THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

I could not tell my parents about it". This was foliowed by a meal of
rice, pickle with lime, green vegetable and pork in the kitchen. The
fact that pork was on the menu did not seem to be acknowledged: in fact,
there was much conversation about goats. However, the taste must have
been unmistakable, and the meat to be expected in a Yakha household
after Dasai-,
The consumption of pork and alcohol also had implications for the
use of resources by the Yakha. For exampie, the need to cook pigs' food
and produce alcohol must have significantly increased the amount of
firewood consumed by the Yakha compared to high-caste Hindus.
Comparative studies of fuelwood consumption would be needed to confirm
this, however, The indirect exchange of goats and buffalo tended to
balance out the costs and benefits of raising these different animals4
There was no such exchange of milk and alcohol, however. In the months
leading up to the millet harvest, Yakha were regularly to be seen at the
bazaars buying millet from Brahmin and Chetri vendors to replenish their
exhausted supplies. To pay for these and other expenditures outside the
subsistence economy, extra cash (or produce) was required. Since few
Yakha in Tamaphok had enough land to produce a surplus, the oniy
alternative was a cash income. How this was procured will be discussed
later in the thesis,
3.6 Reli~ion
When we, or Indo-Nepalese visitors coming to the pradhan ~8-c's
house, asked what dharma ('religion, duties and responsibilities of a
religious order') the Yakha had, the answer was invariably 'Hindu'. The
Yakha in Tamaphok observed five Hindu festivals (m) during the year,