Lanterna Rally

Author: Pranab Kumar Das Gupta

Publisher:

Published: 1989-01-01

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9788121002479

Dr. Das Gupta's study unveils a panorama of tribal life on the sprawling, southern slope sof Meghalaya-the home of clouds Sponsored by the Anthropological Survey of India, it focusses on the Wars (a sub-group of the Khasi tribe), their history, goegraphical environment, material culture, economy, politics, religion and social structure in an effort to highlight the salient features of the life and culture of the trbe. Relevantly, therefore, the author seeks to demonstrate hwo the matrilineal, endogamous Wars, despite their certain similarities withthe Khasi tribe are different in dialect, political organisation, social customs and manners, and broadly, how they compare with the other matrilineal tribal cultures of the world. The outcome of the author's painstaking extensive fieldwork, this ethnographic study of the War Khasis embraces almost every facet of the tribe's life and culture, describing the characteristic War Khasi village, home agriculture, livestokc, tools, dress, ornaments, vocations, domestic chores, hunting pursuits, armoury, means of travel, recreatioins, pastimes, family, clan, marraige, divorce. kinship, rules of inheritance (which are of great theoretical importance to social anthropologists), social practices, beliefs, muths superstitions, funeral rites, and a lot more.