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Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units |
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history would show that monarchy and democracy were fluid over time |
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A greater knowledge of the history of individual villages might well lead to a reappraisal of the apparent distinction between the democratic tendencies of most Thenkoh villages and the monarchic rule observable among the Konyaks of the Thendu group. There are many indications that the dividing line between the two systems has been fluid, and it would seem that historic accident, such as the personality of a chief or the extinction of a chiefly lineage, could have brought about a swing from the one system to the other. |
