Reang Men Must ‘Toil to Get One’ : Tribe Worships Women as ‘Gold’

To a man of the Reang hill tribe of northeast India, no matter how powerful, proposing marriage means he had better be prepared to work, and work hard, for up to three years.

“For us, women are gold and you have to toil to get one,” said Khepangrai Reang, chief priest of the tribe.

The Reangs worship woman as the creator, a belief that puts them at odds with a world in which women often do not enjoy equal status with men.

Not so here. The only thing a Reang man owns is his own income. Only women can own property, and all land purchases between Reangs are made in the name of a wife or daughter.

3 Years of Labor

Tribal custom decrees that a man proposing marriage must bring a dowry and perform three years of labor for the woman’s family before the ceremony.

Kashiram Reang, 35, found that his position as a minister in the government of Tripura state, which is surrounded on three sides by Bangladesh, won him no exception to the custom. He became a part-time politician.

“I worked as a farmhand, looked after their cattle, carried home on my shoulders purchases made at weekly markets,” he said. “I found it terribly humiliating.

“But customs die hard in the tribe, and I cannot afford social excommunication, not as I am in politics.”

Few Ignore Custom

Khepangrai Reang said that only about a dozen Reang men, mostly well-educated teachers or government officials, have ignored the tribal marriage custom.

“These upstarts defying traditions did not get a Reang girl,” he said.

Khepangrai defended the tribal customs and criticized the way women were treated in many parts of India, where large dowries are commonly paid by the bride’s family even though the practice is illegal.

He proudly recounted the time a priest smashed up the village television set, donated by the government, because he could not bear to see a woman ill-treated in an Indian film.

“To us, such things seem evil,” Khepangrai said.

In Reang country, the dowry the bridegroom pays is negotiated by the village elders and usually amounts to about 25% of his annual income.

The annual income of a well-off Reang is about $150.

Kashiram paid about $450, a higher price than negotiated. By doing that, he won his prospective father-in-law’s agreement to lop six months off the labor period. He finally got married in May.