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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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Great Angs only those born of two Great Ang clans |
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High rank involves obligations, and Konyak chiefs could maintain their eminent position only by preserving the purity of their noble blood. Only from the marriage of a great Ang and a woman of great Ang rank sprang sons entitled to succeed to their father's position. The sons from a great Ang's union with a woman of lower rank were accorded the status of "small" Angs, and none of their progeny could ever regain the status of great Angs. The chiefs of all the more important Thendu villages were of great Ang class, but we shall see that the chiefs of some minor tributary villages were of small Ang rank. |
