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Visit to standing stones at Lungtrok, from which stem the origin myths of local clans |
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Halted Chare. There are about 200 houses and it is one of the biggest Sangtam villages left - the biggest if the Aos are included. |
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We went up to Chongliemdi 3 miles off at the top of the hill, a small village of some 30 or 40 houses, and paid a visit to Lungtrok, the famous six stones from which all the Aos derive their origin, as well as the Phoms and, I think, the Sangtams hereabouts. Only three of the six are standing, and the biggest ("the females stone" as it was pointed out to me) was knocked down by a Christian evangelist who destroyed a small phallus which stood in front of it and was later visited, |
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In some traditions the Chamir phratry do not spring from this female stone like the Pongen and Langkamr but come from one of the two "male" stones, which possibly reflects a real distinction in culture between the phratries, one of them, possibly having had a matrilineal system, distinct from the patrilineal one of another stock. The Wozukamr clan are fined if they claim origins from the stones at all, as they are descended from an old woman who was weaving when a hornbill's tail feather fell on her from a bird flying over, but this took place close to the morung in old Chongliemdi, the site of which is still shown. This old village adjoined the Lungtrok, but what remained of it moved to its present site higher up about a generation ago. The old house sites are clearly identifiable in the jungle near Lungtrok. We then visited Chatongre, a village of about 150 houses half a mile or south of Chongliemdi. |
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The water here all slightly flavoured with the blossoms of a flowering tree, and a very pleasant flavour it was. |
