| Abstract: |
The Maram is one of the largest indigenous tribes of Manipur. This community has its own dialect, social organization, religious and cultural life, including the practice of erecting huge megalithic structures of different types even today. The raising of such megaliths is accompanied by elaborate sacrificial rituals. This paper deals with the megalithic rituals practiced by the Maram tribe, analyzing how megalithic rituals are interwoven with the social structure of this tribal community, and discerning diversities that exist among different villages of the same tribe in the method of erection of these gigantic structures, the performance of related sacrificial rituals, and the complex processes of preservation of this prehistoric tradition in modern times by the Marams, even those who have come under the influence of Christianity.
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