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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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village not a unit in attack and defence , except Thendu |
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Whereas a village acted vis-a-vis supernatural powers as a unit, it seldom showed a comparable esprit de corps in confronting neighbors or enemies. In Thenkoh villages raids were seldom undertaken by the men of all the morungs. As a rule, only members of one or two men's houses cooperated in a head-hunting expedition. When a village was attacked, its inhabitants would normally join in its defense, but in spite of a strict taboo on actively helping an enemy by fighting members of one's own village, treachery of rival morungs was not unknown. The obligation to revenge a person killed by enemies rested with the members of the victim's clan and morung, not with all his covillagers. Among the Thendu Konyaks, however, the whole village would go to war under the leadership of its chief. |
