The state of Nagaland in the North-Eastern region of India is home to several Naga tribes, of whom the Lotha Naga is one major tribe. The district of Wokha in the state is inhabited by the said tribe, rich in vegetation and known to produce some of the best vegetables and fruits is known as the ‘land of plenty’ in Nagaland. They are a family of the ‘Tengima’ group which is now divided into Angami, Ao, Sema and the Lotha tribe. The paper seeks to bring a fresh perspective in the bride-price system of the Lotha Naga of Nagaland. The bride-price system among the Lotha Naga continued for centuries and generations until the very recent times, even as late as the twentieth century. It is still practiced today in a looser sense. But the bride-price in its full and rigid form fell into oblivion mainly after Christian interaction with the missionaries, and yet again fell into disuse solely due to its draining of wealth and resources on the groom’s family and as over burdening it was later for the groom himself.  The objective behind the payment of the bride-price has often been portrayed as a security: ‘protection’ for the girl/ woman when she gets into a troubled marriage, preventing the man from taking another wife and for the general benefit of her clan and her uncles, aunts, parents and brothers to whom the bride-price is paid who usually intervened and mediated in such instances. But the actual foundations upon which the ‘bride-price’ originated in the first place among the Lotha and was carried out through time needs further examination for it held economic roots in an agricultural society with human as the only source of labour and the question as to whether the discontinuity of it affected Lotha women in the society?

Statement of the Problem

The study on women in history has been comparatively marginalised as against men ostensibly but here again the role of women in economy and their valuable contribution has been utterly neglected or couched as domestic chores and nothing more. It’s as though we refuse to acknowledge their work as nothing more than duties, virtues, and symbolisms of womanhood. The study on the origins of the Lotha Naga bride-price tradition, its elements and economic aspect will be the highlight of the paper. The change/revision of it over time and the whys and outcomes of the bride-price system as prevalent among the Lotha Naga will be discussed which as a subject has been belittled against the giants of social studies.

Theoretical Framework

In the scholarly world, there is much debate on the term to incorporate the entire transaction that takes place during marriage concisely, which is found to be very difficult to put it in English parlance. Various scholars have put forth their view on which word would apparently fit to qualify for it. E. E. Evans-Pritchard writing on the economic value of women puts forth ‘bride-wealth’ instead of bride-price as earlier used by many since it highlights only the economic function of this wealth at the same time tending to parallel the word ‘price’ for ‘purchase’.[2] Bride-Wealth according to him is a comprehensive term not restricting itself to just one aspect or function involved in the marriage transaction between the two parties involved. Radcliffe Brown suggests ‘indemnity’ by stating that “the payment of cattle for a wife is functionally parallel to the payment of cattle for a man who has been intentionally or accidentally killed. In both cases the payment is an “indemnity” or payment of compensation to a group (family or clan) that loses a member.”[3] Now that we have brought to notice all the terms and their justifications, for the sake of this very paper I’d prefer to stick to the term Bride-price, the term which will be self-explanatory as the study proceeds.

E. E. Evans-Pritchard in his essay on ‘The Position of Women in Primitive Societies and Our Own’ attempts to study women’s position across societies and how it varies among cultures and social structures by using Hobhouse and Ginsberg’s criteria to study whether the condition of women in primitive societies is favourable or unfavourable by attaching most weight to what rights are secured to women by custom and law, such as whether the husband has the right of chastisement, whether the wife is protected by law or by her kinsfolk, whether the women do the harder work in the home, and whether a women may be chief or take part in tribal councils. Their study concluded that there is no great difference between hunters, agriculturists, and pastoralists. Mention is also made of Robert H. Lowie and his book Primitive Society which puts the conditions involved in the relations of men and women to be many-sided and that it is dangerous to overweight one particular phase of them. Pritchard is of the opinion that the lives of primitive women is due to their being members of societies with a simple technology and economy rather than to their being women. Men invariably hold the question of authority and they have a clearer division of labour between the sexes. An important point that comes to light is that a primitive woman sees herself as different from man and as having a social status different from him: primitive women do not see themselves as an under-privileged class as against a class of men with whom they seek to gain social equality. From his study he concludes that the position of women is rooted in deep biological and psychological factors, as well as sociological factors and that the relations between the sexes can only be modified by social changes and holds that woman’s position in society is in the long run dependent on everybody’s position. However, he does state that the position of women is correspondingly low with regard to the male sex especially in the married state and is correspondingly low in a servile population.[4] Evans writing on the ‘Social Character of bride-wealth, with special reference to the Azande’ sets it clear that bride-wealth everywhere has an economic value and a full study of bride-wealth must treat it as one of a number of techniques which employ wealth by gift or payment as a means of establishing, defining, expressing, and evoking social behaviour. It is important to remember that bride-wealth is distributed in virtue of kinship and affinity obligations and that it is the relations between a man and his brothers or wife’s brother that is being expressed. [5] Extreme similarities have been found in the system of bride-wealth between the Azande and the Lotha and will greatly serve the purpose of our study.

E. B. Tylor writing on the Tasmanians institution of marriage distinctly developed despite its social development being in the Palaeolithic stage, brought out the feature of women or wife rather being seen more or less as slaves and man’s private property. Throughout her lifetime she belonged to her father or her brothers, later her husband’s. “The value of a female slave as a food gatherer, nurse, and general servant, would be obvious.” Referring to this matter Lieut. Colonel T.L. Mitchell in his “Three Expeditions in East Australia,” Vol. I. p.307, says: - “Considering the industry of the Gins, in making mats, sewing cloaks, mussel-fishing, rooting, and their patient submission to labour, always carrying the bags which contain the whole property of the family, the value of a Gin to one of those lazy fellows may be easily imagined.” [6]

Indira Rajaraman seeks to bring out the switch from a bride-price system to that of dowry among entire endogamous groups on the grounds that male dominance in the organised sector of employment has brought about this change paralleled by the findings of National Committee on the Status of Women.[7] Neeta Lodha in her writing[8] on the status of tribal women perceives it from an angle of women as productive resources and as participants in the economy but how they have often been described as the Invisible Labour Force of rural economies. She also brings out the contradictory opinions of scholars on the status of primitive women with some generally assigning high status to women, whereas the other viewpoint proposes that in third world, women are generally a suppressed group, having low status and are under subjugation, oppression or under male dominance (Shirisalkar, 1975; Omism, 1977; Majumdar and Madan, 1980; Dutt, 1985; Raju, 1988). She concludes by saying that since women’s work is considered unproductive, her status remains negligible although she remains engaged in tons of economic activity, she stands an unpaid servant to man and adds that men’s role is dominant and authoritative while that of women is subtle and persuasive (Prasad & Singh,1988). Lucy Vashum Zehol while writing[9] on the status of tribal women views from another direction that women’s status has always stood low in comparison to that of men which indicates that their status is based on roles and it is understood only through the rights and roles of their male counterparts and they tend to be defined almost entirely in relational terms. She adds Talcott Parson’s six attributes of status in her study on the status of tribal women while also mentioning that role and status are two sides of the same coin by giving Ralph Linton’s explanation of role and status, that role is the behavioural aspect of status and while status is occupied role is played. The status of women can be divided into two broad domains in her writings: (i) the domestic domain, and (ii) the public domain. And in determining the status of women in any society, four important factors to consider are: social status, economic condition, political empowerment, and psychological condition. She has mentioned the Lotha women’s position to be lacking by the social practices they follow but the value of a girl for the labour she contributes is seen in the huge bride-price and hence is seen as a valuable asset. Woman, all over the world is described as the giver of life and as a fragile creature in danger. This description has both positive and negative connotations. In S.K Pandey’s edited book,[10] Mitchell maintains that women are everywhere in civilizations the second sex, but everywhere differently so. Freudian theory contains that the inferiority of female sex lies in the psychobiological nature of women. J.S. Mills considered superior strength of men in the earliest stage of society as the reason for women’s submission. Engels attributes practice of private property as the beginning of women’s subjugation. Men became the proprietor of women. The women were degraded and reduced to servitude and the female became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for production of children. Engels suggested women’s participation in production on a large scale and in domestic work only to an insignificant degree as a comprehensive programme for the emancipation of women.

Lotha Naga Bride-price

The originating factor behind the ‘bride-price’ among the Lotha as assumed is moral and legal by the transactions carried out during the process. It is largely given to the kin of the bride. And it is understandable that it would be conceived that way at an age when relations were closely knitted and small given the density of the Lotha population which even as late as early twentieth century was no more than twenty thousand all together. The demographic structure of a Lotha village would not surpass five hundred households as of the colonial period. It usually stood at two hundred and fifty households per village at an average to an even lesser count and to a maximum of five hundred like mentioned. But before relationships both affine and consanguine, survival mattered above everything else; economy on a broader term was the first factor to be met. Given the technological progress the Lothas were at that point of time (pre-colonial and even colonial), when humans were the instruments of labour and production, the best of it would undoubtedly be the most prized. And it is here that women proved to be an efficient, industrious and productive unit. At an era which was steeped in head hunting, raid and homicide, men were mostly away and engaged in training, protecting the village (which was the apex of political power among the Lotha Naga), and fighting the enemy, their contribution in the economic production was meagre in comparison to the rest. And by the rest I mean children, widows and the like. The Lotha society before the advent of Christianity treated the widows less kindly and the drudged works landed upon them. Old women in the village were baby sitters to their grandkids and at times to the lot of neighbourhood children side by side they spent their time being productive by way of weaving, handling cotton, manufacturing pottery and the like. The point here, seeking to convey that a women’s life began and ended in contribution to the economy of the village.  It is in this light, in the contribution of women to the economy that the bride-price system is studied.

The elements of the bride-price or the 11 kinds of bride-price of the Lotha are expressly mentioned below. Interestingly, in nowhere is indicated the price given to the priest.

‘Among the Lotha Naga the transaction paid by the husband to the wife’s family is called oman meaning price. It involves labour, money and items in kind over a period of time, usually a year. The first payment is called Chuka paid to the girl’s maternal grandfather or her maternal uncle. The amount was fixed at Rs.1. This is paid as soon as tsoyuta (dining/feasting) has taken place between the two families but could also be paid after the wedding. When bride gives the Chuka the maternal grandfather in return also gives her something in kind could Chenla. However, this Chuka was to be given only by the first girl in the family to get married and this in turn grants her the right to be invited by her maternal side of the family to every wedding of their children. The second item is Nzuiman ranging from Rs.8-10 paid to the girl’s parents as the cost of bringing her up. Third was Nvanman fixed at Rs.10 for the reasons that he won’t be living with his in-laws thereby not working for them, it pertains to labour.  Fourth came the Kitsoman, the price paid for not having built his father in-laws house at Rs.2:[11] It is expected for the groom to build his father in-law a house. The third and the fourth payment could be paid by the groom in labour form by working at his father in-laws’ field and building him a new house. The fifth would be Hanlamman which was the price of pork given to the father in-law before the wedding day to be distributed among the kin and clan members of the bride and by the Motsurui of the bride, which was made up of a number of clans from the same phratry[12] who in return would give money or items to the new couple for start-up. But pigs were given instead of money, and the hanlamvu by rule was to be a boar without scars, marks and deformity of any kind. Additionally, more pigs were added to the hanlamvu and could include gilts and sows too. Rich men gave five to six pigs and the poorest gave just the boar specifically labelled as hanmalvu. The sixth is Tsangchuman paid in exchange for fire wood which the groom was to provide the relative of his father in-laws clan. Else the actual way of payment was in kind where the groom fetched wood from the forest and stocked up his father in-laws wood pile well. The idea behind these payments was that since the daughter was leaving her parents’ house forever, a labour was lost, a provider was lessened in a society where family made up the unit of labour and now since they were short of one, her absence was not to create an expense at his in-law’s house. The groom was also to build a granary for his father in-law and fill it up with paddy which made up the seventh payment called Sontsoman. The groom could allow his in-laws to reap a year’s harvest from his field or else pay 1-2 rupees. The eight payment is called Tsoroman which was the price of the bride’s breasts fixed at Rs.1. Relative to this is the Lentamoman understood as the price for intimacy with the bride at Rs.1. These two kinds may be viewed for reproductive reasons. Men with field usually let the girl’s parents cut one field once. For the tenth payment, we have the Otyai-Etsoman which is the price given for feeding the brothers of the bride, received by the father and brothers of the bride; it is the heaviest bride-price out of all the above and amounts to two hundred and fifty baskets of rice (the tall conical baskets standing at 7 feet tall and if paid in cash amounted up to thirty rupees. J.P. Mills calls this particular payment the marriage-price proper. Should a woman die without children her husband makes a final payment varying from two to five rupees, called Etchiman which literally translates as price of death and if the woman dies leaving children a payment of one or two rupees called Mingishi, is made to her parents or their heirs, who can in this case claim any of the Otyaietsoman which may be outstanding.’[13]

The kind of gift items handed over to the women like hoe, spade, dao on the day of marriage symbolises and stresses the labour unit she is in the society and that it is expected of her to be one in a society drowned in wars and traditional technology. The labour involved in the bride-wealth is also suggestive of the importance of human labour and especially highlights the role of women in the Naga economy.

The duty of the wife to bear her husband children was considered essential and binding to the relationship they shared. Upon failure of which divorce took place. The emphasis is often laid on the lineage of the husband to be passed on through his sons but the immediate necessity was the labour the children were to contribute in at the fields. And since human labour was the only form of labour in the Lotha society at that period in history no alternative could be carried out.

Very often, bride-price is depicted or understood as the price given to the male members of the maternal side and her kin who in return were to provide safety and support to the girl in cases of divorce and separation by death or in cases of barrenness making it closer to ‘indemnity’ as described by Radcliffe Brown but this does not bring out comprehensively the nature of the bride-price under study. Perhaps, it could even be due to the heavy bride-price given at her marriage that the wife inherited nothing from her husband’s wealth during his lifetime and after his death.

Even as we talk about the economic value of women in Naga society, the price of slaves in the plains of Assam with whom the Lotha Naga shared a boundary and long-term trade, cultural and political relation should reflect the idea of it. The value of slaves and cattle is strangely estimated at the following rate: - A male slave is worth one cow and three conch shells, a female slave is worth three cows and four or five conch shells. “[14] “The price of salt in the plains is 7 rupees per maund of 40 seers or 80 lbs., and a conch shell is worth 1 rupee, so that a male slave is worth 13 rupees or 26 seers; a female slave 34 rupees or 68 seers; a cow 10 rupees or 1 l.; a goat or pig 2 rupees or 4 seers each.”[15]

Women’s role in the economy

A tribe situated at hill summits as crowns to the mountain, engaging in Jhum cultivation which demanded intensive labour: isolated, feeding and fending in the tedious terrain, labour in the form of human was the only source as already mentioned above.

Given the common saying that a Naga woman carries the backbone of the village economy right from the bottom of the pyramid starting with the domestic circle of her nuclear family to the highest in the order that of the village itself should stand as the platform on which the statement holds substance.  She is the store house of knowledge in seeds, soil, weather, season and the cultivation itself. Many have written along such lines and i should like to quote some of them such as “Cultivation does not merely denote the rendering of physical labour for production of economic goods, it also includes learning the science of the soil, variable climatic condition of an area, the method of nurturing various crops, the periodic test of the soil for fresh cultivation etc.”[16] “They are coarse and plain, which is not to be wondered at, as they perform all manner of drudgery in the field, supply the house with water and fuel, and make whatever clothing is required by the family.”[17]

In a society where girls are trained from a very young age to be dextrous; learn house-hold chores, accompany her mother for foraging of food or fetching fire-wood for fuel, provide clothes for the family by way of weaving, a girl/woman works from dawn till dusk. Considered a primary profession of women which includes the arduous process right from growing the cotton plants, to separating the seeds from the wool, to spinning threads, dyeing and to the final step of weaving, she weaves for her entire family taking her right from the plantation to the end product. They engaged in trade activities too by accompanying men for trade in the plains too. She is expected to prepare the liquor for her family which by itself is strenuous for the culture of drinking rice beer was very strong among the Lothas as any other Naga tribe and this was the common and much preferred item a host offered to his friends and guests, it was expected for rice beer to be available at all times, so the labour was ceaseless in such a society. She was also the agriculturist, she tended to the fields the whole time until harvest, winnowed, husked, and threshed the grains to rice to feed the family, cooking, washing, cleaning and maintaining the household was all on her shoulders. Women here were not unfamiliar to fishing, manufacturing of pots for domestic use and for exchange/trade unlike many of the other Naga tribes where pottery was a men’s task in the division of labour, a Lotha woman was not free of this task.  She not only was engaged also in gardening for the various crops and plants the Nagas eat as staple and throughout the year, from beans, peas, chilly, ginger, garlic, shallots, tomato, potatoes, maize, millets, brinjals (aubergine), chayote, pumpkin, gourd, mustard leaves, mints, and the many green leaves the Nagas eat but also gathered fruits from the forest, domesticated most of them while cured the surplus to be eaten at off seasons. The Lothas are known to cure a lot of fruits and vegetables during the seasons of both fruits and vegetables and stored them away. All these, and the most important of all, the pressure of reproduction of offspring for labour force as well as to pass down the lineage: a woman was worth more than anything. That is why the bride-price of the Lotha Naga was hefty and securing a wife arduous.  

Women inherited no property or money from their parents nor their husbands or their sons for that matter. The little they could keep or be given was limited to moveable property which was negligible. The heavy bride-price among the Lotha should attest to the economical side of it: women being the backbone of its economy and the reproducer of offspring’s who would then make up the labour unit. When one studies the Lotha economy to depth the fundamental role of women is indismissible. However, this valuation of a woman was not reflected in the political sphere which will be a discussion of another time perhaps but the take away is that as she was limited to certain facets in the society. Unfortunately, today due to the change in the society the Lotha live in, which is safe to say modern with both white- and blue-collar jobs a difference has been noticed in the tradition of the bride-price practiced by the Lotha, a shift in worth and values. Women are to large extent home-makers while men are the bread earners of the family which in turn has affected the position and worth of a woman in comparison to how it was in the past. A predicament as such goes back to the colonial period when only boys attended schools and girls were left home to do domestic chores and work the fields. Eventually girls did enter schools but the numbers honestly were depressing and did not pursue further than primary or elementary levels for a long period of time. The scenario however paints a different picture now. Moving on to the present, the Lotha today mainly sticks to the hanlamvu with some rigidity but with reduced portions in the amount/number of pork/pigs to be given out. Even this came to be so taxing on some that cases of elopement rose to a considerable amount up to recent times therefore the amounts were revised and relaxed. It was evidently impossible to keep with the tradition of the past. Relatively, with reduced expenses resulted in higher divorces rates among the Lotha. A study committed to this former statement is needed to confirm it nevertheless; things couldn’t be far from the truth. The questions as to whether and if the bride-price will attain its former glory and women regain their lost worth with growing education and working women will find its answers only with time. The concluding lines stands with the Lotha bride-price system being positive after all, compensation was paid well to the family losing a production member and the loans incurred for this transaction could be repaid by the productive contribution of the women overtime.[18] Moreover, it solidified and strengthened the relations of the giver and receivers of this price for a lifetime as they were paid in installments over a period of time.

1. Butler, John, Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam During a Residence of Fourteen Years, Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1855.

2. Brown, A.R. Radcliffe, Bride- Price, Ernest or Indemnity, Man, July 1929, Vol.29, Nos. 95-96.

3. Koulie, D., “Changes in Naga Work Culture”, in Naga Society: Continuity and Change, N. Venuh (ed.,), Shipra Publications, Delhi, 2004.

4. Lodha, Neeta, Status of Tribal Women: Work Participation and Decision-Making Role in Tribal Society, Mangal Deep Publications, Jaipur, India, 2003.

6. Mills, J.P., The Lhota Nagas, Macmillan and Co., London, 1922.

7. Pandey, S.K., Geeta Chaturvedi (ed.,), Women in Medicine; Perceptions and Perspectives, Printwell, Jaipur, India, 1996.

8. Peal, S.E., Fading Histories, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vols. LXIII, LXV, LXVII,  Part III, Anthropology and c., No. I- 1894, No. I and Special Number- 1896, and Nos. I and II- 1898, Edited by Anthropology Secretary, Printed at The Baptist Mission Press, and Published by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, 1903.

9. Pritchard, E.E. Evans, An Alternative Term for Bride-Price, Man, March 1931, Vol.31, Nos.41-42.

10. Pritchard, E.E. Evans, The Position of Women in Primitive Societies and Other Essays In Social Anthropology, Faber and Faber, London, 1965.

11. Rajaraman, Indira, Economics of Bride-price and Dowry, Economic and Political Weekly, February 1983, Vol.18, No.8.

12. Rose, H.A., The Development of Bride-price and of Dowry, Folklore, June 1925, Vol.36, No.2.

13. Subba, T.B., G.C. Ghosh (ed.,), The Anthropology of North-East India: A Textbook, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 2003.