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

to the mul-~har, The pigeons were used exclusively for sacrifice, and
were cheaper than chickens to raise. According to a survey conducted by
the Pakhribas Agricultural Centre, 43% of households in the Koshi Hills
kept pigeons (PAC 1 ivestock officer, pers, comm. ) . A1 1 the domesticated
birds were called together by Ama at feeding time with the
characteristic "ah! ah! ah!'' sound heard all over Nepal.
2. Amongst the Kulunge Rai, M"Douga1 (1979:130ff.) suggests the
formation of sub-divisions such as these was a necessary precursor of
clan fission. Once there were more than seven generations separating
them from a common agnatic ancestor, according to MDougal, a Kulunge
man and woman could theoretically marry. This marriage would be
regarded as h8DphorB (literally 'breaking the bone', the bone
representing the male lineage as opposed to the 'blood' of the female
line), and thereafter the two lineages would be regarded as separate,
However, for the Yakha heDvhora marriage in this way was not even
theoretically possible. The car bhai and pa-c bhhi, for example, were
said to be the descendants of one father, but two sisters, an older and
younger respectively. They already had a genealogical depth beyond the
seven generat ions necessary for a marriage between the two to be
acceptab 1 e. However, the i dea that two members of these sub-d iv is ions
could marry was universally greeted with derision. The 'seven
generation' rule was known, but was said to apply to marriages between
members from the same matrilineal line (who would most often, therefore,
be members of different clans), and was said to be less rigidly adhered
to than in the past. Now, it was said, three generations at least had
to elapse between such marriages. Members of the same chog, on the
other hand, could never marry,
The only contradiction to this rule we heard of was between the two
divisions of the Limbuhim clan. The Chama (1 i teral ly ' food' ) Limbuhim
were said to be able to marry members of the Menjama (literally 'non-
food') Limbuhim, from whom they were geographically separate, Perhaps
this was an example of 'clan fission' which had occurred in Ankhibhui,
the village where the two were found. But since only Menjama Limbuhim
were found in Tamaphok, it appeared that clan fission had not become an
empirical challenge to Yakha there. The clan members were still all
known as 'Limbuhim' in Tamaphok. It is an interesting question in the
case of a widely dispersed group such as the Yakha, how hiiD~hord
marriages (assuming they occur) can ever come to have more than local
significance and be acknowledged as changing clan relations within the
group as a whole,
3. This contrasts with the list of eighty presented by Morris
(1933:114-5). Many of the clans in his list were still identifiable,
and others may have been located elsewhere. The inclusion of a few,
however, (such as the 'Mewiihh~', which is better regarded as a Rai group
in itself - see Gaenszle, 1989) can be questioned. There are
undoubtedly similar problems with my shorter list, particularly when the
problems with groups such as the Mareki, with a more ambiguous Yakha
identity (Chapter Three), are considered.
4, Hardman writes similarly about the Lohorung Rai, saying that "their
society must be described as one which emphasizes the concept of a
"person" in a particularly social manner'' (1981:161), This, she