248
Berichte und Kommentare
Anthropos 79.1984
(1980: 13) that “If as a discipline we insist on taking
ethnography and the history of even our own cultural
configurations as science, we run the considerable risk of
becoming at best a cautionary rather than an overarching
discipline which was our original if somewhat naive goal.”
My comments are not empirically valid, measurable, testable
or knowable through any rational means; therefore, they are
not scientific. On the other hand, however, they are not
intended to be scientific; rather, I see comments such as these
belonging to a world of meta-anthropology (Maruyama
1980).
References Cited
Drucker, Philip
1951 The Northern and Central Nootkan Tribes. (Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 144.) Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution.
Du Bois, Cora
1980 Some Anthropological Hindsights. Annual Review of Anthro
pology 9: 1-13.
A Method for Preparation of Beer from Rice
(Country Liquor) Used by the People of
Mongolian Origin Residing in the State of
Assam, India
P. Gogoi and S. Boissya
The people of Mongolian origin residing in the state of
Assam, India, have certain unique customs. Some of these are
very interesting and perhaps very little known to the people
of other states of India and abroad. One such custom is
drinking of country liquor (rice beer). An interesting point
about the rice beer is that they prepare their own beer in a
traditional way. The process of preparation of beer from rice,
as followed by the people of Mongolian origin, has been
described here.
In Assam, the preparation of beer from rice has been
mainly restricted to the people of Mongolian origin. The
main tribes or communities having Mongolian origin and
residing in the state are: the Ahoms, the Chutias, the
Kacharis, the Mishings, the Deuries, the Morans, and the
Muttaks. In earlier days the use of rice beer in day to day
affair was a custom of these people. This custom is still
prevalent in the remote villages. They also offer rice beer to
their worshipping God as they consider rice beer as the holy
one. These people believe that rice beer when taken brings
strength to the body, acts as a blood purifier, removes
urinary troubles and also acts as a preventive measure against
cholera and malaria. However, they believe that the quality
of the beer depends mainly upon the preparation of the
“medicine” (they frequently call the yeast culture) used in the
process. So preparation of the “medicine” and the rice beer
are restricted only to the female folks of these people and
they take active part in serving beer to other members of their
family and guests.
Fleisher, Mark S.
1981^ The Potlatch: A Symbolic and Psychoanalytic View. Current
Anthropology 22/1: 69-71.
198l£The Ethnosemantics of Clallam Kin Terminology. Northwest
Anthropological Research Notes 15/1 [in press].
Maruyama, Magoroh
1980 Mindscapes and Science Theories. Current Anthropology 21/5:
589-608.
Rosman, Abraham, and Paula Rubel
1971 Feasting with Mine Enemy; Rank and Exchange among
Northwest Coast Societies. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Sapir, Edward, and Morris Swadesh
1939 Nootka Texts: Tales and Ethnological Narratives. With
Grammatical Notes and Lexical Materials. Philadelphia; Lin
guistic Society of America.
Service, Elman
1958 “The Nootka of British Columbia.” In: A Profile of Primitive
Culture. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Preparation of beer from rice consists of two steps: (1)
preparation of yeasts and (2) fermentation of rice and
decantation of beer (liquor).
1. Preparation of yeasts or “medicine”
The preparation of yeast is called by the local people as
the preparation of “medicine.” In this process the plants or
the parts of the different plants (as listed in the table) are
collected and dried in the sun which are then grinded into a
fine powder. Unpolished rice is also pounded into fine flour.
The powder prepared from the plants and the rice flour are
mixed (1:1) together and a little bit of water is added to it. A
little quantity of previously prepared yeast powder is added
to the mixture and stirred until a stiff dough results. This is
then divided into small parts which are then flattened out like
cakes and are allowed to dry in the sun or on a mild fire.