THE ECONOMICS OF THE CENTRAL CHIN TRIBES
by : H. N. C. STEVENSON, F.R.A.I.,
Burma Frontier Service
With a Foreword by
H. E. THE RIGHT HON'BLE SIR REGINALD HUGH DORMAN-SMITH, G.B.E.,
Governor of Burma.
Published by order of the Government of Burma
THE TIMES OF INDIA PRESS BOMBAY
To
my son
JOHN
Who brightened our days in the Chin Hills.
Submitted as a thesis for the Diploma of Anthropology at the
University of London.
FOREWORD
By His Excellency the Rt. Honourable Sir Reginald Hugh Dorman-Smith, G. B. E., Governor of Burma.
I am delighted that, in spite of the alarums and excursions of war, Mr. Stevenson has been able to complete his work on the people of the Chin Hills.
Burma has been backward in producing such works, the lack of which I, at least, felt greatly. When I was appointed Governor of Burma, I realised that I would be responsible for the administration of the Shan States and of certain tribes who inhabited the " Scheduled Areas of Burma." I am afraid that this meant but little to me. I knew but very little about the Shan States and must confess that I had never even heard of the Chins or the Kachins. Naturally I was anxious to learn all that I could about these people. I wanted to know about their ordinary everyday lives, their customs, their aspirations, their virtues and their failings. That infor-mation was not readily available. Presumably it might have been found in the dusty files of the Secretariat but for the most part it was, and still is, locked away in the minds of those devoted Frontier Service Officers who have lived their lives among the hill tribes.
The Chins and Kachins, as well as the Nagas, have come into the limelight as the result of the Japanese invasion of Burma. They have shown themselves to be sturdy guerilla fighters, as the Japanese have very good reason to know.
What is to be the future of these tribesmen ? The whole world is thinking in terms of " Reconstruction." What will that mean to Chins, Kachins, Nagas or Shans ? No reconstruction can hope to be successful unless and until we thoroughly understand the spiritual and physical needs of the people whom we earnestly hope to assist along the road to a fuller and better life. Progress will not necessarily come to these tribes by the mere imposition of OUT Western ideas upon what to us may seem to be a primitive people.
Such books as this, which are written with a deep knowledge and love of the people, will help us to achieve the necessary understanding of the problems which face us. I can only hope that Mr. Stevenson's example of putting his knowledge and experience into writing will be followed and followed quickly by other officers of his Service, who have much to contribute to the future of the Hill Tribes of Burma.
Governor of Burma.
PREFACE
THIS paper is intended to serve as a foundation in applied anthropology for my brother officers on the frontiers of Burma. It is by no means perfect, but it does present a new line of approach to our problems, and on its basis it should be possible to produce progressively better results in future. Most of the existing monographs on the customs of the Burma tribes were written many years ago, at a time when amateur ethnographers were apt to concentrate either on technology or history alone, or on the more bizarre aspects of culture. Much was written of the form of religious ritual, little or nothing of its function in tribal life. The humdrum details of the village scene took second place to the more titillating minutiae of sex life and the robust horrors of tribal war, head-hunting, sorcery and slavery.
In most other regions in which " primitive " peoples are found this state of affairs has long since been remedied, and the seeker after information has at his disposal a wide variety of modern scientific enquiries into almost all aspects of culture. The science of Anthropology has been revolutionised and its importance to the administrations concerned with primitives raised to such a degree that most governments insist on their executive officers having some anthropological groundwork in their training. Many go further and employ whole-time anthropologists to provide the background of detailed knowledge of tribal customs without which no administration can deal successfully with the problems of this changing world.
Burma has reached a stage at which she can no longer afford to be left behind in this respect the gap in the library shelf is a standing affront to our energies, and an admission of anachronistic negligence of the social sciences. To fill that gap a start was needed somewhere, and since the break from the old tradition of tribal record had to be complete, I took for my subject the most utilitarian and least exciting aspect of culture the economic aspect. It was a pleasant surprise to find that even in this sphere of his activities the Chin could provide the investigator with much intensely interesting food for thought.
Since a knowledge of the method of enquiry is essential to a precise appreciation of its results, I record here that collection of my notes occupied most of my time during the years 1934-36, when I was Assistant Superintendent, Falam. My questions were put in the local lingua franca the Laizo dialect of the Chin language and my informants were as a rule men selected for their deep knowledge of particular aspects of tribal life. Having made notes on theoretical reactions, I checked them against the actualities of daily life during the course of my constant tours, which covered every village and hamlet in the Falam Subdivision.
Just before leaving the area, 1 invited to my headquarters the elders of all the tribes and sub-tribes concerned and read over my notes to them in the local dialect, making corrections and alterations where necessary. It can be said with truth that no responsible man in the whole area lacked an opportunity of stating his views at one time or another.
In this connection it is worth noting that there has always been a strong democratic tradition in the administration of the Burma Hills. Pomp and circumstance play little part in the settled areas ; the frontier officer is regarded as a friend to whom at all times the local people are admitted without hindrance, whether their purpose be to 'grouse', to discuss legal or administrative problems, or merely to gossip about local affairs.
It is, however, inevitable that part-time enquiries by officials will lack a good deal of the documentation in terms of actual behaviour which a whole-time scientist can collect in the field. But the administrative officer has to spend years (if he is lucky) in one locality, and therefore is often able to make up by long term observation what he has to forego in detailed observation. This is especially so in the sphere of economics, because the effects of droughts and famines are often felt for years after-
wards in these rural communities, and experience over some years often yields clues to economic mysteries that would otherwise remain unsolved.
As to presentation of the material the paper is divided into three parts, the first introductory, the second dealing with production, in this case agriculture and its ancillary subjects, for less than 1 per cent, of the population earn a basic living by any other means. The third part is a detailed analysis of the distribution and consumption of local products, and describes the intricate system of social reciprocities that forms so remarkable a feature of Chin life.
Throughout the whole my main preoccupation has been the extraction of the administrative implications contained in the economic situation existing in the hills. It will be seen that whereas the outstanding inference to be drawn from this, as from all other modern analyses of primitive economics, is the close integration of all aspects of primitive culture ; modern administrative practice, based on the increasing segmentation and departmentalism of " civilised " democratic government, seems to be heading in the opposite direction. In the closing paragraphs of most chapters I have drawn attention to the local dangers attendant upon this trend, and to the increasingly serious responsibility devolving upon the administration to see that all effort emanating from the departmental authorities is controlled and co-ordinated to the fullest possible degree.
The brief final chapter was written in an interval of sick leave in the present war. Where it falls short of what one should expect of a summary of this cultural survey, I plead the exigencies of service. The complete lack of sound modern analyses of the rural economies of the Burma Hills, coupled with the urgent necessity to prepare a plan of economic resurgence to take back into Burma with us on our reconquest of the country, has given this volume an ephemeral value out of all proportion to the normal, and publication therefore could not wait upon literary or scientific excellence.
In conclusion I would like to add a word on the 1943 situation. I have been fortunate enough to be reposted to the Chin Hills in time to witness the great effort this small group is making to stem the tide of Japanese aggression. That they, almost alone in Burma, have escaped even temporary slavery under the heels of the conqueror is due largely to their own stout efforts and to their loyalty to the small band of British civil and military officers who have maintained unbroken continuity of normal administration throughout most of the district, though the tide of Japanese militarism has lapped its fringes for nearly a year.
Many of the predictions in this volume are already half way to becoming facts. The scars of new landslips in the Manipur River valley bear mute witness to the urgent need for control of destruction of the forests a control which a wise administration has already established with some degree of success during the past few years. Pit saws have become an essential part of timber extraction, while slate and tin roofed houses are many times more numerous than before, an indication that the local people are waking up to the part they have to play in forest conservation.
The enormous increase in cash in the local economy, due to the war and the much increased wage employment it has brought in its train, is exerting great pressure on the old economic system. Inflation has already reached a stage that makes the day to day sacrifices of the animists a serious burden. Their lot is the harder because occupation of the contiguous plains by the Japanese has closed what were in the past the only outside markets, so that the almost complete absence of alternative avenues of spending has thrown the whole weight of surplus cash on to the restricted market of local products.
The Chiefs and Elders have been hard put to frame a means of con- trolling further rises in the cost of living, and though efforts are being made to drain off some of the surplus cash by encouraging the formation of co-operative societies on the village scale, the task is made doubly difficult because, while the war situation makes necessary the reduction of floating cash surpluses, the same situation has had the not unexpected effect of making these primitive people shy of relinquishing hold of their negotiable assets.
Though the economic situation is now nearer normal, there was a time in the early summer of 1942 when the fear of losing their property to the invaders led to a holocaust of mithan and pigs hurriedly sacrificed to the guardian spirits. This action was not dictated wholly by fear, though there was good enough cause for that in the early days, but was due at least as much to a desire to have the decks cleared for action should the enemy succeed in penetrating to the hill villages. It was felt that animals so sacrificed had been added to the spirit herds the people would find waiting for them in the Land of the Dead, and thus eternal poverty so much harder to contemplate than mundane want was well and truly averted.
But the most important fact apparent is the way the social system has stood up so far in spite of these difficulties. The Chiefs and Elders still exercise their authority with undiminished potency ; law and order still prevail and a child could walk unescorted through most of the district in perfect safety. The Feasts of Merit and Celebration still hold pride of place in the eye of the local investor, though the flood of cash pouring into this traditional field of consumption is the main cause of the rising local prices.
The fact that the cost of current feasts is thereby increased to double or more of the normal may result in efforts to get the traditional rates of " interest " in kind altered to suit present day investors, or, far worse in its ultimate effects, appreciation of the diminishing returns of feast-giving in relation to its cost may bring the whole system into disrepute. A possible result of this would be reversion of the local investor to the short-term loan systems instead of to the tefa system, and since these systems carry exorbitant rates of interest the effect on the distribution of wealth would be immediate and disastrous. In this connection the present abundance of ready cash is a potent danger, for it is resulting in a general trend towards cash rather than kind transactions which may in itself convert the Chin to more direct methods of employing his capital.
We cannot say what the future will bring to this remote corner of the Empire it may yet have to face the ordeal by fire and see its quiet homesteads reduced to ruin and ashes. One thing is certain, and that is that the Empire as a whole and India in particular owes a very great debt to these sturdy hillmen. At one time they stood virtually alone to face an enemy that had just beaten a great army. Aided only by their mountainous environment and a small irregular force composed of the local Frontier Force Battalion, itself largely Chin, and disbanded Chin sepoys of the Burma Rifles, the people have succeeded, in spite of their paltry numbers and inadequate arms, in throwing that enemy back from their borders. It is not easy to assess the service they have done us by that lonely stand, but this we can say that had the Chins let the Japanese pass through on their conquering way into Manipur and Assam, the difficulties that would have befallen India are beyond computation.
H - N ' Ct STEVENSON.
Acknowledgments
The collection of the data for this paper entailed much hard work on the part of the local wiseacres, who sat patiently through many hundreds of hours of enquiry, jogging my memory, correcting my vocabulary, clarifying my questions and amplifying the answers of our sometimes rather slow-witted local farmers. That they were willing to suffer what must have been to them the excruciating boredom of constant repetition of facts long familiar to them is a pointer to the seriousness with which they regarded my mission, and a tribute to their sense of responsibility. Though most headmen played their part, the bulk of the strain fell on the five tribal chiefs, and in particular on Thang Tin Lian, Chief of the Zahau, and Khuang Zal, the Court Interpreter, whose zeal and determination to see a complete record made did much to maintain my own standards of efficiency.
Presentation of the facts owes much to my friends in the Department of Anthropology in the University of London. Prof. Malinowski, Dr. Firth, Dr. Mair, Miss M. Lawrence and my fellow students all made important contributions to my analysis of Chin economics through their friendly and constructive criticism. Their wide knowledge of primitive societies throughout the world was placed unreservedly at my disposal and their acute perception solved many of my problems.
Publication of the book I owe to the generosity of the Government of Burma.
I am greatly indebted to H. E. the Governor of Burma, Sir Reginald Dorman Smith, G.B.E., for his gracious encouragement of my own personal efforts and his much needed support of the cause of social investigation in the hill areas of Burma.
Last, but not by any means least, I acknowledge the constant help and inspiration of my wife, who has shared with me for so many years all the trials and tribulations of a rough life on the lonely frontiers of Burma. That the manuscript survived at all is thanks to her foresight, for all else disappeared when the Japanese overran our home. The loss of my notes has meant that many detailed appendices have had to be omitted, and I have not been able to document the arguments in the paper with the fullness desirable in a work of this nature.
H. N. C. STEVENSON.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I.
INTRODUCTORY.
CHAPTER I. The Application of Economic Theory to Chin Culture 1
Need for a plan and a set of concepts for analysis Economic Man a creature of fiction personalisation characteristic of primitive economics what economic postulates are applicable Goodfellow's definition of units his principles of disposal of resources their applicability to Chin culture the Chin units management goods recognisable as " production " and " consumption " goods by function rather than form value of economic theory in administrative forecasts lack of records of economic facts.
CHAPTER II. The Social Background 11
Geographical position of area occupied by Central Chin tribes their ethnographical position and relation to surrounding tribes tribal history its effect on migration the Central tribes their political framework migration and assimilation the social grouping in the village factors affecting it the religious beliefs their controlling influence in all cultural spheres the village scene a vignette of daily life.
PART II.
PRODUCTION.
CHAPTER III. Agriculture 29
The physical background climatic conditions water supplies main sources of food the divisions of land regional and crop rotation supernatural aid and the limitations of technical skill crops and their seasons the division of agricultural labour hired labour labour dues to headmen and specialists voluntary association in labour details of agricultural technique implements the agricultural cycle the storage of crops the harvest festivals and their significance the uses to which crops are put and its effect on local values the present and the future of Chin agriculture.
CHAPTER IV. Animal Husbandry 47
The types of local stock average number owned breeding customs and standards of quality laws regarding killing and maiming of stock the uses of stock economic wastage of hides methods of acquiring stock their effect in the field of agriculture damage to crops by livestock laws of compensation changes due to administration and foreign contact Gurkha pastoral settlements experiments in better stock selective assimilation in action.
CHAPTER V. Hunting and Fishing 62
Types of animals found local classification technique of hunting trapping the laws of hunting public safety and trespass payment of hunting dues personal claims and rights fishing technique effects of hunting and fishing on agriculture and land tenure,
Pages.
CHAPTER VI. Forest Products 72
Religious ideology and its effect on collection of forest produce eatable products usable products saleable products and their effect on local trade local salt panning lac extraction.
CHAPTER VII. Land Tenure 78
Salient differences between tenures in autocratic and democratic groups rights and claims in autocratic group of chief, headman, specialists, the whole community, the individual resident and the individual cultivator the principles governing these rights and claims the rights and principles of tenure in democratic group land tenure in practice the bul ram individual tenure and its effects communal land possible solutions to land problems.
CHAPTER VIII. Trade and Wage-earning 101
Why money came to the hills the ancient channels of trade local partial price system present directions of flow of trade partnership in trading ventures effects of wage-earning on local economy future trends.
PART III.
DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION.
CHAPTER IX. The Economics of the Household 106
The household as the basic unit of local economy relative position of individual members their duties and responsibilities table of debits and credits of normal household what is used in the household the types of cooked food relishes the types of beer and the traditional methods of serving the household practically selfsupporting the nature of surpluses above household use the lack of the necessary whole time enquiries into household consumption.
CHAPTER X. The Economics of Social Obligations 118
Feasting as main means of disposing of surpluses the complex and well-balanced nature of feasts household as point of intersection of four main social groups super-tax on feasts indicative of their " capital " value diagram of effects of household and personal sacrifices marriage reciprocities consisting of three groups the marriage ceremony the marriage price Yawl han ceremonies connected with birth the mutual obligations at mortuary ceremonies the " voluntary " feasts the Feasts of Celebration of hunting successes the Feasts of Merit the diagram of effects of feast-giving the four groups of flesh dues at feasts the perquisites of the
" Feaster's Club " the penalties of non-payment the economic effect of the social obligations.
CHAPTER XI. The Economics of Justice 148
The motivation of obedience to custom objective examination of the Chin viewpoint essential the three types of offences offences against the person offences against property and property rights offences against the spirits and against spiritual values the traditional Zahau fines disposal of fines simple process of execution of legal decrees the local effect of application of the Penal Code the necessity of understanding local economy as pre-requisite of evaluating Chin Justice.
Pages.
CHAPTER XII. The Economics of Religious Ritual 156
The economic significance of religious ritual is constant throughout the central tribes the three main categories the personal sacrifices the communal sacrifices the agricultural sacrifices the effect of mission activities the significance of the Pau Chin Hau cult the economic effects of religion future trends.
CHAPTER XIII. Wealth, Poverty, and Debt 164
Wealth means spending rather than accumulating the types of property and the gradations of value the persons and groups entitled to own property the laws of succession and inheritance the extent and nature of poverty public relief and private aid debt the traditional forms of borrowing the tefa system and the effect of Christianity on local credit the borrowing of the future.
CHAPTER XIV. Conclusion 182
The need for a common basis of record in comparative economics Firth's list of indices the dominant technique of local production the system of exchange the price system the control of the means of production the regulation of consumer's choices possibilities and methods of local economic development.
GLOSSARY. 191
INDEX. 194
INDIAN
EM.PIRS
BAY OF BENGAL
