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

Despite the origins of the relationship between the Koyona and
Huturai claimed by this story, there appeared to be no hierarchy amongst
the clans or their subdivisions, nor did such stories concerning their
history appear to affect their prestige in the present day, The Iknap,
for example, could have been regarded as social pariahs for having
flouted the hunting taboos with dire spiritual consequences, but it
seemed that any social stigma surrounding members of their subdivision
concerned the present day behaviour of certain members (such as a rich
man who was regarded in some quarters as mean, and another who had
abandoned the village to enjoy an incestuous relationship with his
niece) and not mythical or historical incidents. The Koyoga clan, as
the Lalubhar) story concurs, were generally recognized as being the
original founders of Tamaphok, but one account said that the Linkhas
were descended from the elder sister of the Koyoqals original founder.
We learnt one saying concerning them: "Linkha teli, Kovoaa ro.lil'
('strong Linkha, select Koyor)a'). The strength of the Linkha was in
reference to the mythical fight with the sun described above.
L f neages
A lineage group consisted of people who could trace their ancestry
back patrilineally to a common, known ancestor, This was normally done
by remembering adult males in the family line. Our village father had,
at the end of May 1955, copied and updated a family tree (ba-shewali) of
his lineage, part of the c6r bhgi subdivision of the Linkha clan (see
below), going back to his great great grandfather (akektu), Sa-kBma1.
Kamala was able to draw us the family tree as she remembered it going
back as far as her great-grandfather, Vartasing (fig. 5.4). Note there