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

y performing a pul to pokta cyao in their house, offering cuha,
roasted maize and a small chicken (or simply an egg) to the ancestors
(pitri, ohooba), they could dispense with the nua~i ritual. One could
eat maize from another's fields before conducting the nua~i ritual, just
not from one's own fields. The restriction was also said not to apply
to the whole household, All that was needed was for one person (usually
the male head of the household who would perform the nua~i) to refrain
from eating maize beforehand, If not, it was said, his mouth would
become paralyzed.
After the maize was harvested RoTh were frequently constructed on
the bgri to house oxen and other beasts, which were fed on the discarded
stalks of the maize. Other fields were simply allowed to lie fallow for
a while, after which all plant growth was ploughed up (Plate 25) or dug
in in preparation for winter crops of mustard (tori) or potatoes (GI,
Potatoes were usually planted in February, There were six types of
potato recognized in Tamaphok. The three varieties of long-standing use
were sole (a white potato), doliyo (red) and kusume (mauve!, Two newer
varieties brought in with development (vikasi) were Bombay and hole.
The informant we spoke to admired their big tubers, but thought they
were perhaps not so productive as a whole, Another new variety,
sarkari (literally 'red government') was criticised because it produced
only 8 or 9 potatoes from one plant.
Millet was first grown in seedbeds to be planted out in the higher
bari immediately after work planting rice was complete, usually during
July. After thinning and weeding in September, millet was harvested in
November by cutting off the tops which were then thrown into a basket.
These heads were taken tack to the house where they were pounded on