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

everywhere to keep the meat and ground reasonably clean, Then the
buffalo was unceremoniously felled with a swift and stunning biow with
an axe. The cutting and distribution of meat was a male domain, First
the blood was drained from the back of the neck into a large dish while
the beast died. Then the belly was split open and the stomach contents
emptied down the slope, The skin was removed and the men in attendance
set to with axes and khukuris (knives) cutting up the beast into smailer
pieces. The little boys meanwhile played with bits of the dead animal
such as the eyes, udders (if it was female) and nose tip in an
exploratory way while a few curious little giris looked on from the
sidelines.
The beast was divided up according to three categories: meat, offal
and head/bone, Small pi les were made up of each, according to how many
portions in total had been requested by different households in the
group. When all the cutting was complete, one of the men in charge
would go round with a balance making sure the meat port ions were a1 1 of
equal weight and roughly even quality (Plate 10). Once this was done,
offal and bone was added to each pile, and the onlookers (who might
include a few women by this stage, waiting to take meat to their homes)
could start taking away their portions. Payment was supposed to be made
to the pradhbn pb-c by Laksnmi pu.jb in Tihbr, over three weeks later.
Another organizer distributed blood into small containers which people
had brought with them for the purpose.
Everyone went home happy, and once the cauti5rb was cleared the
organizers took a haunch back to the pradhbn pb-c's house. This was cut
up in the courtyard on an old bamboo fence and divided up amongst the
organizers as their 'perks'. What was noteworthy about the bailo was