Zo People and Their Culture: A Historical, Cultural Study and Critical Analysis of Zo and Its Ethnic Tribes

Citation preview

Zo People '' AND

Their Culture r»

A h^rical, cultural study and critical analysis of Zo and its ethnic tribes 'L,

.

SING KHAW KHAI

Eoreword

by

THAN

TUN

Published ,KHAMPUHATZAW NcWLamEa-G

Churachandpur-795 128, Manipur, India

3'

1

CONTENTS «

Foreword Preface Introduction

Part One

ZO HISTORY CHAPTER

.

I

$

CHAPTER

U

\

CHAPTER

£ **

APPENDIX

III

2,0 People , (1) The Peoples and Their Names (2) 2si Tribal Groups

‘

‘

1

(3) The Hills-Chin (4) The Plains-Chin The Northern Zo (6)The TedimZo (J) The Lusbai Zo (8) Quite Family (9) Yo Family (10) Sukte Family (11) Sibzang Family (12)ThadoJ'ribe

4 5 9 10 13 18 21 22 24 31 32

Zo Movements In Burma (1) Zo Entry into Burma , (2) Sak Movements t , (3) Chindwin-Zo -r . (4) Shou Capital * ” (5) The Norths Route » New C^indwin

33 35 38 40 42

Origin of the Tibeto-Burman Tribe (1) Tibetans (2) To Tribes ' (3) Chi'ang Race (4) Zo-thang Capit^

r

'

‘

,

(5) Origin of the Name "Chin" *

L IL m. IV. V. VI.

The Adoption of the name Zomi B^tist Convention Ciimnuai Chronology Tables of toe Northern Zo Genealogies Ori^n Mjto From Egg List of the TedinrClans Tables of Tedim and Lushai Genealogies

48 50 53 60 66 69 71 74 75 76 78

Part Twfr ZO CULTURE CHAPTER

I

Zo Origin sod Concept (1) Zo House (2) Origin of Zo House (3) Zo Ethiyjlogy (4) The Concept of io (5) The Cult of Earth (6) The Cult of Mountaintop

CHAPTER

n

**

Ia Cosmic Conception (1) Universe (2) Darkness and Light (3) Conception of Dragon (4) The Lordship of Zo (5) The Concept of Heaven (6) The Cult of Pasian (7) The Belief of Sha (8) The Belief of Sign ’’

CHAPTER

in

’

Zo Concept of Man and His^Spirit (1) The Spiritual Nfen (2) Concept of Life

’

(3) Life AA^ Death (4) Abode of the Deads (5) The Power of Man (6) The Power of Spoken Woi^

(7) The ESicacy of Ihunan Spirit CHAPTER

IV

Zo Society (!) The Founding of New Settlement (2) The Tuai State (3) The Conc^ of Tua! (4) The Spiri&ial Foundation (5) The Social Structure (Q The Household Council (7) The Social Codes

CHAPTER

V

Zo Sacrifice and Worship (1) The Religious System (2) The Deities of Sacrifice

, ng

not

I

f

(3) Pusha, the Ancestor-god (4) The Sacrificial Institution (5) The Communal Sacrifice (6) The Zo House Building (7) The Ancestor Sacrifice (8) The Ton’ Feast (9) The Household Offerings (10) The Rites of Propitiation (11) The Cultural Feature of Household Rites

(12) The Sacred Concept of Zo House APPENDIX VII. Zo Custom of Divine Rite Vl'u. Names of Daw, gods or evil-spirits

IX. The Hombill Emblem

X. Zo Sanctuary

Bibliography Appreciation

161 462 164 169 174 176 180 182 182 186

190 193 194 195

52^.2-ntral Committee Member of the Burma Sociaiist Programme Party. He is now ’astor. Chin Baptist Church, Yangon. As a student at the Myanmar Institute of rheology, he submitted a dissertation in 1984 under the title of The Theological

Concept of Zo in the Chin Tradition and Culture.

He revised it thoroughly and idded more information. As a result we have now this work entitled Zo People and

Their Culture. Zo are of one and single people spread in many places and each locality uses one

different dialect All available source material consists of oral tradition, comparauve language study, observations made by earlier Chinese officers and recent scholars and

at several points one account contradicts another. Collecting and correlating such ma­ terial and using them to write a succinct and cohesive cultural and historical account on these people is indeed a very hard task. We thank Sing Khaw Khai very much for

having done this admirable work. We are with him like everybody else to accept that

Myanmar and Zo are Tibeto-Burmans. However a suggestion that they were of tribe that split into two later is rather important that we need more evidence. For archaeo-

lo^cal investigations we shall have to wait several more decades as the people in that

field are very slow at work and probably because of that they are also very reluctant to report what they had done or how they did it or what they had discovered. Their last report is dated 1964. There were various studies on Tibeto-Bumans and Sing Khaw

Khai uses all of them but he draws his own conclusions which are quite sound. In oral traditions there are distortions but he has, I believe, a special sense to detect them. On

cultural and kinship his study is even more interesting. He puts all information classi­ fied and weighs all evidence to discern facts from fiction. He has done his work admi­

rably well and I would not hesitate to recommend it to all interested readers on Chin people and their history and culture.

Yangon 8 March 1994

Than Tun, M.A^Bi.,Ri.D.a.M>d(w).t)i.i).ux>iidoti) Retiied Professor of Hisioiy, Mandalay University, Member, Myanmar Historical Commission

PREFACE Becoming a Christian is to become a witness to the true God. This thought reminded me of the need to have some theological knowledge to be able to share my

faith with my colleagues of non-Christians in the secular field of my occupation. While

working at the Headquarters of the Burma Socialjst-Programme Party (B.S,P.P.), I

started in 1979 attending the evening theological class arranged by the Burma Institute of Theology (now Myanmar Institute of Theology), Insein, designed for Christiai)

lay-workers. Like other students I was required to submit a paper for the degree of Bachelor of Religious Education (B.R.E.). This offered me a golden chance to write on

the Zo tradition and culture in comparison with the Old Testament tradition. I took this opportunity as an unprecidented privilege and honour and was well pleased with doing

it. Before completing my course woik, I was transferred to the Chin State Regional Party Committee as its Secretary, at Haka, the capital of Chin State, In 1980.1 was

granted an extra-ordinary previleges to carry on my course work away from Yangon and I completed it in 1982. As theB.R.E. course was allowed to be completed within

five years, I spent the lull term in doing more research works and preparing the paper. I bad put into this paper a lot of bard worL 1 had done it outside of my office hours and

every minute that could be spared was used in it so that I could submit it only in 1984 with the title, The Theological Concept of Zo in the Chin Tradition and Culture.

Some students of theology who read the paper encouraged me to have It pub­ lished. Not satisfied with what I had done as yet, I started revising it after my gradua­

tion from the Seminaiy. The revision done along with my pastoral works and the changed situation of Myanmar postponed its publication. I do not pretend to be a scholar nor do I claim that my statements are derived from facts acceptable to historians. I admit that

my derived conclusions are an assumed truth, subject to Anther investigation by those enthusiasts of Zo history and culture. I hope and pray that this work may be an incen­

tive for the students of the field to make more research and study, for which I should

say my labour was not in vain.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My dissertation, might have not been completed, had it not been for the help I received from my well-wishers. 1 owe great debt to Rev. Sukte T. Hau Go, the first General Secretary of Zomi Baptist Convention (ZBC) for having had my materials of Zo folksongs translated, and to Rev. Edmund Za Bik, a lecturing staff (B.I.T.) in the

preparation ofmy paper. I could not help mentioning the names ofthose who had given

me kind help in one way or another. They are Rev. David Van Bik, a former ZBC

General Secretary, Rev. Thang Kaam, Pastor of my native Church (Khuano Baptist Church), and U Khual Cm Kam, a staffin the Foreign Ministry ofthe Union ofMyanmar. I am also indebted greatly to the Myanmar Institute of Theology forgiving me the idea of theology without which my work would not have been accepted. I owe the same

gratitude to BSPP Headquarters for allowing me a free access to its Library whenever

I liked to hunt for the materials I needed. Now, again, Zo People and Their Culture, the revised form of my dissertation-

would not have come up unless encouraged and helped by its enthusiasts. May I first extend my heart-felt thank to Miss Fontana, Faculty of Theology, Oxford, London, to whom 1 sought advice and who gave me her sincere comment on my dissertation that the revision takes heed of her guidance.

Particularly, I owe an intellectual debt to Dr. Than Tun, former Professor of His­

tory, Arts and Sciences University, Mandalay, for his impatient reading over the

manuscript and his guidance in dealing with the unwritten history of the Zos. May I

extend my respect and honour to him for his unceasing encouragement to Zo students of history to write on their own history and culture. 1 am more indebted to Robert Biak Cin, the then Programme Officer, Education, UNICEF, Yangon, and to U C. Thang Za Tuan, Principal of the Teachers Training

College, Pathejn, for their close attention to the writing. I could not find words so

adequate to relate my deep thank to Rev. Khup Za Go who has taken my work into his own concern and enthusiastically involved in preparing it in the book form. The same feeling of gratitude I owe to Khampu Hatzaw who takes the burden of financing and the bulky responsibility to produce the paper in a book. And, also, I should not forget to

mention my thank to K. Thang Kho Pau of New Lamka for his contributions to my

work his drawings,“Zo Religious Shrines”, and “A Precut showing Zo House under the roof and its compound freing west”.

Sing Khaw Khat

INTRODUCTION The people of whom this woric is being referred are an indigenous race of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) known to outside as Chin but who identified themselves

as Zo. The large population of Zo (Chin) ethnic people occupies the north-western ’mountains of Myanmar, separating Myanmar from India in the north and Bangladesh'

in the south. Therefore, the country was formerly called Chin Taung in Burmese and Chin Hills in the English literature. The Chin Hills lie between latitude 24* in the north and latitude 21’45' on the south and between longitude 94’5'on east and 93“20' on the

west. The tract, which forms a parallelogram, is stretching from north to south in 250 miles while its breadth varies from 100 to 150 miles, covering an area of 13902 sq.

miles. It consists of a much broken and consorted mass of mountains, intersected by deep valleys and utterly devoid of plain and table land.

Before the British occupation, the Hill Chios lived separately and independently in tribal groups under their respective tribal Chiefs. Under the British rule of Myanmar, the Hill Chins were administered as a part of the Province of Myanmar and'eonstituted a'scheduled district When Myanmar gained her independence in 1948, they were

grouped into a political unit and their habitatioa was given the name Chin Special Diyision. This name was changed into,Chin State by the constitution of the ‘Socialist

Republic of the Union of Burma’ in 1973. Chin State is now constituted by nine town­

shies, namely, Tonzang, Tedim, Falara, Haka, and Thantlang in the north and Mindat,Kanpetlet, Matupi, and Paletwa in the south, with-a total population of some 390000 as

at 1994. Their historical movenfents indicatcihat Zo ancestors had lived a fiomadic mode of historical existence, and they did not have the chance to adopt or to be assimilated to alien-cultures. Even after their permanent settlement in the present hills, they kept on

living within their own tradition Ind culture. Buddhism which had flourished in the Centra] Plains of Myanmar since the eleventh century A.D. did not radiate its light to the Chin Hills, it was only in 1899 that a white-face man named Rev. Arthur Carson

with his wife Laura Carson came, introducing Christianity to the Chin Hills. Rev, t)r.

Eric Hjalmar East baptized the first Hill Chin converts-Thuam Hang and Pau Suan of

Khpasak in Tedim area, in 1905. Now.more than half of the populationhecame Chris­ tians.,

The Christian mission work placed great emphasis on education, literating and artic’ulating-the illiterate Zos. The work brought about a far reaching'effect upon the future development of the Hill Chins; particularly the Northern Chins. After indepen­ dence the Government of the Union of Myanmar, too, continued the policy of educat­ ing the Hill Chins and openc‘d more school every year. More and more young Zos

continued their further studies at Universities and graduated. There had been in the

Chin Stale over one thousand and three hundred graduates as at 1982 in various voca­

tions not including graduates in theology. In Falam area alone thirty three graduates were with Master Degree and above. The Hill Chins, who were once looked on as ‘wild

and brute' have been now on equal footing with the other racial groups of the Union in

respect of education. Most of the 2o graduates entered into government service and have been taking equal responsibility for the Union with the so-called ‘civilized low­

land people’. No authority could deny that Christianity was the spiritual light which enlightened Zo primitive thinking and had led them to modern civilization.,

Zo people were primitive because their tradition and culture were primal in his­

tory. The purpose of this work has been to dig up the depth of the p^t and to identity the primitive ideal that once held together Zo people into an organic whole. It looks as

if Zo people were without hisloty, because their language was unwritten. Even the history of the Hill Chins beginning only in the sixteenth century A.D. still remains

legendary. F. Max Muller, often called ‘the father of religions’, state that particularly in the early history of human intellect, there existed a most intimate relationship between

language, religion, and nationality (Encyclopaedia Briiamica, 15:629). This wise in­ sight was taken as the theoretical reference and method in tracing and reconstructing the history ofZo whidi had been kept alive in the cultural life of the Zo people, even If

such history may look like a legendary one. The subject has been approached from the perspective of Zo tradition, how it was

handed down, how the most essential elements were preserved in the memory and

practice ofthe past, and how it still influences the spiritual life of the Zo people today. The points which are considered to be most unique are compared with other ancient

cultures wherever deemed parallel. The'most unique elements are shown in separate sheets as Appendix. Parallel culture terms having the same pronoanciation and idea are

treated as relevant fact and are analyzed and weighed with available historical materials. The term Zo itself seems to be quite relevant to be employed as the guide to its own origin. The term is an etymological reality embodying an ideal image that made

Zo primal society a living organism. It looks like a spiritual symbol that distinguishes the Zo character of paganism from the common understanding of primal religion. Hence

the title Zo People and Their Culture is given to this work.

The author would like to make it clear that the concepte and beliefs presented in this paper are not just his own derivation or speculation, but are inherent with the cultural life of the Zo people, handed down from times immemorial, in the form of

myths, legends, proverbial sayings. It is, therefore, his humble attempt to re-arrange those elements of tradition and culture and formulate them to be understandable to its

readers. Instances given as reference are mostly taken from the Tedim source as the

author is more familiar with it He contends that though diverse in cultural practices, all

Zo languages commonly share the same concept and belief ofZo tradition and culture.

E

NGULH KHAJ IN HIS TRIBAL ATTIRE

I

Map of Chin Hills

The Peoples and Their Names The administrative officials ofthe Britisli Government had earned out researrfies

the history of Umt wwly colonized hiU country of Burma, and (hey found the same eflmicETOimsofpeople in different areas speaking different dialects and bearing vai^ nawpft They woe the tribes known to tiie Indians as KUH and in Burma as CHEN. Whn»T.- Naga i« inswted by Reeatojon 11 of 1917-

Zo People

3

"Toi-kuk The ‘Dzo* triboj inhabit the hilly country to the east of (he Chittagong district in lower Bengal UThein PeMyint. awell-known Burmese writer, w4io knew Chin hislory.perftqjs, better than the Chins themselves do, givesaranaricas this;

Even thou^ the people who are called Chin do not necessarily protest their name, their true name, in fact, is Zomi or Miso

Regarding the same case, what F.K.Lehinan states deserves to tfe mentioned as follows; "No single Chin word has explicit reference to all the peoples we customarily call Chin, but all - or nearly all - ofthe peoples have a special word for themselves and those of their congeners with whom they are in regular contact. This word is almost

always a variant form ofasingle root, which appears as Zo, Yo. and the like.”

As file local Christian Cljvrches in Chin Hills (noiv Chin State) grew in size and the foreign missionary work wre restricted, die need for forming a purely Christian organiTarinn, hearings national title, arose. Ten I.eftderseach from the Tedim.theFalam, and the Halrha Baptist A.^sneiatjonawere then selected to draft a constitution for the new Christian organivatinn vrith S.T. Hau Go, a retired Pastor as its Chairman of the onnstihtfinn drafting committee The Rtytist convention held in 19S3 at Saikah village in Thantlang township iinanimniisly adi^ted, on the recommendation by the constitution drafting corpTptft*^, Zomi to he (he national title for the new Baptist organization. Hence ZOMI BAPTIST CONVENTION.” Afler thirty years have closed, thS question arose as to whether the national title Zomi needed be reviewed to conform to the changing situationofthepolitical context ofBurma. The case was brought to the Trieniualmeding held at Thantlang town in April 1983. It was takoi up cm April 16, and after being diacnaagd by five prominent speakers from the five dominant Associations, theprc^sal was put to the vote. Out of434 delegates, 424 voted for the afBrmation ofthe title. Rev. James Tial Dum, who presided over the session, declared that the title Zomi remain^

unchanged. Regardless of their choice the Zo people in Burma had borne the name CHIN. So also along the course oftheir migrations, other tribes of Zo pedple, too, adopted various names which they humbly accepted CTcn though those names were originated as terms of abuse. However, those names thus adopted may not necessarily refer to their ethnical or cultural differences from each otha- but rather they may refer to the distinctiveness and the uniqae nature of their ethnical and cultural identity in relation to the established order of the land in which they arrived, to which they belonged, and in which they were absorbed as a distinct unit of the the social community of their respective nations.

The Zomis are, therefore, those ethnic or linguistic, or cultural groupings ofpeople who had commonly inherited the history, the tradition and culture ofZo as their legacies, to. II IX 13, 14.

Rev. KhupZaGo, C/ifriCtromd^t(Qiurachflodpur; Li EtPrirdingPresi, 1988) ISt-ISS. U Ibeb f* Myim, CHn IPllMttuTainglhaiiuii^AfaCHtBtgaan : Bunna Ihnslstioo Society. 1967), 127. See AppmJhc T'**nia Origin nffeg Name Zomi Rqitist Conwition.** fetonriinterviewwilhRevr'niaagKam.eiBlhail^eridailafTedimBepdM AaoeutUBCB Apnl 19,1983 Attic fluthcr's residmee in tUAha.

Zo People and Their Culture

4

ineqjectivc ofthe names they adopted and the culture to which they adapted later. Now the term speh as CHIN has become to denote aparticular group ofpeople ha^ng a social idaitity.,m relation to^the historical development of a new NATION called the Union of Bunna. In other words, the name CHIN expresses its true meaning only in relation to

the historical community of Bunna.

Zo Tribal Groups AnttuJTS onZo (Chin) variously classify Zo languages. According to GA. Grierson, thp Kuki-Chin innguagga arc divid^ mainly into Meitheiand Zo (Chin) languages. And again, Ak Zo languages are divided into sub^roi^s as the Northern, the Central, the Old Kuki, arsl the Soufliem. The Northern Oroiq>, according to him, includes the Thado, Sukte, Siyin (Sihrnng), Ralte, and Paite whereas the Central Groi^i is represented by the Tarixm, tai, Takhw^Miram), Lusjsai (Mizo), Bangjogi,.and Pankhu. The Old Kuki includes the Rangkhol, Bete, Hnllam, Langrong, Aimol, Anal, Chiru, ffiroi-Lamgang, Koiren, Kmn, Pomm, Ifaiar, and Cha. The Southon Group is rq>rcsented by the r-hmmg, Welaung, Chinbok, Yindu, Chinbon, Khyang or Sho, and Khami or KhumL' A more detailed study into Kuki-Chin languages was made in 193t and forty four

sq>arate langiiagw; were recorded as belonging to Kuki-Chin group. These were;1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Kadie (Mathri or Meitei) Kyaw Thado (Pronounced Thah-do) Siyin (Sihzang) „ S^tte (Sukte)

6. I.

Kamhow (Kamhau) Xoiixla) ‘

8. 9. 10. II. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Tah»n (Ttu-sun) Yahow(Zahau) Laizo Kwangli (Khuangli) Ngoni(Ngawn) Lu^iei V^lngo (Hnalngo) Cyente^^te) Zanhny^’(Zanniat)

17. Lai 13. Lakher (Mirarn’orMara) 19. 20. 21. 22. 15. 16.

Lawhtu(Lauk-tu) Kwelshim (Khualrim) Zotung Soitang (Senthang)

*»■

23. Tamangt 24. Miram ^5. Zolamnai ** 26. Ton'(Thaw^

21. Ta-00 28. Mgan (Makrm)' 29. ''Welaung 30. Chinbok' 31. Yindu (Zindu-Dai) .32. Chinme 33. Chinboii 34. Taungtha 35. Sho 36. Khami 37. Anu 38. ' Kaungtsb 39. Kaidiadan 40. Ledu 41. Matu 42. Sittu 43. Chaunggyi Chin 44. Saingbaung’®

Griason. Ungjrftffc Surv^ 1-2. Ctrin J. aoreen. C«Mi« Bby lI.BennBon. 'AnottenthetodigeoousRacca ofBunna' (Ransoon: govewing Pnsling Prw^. I931XI9S.

»J

"3

5

Zo People

Of these languages, Kyaw^'or Chaw is fegarded as typical of Old Kuki and they tie a small hibe living on the banks of the Kaladah river in the Paletwa area in the South. The Tnm^thas were practically confinedtothe Pakkoku ar^ most of them were in the Htilin and Saw tovmships, but-fliere were'also a few in Gangaw area. Their speaking

dinlgf-.t is closely related to that ofxhe Northern, particularly to LaL Th'e'Chin Special Division Act. 1948 addpted the British definition'ofZo (Chin) as in the Chin Hibs Regulatii^ 1896 in which Zo inclade Lu^s, Kukis, and Nagas,

too. But later in^I957, this definition was amended MienfZo was re-interpreted as those ofthe citizens of Bunnaivho settled dbWtfwithindieChin Special Divisiort ’’ihe need for an amHidment may have been caufed by political and legaTnecessity, but it does not toect the original meaning of its racial affinity. Thus apart from these Kuki-Chin

languages, Zo tribal groupsinchide the Nagas, too. Ldunan drs^ a boundary betwedi the Northen and Southem on die basis of

cultural and social system within the hills. The Northern refers to the afeas ’of former Norden and Cenfral in the 1904 Linguistic Survey, and it comprises nearly all the Zos of Hakha, Falam, and Tedim areas, and also the Lushai'and Lakher (Miiam) on the Ae tn contact with the Chin of the Southern Kills According to this statement, there is reason Uisay that the Northem Zo contact with toe ‘civili^ peoplq in the lowlgnd’ would b.egip afrer the twelfth century. But, again, this tiepdpfthought wouldbe in contradictionwith toe statement that Zo history begins^ after AD. 750, with the developjp^it pf BMIinaij civiliza^on and of Zo interaction with

it.

It seems to follow that the Northern Zo came to Chindr^ from some other place

with toe more elaborate type of.piltore? pud social system. The contrast between the Northern and the Southem Zo is greater in some reject ofcultural practices. The most significant one is the rile ofdealing with the dead. .Where toe Northern buries, toe Southem bums it The custom of face-tattooing is practised in 21. 22. 23. 24. 23.

Ibid., 20. ^vyeh^aaliaBrllanlea (Micropaedia), t.v. "Oun” Lehmsn, Chin Sacit^ 18. Had., 20. nnan and yw in Old Burmese without their tonal marks as if they were correlative of each other in r^resenting a people of Pagan period. In the Pagan inscriptions AT^nttvon and Khlantwan occurs more thmi once in a geographical sense withrefaence to the valley rather than the river. “ Yatr and Kaw-1/

are also used in a geographical sence as in "entering-in of Yaw". This literary usage of Old Burmese has led most authors on Zo to heat all Zo languages as ifthey were all branched out from the Chindwin Chin and were propagated from the Chindwin Valley. The Chindwin river is also considered to have got its name after the region throu^ which it flows. But no one ever seems to think the case conversely.

Chindwin as a place name is mentioned in Pagan inscription beginning in the thirteenth century AD.,.There is also persistant reference in the legends of all the Northern Chins and the Lushais (Mizo) to a former home in Chindwin. pagan record is thus found to coincide with what the Northern Chin traditions conononly say. FanCh’o, a Chinese historian of Tang dynastic period, wrote a book entitled (History of Nanchao) in which he mentions tire conlaiding peoples of Bupna in the early part of the ninth century Aft, These wereKhnak (pronounced A^-no), Tircid, and Ch ’en. Luce takes TiwaZ for Pyu and k£-Ch 'en hr Mon. He identifies the Mi-no as Chin on the ground that what Fan Ch'o describes as Afi-no chlang (Mi-no river) corresponds to the Chindwin river. Fan Ch’o distrngnighga the Mi-no ki^dom with the feet that tiie Mi-no people called their princes ard chiefs

The royal title shau. indeed, strikingly resembles sho by which the plains Chin designate themselves. And also the cultural pattern ofthe Mi-no king’spalace does really demonstrate an identical feature with the Tedim jowg (pillat) set 15) in the middle of the courtyard as the mark of sacrifice to ancestral spirits. Who had represoiled the ethnology of the Mimo people who called thdr king shou? Were thes&people anc«tral to Chin? All this could lead oneto say that the history ofZo people as Chin began from Chindwin.

■ Fan Ch’o makes it clear that the Mi-no people who called their princes and chiefs shou had been somewhere’in Chindwin since before 835 A.D. So there is fair reason to say that if Chin was of the same stratum with the Mi-no people, then Chin must have beerf in Chindwin since before the ninth century A.D. But what is peculiar is that the table of the older residents of Kale-Kabaw Valley does not include a- people with the name Khyan (Chin) or lhe like. On the other hand, Grant Brown, the author.of Upper Chindwin Gazette records the Kale legend as saying that about the beginning of lhe Burmese era (i.e., AD 639), the capita] Yazagyo was destroyed by lhe Manipuris and Chins, and a new seat was chosen at Theinnyin with the assistant of Mohnyin Sa,wdw^. So it looks as if Chin came to Kale-Kabaw Valley much later than the Sak, the Kantu, 26. 27. 28. 29.

Gofdoo H. Luce, "Nou onthepeople ofBsnne in (he l2di-13UiCenliuy AD." Journal cfBunnaResttirchSeicltry (JBBS). 1939:60. Ibid. Prof.Oorion H. Luce, Pham (,/7yr./’:!ga« flnreiA VoL 1. (Oxford: Oxford Universiij’Press, 1985). 1. G.E.R. Gnml Brown, Burma Gaitiie Upper CMnOwIn Ditoicl. VolA (Rangoon : Govanmenl Prlhting puss, Repcinted, 1960X8.

8

Zo People and Their Culture

the Ingye, etc. who are mentioned in tlie Kale chronicle as the aboriginal tribes.^ All this tends to conclude that th§ name Qhin was cither a later appellation to the Zo people or had represented a stratum ofZo people before their coming into Chin4>^-According to this literary context, there is a great contrast between Shon and Cl^ in chronology of existence in Chindwin Valley. Hie seniority of Shou in its historic ^peaiance in Chindwin seems to be in agreentent with the seniority of the Southern Zo as indicated by the pattern oftheir cultures and social systems. So, according to the historical picture of Chiddwin in Ils Ihirteeiflh ceathry A.D., if seems that drere were two'^tratums of a people to be called Zo and Chia, hi that event, the Zo groi^ would have been rqircsented by the Old Kuki-Chins and the Chin groq) would have been rqjrcsented by the Hew KulriChins typically the Northern Zo as classified by Lehman. The Old Kuki*Chin would include the Southern Chin who called themselves Jho^of Cho. Jo. it is reasonable to conclude that the words low, Saw, Kyaw or Chaw were the variants of Shou or Zo whichhad r^resenled the elhno^^ ofChindwin before Chin occupation ofthe Valley. This also points to the fact diat Sho or Zo was die word by which the people designate

'

themselves and Khyan or Chin was Pagan qipellation to a stratum of Zo people in a much later fime.

If the river Chindwin got its^name after the^name of the place through which it flows, then the general area of Chindwin may have covered all areas along and around the Chindwin river above Monywa. Whm the Burmese Script was invented and used in describing Chin, theplaceofChin settlement is given to aspecific ^rea: "Chin Taung". A piece ofPagm inscriptions^reads, "Thepeople Igving on the mountains in the west are ascribed as Khyan". ” The refermce to as "the mountains in the west" (probably of

Pagan or Central Burma) may have referred to the general area including the Yaw and Saw areas at the foot ofthe southan Chin mountains, without ‘ecological distinction’. This area corresponds to what Lehman describes as the 'linguistic centre of Chin di^iersal’. Regarding the ethnic affinity'of Yaw, another non-Chin'source’ deserves to be mentioned. Father‘Sangermano, a Roman Catholic missionary, cameto Burma in 1783 AB. and he prepared a book entitled/! descriptiSn ofAeBUBh'iE^^MPlRE in which

| ' I

he makes mention of a nation called JO. His statement runs" ai follows: "To the east of Chien mountmris between 2O°.3O' & 21®.3O' north latitude, is a petty nation called Jo. ■They are sqiposed to have beeA Chien, w)io in progress of tune have Secotne Burmese, ^leaking their language, although very corruptly, and adopting all their custpms".^^

Now it has been clear that the place name Yaw as inscribed in Pagan Chronicle lies outsidetheChindwinproper.But,thepeoplecominglromtheYawareaand living on

the. nearby mountains had been called Chien or Khyan by the time the name was inscribed. This fact suggests that the people known as Chin to the Pagan court had occupied the present hills since before the thirteenth caitury AB. This chronological context further suggests that Chin Hills was founded by thosewho called their king shou 30. 31. 32.

Ibid. EntyelopatdlaB'ltanli:a(^Aasropieiiai. 15:629. Reverend Father Sangennaao,XDa«7ipriono/'Ch«SURUES££]irF*Qttt tnmslatal by Williimi Tandy. DD, Qtaraa : Paebury. Allen and Co. MDCCC VYVTn, reprinted at Govetnmeail Rongftfm MDCCCLXXXV), 35.

J

Zo People

9

or sho or 20 or cho. Hence CHO, being the racial name of those who first made their settlement in the areas of the present Kanpetlet and Mindat in the Sonthern Hills.

There is no clear evidence indicating the date ofZo settlement in Phin Hills. If the Northern Zo found their origins in a population explosion, the old tribes of Zo people may have been forced to flee the Yaw area due to a marked change at the foot of the hills. In all probabilities, this marked change would have been die extension of Pagan influence to the west in the twelfth century This follows to conclude that the Chindwin Shou or the hii-no people were die fribe^ who first cleared the jungles of Zo

mountains.

The Plains Chin "niose Chin ethnic tribes living in the plains are simply referred to as Plains Chin as against the Hills Chin. They, too, do not recognize the word Chin for their racial name, and they call themselves Sho, being a variant of Zo. Some writers on Chin distinguish the Hills Chin from the Plains Chin with the description as,‘wild Chin’ and ‘fame Chin’ respectively. Regarding their trace, Grierson reproduces Houghton’s statemait as fol­ lows; The Southern or tame Chin, as they are sometimes called to distinguish them from the Northern or wild Chins, inhabit both sides ofArakan Yoma and are found in the Akyab. Kyaukpyu. and Sandaway district on the west, &d the Minbu, Thayetmyo, Prome, and Henzada districts on the east The tame Chins arc in fact merely a tribe which formerly inhabited the present Lushai or wild Chin county, and which has been forced south by a vis a tergo at probably no very distant epoch

It has been mentioned that the Sho belonging to the ‘Southern Chin’ fall into category of Old Kuki-Chin. So it is not impossible that they founded the Chin Hills as Houghton had supposed. There are some linguistic elements which purport Sho connec­ tion with the Manipuris. For instance, the term saiei in Manipuri denotes royal clan. In Asho, salai has the meaning somewhat like ‘gallantly’ or ‘a knight’. It seems to Luce that the Manipuris or Meitheis (Meitei in Tedim) belonged to the Ktiki-Chin tribes and that they had come from their cast, the north of Upper Burma. On the other hand, their miction myth tells their descent into the present areas through the Chindwin river course. ’’ Did this Asho represent the Khyan that gives the Chindwin river itsname? or

were they the legendary invaders ofYazagyo with the Manipuris in about the hf^nning of the Burmese era? Whatever the case might have been, one is sure to say that the Asho (where ‘A’ denotes the prefix as the ‘the’ in English) represents what is ‘representatively Zo’. There are some materials wdtich support this point Dr. Emil Forchhammer was a German scholar and he was the Professor of Pali at the Government High School, Rangoon, m the year 1884. He wrote an Ess^ on the 33. M. 3J.

l^unan. Chin Soe^tf. 20 Gna«m,£a^gtrisde.&n«y.>.v.“So(nbeniC]iDSub-aoup'’. OricROQ, Lh^atate Sanrr, «.v. •’Maiporf or MdSiefs." FootBOts -1, “Tbere «re even now ssveo saleis or clau, ofwUeb (be diiefIs Nbglh^ er Royal daa iBiDview wilh Car*. Than, an A^ woriaos as ataff officer a Ibe H^lqiiatcn of the

37.

Griosn, Ungabals Sanejk a.v, "Sbo or kbyng”.

10

Zo People and Their Culture

Sources and development of the Burmese law from the era of the first introduction of the Endian law to the time ofthc British occupation of Pegu* Thf F.«$ay j; entitled THE JADENE PRIZE, and he was awarded Rs. 1000 for his work. The materials he then

collected and the statemmts he made rm the basis ofhis findings arc authoritative enough to be noted. In tracing the source and in examining the formation of the Dkammathat. Forchhammer places great emphasis on the religious belief and the social customs of the Chins who called themselves Zo. An excerpt from the text runs as follows: The Chins found In British Burma... have at different periods emigrated from the north of Upper Burma, chiefly from the headwaters ofOiindwin river.... The original stock from v*ich the Chins... have separated occupy in large numbers the mountain tracts extetding from Assam to Yunnan. They are-there sub-divided Into 36 clan's, called Zo..,. ”

And, again, tn parallel with this. Thangkhangin, a student ofZo history, claims that Zo was the ethnic name of all Kuki-Chins. Referring his authority to Pong chronicle, he testifies to the fact that Pong kingdom covered Nanchn (Vietnam) to the East, Bengal to the west, China to the north, and KawIzMg (Kale-Kabaw Valley) to flic south. He goes on to say that Kawizang was then ruled as a Province under Pong kingdom. Jo Province then comprised the states, Khangsei. (Nagaland and the northern part of Manipur), Rathe (Manipur) and Kalei (Chindwin Valley) and Khampat

TTie Northern Zo Inspite of many general and specific similarities among themselves, the Northern Zos are still in contrast to one another in respect of some unique features. For instance, the Lai speakers use Bawipa generally for higher social status and office and particularly for Lord while the Tcdim word for the same title is Topa. As far as the findings of this

study are concerned, these words To and Sowi are distinct and arc not likely of the same local origin. TTiey might have been brought to Chin Hills with toe people. This single fact suggests that the To-group and.the Bawi-group may have passed through differcnl cultural spheres in their historical existence. They made their migrations in part from ^ups. following toe trace of one to displace the former.

ft has already been mentioned that the sixt^th century A,D. is conventionally assigned as the dale of the founding of the Northern Hills. This date seems to have been adopted from the materials given in The Chin Hills as the date of the founding of Ciimnuai, the home of toe Tcdim speakers. Traces of old setlement places in the Tcdim area alone indicate that toe present Northern Zo would have preceded some other old tobes, Lehman has been quoted as saying that the Northern Zos have had their origins in an oqilosion of population, beginning about the sixteenth century. What have been

said tn connection with the Chindwin-Chin strongly suggest that the Northern Zos came to toe present areas via toe Myittoa-Kale-Kabaw Valley. The presence ofthe Taunglhas in toe Yaw area until today indicates that some tribal group of them found their way directly from the Yawdwin to the present hills, leaving toe Taungthas behind. But nearly 38. 39.

Dr. Emil Forehbanmier, Tbt Jadbn Prbt (Rangoa Govenmait Printinj Press, 1884),9 llian^diangia,'‘ZomitenMMas^”S«RrtiPfli./Aw«