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L A I T L A N GB y L . C h i n z a h b . a .

Published by : The Pawi District

Council.

1972

Printed at the K ?August, 1972.

300/e

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Z IA K T U T H U I I I AW CH A N G

He memorandum hi chhuah atftn ka ziaka ni lova. 1966 a{ang khan Mizo ram leh Mizopolitics hi ka lo thlir ve thio a. Ka hmuh ved in chuan Mizo hnam hichhfingkaw sawmhnihzet kan ni a. Tuna Mizo ram kan tihah hianPawi, Lakher, Lushei, Raite kan tarn ber a. Adang tam zawk chu kan chhehvgl chhak lehthlang, chhim leh hm&rak an awm.

Heng zingah hian Pawiho hi a darhsarhber ni in an lang. Mizo hnam hi thanglian ve sekan tih chuan chhfingkaw tin chu a mal malaan din chhuah (heuh theih a pawimawb a;

tichuan, a sang zawkah inzawmkh&wm lehin.Kum 1970-ah khan Assam sorkar chuan

Pawi ho chu Dir trict hran siam sak a, ramripawh siam sak a turn a. Tichuan. tlang thanglovin, Mizo ram a Pawi ho chu a chhiar $hin3. 1971 May tb laah khan Pawi Distr ict ramrisiam turin Commission a din ta a. Pu J.P Gar-man chu, chu Commission Chairm an atan

ruat a ni. Tichuan commission chairman chuanPawi ho tan Memorandum puitling ziak tftrtnmi tir ta a, He Memorandum hi ka ziak ta a ni.

He Memorandum ziak tur hian sorkarrecords hrang hrang ka rawn a. Assam so rkarLibrary hotuten an record hluite min entirphal avangin an chungah ka lawm hie.

Pawi District ramri siam tfir

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mission chu Favang, t?71-ah Mizo ramachhu aktfirin a inbuatsaih a. Mahse, an chhuahhmain North Eas tern Areas Re-organisationkha puan a lo ni ieh a, Mizo hnam pumpui tanram hauh a tul tak zawk avangin Pawi Districttbu chu kan dah tha ieh ta a. Pawi District chua ding ta rih lo a ni.

Pawi ho tan ka ziak anih avangin mi dangtan a ngaihnawm lo m aij he i a. Thu thalo Iehogaiamawhawm a aw m chuan min ngaihdamkadil e,

;2 Aug, 1972. L. Cbiozah.

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In this mem orandu m, the terms Pawi*Lakher, Lai, Shendu or Chin have been usedfreely. But all of them refer to the same people who are now called Pawis or Lakhers w hihthe terms Mizo o r Lusfcai, likewise, r e f t t tothe people commonly known a s Mizos.

L. Chinzah.27.2.71.

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1

MEM ORANDUM FOR THE CREATIONOF A NEW LAI TLANG DISTRICT

IN ASSAM MIZO HILLS27.2 71.

Introduction : The Cove rnment o f Assamhaving grciousy conceded to the appo intmen t

o f a Com m ssion to ex^min and repor t in therissttfir o f cre ation o f a new Lai T lar g Districtfo r the Lai (Pawi Lakber) people by excluding the areas inhabited by them fro m the;present M*eo District, so as to form a newLai Hang District comprising the entire territory effst o& the Tu icb an g rivef as far no rth as,Hnahlan G rou p centre and the entire territo-ries so uth,of L^ungleh; I, on beha lf o f the Lai

people abovmentioned, have the honour tosubmit this memorandum for considirationo f the Commission.

The creation o f a separate District adm inistration with prop ortiona te political au tonomy for the Lai (Pawi-Lakher) tribe will be afurth er fulfilment of o ur Indian Democraticprinciples and also a re-afirmat'on to them o f

our belief in freedom a n d equality for all.Tha t the Lais, as a tribe, do qualify fo r a separate adminstrative and political arrangement at the Distr ict level in. keeping with thespicit of the constitution of India will be seenhereunder.

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Ethnic origin : There being no othe r rb*corded history to our aid , we have, o f neCes*.sity, to d ep en d largely up o n opinion* hazardedby the British Officers whose works, thus,;become the only authentic sources o f informa

tion. ; ' ' iAs has been said it is no t possible to fay

definitely where from the different tribes o fnor th-easte rn India could ha.Vecome. Howeverwe are definite that the Lais themselves todayrecognise Chin for their name. In the Linguistic Survey of India. 1904. Mr. Grierson classi*

fvjb i s Chin tribe into fo u r groups namely*,Northern Chins. Central Chins. Old Kukt a n dS ou tbc m C hins, Under the Ccntral Chin comesLai, Lushais, Zahaus, Lakbers etc; As to theirorigin, most authors agrqe that they belong tatthe Mongoloid Tibete-Burm an family fromthe no rth. j f v .

T o quote Mr. Grierson , on *age 55 hew ro te Tfce w ord ChiDiis generally used litdenote thjsvar ious trififes inhab it ting the Cou ntry to the east of the Lushai H il ls/ . . .A ll thesetribes are believed to have com e from th enorth... They do not theipvelves recognise thename Chin, bu t call themselves Y o o r Zo inthe nor th, Lai in the Centre, and also hi thesouth besides many other tribal names. Thename Pol which also- occurs in many au thor ifties is the Lushai denomination of tribes whw

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wear their hair in a kno t upon the top of thehead. It is thus similar to the Burmese Bau.ggshe .... applied to ali the Chios who weartheir hair in a kno t over the fo rehea d.

Brief comments : We can see from herethat the Pawis and the Lushais were not together, Whereas the PaWis, the Lakbers, theKhyangs, the Khamis and the Zahau s were

classjd as one and were reffered to us Pois orChins for they all wear tbeir hair in a kno t overthe forehead.ri, As to origin o f the Lais particularly. Col.

H;T. Lewin, on page 250 o f his boo k A flyon the wheel observed Their features, Ispecially noted, were not o f the pro ooq acedMongolian type that characterise all other hill

paces that I had seen; these Shendu women,

ind ee d, as far as features went, might h av tbeen Portuguese half caste from Chit tagong*A*

The word Shendu refers to Paw is and La-khers as will be seen later. A lthough we d o no tagree to h|$ theory o f : our origin, his no testrikes a line of difference between us land theLushais. In the Linguistic Survey o f India,Maj. New Land is qu oted to have written onthe origin o f (he Lais a s Their trad itionstrace them back to th e time of the flood, whenthey sprang from the solitary cou ple who es-oaped the deluge o f waters, by clinging to thetop o f the Ru ng Tlang Range, which is above

S . - f

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Haka. Ever sirce then they have gone on inicreasing and multiplying and sending ou t offshoots who have fourded all the surroundingt r b e r and villages Hence by right o f descentthe Hakas claim jurisdiction over all the rest.

C ommeots : The Lais o f Mizo Hills todayare directly from Haka and Thlan Tlang andthey still feel very much the same.

Lushai tradition trace the Lushais back toChhinlung, said to be a great hall o f stone cavefrom where each clan is said to have sprangout one by one till the door was suddenly shut

because Ralte, the last o f them, was too noisy.This has ao relation with the Pawi tradition asrecorded by Maj. New Land. Fo r o a r purpose*it wit! suffice to conclude from the above, tha teven if the Lais and the Lushais have, onceupon a time, lived togetherand originated from

the same family; the po ss ib ility of survival u nder one identity now is rem ote or rather dim-*med by the growth o f a separate tra d iti o n that 'had carried each grou p away from the othersince'then.

H a b it a t: In fact even our earliest recorded history,though rather recent, puts the two

groups on separate groun ds Pige 1 of theLushai, K.uki Clans read - The Lushai Chiefnow rule over the coun try between the & u r- ,naphuli and its mttio ir jb utory. the Tuiliatitfuion the west and Tya o*od Ko lodyce river osi the

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cast, while their southern boundary is roughlya line drawn east and west throu gh the jun ction of the Mat and Kolodyne rivers.

Read with this, tftf following found onpage 6 o f the Census o f Ind ia report, 1961 - Pawi is the terra usedjifay the Lushais andother original inhabitants; of the presen t MizoDistrict, for all the people living in wh at wecall the Chin Hills o f Burma ... The majorityof the Pawis are now living in the Pawi-LakherRegi>n and also in the ea ste rn side o f theDistrict bordering Burma.

Earlier on in 1904, M r- Grie rson wrote onpage 55 o f the Linguistic S urvey of india-Theword Chin is generally used to denote thevarious tribes in ha bitin g the coun try to the

ea st o f the Lushai Hills.Since there has no t been any territorial

change o f tribes after the British had appearedon the scene, the territories ascribed to $^chinthe foregoing, con tinue to remain largely thesame today. Therefore, .we. conclude that theentire eastern belt o f the Mizo District as fa ras Tuicban p on the west and Cha moh ai on_the

no rth and the entire areas south o f Luneleh arePawi territor ies. How they came in to occupa**lion o f these areas is a ma tter for history.

Histo ry : The history of the Pawis can bebroadly divided in to three parts.

(a) Their raids and depredations in the

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6

Chittagong and Arakdn tracts.(b) Their westward pressure against their

Lushai neighbour.(c) Their con tac t with and defeat by the

British.

The history of the Lushais can be broadlydivided into four parts :(a) Their interna l feuds amongst themsel

ves.(b) Their westward flight due to Pawi

pressure from the eas t.(c)^Tbeir ra ids and depredations in Sylbet

valley. I(d) Tiie ir con tact with and defeat bythe British. ,

Fo r our present pur pos e it may"suffice todeal with the contacts between the Pawis and>the Lushais viz. the P&wi pressure against theLushais and the flight o f the Lushais westwardAs fa r as onr knowledge goes there has been-incessant raids on ther Lushais by their eas ternneighbour wh om they knew as pawis, the raidshaving been mostly carried ou t fo r purposes o fname a n d plunder. Inform ation as to counterraids by the Lushais is ra th er lacking exceptfo r a few cases o f isolated surprises carriedout by them on stray Pawi banters.

In fact, the Pawis were the acknowledged"supreme power at that time whose au tb frr i# 1go unchallenged. Tiui the? Ceosf

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7 ;

Repo rt, 1961, page 8 - A t that time, the people o f old. knowo as Hnamte or common people, lived separately in Clans but no co-ordinating leader was forthcoming, because inthose anc ient days all feared tha t any newchief would be plundered by the Pawis orChins

Although the Sailo family later set them selves up as Chiefs amongst Lushais, the Pawi

pressure continued so that they had to yieldground and move westward. On the same pag^of the same repo rt we read- f 'when want o fgood jhuming land and the aggressions of thePawis made it necessary fo r them to move,they naturally went westward

In the process, the Lushais have to push

ou t earlier settlers on the land as a result o fwhich many Thados, Hrangkhaw ls etc. aretoda y foun d in Tripura and Cachar. On page58 o f the Lusha i Kuki Clan Lt Col. Shakes-pear w roteThough the Lushais were ableto turn the Thados and other clans o f theirown kindred out of their possessions, yet whenthey came in con tact with the Chins they wereinvariably defeafed.

Accordipg to Mr. Davis, the Lushai Movement westward seem to.have began about the.year lSlOJvide page 127 of Linguistic Survey1904). '

Although the adove may no t make plea-

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S8nt reading, yet they establish the fac t th a tPawis were never inferior to anybody aroundthem nor to the Mizos in particular, underwhom they bave been forced to occupy an in

ferio r place today. Although they do no tnecessarily annex their lands, they put theLushais under subjugation, tak ing tributesfro m them as they desired. According to ourown information, their influence in the MizoHills go as fa r west as Reiek, west o f Aijal.There are todoy witnesses to the above. To

cite one example the river -Vanya in Thenzowlwas named by them-The Pawi ravages was not, ho wever di

rected against the Lushais alone. Theic powerand au thority was felt in the Arakans, in theChittagong tracts and also in Manipur. Wemay q uo te here page 336 of the History of the

relation of the Govt. (British) with the HillTribes written in 1847 by Alexander Macken*zie He wrote The Commissioner o f Arakanwrite - ?Every expedition that has pene trateinto the mountain ranges seems to have metmore dficu!ty than th e one that preceded it,and having overcome all inferior tribes, pndestablished a very improved state of things asfar as their conduct is concerned, we appear tohave arrived near the fron tier o f a tribe o r rather parbaps tribes under the generic appellation Of Sh^ntoo (Shindu), who parhaps stretch

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9

as far north as Cachar and Manipur, an d eastto the Burmese territo ry.

Read with this page 454 o f the Gazette arof Upper Eurma, Part I, Vol. 1 th u s TheTashon Tribe includes the two powerful communities o f Yahaos and whenos, which wereformerly known as Pois. Poites an d PaitesThe formidable Shendoos. so well known on

the Chittagong and A rakan frontiers are mainly Hauthenf ts (or klarvg klangs) and Hakas Iff the year 847 we fi rst hear o f the Shendusraiding in Chittagong. The y are described asa very powerful tribe of the far interior overWhom the Arakan authorities exercised noc o n t ro l (pag e335).

All these a r e unquestionable testimonies

tending to the superior position o f tHe tribeover others. Altnough ther e was no challengeo their authority the territories occupied by

the m now in the M fzr District were not nilannexed by them through force o f arms Exceptthe areas sou th of LungleJi, the rest weremostly occupied by them by mutual arrangements and through marriages. The circums

tances were as under.In the year 1856, fighting broke out be

tween the N or th ern a nd Sou thern Sailo-s overthe possession of Peri Lung. The northernSailos sought the help o f the pa wii who readily resp onde d on condition o f co nti nued pay*.

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K>

m ea t of tribute to them. The north er* S iiloswere led by Lallula Chief of Zopui The mostdecisive battle o f the war was fou gh t atKhawnglurg which culmina ted in victory forthe north. The young chief o f Khawngluag andhis mother were taken caphve. The Chief mouther was later r o T O n fe a ifom the Pawis atT b la m b n g while the young chief wasby Lallula- earlier on. .f

However, the payment of regular tributeto the Pawis soon became too heavy a burdenso tha t the Sailo C hiefs witfc Lallula conspireda plot which resulted in th e massacre o f the

unsuspecting Pawis who on promises o f the large quan tity f elephant task and ttfibalriches,c a m e to Lalllilas villages unarmed. .One PawiPasaUha Jh an jh lia ng a lone escaped. The vil- ,lage was named Samtbang since then. : ^

The revenge" that followed was ireyondwhat the Lush'ais coud stand La llula too k to

flight an d could re-establish him self Only atHreicbhuk on tfeeriage many Pawi subjects came to CfcfiaiptMtto live with her. It was customanyferchief to sendi out; anaood number off iwsfchold

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11

to grace iiis daughter who marry in anothervillage. :

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the Lungzarhs led by tbeir Chinzah chiefs,these people had, fo r a long time, been thegroup described as most formidable by theArakan and Cbittagorg valley people Theyoccupy the areas lying south of Lungleh and

Chittag( ng tracts They are the group that hasbrought about the Gfcin-Lushai expedition of1888-89 as will be seen latter

This group also came down, married theirdaughte r to the chief of Champhai, movedsouthwards, stopping for varying num ber ofyears at different plce$. They were at Bung-zung, N orth Vanlaipbai, Perilung, Lungrang,Cberhlun, etc. etc, Their chiefs Taihmung diedat Kbuanghlum where his memorial stone waserected His descendents are the Chinzah chiefsof the present PawMLakher Region. Since theywere unchallenged wherever they go their destination could have been some place othe r thanwhere we find them now had not the British

come. As they moved they left small sett lements bere and there on their trail undercharge of their kinsmen o r some of their mosttrusted subject. When the British came theseguardians were made chiefs on their own.

This group occupied the areas south o fLungleh and collected tributes from west andsouth of them, Arakan and Chittagong tracts.

Before they made fu rther movement into newterritor ies, the British appeared on the scene

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id 1889A brief account o f their contact with the

Br i t i sn may not be ou t o f place Unlike theirLushai netghbo ur, the >Pawis do not seem tohave much trouble amongst themselves. Stoneso f their actions are mostly of agressions eitheragainst their neighbour or against British sub

jects in the coursa o f which they often came in

direct clas^i with the Britishers themselvesThe line below throw s some light into theirat ti tu de tow ards thetblanglei chachhun vairangpa chuKing tham nang in dai feu vawng tu u.

English in theArakan and Chitt agong tracts , ascribed to theLakhers, were, actually, ail carried out by thePawis The difficulty with the British on thisscore and the confu sion made by them as aTesult, arises oa ly because the raids were ca rried out by smixed^omttioners, Pawis and La khers, while their fcadir was invariably a Pawi

chief. Therefore , any raid carried ou t by theHeim as were ascribed a* Lakher raid whereastheir leader was invariably their Chinzah chief

The following extracts from Pp 6,7 ofThe Lakhers by N.E Parry wil help to clarifyth e onfu sio nwhile describing the Lakhers

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he wrote T hey are the same people as theShendus to whomColonel Lewin makes consta nt refe rences in bis various works, and arestill called Shendus by the ArakafnffSe.,,

The first Lakher raid Chatwe know of ison a Khumi village called Hlengkfl ing, When

thirty to forty people were killed fhis was in1838. A Shendu fo ray on Chittagong was re ported In 1847, fwhen they raided the Subjectso f Kalindi Rani and o f the Phru, who is nowknown as the Bohmong .. it appears that theShendus in ques tion Were TlongSf is?

Their chief Lengkung. Was a Poi, who isknown to the Lakhers as LWkong. Chiefs off

this family s-till rule at LaWngtlai. Bungtlangand Sangao. The greater par t o f Laikongs villagers are said to have been Lalchers. the rest

being Pois Co m m ents 'T lo#a ih the group now occu

pying SefkaWr village. Their chief Thawnglianor Tholai was the son o f Alkheng, bro ther of

Lianchi o f T l a n t la n g in Chita Hills. Lianchiand Aifttfeng ird not Sfjeafc'the Lakher dialecteven. In fact, our best knowledge fails aSwhen Wfe try to recall story of L akhers ra idinginto atyWhere except one isolator) case itawhich Tholai, son o f Alkheng led a huntingparty that*fell upon a1straggler o f Muallianpuivillage ufeipr faitai OMfef, (Rorehlovas deisceiQ-denr). Pki tq4iaradl; eisu&ci as a reSiilt o f

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H

fanai revenge was immediately stopped at theintervention o f Lalluai, Chief of T hla nth ng . towhom both owe their position as chiefs. T herefore, whether the name employed is Shendu orLakher, it invariably refers to Pawis or a Pawichief Regarding the reference to Lengkung orLaikong, the co rrect name is Liankung. One of

his desccndents, Zahau by name,was still chiefin the Arakans till the system was abolishedthere. He died at Lawflgtlai in January, 1970

by an accident.Even afte r more than one punitive measurewere taken by the British the Pawi outrages onthe subjects of the latter continued unabated.

It was in one of such raids that Lieutanent

John Stewart m et his death . The Lakbers.page 10 reads

In 1888. however, a raiding par ty ofShend us under Hausata murdered LieutanantJohn Stewart o f the Leinster Regiment; Thisoutrage was the immediate cause o f the Chin-Lushai expedition o f 1888-89, which resultedin the occupation of the Chins and the Lushai

Hills.The Lushai Hills was occupied in 1889.Haka, Chin Hills in 1890 and Falam also ChinHills in 1892.

The breaking of the Pawis In Order toeffectively contro l the tribes that had op posedthem previously, the British administration o f

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India ado pted a policy o f divide an d rule Thispolicy was then applied most vigorously uponthe Pawis for they bad earlier proved to bethe most formidab le o f all. Therefore, thosein the Lushai Hills were bro ug ht under^ twodifferent administrative organisations by put

ting sou therne rs und er Bengal an d those inthe nor th und er Assam. They were again broken up into two on their eastern flank by anew bou ndary line, The Tyao and the Kolo-dyne rivers tha t cu t them into two halvesn >rth to south. East of all, their western limbwas further cut ap art by yet ano ther boun daryon the Saichal range. The powerful Pawi wasthus cut up into pieces of four small pocket,one in Chin Hills, anothe r in Ch ittagong tractsand two in the Lusha. Hills, no rth and south.To cite one or two examples by way o f confirm ation. ' : ; ,

(a} Page 574, History o f the Re lations ofthe Govt, with the Hill,-Tribes.

( When the tribes w ou ld not sub mit to ourarms, the only alternative was to break upand disintegrate their comm unities.

(b) Page 160, The Chin Hills :i *T he r Boinu (Kolodyne) and the >Tyao

chosen as the bo und ary between the Chin an dso uth Lufthai Hills has stricly curta iled thei rterritory,

Th e same consideration as pointed ou t

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was largely applied whed, by Act XXI! of 1860the Chittagong Hill tracts district was formed.The same policy gove? ds th'6 bo un dary betweenChin Hills Burma add Manipur, Thus -

(c) Extract c ro m B rit ish Relationsthe Hill Tribes of A'ssSfe since 1858,

In 1900 the boundary be tween the ChinHills and t&6 Lushai Hfl ls Was fixed by Cot.

MoxWei dmd Gapt. Cole.lo f828 Captain Gfa dt aud Lt. Pem ber ton

were appo inted Commissioners to meet theBtirmeW k'fothoritiesf arid settle the boudda ry ,and the final bo un dary agreement was signedon 9 . I J S l l . he;toparfa ridge or spur, and no t on the slope o f tilet i l t , m is the kciStom.amD H A B IT S; : Jibe Lushai food consists o f ricQ, .themtepte lo ad , and other subsi

diaries like potato??,, vegetaibles iajeWiffiStocaase f # ^ sists

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n

o f rice, m'llet and Indian cord as staple foodand potatoes, yans, vegetables as subs diaries.

The Lushais often bi ar at the paw s, accusing them of being c o n eaters.

PHYSICAL APPEAR ANCE S : Themost ap parent mark of difference between thePawis and othe rs is, perhaps, the Pawi hairstyle which is ia d res t oppo sition to that ofthe r Lushai neighbour. The Lushais tie their

ha ir in a kno t on the nap e o f the head whilethe Pawis tie theirs on the to p o f their fore head with the protruding effect o f a Burmeseturban. Ta e following general rema rks passedby Brit ish officers throw some light into thephysical features o f the Pawis and on someaspects of their life.

Page 56. Linguistic Survey o f Ind ia, 1904 The average Chin is taller than most of

his neighbours, abo ut five feet six inches inheight, but men only an inch or two under sixfeet are not uncom mon. Some of them measuresixteen inches round the calf. The finest builtmen are the Siyins, Hakas and the southerntr ibesmen.

Page 250, A fly on the wheel read ofthe Pawis a s :

Altogether tbe impression left on mymin d was tha t they were a higher race thanthe ordinary hill people..:

Pages 8 o f the 'Lusb&i-Kuki Clans read:

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*'The connection betweea the Lushats andtheire is tero neighbours^ appirent both intheir language and in their customs, bu t theeastern tribes, known to us generally as Chins,are o f finer physique and, owing to their ha

ving perraaneat villages, the d fferences between clans have become more marked thanamong the semi-nomadic Lushais and Kukis.*

CE RTA IN PRACTICES PECULIAR TOTHE LUSHAIS

Zawlbuk : This can be described as young-m ens house It is found a t the ent rance or farend o f every Lushai village. The unmarriedmale folk o f the village from the age gro up of10 upw ards spend their nights here. It plays avery impo rtan t pa rt in fostering tribal descip-line and therefore, unity of purpose in life.

Tlawmngaihna : The Lushai Tlawmngaih-

na is a commendable service which is ra th erdifficult to define. It is something borderingor very much like self-less social service TheLushai,society will be much poorer without itsblessings, > > & ly;Hence the performance. When the deceased isa' man the ceramony fs called Pual Thaw h.

VawrMa or Hlado-: T h it is mainly songso hunters, and warriorst The song is t here fore ,spirited an d m ain ly in theme. The song excitesman into more exploite and valour. Jfcairi : This is an* in st it u tion o f formalfriendship between tw o men in which each ismorally and formally bound to the otheras b ro th er to b ro ther .

P yr am id : The Pawis use Pyramids widelyThey ar e erected in mesBory o f the dead, inme mo ry o f special soci al even ts eft*. The Ryr

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ramitfs are: bu ilt o f stones, but many timesmore smaller than that o f tbe egyptians.

Hnian g b raw m : .This is practically thesam eas wbat vke today call picnic, Young me a

and women, equip t with food , drinks* andwhat not, go; in to spots Outside the 'vittagrf*1enjoy themselves with games and other am usements . When they take foods, boys ands girlsin pairs feed one another with hands. This iaitse lf becomes ano th e r merry event aswf is

know n as *1 barh. I t is again unknow n toother tribes.Nga bring dawi : Tlx literally moans ^Cha

sing the live fish ; Tbe young wome car ryfood, dr ink etc. io tbeir fishing .baskets , a

basket full o f small; p o r e s - like* holes o f twisted cane threads specially made fo r ladies

fishing.T he boysi, with the hel p o f wooden; lever

tilt the stones: iii the pools, and th e fishes undernea th escape but run ioto the basbcts cinwbfully laid-by tbe girfs That way ltvig fisheso f th e itiTecsare trapped. The boys d a not havesha re o f the catch but enjoy themselves

throughly with food and drinks an the playfulijompwny of the gjrls.

Xhei brawn : This also another event fo r;boys ao'd girls. This time picking o f wild fruitstake tbe place of fiahing. The; rest ace very

'muBh

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Pn ak : Hniang hrftwn, nga hring Dawi,(hei hrawn are o ften accompanied by puak.Th e boys carry one of tbe girls home on theirback id tbe manner a woman carries her child.

This is considered an honour fo r the girl.On reaching home, her people throw a grandfeas t in which drinking, singing and dances

take the flo or f or the dayLAWS AND CUSTOMS

Burial: A fly on the Wheel: page 371 reads. Among some of the tribes the curious

cus tom prevails o f drying the bodies o f theirchiefs' or greatman , over a slow fire, firstsheathing them in pith, and than hanging themup on a tree.

We do not know for certain if the Lushais

hang tbeir deads up on a tree, but they certainly dry them as described above. In tbe caseof Chiefs, the drying ceremony often last overa montb, Bfter which they collect some of thebones for keep and bury the rest in a coffin.The grave is rectangular 7 feet by 3, and thecoffin is laid lenghwise on the bottom floor ofthe grave. The Pawi Chiefs, on the other hand,usually have a family vault in f ront of thehouse. Page 192 of the Chin Hills by Carey andTuck may be employed here

After the corpse has sat in State for somethree days it is taken down,.... is clothed io asilk m an tle and placed in the vault together

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with tfie boots' of his ancestors,.~ A Pawi comm oners grave is first dog

rectangular in sape, then a hole big enough to

house the corpse is bored at the bottom atright angle to the grave. The corpse, fuliydressed and covered with c lothes, is laid inthe boring which is then shut with a stone slabsealed with mud on the edges. The grave isthen Mled again with earth. The grave o f aPawi who died an unnatural death is just like

a Lushai grave. Coffin is, however not used.Memorial: The Lushai memorial stoae

usually consists o f a stone platform , the memorial stone and a wooden post fo r hangingth e bead o f tbe animals killed iu the erectionceremony of the memorial.

A Pawi memorial usually consists of a

stone platform, the memorial stt>ne, a pyramida wooden memorial p< st with carvings eachof which has def inite significance. The memo*rial post of warr iors has a second, smaller insize abou t 3 feel high. This wooden post isknown as thing tial. Women's thing tial hastwo horns and a neck while the mans has but

one horn without the neck.Marriage rrThe Lushai-Kuki Clans, page

50 reads The Lushais have a wide view as to m at

rimony. A youngman is no t. hampered in hischoice by any table of prohibited degrees, nor

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is his choice confined to any varticular familyorcl ao; ia fact be can prjtically m arry anywomen be chooses except his sister a ad bismother.

Tbe above is in con tras t to that o f thePawis . Amongs t the Pawis, Pedigree o f thegirl is a very im po rta nt fa cto r and , in fact, aPawi chief can marry within a certain circle offam>ltes only. These families are known as Mi thiang meaning - People within per missible circle.*4It is absolutely prohibited fora Pawi to marry the widow of his paternaluncle.

A Lushai com moner gives im portan ce tothe opacity o f the girl f o r work whereas aPawi commonner gives importance to her

birth. Page 57, Linguistic Survey o f India,1904

Marriage is a more matter of purchaseIn the no rth tbe capacity of a girl as a fi d dLabourer, in the south her pedigree (in additionto this) are the chief points.

M arria ge pric e: Bo tht nb es haver a systemof Marriage Price, but the system o f paymentand the am ou nt involved is so rem ote from

one anoth er as to perm it a compro mise, tha tm arriage between people o f the two tribes isrendered quite impossible unless one o f theparties discard hi so w n , which i t usually not

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possible,A 1 nshai M arriage Price is rougbly

Maopui : S.xor seven Mithun each at Rs.

20/- (Rupees twenty) only. In the case o fChief, this is ten Mithun.Pu sum : Rs 4/- to 10/- This is oneMlthun

in tbe case of ChiefP a l a l : Varies in accordance with Pu Sum

but never equal to Pu Sum.N im an : A little less than PuSum .

Thtafl : From Rs 10/- downwards,Nan puan : Rs 3/- to 4/- In the case o f

Sailos this is Rs 20/- to 40/-A Sailo ch iefs daughte r fetch a price- o f

Rs 300 (Rupees three hundred) only.In tbe case of Pawis, the marriage prices

consis ts o f several parts, each part in tu rnhaving a num ber of subsidiary prices attachedto it. One Mithun in Pawi is counted at Rs.60. (Rupees sixy) only. Again tb e system ofcounting the price heads di ffe r considerablyso that a table of comparison simply do no twork. For ex am ple, there is no such thing as

Manpui in pawi, A joug h table will work outsomething like 1. Phunthawh M ithun & Calf Rs 100:00

Arsa (subsidiary) Mithun Rs 60 00Saluchbum(Subsidiary) Cal f Rs 30 00

2: P a M p a - Mithun. & Calf Rs 100 00

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Arsa Mithun Rs 60.003. Raug man Horse Rs 100.00

4 Turn Man Male Mythan Rs 100 005. Dar man Cong Rs 100 006. Sal Man Slave Rs 100 007. Pu Man Mithun & Calf Rs 100 00

Arsa Mithun Rs 60 00

Saluchhum Calf Rs 30.00Kawi man Rs 00 00

Sahrawngphur Rs 3 008 Ni man Mithuto Rs 60 00' Arsa Calf Rs 30.00

Awk Pi Mithun Rs 60 00Awk Te Calf Rs 30 00

and so onOn page 190, The Chin Hills we read -

If a youogman wishes to marry thedaughter o f a Haka chief, he m ust be prepared

to pay something like 10 Mithun , 50 Pigs, 10Guns, a similar number of Gongs, severalslaves and a large quantity of grain.... no otoertribe has such strict marriage laws as they,and this shows their superiority to all.

Moreover, while the Lushais can give inMarriage and hold it valid withou t Arsa, orthe shedd ing of blood; no mar riage is validwith the Pawis wi thou t the formal killing of

animals, Children born o f man and wom anwithout this formal ceremony remain property of. the woman.s father whereas the question

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does not 2 t all arise with the Lushais.Fur the r, the marriage price o f the Pawis

vary from family to family according to thesocial (no t economic) standing of that family.

This is more or less uniform with Lushaifamilies except fo r the Sailos whose marriage

pr ce is uniformly high. This uniform ity isaeain dis turbed amongst Pawis He is a socialcl.mber so that the marriage price of the children o f a certain m m may be higher than thato f his bro thers children if his wife is from

a family of higher social standing. This increasecomes the other way arou nd also, th a t is, ifhe marries his daughte r to a boy o f lawer socialstanding, he demands a higher price than thefamily price tree. The price of the rest o f theduaghters than follow suit whether they marrylow or hgh.

The above is the cause of the high marriage prices amongst the Lakhers. For safetyan d protection, the Lakher chiefs use to marry girls from Pawi chiefs in Haka, Thlantlangetc. These Pawi chiefs often demand exhorbi-tantly high prices which the Lakhers, in the

situation, usually paid willingly They in tu rncharge similarly high prices for their daugterswhich ultimately led to a general rise foreveryone seemed to compete in the practice.

Divorce : The Lushai have two divorces -'Pek sa jchang in which the wom an goes back

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to her pi re its and the questio r of return ofmarriage prices already paid nor the qjes tio nof furthe r payment of deus by the husbandare both shelved. The second is Kawngka sulaMftk in which all unpaid dues are to bs paidup by the husband even though they may beseparated. In both cases household propertiesare evenly divided between wife and husband.

Amongst the Pawis, divorce is but one system.I f a man divorce his wife, he for feit all thethe marriag e prices he has paid and does nothave to pay any furth er am ount. The wo nn agoes out forfeiting all dowry that she mayhave brough t. However, i f the Pu (materna luncle) have had perform ed the ceremony o fkilling animal for his share o f Pu M an thismust be cleared by the husband even after the

divorceAd alta ry : Amongst Lushais, the manwho comm it adultery is not punished (in oldendays his ears used to be cut off by the injuredhusband i f he dares) The woman goes back toher parents who must return to the husbandall the marriage prices they had received fromhim. Children belong to the father.

Amongs t the Pawis, the man who com

mits adu ltery is the most punished. He givesto the parents of the woman, an am oun t equalto the marriage psices the lat ter had receivedfrom the injured hu sba nd, an d he pays to the

n

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enjured husband Mithun or Phunthawh plusPuan Lu Khuh (cloth) and Pun tek (necklace).The Injured husband, of course, gets return o fall marriage prices he has paid. Any children

born to them belong to the father.Murder : Amongst Lushais, the Murdererusually runs to the chiefs houes for refugeHe thus becomes the chief slave. But if hedoes not do this, the family o f the aggrievedparty are free to take revange on his life atany time. Amongst Pawis, life fo r life was

never allowed. The murderer is fined Rs 300/-(Rupees three hundred) only instead. But thisdoes not leave him free in society. He can not

be admitted into the society unless he performsa certain penance (purification). Even aftertha t people look down upon him and he isoften faced with the problem of finding a wife

fo r nobody would like to marry such a maoin the normal cousre:

O rd e a l: Ordeal by water, ho t or cold, iscommon amongst the Pawis bu t this is unknown to the Lushais.

Inheritance;: Amongs t Lushais, tbe youngest son is heir to his father. Amongst thePawis, the eldest takes the place.

Religion : In regard to religion and alsoto the ir idea of the soul, both tribes are ani-mist with almost identical beliefs bu t attended

by numerous differences in details o f sacrifices

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and rites. A Lushai village has a com monpriest while in the case o f Pawis every househo lde r is his own priest. A village priest issometimes appointed to do sacrifice for thecommunity: Now, since this is no t a m on ograph on customs, the examples cited should,it is hoped, be enough to enable one to forman opinion on the ;r similarity or otherwise,

Language : It should be agreedthat both

languages are are o f the Tibe to-Burm an orig

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who speak what is kn ow n among the peoplethemselves as the Dulien Tong o r Dulienlanguage

Except Pawis and Lakhers, all the su btribes in the Mizo Hills have taken to Lushai

language and their own dialects have all beenlong since forgotten.

With the introduction o f Duhlien languageby the British for the medium of instruction-in schools, Pawi language, too, naturally began >to degenarate . A curiuos thing happened inthe transition from Pawi to Lushai (Dulien)

language. The Pawi boys who came back from >schools brought the language with them whichis immediately taken up by their friends in the1village who found the pratice amusing. A newtounge was then born in their midst known asPa hawlh o r Mipa tawng and the originalPawi retained by their women became reffered

to as 'N u hawlh or Hmeichhe tawng. Thedegeneration is, however, not complete becausethe Lushai language, poor as it is in vocabulary, can no t replace the cicher Pawi language.The Pawi in the south therefore, largely speakthe mother tongue while their kinsmen in thenorth have almost forgo tten it.

L/i The most im po rtant cause o f such a degeneration were the missionaries, who, with thehelp o f their religious influence, made theLushai lauguage practically compulsory for

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education and worship service. T be testi- 'rnony of the Britishers will con firm ou r argument : ,?

Page 115, Linguistic Survey of India, 1904,-"Dialec ts o f the Lai language are spoken bytbe surrounding tribe*, and nearly all of themalso understand the standard form of speech.

Page 137. -Census of Assam Report' 1911Lushai - This language has been adopted by

the missionaries for the num erous educationaland religious work .... the adoption of the onedialect for literary purposes must have thoeventual result of its becoming universal*

We see from tbe ayove that Lai the Pawilanguage is the source of othe r surrou ndiagtribal languages, Indeed the Lushais themselves have had adopte d the language to a greatexte nt which could well have turn ed the table

completely had it not been for the missionariesEven today Pawi verses, idioms and phrasesform a large po rtion o f Lushai vernicularswhich are being im par ted in High schools andcolleges.

Though far richer and deeper in thoughtand much more developed and rescurceful invocabulary. The Pawi languge stands a verydisadvantageo us position because it is far

poorer in literature.Lakher language, which is a dialect o f thePawi, is so far free from the above unfor tun at*

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pheco ireron because the Lakher kioner Mission at Serkawr reduced the language intowriting and employed it for religious and educational purposes in lieu o f the Lushailanguage.

In the Census o f 1931, page 241, numbero f persons speaking Pawi in Mizo District wasrecorded as 14191 plus 3856 Zahaus as against6186 Lakhers ou t o f a total population o f124404 people in the entire district.

Linguistic Survey o f India 1904 record

on page 2 a s Lai ... 22450Lakher .... 1ICOLushai .... 40539

Falam (This is za hau Pawi) 26843While the Pawi population in the District

since 1931m ust certainly be rising, the num ber

of Pawi'speaking population does not sesm tohave registered an upw ard rise, due mainly tothe introduction o f Lushai language. But tosay th a t the general Pawi population in theD is tr ic t has come down to a level o f a littleover fou r thousands, as reported by the Census

Of Assam 1961, is an absurdity nobody shouldaept. Such misleading reports do great harmto the people concerned, but it often happen

because of lapses and prejudicial recordings,on the part of the enumerators, who usually

belong to the other camp. Had we notv made

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prompt contest, the 1961 figure couid havebeen held valid. It may be amphrasised heretha t the census which is being conducte d presently should have no stone unturne d so tha tcorrect and unquestionable figures might be.obtained

Deseneration :During all these years, since,the British time upto date, the Pawi communi-tyinMizo District has beep under degenerating

forces which they bad d o power or authoritytp challenge Whether likes it or not the burdentie is put right over his head aod his world gla~,res at him wi th the pa inful ?spite o f revenge.In his book The Lakhers M r N.E Par ryw r o t e - -

It may be said that the only villageswhich have maintained their tribal customsfree from Lushai influence are the Lakhers >

apd to a leaser degree the Chin villages in theLungleh Subdivion?_ Although the adven t of British admiais-

tration had been a com mon sourse for tribal degeneration in the Hills, the most un fo rtu nate are the Pawis They have had the brunt of>the evil. Their cus tom s were condem ned, andlife itself became worthless. Thus a Pawi boycoosoleshis heart-broken mother------

- Be not so hard-broken ,My dear mothe r, .

Say v This is our sacred, soil v $$

3f

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No one may shareAnd this we pledge toDrive the lettered whiteAr d his rule out.

The attitude o f the then admin istration is

revealed by the following lines o f Mr. C.G.Helme, I G S,

Conversion to Christianity operates as apowerful solvent o f ancient customs which aregradually falling into neglect and disrepute.

j This Pawi? are no better off today underthe flag o f free India ! It is your du ty to salvage tha remnants o f them. In a decliningsociety, the ordinary people are unawere ofwhat is happening to them. Only those whoknow and can read the sign o f decadence areposiqg the question which as yet has been givenno answer. This is ou r tragedy. To be restric

ted and discriminited agiins t, just because weact differently from the dominant group, forreasons o f ou r different background, is notsomething that freedom promise.

, Condition under the present arrangement.When tribal au tonom y was about to come

io the District, the Pawis and Lakhers in the

south f r mptly came up with a demand forsepara te autonom y from their Lushai neighbour. The reason is obvious. Then the Pawisinhabiting areas east of.Tuichang, showed upwith a similar demaud. Demand of this latter

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group, however, soon fizzled ou t because thepeople were yet unaware o f what was coming.Tftus when a uto nom y was gra nt; d finally,only the Pawf-Lakhers in the sou th got regionalautonom y that left out more of their population in tbe no rth . T h S means that ou t of apopulation o f roughly 120,000 only 35,000 ofthem have been given autonomy while the rest

were left to decide their fate with thnir Lushaineighbour.Then again, under Clauses 8 (3), 9, 10 and

13 o f the Sixth Schedule to the Co nst itut ionof India, power fo r collection o f taxes throu gho ut the entir e District is given to the.M izoDistrict Coun cil with no provision for thePawi Lakher Regional Coucil to share the collected taxes. Thi s leaves the Regional Council

peaniless and crippled.Thirdly, in contr aven tion of Articles 30and 350 of the Con stitutio n, Clause 6 of theSixth Schedule had authorised the Mizo District Council to manage an d administer primary education in the e nti re District, As aresult Pawi-Lakher children have to learn,compulsorily, the Lushai language and readcertain prescribed syllabii which do great harm

to themselves and the image o f the ir society.Fou rth, the Mizo Distric Council territo rial constituency has been extended throughoutthe length and brea th o f the Pawi-Lakher

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Region, thereby practically making the Regio-nalCounc ilinferio r to the M^zo-D'strict Council.

Fifth, because of the ill territorial

arrangement , the Pawi-Lakher Region hasbeen tagged on to the Lungleh Subdivision toform one Legislative Constituency. The resultis that a pawi-Lakher man can never be sentup to the Assam Legislative because, besidestheir general backwardness, they are small in

population as compared to their counterparts.They, therefore, remain unrepresented in theLegislature of their own State- far from beingrepresented in the parliament of the Nation.

Sixth, the area is completely land-lockedby Pakistan and Burma, tbe only opening being through Aijal-Silchar road head. Moreover,

the District net-work o f roads and postalcommunications have not as yet wringled intothis area. They remain to d ly a world by itself,unknown to the world and the world unknownto them, Mr. Saigal called it a th ird world.

;*Therefore, although rivers, mountain plateauxand wide valleys, virgin with all sorts of riches

| and forest creepers abound in the area, thepeople thus live in their proverty and wretchedness.

In tbe meantime, their brothers in thej flOTth have not found much favour from their

lushai neighbour with whom they were fated

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together under the Mizo District Conncil. In

matters of employment, developement andother spheres the arraogsment has been, afailure for them so far. AH preferential ap pointments have been given to others, whileon tbeir part, they fill a few o f the infer ior

post in the Council . At the present momentone Pawi gentleman Sanghnfina by name,had qualified for appointm ent to the post ofa Judicial Officer in lh a t Council. Althoughhe has beea adjudged best qualified through aregular course o f recruitm ent the issue of hisapp ointm ent to the post has been contestedby them saying How can we al low a Pawi tofill such an impo rtant place i n c u r Council.The con testan ts include persons no less thansitting membars of the same Council. Theappointment i S ' S t i l l kept in abeyance on. this

account.Under these unbearable condition, ouronly hope, naturally, lies with theGovern-ment.

Affects of tbe maladjustmentThe unfortunate adjustment gave rise to

discontentment in the Pawi-Lakher Counciland to unrest amongst her people in general;So in the year 1953, the,Pawi-Lakher Council

fa full sitting passsd a, resolu tion demandingfo r an independent sub-division for the Pawi-Lakber Region. .. . , .

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The State Governm ent responded with apromise which was never implemented. Thisled to unprecedented dissatisfaction in the rankand file of the Pawi-Lakher population . Sincesuch a situation broods quarre l in the home,the general dissatisfaction natura lly gave rice

to quarrel amongst the Pawi and Lakhers.To save the situation^ the Regional Coun

cil passed a further resolution in 1964 demanding fo r a District Council with a separa teDistrict administration for the area. The StateGovernm ent responded in 1968 bu t with thegrant o f a subdivision only. The State Government, however, promished that a ful-fledged.District will be crea ted for them as soon asthe condition o f disturbance in the Dis trictimproves a little. The present action o f theGovernm ent is therefore, in pursuance o f the

promise already made. The demand on thepart o f tbe people concerned for inclusion o fall the Pawi-Lakber inhabitted areas o f theno rth in the new District is the result of fu rther political awakening amongst them. Therefore, the demand for a Laitlang Dis trict isnothing new bu t a continuing dem and since1953.

O ar demand : We have already pointedout that the Pawi and the Lushais are two setsof separate tribal groups, with hardly anysimilar costoms that will m ake .a system o f

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comm on admin istration possible. We havealso pointed out that they did never weretogether under common laws or customs. Thisis strengthened by the fr way.Therefore, ou r demand for a District o f

ou r own, with similar local auto nom y a sothers, is a Modest Demand. We feel an d believe sincerely th at we are just ified in pressingfo r an early implem entation.

To those who say that the Pawis are mu chtoo far degenerated as to pull u p a viablesociety, we say t h i s - I f we are degenerated, we

have much to repair, bu t we do not belive thatwe can prove any worthie r anywhere else awayfrom our past, except with the supp ort o f ou rown social ba ck gr ou nd upon which we can

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always fall bask, fo r strengthTo those who say that a Lai tlang District

will lead to demands f ro m the Lakhers forsimilar arrangement, we say

Since society is a gro up of persons, bound

together by common trad ition, history, customs and culture, all o f which together tendto work for a common goal, eth question doesnot assume impor tance, because save for adialectical variation, everything is commonbetween the Pawisand Lakhers. We may quot$here tbe following remarks :

N E. Parry. I C .S , The Lakhers are abranch of the Lai Tribe o f Chins, and speak alanguage closely skin to Lai..

M r. Grierson, Lakhers ~ They are anoff shoot of the Thlantlang tribe o f Lais .

Indeed, they have themselves, had re-af-firmed, once over again, the fact o f their com-

| mon idend>ty by steadfas tly clinging togetherin demand for a Regional Council o f their

%ewn, but ap ar t fro m their Lushai - neighbour.iA n y domestic quarreL inside that Council isirrelevant to our present issue. r To those who say tb st the name *Mizo* telu de s one and all in the Mizo District, we

--T he Pawis have been never known by theB f t e Mizo and they have never recognised ^ ae for themselves. Although the LushaiB i s District (change o f uame) Act, 1954, (18

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of 1954) did come into force from September,1954, it brough abou t a change in the name o fthe territotial District but not in the names oftribes living in it.

In fac t, the Mizo District Counc il itselfhas clearly defined in her constitution that theword Mizo refers to persons who are memberso f the Lushai Tribe This is an undenyable

fact, easily fou nd in the said con stitu tion today.Mr Davis Gazetteer of the north LushaiHills* page 128 says-

The general term that includes all inhabitants o f the north Lushai Hills, except Pois,is Mizo .

The adminstrative conveniences that willnatu rally accrue by breaking an overwide andunwieldy District into separate Units is better

known to the authority. The vast economicpotential o f the proposed District, with itsuncultivated plateau and valleys' plus theriches of the forests therein, need no elab oratecomments. Opening o f read comm unicationsbeing already in progress there is nothing thatwill make the new District unworkab le.

Above all, since the task fo r us is to re

discover an almost lost society with many o fthe attendent evils of degeneration, it is proposed that the Headquarters o f the new District should be located somewhere in the southpreferably at Lawngtlai or near abou t which

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Is already connected by ro rd and where thecu ltu re o f the tribe in question is still flourishing. This is important because a strcng cultura l con trol force is required to pull up acohesive society out o f a people who have had

experienced the stress of degeneration.Placed in ou r p roper setting, we hope and

believe that with our Lushai neighbour andthe rest o f the peop le-in Assam, we shall beable to build a new generation o f men andwomen on this frontie r of India, to play abulwark for defence o f home and country.

May G od help you.

Subm itted to : Y our faithfully.

(Lalchunga Chinzah)

M.L.A.

On behalf o f the Lai(Pawi-Lakher) people

o f Mizo District,

Assam.