Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/440

414 them to the Chindwin and burnt them there, since which date cremation has been universally adopted. These vacillations of the rulers were evidently due, in part at least, to the unpopularity of the new religion, for we constantly read of the Raja and his ministers performing ceremonies to induce the people to take the holy thread, and thirty-five years after the first introduction of the new faith we read "Tungashai performed the ceremony of taking the holy thread, and on that auspicious day many, many villages also performed the same ceremony; even those who were unwilling to take the holy thread were forced to take it by royal order." It is clear that the spread of Hinduism was slow, and was only achieved by a compromise with the ancient faith. Doubtless the limitation of diet imposed on their followers by the Brahmans had much to do with the unpopularity of their doctrines, for previous to their conversion the Manipuris were evidently consumers of flesh and strong drinks. In 1630–1 we read of the Raja worshipping his god by sacrificing 100 goats, 100 rams, 100 mithan, 100 pigeons, 100 buffaloes, 100 hogs, 100 geese, 100 ducks, 100 fowls, and 100 dogs, and, judging from the practice in the case of sacrifices to the Umanglais at the present time, we may safely infer that the flesh of the victims was eaten by the worshippers. The Chronicle also contains social references to the consumption of intoxicants; for instance, in 1680–1 we read that the Raja spent the whole night drinking in the house of one of his officials, and during his absence his own house was burnt down. Prior to 1823 Manipur suffered much from raids made by the Burmese, who, according to the Chronicle, twice carried off 30,000 captives, and Colonel McCulloch writes, "of those not made captive, some escaped to British provinces, some managed to subsist themselves amongst the Hill people, and some amongst the marshes in the southern part of the valley." The princes of the royal family, and probably many of the