but thin branches are trimmed so that they shall not shade the crop. Usually a bunch of leaves is left growing at the top of big trees of which the other branches are pruned away. Lhotas attach no particular significance to this practice; but among the Aos it appears to be followed only by rich men.9

The jungle is left till March to dry, when it is all burnt on the same day. The man who is to start the fire is selected by cutting little chips from a piece of stick and watching how they fall—the ordinary Lhota way of taking omens. The man chosen first makes fire with a fire-stick and sets [47]the dry jungle alight. Then everyone joins in and lights a long line of fire which sweeps uphill till it dies out in the green, uncut jungle at the top. Next day is emung. After that work begins in earnest. Stones and half-burnt logs are collected and little barriers (oliecho) are built along the hillsides to prevent the earth being washed away. Sometimes, as at Mangya, rough stone terrace walls are built. The fields are then dug over with a single-handed digger (chukchü), a small triangular iron blade fitted like an adze onto a bamboo handle. This preliminary hoeing is omitted by most Northern Lhota villages, who merely clear the land of rubbish before sowing. The fields which have already carried a crop the year before are now weeded, and the weeds gathered into heaps with a small bamboo rake (keya) and burnt.

Sowing and the ceremonies connected with it. Before anyone can sow his land certain ceremonies have to be performed. The first of these is Thruven, which is performed first by the Puthi, and after him in the course of the next few days by anyone who has dragged a stone or done the Etha ceremony. The procedure is as follows. The Puthi goes with his wife to the spot (Thruvenphen) just outside the village where tradition says this ceremony must be performed, generally near the opya—the post set up and speared at the Oyantsoa ceremony. He takes with him a twig of bamboo (a shoot growing up directly from the ground will not do), some chicken meat, boiled rice, “pita madhu,” ginger, a little seed-rice, and some seeds of a plant with a variegated leaf called orho. After pouring a little “madhu” on the ground, he arranges four pieces of the bamboo twig in the form of a square and puts a large leaf on the ground to his right and another on his left. On the right-hand leaf he puts ten little pieces, and on the left-hand leaf nine little pieces each of thatching grass, ginger, and chicken meat, and sprinkles a little seed-rice over each heap. The heaps are then tied up in the leaves and put in the square of bamboo twigs. Then close by he sows the orho seeds, making a miniature fence round them, the sticks of which are tied together at the top. This is a purely formal act, and it does not seem to matter in the least [48]whether the orho seeds ever come up or not. Next morning the Puthi sows six seeds of rice in his garden plot. This formal sowing of rice is omitted by the other men who do the Thruven ceremony. Sexual intercourse is forbidden the night after this ceremony. When the last man has finished the village keeps one day’s emung. Anyone who has been married the previous winter, and everyone who has done all social “gennas” and dragged a stone performs a further ceremony before sowing his fields. Among the Northern Lhotas it is done as follows. In the morning one of the old women who acted as Ponyiratsen10 at his wedding, or failing her any old man of his clan who has done no social “gennas,” comes to his house, and there ties eight nungyung leaves into two bundles of four. She then goes alone down the path leading to his fields, taking with her the nungyung leaves, two bamboo “chungas,” some rice, and a smouldering brand—for fire is a great protection against evil spirits. She faces towards the fields and lays a bundle of nungyung leaves on each side of the path, with a “chunga” on each bundle, and a little bit of smoking brand behind it. She then goes straight to her own home, taking with her the rice, which is her fee. Next day the owner goes down to the field with his friends and sows a little patch first, praying that his crop may be as close as elephant grass, as spreading as a rubber tree and free from weeds. He must refrain from sexual intercourse the night before he does this, and must neither take food nor speak to anyone in the morning till he has sown the first patch. Among the Southern Lhotas the old man or woman who does the ceremony on the first day puts on each side of the path a little heap of rice husks, a smouldering stick and two crossed yutso leaves, on which are put six pieces of burnt wood, six pieces of pork, a little boiled rice and a sprinkling of “madhu.” The owner of the field must not eat any of the pig which provides the pork used here. The formal act of sowing takes place next day as among the Northern Lhotas. Both on the night preceding and the night after the formal sowing sexual intercourse is forbidden among the Southern Lhotas, and [49]in the morning before going to his fields the man must eat separately from his wife, though she may cook his food. Unlike his neighbours the Aos, the Lhota does not sow broadcast. With the digger (chukchü) held in his right hand he scratches a little hole. His left hand is full of seed-rice, of which he allows four or five grains to drop between the middle and index finger into the hole, which is filled in with a stroke of the digger. Both men and women sow. The day’s supply of seed-rice is carried in a basket on the left hip, the sowers working their way in a line from the bottom of the hill upwards. From the time the crop is sown till it ripens everyone is busy keeping his fields as free from weeds as possible. The weeder (ehe) is a strip of iron about nine inches long and one inch broad, bent into a semicircle and fixed to a short bamboo handle.11 Every field is weeded at least twice, and often as many as six times—the oftener the better. The weeds are collected into heaps along the edges of the fields, or on stony patches where nothing will grow.

The Motharatsen ceremony. Among the Southern Lhotas a yearly ceremony called Motharatsen is performed by the Puthi and Yenga only when the crop is about half grown to prevent it being damaged by a small white grub (ora). On a certain day of which he has given previous notice the Puthi collects unhusked rice from the whole village and with some of it buys a pig. This he kills on the day of the ceremony, and going outside the village lays ten pieces of meat and ten pieces of ginger (osing) on crossed yutso leaves to his right, and nine pieces of meat and ginger on crossed yutso leaves to his left. The next day is emung. Though the Northern Lhotas still keep the emung the ceremony has fallen into abeyance among them. But the Southern Lhotas firmly believe in its efficacy. In 1918 the people of Yanthămo attributed the failure of their crops to the fact that a stranger from another village had entered the house of their Puthi after he had collected the subscription of rice and before he had performed the ceremony. [50]

The Amungkam ceremony. When the rice comes into the ear ceremonies are again performed to ensure a good crop. The first ceremony is called Amungkam, and is performed by the Puthi and Yenga at the spot (amungkampen) a little way outside the village at which it was performed when the village was founded. The Puthi kills and cooks a little boar at his own house and goes with his Yenga to the amungkampen, taking with him a new cooking-pot, some of the boar’s meat, a small live pig, a hen, an egg, a fire-stick and some yutso leaves. The Puthi’s wife may accompany him, but the Yenga’s wife must stay behind. The Puthi makes a fire with the fire-stick, and near it lays out four bamboo twigs in the form of a square, in the middle of which he sets up the egg on end, flanked on either side with forty-two small pieces of meat on crossed yutso leaves. He then spears the live pig, praying to Rangsi, the deity of the crops, that they may be good. The pig is singed over the fire and cut up, the stomach and entrails being cooked in the new pot and eaten by the Puthi. The rest of the meat is divided up, one piece for every man in the village who has dragged a stone. The Puthi then strangles the chicken between the finger and thumb of his right hand and watches how the excreta fall as it struggles. If they are dry there will not be much rain and the crops will ripen well. If they are watery, storms will cause the crops to rot. The entrails are next taken out and examined. If they are full the crop will be good; if they are empty it will be poor. These are pushed back into the chicken, which is placed on the ground by the egg. The Puthi builds a little fence round the offering and hangs up the fire-stick on it, the pot being turned upside down and left on the ground. He then goes home and calls his friends to his house to drink “madhu” and partake of the pig he killed before leaving home. To each guest he offers a piece of pork and asks if he intends to do the Rangsikam ceremony, which is voluntary. To accept the pork means that the answer is in the affirmative. To refuse it means that the answer is in the negative. Early on the morning of the next day, which is emung, the villagers go and see if a wild cat or other animal has taken away the chicken which had [51]been left at amungkampen. For it to be taken away forbodes ill for the village.

The Rangsikam ceremony. In Akuk no one may do the Rangsikam ceremony till after the Lanvung “genna,” but in other villages it may be done either before or after. The ceremony, which is also known as Likam, is performed as follows. The master of the house having slept apart from his wife the night before and eaten apart from her in the morning, though she may cook his food, kills a pig, and taking the cooked meat, “madhu,” boiled rice, a live hen and a new pot, goes down to his field-house—a shed built by each man in his fields where he can shelter from the rain or eat his mid-day meal with his wife and family. Having made a fire with a fire-stick inside the house he holds the hen by the wings with his right hand and walks round the outside of the house, swinging the hen and calling out the names of all the different varieties of rice he knows, whether he has sown them or not, and asking Rangsi to give him a good crop of them. He then strangles the chicken and takes the omens exactly as the Puthi does in the Amungkam ceremony. It is worth noting that this is the only occasion on which anything is killed in the field-house. Otherwise it is forbidden to bring raw meat of any kind into a field-house, or kill anything or have sexual intercourse in it. This is why the approaches to field-houses near paths are often “panjied” as a gentle reminder to passers-by that they must not run in to shelter from the rain if they are carrying raw meat. To resume, the hen is plucked, and cooked in the new pot. It is not eaten by the sacrificer, but is taken back to the village and given to an old man of his clan. The entrails are put in the pot, which is covered with a leaf and buried up to the rim behind the field-house. The little bamboo basket in which the hen was brought is stuck all over with its feathers and put, together with the fire-stick, beside the pot. All then wash their hands and the proceedings end with a meal from the provisions brought down. From the time when the preparation of the “madhu” for this ceremony is begun till the ceremony is over, sexual intercourse is forbidden and no member of the household [52]must touch a corpse, meat from a tiger’s kill or the flesh of cattle, dogs or goats. On the day of the ceremony no man from another village may enter the house before the family go down to the field-house.

The Lanvung ceremony. In the damp climate of Assam jungle grows with extraordinary speed. The seventh day after the Amungkam emung is set aside for a united path-clearing (Lanvung)12 by the whole village. During the six days preceding the Lanvung day nothing may be sold or killed in the village, and no one may touch a tiger’s kill, or perform any “genna” such as Potsokam or Etchhienya. On the seventh day the working companies each kill a big pig, every man subscribing his share of the price. The next day is a general picnic and the whole village turns out to clear the jungle from the paths. There is much feasting and drinking, and the bucks have jumping competitions and perform feats of strength. Among the Northern Lhotas as each branch path is cleared roof-shaped bamboo erections (vangkoseng), like double pen racks with bamboos laid on them in the place of pens, are set up at each fork, to the accompaniment of much ho-hoing.13 The next day is emung.

Protection of crops. While the crop is ripening the owner is kept busy protecting it from the ravages of beasts and birds. Little look-outs (zengki) are built in the trees, well out of the reach of an elephant’s trunk. Wild animals are driven away by shouting or clapping two pieces of bamboo together, or blowing a bamboo trumpet (phupphu), or by building a big fire and feeding it with bamboos, which go off with a loud bang as each section is burst by the expanding hot air inside it. There is no hedge between field and field, but a rough fence is built round the whole block of village cultivation in order to keep out deer and cattle. In the old days low gaps were left in the fence here and there. Any deer which gave way to temptation and jumped through one of these gaps found [53]itself impaled on “panjis.” Monkeys are most destructive and difficult to get rid of. One plan is to catch a small monkey, pierce its ears and ornament them with large lumps of cotton-wool. It is then let go and tries to rejoin the troop, who promptly turn tail at the sight of this strange apparition. The more the troop runs away the harder the little monkey tries to catch them, and the harder it tries to catch them, the faster they go. To drive away birds pieces of bamboo leaf-sheaf, sometimes cut into the rough outline of a hovering hawk, are tied from the end of a string to a pole and put to flutter in the breeze.

The eating of first-fruits. Just before the crop begins to ripen the ceremony of eating the first-fruits (Mshe etak) is performed, by the Puthi first, and after him by the other households in the village. From the day on which the Puthi announces that he is preparing his “madhu” to that on which the last man does the ceremony, no stranger may enter the Puthi’s house, and selling and killing of fowls and animals and the bringing of meat into the village are prohibited as they are before the Lanvung ceremony. On the day of the ceremony the Puthi kills a little boar outside his house. He does not eat this meat but distributes it to all the houses in the village in which there has been a death during the year. These portions are offered to the dead in the Etchhienya ceremony. After killing the pig he goes into his house accompanied by his Yenga and the second Puthi if there be one, and in the presence of his family strangles a hen, with a prayer to the Rangsi that there may be good crops, no accidents, no raids by enemies, and no prowling tigers. He then takes the omens from the excreta and entrails in the ordinary way. The Puthi’s wife,14 or the Puthi himself if he be a widower, now goes and cuts the rice sown in the garden plot at the Thruven ceremony, no matter how unripe it may be. This the Puthi husks in silence. He may be helped by the assistant Puthi but by no one else. He puts a little of the grain on the sickle, on both his feet, against his forehead and finally on the hearth-stones. What is left he wraps up in a leaf and half boils. This he pretends, to eat, praying that squirrels, rats [54]and birds may find the rice of the village crops bitter. It is then thrown away, but the hen is eaten. During the next day or two everyone goes down to his fields and brings up a little rice, with which he performs the same ceremony, except that no hen or pig is killed. A little of this rice is preserved and kept wrapped in a leaf at the bottom of the “chunga” or other receptacle in which the day’s supply of grain is put every morning. Such is the custom among the Northern Lhotas. Among the Southern Lhotas no rice is put on the sickle, feet, hearth, etc., but the rice is eaten by the whole family with crabs as a relish.

Reaping ceremonies. The crops ripen about August, those in the old fields being ready first, and as soon as Mshe etak is over everyone may cut his rice as soon as it is ready. On the day when he first goes down to cut his crop each man performs at his field-house a ceremony called Liritang in honour of the Rangsi.15 He takes down with him “Rangsi’s load” (Rangsi’ha) containing a cooked pig’s head, a gourd of “madhu,” an egg, a little salt, some cooked rice and the leaves of sangsu (a long thin leaf), lhetyak (a hairy leaf), and orungu (a small leaf, white on the underside). Having arrived at his field-house and seen that all who are to help him that day have come, for no one may come once he has begun the ceremony—he lights a fire with a fire-stick, takes four blades of thatching grass from the roof and bends them double, and places six grains of rice on the threshold (likingko) of the field-house. He then cracks the egg over the six grains of rice and pours the contents into the leaf in which he wrapped it when he left his house. This leaf he ties to the post of the field-house, taking it home when he goes in the evening and either giving the contents to his children or eating them himself. He then lights the thatching grass at the fire, and holding the orungu, sangsu and lhetyak leaves with the thatching grass in his right hand, goes outside the house and waves them with a sweeping motion from left to right, the smoke from the thatching grass thus driving evil spirits away. He then says the following16 traditional words:— [55]

Orung-na ranga ranga phang (orungu, asking, asking remain). Lhetyak-na tyaka tyaka phang (lhetyak, sweeping, sweeping remain). Sangsu-na sangsu lithana, sangsu lithana oro tamtam chudechia (sangsu, sangsu, changing, changing with sangsu, coming in a stream pour out).

This is said to mean—for the words are not clearly understood by the Lhotas themselves: “Orungu leaves pray the Rangsi continually to give me a good crop; lhetyak leaves sweep the grain into my field-house, and sangsu leaves come one after the other and pour rice in a stream from your loads into my field-house.” The man then re-enters the house and sprinkles the floor with “madhu” from his gourd while he repeats the following words:—

“Satung “Fish-trap rampeng hunter’s Rangsi deity, tchhüchi water-side rhempi wanderer’s Rangsi, deity, lipphu hillside liteng company’s Rangsi, deity, tsatso hurt rüku wounded men’s mpito all Rangsi deities rencheli” come out of hiding.”

In other words he prays to all Rangsis belonging to men who are busy fishing or snaring birds by the pools or are hurt (i.e. all men who do no cultivation and so have no need of Rangsis), together will all the Rangsis of the hillside to come and help him. The “madhu” is then sprinkled along the threshold from end to end and the ceremony is at an end and reaping begins. At midday the owner and his helpers come back to the field house for a meal. The owner first undoes the pig’s head and puts salt on it. This can be eaten only by him and old people. If he happens to have an oha (luck-stone) in his house, no one but he can eat the pig’s head, or they will have a bad cough.

The crop is reaped with a small iron sickle (vekhuo) with a saw edge. Several stalks are grasped together with the left hand and cut a few inches below the ears. The unthreshed rice is stored in the field-house till everyone in the village has reaped his crop. Each man on the day when he first goes down to thresh again performs the [56]Liritang ceremony as before, except that a fowl—either cock or hen—takes the place of the pig’s head. To thresh the grain the ears are heaped on mats outside the field-house, and after being well trampled are flicked against the right shin.17 To winnow the grain one man pours it slowly from a basket held with both hands above his head while another fans it vigorously with a winnowing fan (saveng)—a bamboo mat with the two corners of one end drawn together, resulting in a thing rather like a sugar scoop in shape.

All that remains now is to carry up the grain as fast as possible. If the fields are a long way from the village, small temporary granaries (echengrangki) are built half-way in which the crop can be stored till the field-house, where wild pig and elephants are likely to do most damage, has been emptied. The grain is carried up in baskets (otyak), and every man, woman and child in the village helps, going down to the fields with torches in their hands long before dawn and coming up with the last load long after sunset. When the harvest is safely in each man goes down and rolls up the mats in his field-house, and takes them home, uttering as he does so a prayer to Phuri Rangsi (Mister Rangsi) to be favourable to him next year. Ahead of him lie a few weeks of well-earned rest till the time comes to cut the jungle for the next year’s crop.

Varieties of rice. Many varieties of rice, both white and red-grained, are sown by the Lhotas. For example, the principal kinds in Okotso are as follows:—White, amorü (very coarse), otsi emhuho (coarse), laza (medium), motiro (fine), wochio (with black husk), tambaktsok (with red husk): Red, oriepyo (coarse), kamtiya (fine), santungo (fine), moyo (fine), changkiu (fine), and mhumyandhro (very fine). No variety is used exclusively either for eating or for “madhu,” but the best kinds for “madhu” are santungo, otsi emhuho, oriepyo, kamtiya and moyo.

Other crops. Besides rice there are a number of subsidiary crops, generally sown along the edges of the fields or in patches among the rice. Maize (tsunghundhro) is sown along the boundaries [57]of the fields, or among the chilies, never in large patches, which would only attract bears. Millet (Setaria italica, Lhota teni) is not an important crop as it is among the Semas and Changs, though a good deal is grown by some of the villages high up on the slopes of Wokha Hill. It is sown about February and cut about July. Giant millet (Sorghum vulgare, Lhota lichophuk) is sown mostly along the boundaries of fields, the time being about the same as that of millet. Job’s tears (omung) is also sown along the edges of fields at the same time as the rice and ripens about ten days or a fortnight later. Of taro (Colocasia antiquorum, Lhota mani) there are several varieties, the principal being tsampang (large, reddish root), vakhundro (small root) and loro (a very large root). This is generally planted along the little soil-barriers (oliecho) and scattered among the rice, but sometimes a patch of ground is devoted exclusively to it. Chilies (machi) are sown both in the garden patches and on low rich land at the bottom of the fields. The sowing takes place in March, and the plants begin to bear in July. It is a biennial, and in the second year begins to produce pods in May. If left for a third year there will be a few pods, but they are small and shrivelled. Cotton (khungko), after rice, is the most important Lhota crop. Sufficient is grown for home consumption and for a considerable export trade. It is sown in March on sunny slopes from which light jungle has been cleared, preferably with a rather gritty soil, and is ready for plucking in October. Whole fields are devoted exclusively to it, but it is an annual and is never sown twice running on the same ground. Several varieties of lentil (orho) are grown, all climbers. It is sown in March at the base of the trees left standing about the fields and plucked in October. “Stinking dal” (limcham or nyingtyingsing) only grows to the height of French beans. Whole fields are often given up to it, and it is often sown in rotation after cotton in February or March, and is ready about November. When the rice is sown, lufas (longchungo) are sown at the foot of trees in the field. The green gourd-like fruit is eaten in October, and in January the dry fruit is plucked, the stiff fibrous interior [58]being used to clean pots, etc. Big and small gourds (shammo and zükhe) are grown for their hard shells, which are used as bottles. They are sown along the edges of fields in March and are ripe in October. A very insipid variety of water-melon (hmeliti) is sown scattered about among the rice and is ready from July on. Several varieties of thick, short cucumber (lishakti) are sown at the same time as the rice and ripen from July to November. Black sesame (Sesamum indicum, Lhota penching) and white oil seed (Perilla ocimoides, Lhota pentsü) are sown in March along the boundaries of the fields, the crop being ready in October or November. In cold villages whole fields of pentsü are grown. Tobacco (mukuyo) is extensively grown both in garden plots and in corners of fields set apart for it, as well as along the boundaries and scattered about among the rice. It is sown in March, and gives a continual crop of leaves from August on. Indigo (Strobilanthes flaccidifolius, Lhota tchemo) is grown to a certain extent in garden plots, but chiefly in damp, shady places in the jungle. Cuttings are put in in May and June, and are full grown by August of the next year. It is forbidden for men to touch this plant. The only garden vegetable grown is mustard (hangi), the leaves of which are eaten. A kind of giant taro (taktsü) is grown in gardens occasionally for its leaves, which are used to line the baskets in which “madhu” rice is set to stand. No part of the plant is ever eaten.

Flowers. The Lhota likes to have flowers handy to put in his ears, and grows a few varieties in his little garden. The chief kinds are wild canna (lentala), wild cock’s-comb (thropentera), marigold (yantantera), a small purple flower (kambentera), a pale yellow flower (narisen), and a red flower (echamtera).

Fruit, etc. A large number of oranges18 (tsampen or khongkeng) and bitter oranges (tsampenyimo—“foolish orange”) are grown in [59]the hot villages, a considerable trade in the former being carried on with the plains. The trees are grown from pips and are never manured or pruned or looked after in any way. Other fruit trees are the pomegranate (tsaramtiven), which is propagated by cuttings, and a huge plantain (echamyuti), which is horribly wooden and astringent and has to be cooked before it can be eaten even by a Lhota. The Christians of Okotso now grow a few tea bushes (cha). A very small number of betel nut palms (mma) are to be found in villages on the range nearest the plains. These villages do a big trade in “pan” leaves (lamo) with the plains, where hill “pan” fetches a good price. The “pan” vines are grown up trees in the jungle wherever the soil is suitable. They are not cultivated in any way, but every vine belongs to some individual though it is growing in unreclaimed jungle. The vines are propagated by means of cuttings.