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

muntum were essentially the same, while the Rsis' were different, Even
then, certain spirits, such as Dur)dur)i, were said to be 'Limbu'.
It was by recourse to the muntum that religious practitioners could
manipulate the spirit world and, if necessary, rectify transgressions of
and problems caused by the spirits' domain. Part of this manipulation
involved the use of a special category of descent group terms known as
sammetlir), Sammetlir) could be translated as 'spiritual clan'. Amongst
the Yakha, every clan (chor) - see Chapter Five) had two sammetlir), one
for each sex. The woman's sammetlir) was said not to change on marriage,
It was quite possible for different clans to share the seme
sammetlir), and for two different sammetlir) to be found in the seme clan.
On the latter point, however, Yakha we spoke to appeared to be somewhat
confused. For example, some thought that men of the Limbuhim clan (see
Chapter Five) had two sammetlir), chor)cami and me'lapa. Others thought
the same of the Challa. However, if there were Limbuhim (or Challa)
chor)cami they were elusive and so we were never able to verify this
assertion.
People's confusion regarding sammetlir) was partly a reflection of
the fact that these names were not used in everyday life - in fact,
while people usually knew their own, they often expressed uncertainty
about those of their friends in other clans. Partly this may have been
due to embarrassment in discussing sammetlir), linked to the possibie
embarrassment of admitting knowledge of the spirit world mentioned
above. "We don't use that", said Kamala to me when I told her I had
found out what her sammetlir) was, Others, on the other hand, exhibited
surprise and then pleasure at the fact that I was getting 'deep' into
Yakha culture. These react ions were also expl icable, however, because