The Institution of Thempu (Priest) and his Role

The term thempu (priest) in Kuki tradition carries different meanings¹. The thempu’s advice or opinion is, in fact, sought in all matters of life, because he is believed to know the root causes of what happens in people’s life.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003516415-18

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in one way or the other (Haokip 2010:83). In times of sickness and suffering the thempu is sought often; and even in times of celebration, or during the performance of death ritu­als, without the presence of the thempu nothing is carried out. His importance is only next to that of the village chief; even the chief has a lot of respect for him and consults him in matters concerning the health and well-being of the villagers. For the village as a whole, he performs Kho vangboh (blessing ceremony of the village), Chang lhakou (invoking soul of the paddy for rich harvest), Salha kou (prayer for successful hunting), etc.

A thempu may be like anybody else in social life, but in the sphere of religion he has no equal. Therefore, a thempu can be called “the only professional specialist in the trade in the Kuki society” (Gangte 1993:163). He is one who has access to the supernatural world of the deity and the spirits; he is considered only medium between the supernatural world and the world of humans; and he can read and interpret the signs and symbols of the numinous realm through omens, dreams, and nature³(Haokip 2010:86). Thus, the thempu is practi­cally indispensable for the village (Haokip 2010:84) and its people.

14.1.1 Significance of Thempu and his Relevance in Today’s Context

Having projected briefly the traditional Kuki priesthood we propose to examine its rele­vance in today’s context.

As noted above, the traditional thempu plays a very important role in the community, and so the institution of priesthood can be considered as community oriented and com­munity centred. There is hardly any role of a priest per se beyond the community concern. For every important moment of life, from birth to death in a traditional Kuki society, the service of thempu is required and this is parallel to the Christian priest engaged in active pastoral ministry.

One area of difference between traditional Kuki priesthood and Catholic priesthood is celibacy. The present day Kuki Catholic priest follows his traditional counterpart in many fields to make the ministry and life more relevant and acceptable to people and meaningful to himself. As for the traditional Kuki, the most blessed man is one who begets seven sons to carry on his lineage (Chapa sagi hing pa chu, Pathen phatthei boh chang ahi, ama khangui a pat khang thah kisut ding ahi)⁴. Hence, a man who has no children, especially male issue, is one who is under curse called in gam; literally in means house or family, and gam means destroyed or destruction (Chongloi 2013:110).

Further, looking into the context of the Kuki Christian Catholic Father, it is observed that the pastor lives a life of a Kuki and at the same time that of a devout Christian. For example, the Pastor’s role is vital and elaborate; his life and ministry is very much commu-

Rituals in Traditional Kuki Belief System and Their Place among Christian Kukis nity oriented and church oriented; rituals related to the cycle of human life from birth to death are performed by the pastor. He officiates all the festivals and rituals of the commu­nity. He performs his role of a pastor for the purpose of the Kuki people of Kuki community who are also converts.

With regard to the institution of marriage, the ceremony conducted by the traditional Kuki community is officiated by the thempu (priest). In the process of the rituals, the priest has to bless the bride and bridegroom to sit together at the middle of the house. The priest sitting in the same fashion, faces them holding the cock in his hand, and passes his hand over the cock nicely all over its body so that even if some loose feathers fall or have already fallen, but remain between the feathers, are made to fall on the ground (Haokip 2019:19). The priest then chants an invocation for propitiation. After the completion of the propitia­tion ritual, the priest lifts the cock’s leg for a good omen. In doing this, he throttles the cock, over the newly wedded couple. The cock whose respiration has almost stopped, struggles by spreading its legs and wings. In the course of such struggles if the feathers fall in a large number, it is considered to be a good omen for the couple; it is believed that the couple is to be blessed with many children. But if the cock passes its excreta, it is considered to be a bad omen, and is believed that the marriage will not last long.

The priest then tightly holds the wings in his left hand and strangles the neck with his right hand. He then observes the movement of the cock’s legs which struggle vigorously. In the process, if the left leg spreads slightly, closely followed by the right leg, and after a moment pause, of both the legs, the right leg slightly makes movements, it is considered as a good omen. But if it is the left leg that slightly moves, then it is considered a bad omen. If the omen is found bad, another observation is preferred with a second cock until the omen shows a good ending (Haokip 2019:20). This ritual is performed to see whether the union will prove lasting or not in future.

Interestingly, the traditional designation of a Kuki priest i.e. thempu is used for the pas­tor. He is addressed as thempu/kin thempu, for he acts as the celebrant or minister at time of marriages or any sort of religious and social programmes like the traditional counterpart. Therefore, the role of thempu in traditional Kuki society and the role of pastor or Catholic priest have commonality as far as their communitarian socio-religious role is concerned.

14.2