The history of Mizoram encompasses the history of Mizoram which lies in the remotest part of
northeast India. It is a conglomerate history of several ethnic groups of Chin people who migrated
from Chin State of Burma. But information of their patterns of westward migration are based
on oral history and archaeological inferences, hence nothing definite can be said. The recorded
history started relatively recently around the mid-19th century when the adjoining regions were
occupied by the British monarchy. The land is now inhabited by a mixture of people from
Chin Hills and Bangladesh and its history is therefore largely reflected by those of Lusei,
Hmar, Lai, Mara and Chakmas tribes. Following religious, political and cultural revolutions
in the mid-20th century majority of the people agglomerated into a super tribe,
Mizo. Hence the officially recognised settlement of the Mizos became Mizoram.
The earliest documented records of Mizoram were from the British military officers in the 1850s,
when they encountered a series of raids in their official jurisdiction in Chittagong
Hill Tracts from the neighbouring natives. By then they referred the land to as Lushai Hills.
As a consequence of relentless tribal encroachment and often resulting in human mortality,
British rulers were compelled to subjugate the tribal chiefdoms. Punitive British military
expeditions in 1871 and 1889 forced the annexation of the entire Lushai Hills. After the Indian
independence from British Empire in 1947, the land became Lushai Hills district under the Government
of Assam. In 1972 the district was declared a union territory and was given a more culturally
inclusive name Mizoram. Ultimately Mizoram became a full-fledged federal state of India in 1986.
Origin of the inhabitants The ancestors of Mizos were without any form
of written language before the advent of British. They were anthropologically identified as members
of the Tibeto-Burman ethnicity. Folk legends unanimously claim that there was Chhinlung or
Sinlung at the cradle of the Mizos. Oral history provided contrasting accounts on the origin.
One popular legend tells that the Mizos emerged from under
a large covering rock known as Chhinlung . Another version says that Chhinlung refers to the
Chinese city of Sinlung or Chinlingsang situated close on the Sino-Burmese border. According to
Mr. K. S. Latourette, there were political upheavals in China in 210 B.C.E. when the
dynastic rule was abolished and the whole empire was brought under one administrative system.
The Mizos left China as part of one of those waves of migration. However this is pure speculation.
According to Vumson's Zo history, the earliest ancestor of the Mizos was Thlapa,
the eldest son of Ngaihte, whose son was Lamhlir and grandson was Seipui/Lusei.
A different story presented by Historians such as Liangkhaia,
Hrangṭhiauva and Lal Chungnunga is that in Tibet there was born a three brothers named Mizoa,
Mirua and Marua. Leading nomadic life they mostly settled in Chinzua in China. The descendants of
Mizoa migrated to Sakai in Burma. In due course of time they had a great chief called Chhinglunga,
and his chiefdom came to be known as Chhinlung. Speculated to be in around the 5th century they
settled in the Shan State after having overcome the resistance put up by the indigenous people.
They thrived in Shan state for about 300 years before they moved on the Kabaw Valley around the
8th century. It was in the Kabaw Valley that Mizos had cultural influence with the local Burmese.
It is conceivable that the Mizos learned the technique of cultivation from the Burmese at
Kabaw as many of their agricultural implements bore the prefix Kawl,
a name given by the Mizos to the Burmese.
Khampat was known to have been the next Mizo settlement. They are said to have planted a
banyan tree before they left Khampat as a sign that the town was made by them.
In the early 14th century, they moved westward to Indo-Burmese border. They built villages and
called them by their clan names such as Seipui, Saihmun and Bochung. The hills and difficult
terrains of Chin Hills forced division into several villages and ethnic diaspora arose.
Mizo Hills The earliest Mizo people to enter the
present Mizoram were known as Kukis, the second batch of Mizo immigrants were called New Kukis.
The Lushais were the last of the Mizo tribes to migrate to the Lushai Hills.
By the time they crossed the Tiau River bordering Myanmar, the descendants of Zahmuaka, who came to
be known as the ruling Sailo clan, had proven their mettle as able and assertive chiefs. The
traditional system of village administration, too, had been perfected. As the head of the village,
the Chief or Lal allocated lands for cultivation, settled all disputes in the villages, fed and
cared for the poor and offered shelter to anyone seeking refuge. The Mizo history in the 18th and
19th centuries is marked by many instances of tribal raids and retaliatory expeditions.
Before the British Raj, the various Mizo Tribes and clans lived in autonomous villages.
The chief, in the Mizo and other indigenous tribes enjoyed an eminent position in the society.
Some chiefs were even raised to the position of a paramount chief or a paramount ruler or king.
Under a paramount chief, there were a number of chiefs,
of which most of them were brothers and there were few who were adopted as sons by a paramount chief.
The position of chieftainship and paramount chieftainship is based entirely on hereditary.
The youngest son of the paramount chief inherited the land, properties and tributes given to his
father and his father's slaves, while the elder brothers got independent rule from their father
at different areas of the neighbouring land. His elder brothers who got independent were expected
to give warriors to the paramount chief when called for by the paramount chief . Warriors
of the sons of the paramount chief were called upon, especially when invading other lands. When a
tributary chief failed to comply with the request of the paramount chief or failed to pay tributes,
their lands were invaded by the combined sons of the paramount chief. Invasion of the British
Indian region during the 17th to 19th Century were also carried out by warriors of a paramount chief.
These invasions to the British subjects were the result of the British expansion to the elephant
hunting grounds of the Mizos. If the paramount chief or chief died before his youngest son was
becoming of age, the wife of the paramount chief or wife of the chief would rule the
land as regent. Among the Mizo chiefs, the Sailos grew to paramountcy and ruled most of the land of
the present day of Mizoram, including various parts of Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Myanmar and
Bangladesh. When the British invaded their land, they successfully subjugated every paramount
chiefs and chiefs as a result of advancement of the British. The various clans and subclans
practiced slash-and-burn, locally called jhum cultivation - a form of subsistence agriculture.
The chiefs were the absolute rulers within their territories , the chief and their warriors claimed
their territories and also increased their territories by conquest. While claiming their
land, the mizo warrior would always invade some parts of modern Assam, Tripura and Manipur. The
British Administrators and authors often wrote about the Head-hunting practices of the Mizos.
Most of the territories claimed by the mizo chiefs are present in the state of Mizoram. But some
territories are in the present Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Bangladesh and Myanmar. There were many
instances of tribal raids and head-hunting led by the village chieftains. Head-hunting was a
practice which involved ambushing, taking slaves and decapitating heads of fighters from the enemy
tribe, bringing it back home, and displaying it at the entrance of the tribal village.
British rule Initial encounters
By the mid-19th century British Empire had occupied all the surrounding Chittagong and
Burma but had little or no interest in the tribes or their hilly land. They were merely mentioned in
passing as "irreclaimable savages". The tribals then lived in small and isolated clusters of
chiefdoms, each often raising warfare against another. Their religious lives were dominated
by paganism and they led animistic world view, with unique concept of afterlife called Pialral.
They practised elaborate rituals including animal sacrifice, and worshipped or feared almost all
conceivable inanimate objects, diseases and unusual natural phenomena. The first
Lushai raid recorded in British governed Assam was in 1826. From that year to 1850
the local officers were unable to restrain the fierce attacks of the hillmen on the south.
Raids and outrages were of yearly occurrence, and on one occasion the Magistrate of Sylhet reported
a series of massacres by "Kookies" in what was alleged to be British territory, in which 150
persons had been killed. The raid was most severe in 1871 when a series of attacks caused several
deaths on both sides, with extensive damage on the plantations. A number of workers and
soldiers were taken prisoners, and among them a six-year-old Mary Winchester. Mary Winchester
was taken as hostage by Bengkhuaia warriors, while other prisoners were executed on the way.
British military expeditions To retaliate the British military organised
punitive expedition named Lushai Expedition in 1871–1872. The campaign consisted two columns,
the right advancing from Chittagong and the left from Cachar. General Brownlow, C.B., commanded the
former, with Captain T.H. Lewin, Superintendent of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, as Civil Officer.
The Cachar column was led by General Bourchier, C.B., with Mr. Edgar, Deputy Commissioner, Cachar,
as Civil Officer. In addition, a contingent of Manipuris accompanied by Colonel James Nuttall,
the Political Agent of Manipur, made a demonstration across the southern border
to co-operate with General Bourchier's portion of the expedition. The expedition started on 15
December 1871. The Mizo villages were crushed one by one, and Mary Winchester was rescued.
Mizo chiefs made a truce not to make further attacks. Frontier posts were built to protect
the border and bazaars were opened to encourage the Lushais to trade After a decade the truce
was broken, and there erupted intermittent raids again. In 1889 British military organised
another punitive expedition code named "The Expedition of 1889". It was commanded b
Col. F.V.C. Tregear. From their camping site at Chawngte they started on 19 December 1888.
They easily penetrated the southern villages with little resistance. They fortified at Lunglei
and prepared locations and roads for the next expedition. After their completing their mission,
they returned in April 1889. Then the major campaign called The Chin-Lushai Expedition 1889-90
immediately followed. Again divided into two columns, Chittagong column was commanded by Col.
Tregear, and Cachar column by W.W. Daly. The Chittagong column occupied most of
the southern region including Chin Hills by the end of 1889. The Cachar column camped at
Aijal on 30 January 1890. They subjugated all the major chiefdoms, captured the chiefs and
got permanently fortified in Aizawl and Lunglei, as the administrative centres.
Lushai Hills Mizo Hills were
formally declared as part of British India by a proclamation in 1895. North and south hills
were united into Lushai Hills district in 1898 with Aizawl as its headquarters.
The process of the consolidation of the British administration in tribal dominated area in Assam
started in 1919 when Lushai Hills, along with some of the other hill districts,
was declared a "Backward Tract" under the 1919 Government of India Act.
The tribal districts of Assam including Lushai Hills were declared "Excluded Area" in 1935.
It was during the British regime that a political awakening among the Mizos in Lushai Hills started
taking shape the first political party, the Mizo Common People's Union was formed on 9 April 1946.
The Party was later renamed the Mizo Union. As the day of Independence drew nearer,
the Constituent Assembly of India set up an advisory committee to deal with matters relating
to the minorities and the tribal members. A sub-committee, under the chairmanship of Gopinath
Bordoloi was formed to advise the Constituent Assembly on the tribal affairs in the North East.
The Mizo Union submitted a resolution of this Sub-committee demanding inclusion of all
Mizo-inhabited areas adjacent to Lushai Hills. However, a new party called the United Mizo
Freedom Organisation came up to demand that Lushai Hills join Burma after Independence.
Christianity and education The Mizo ancestors had no written language
and in terms of religion they worshiped nature and revered natural phenomena. The first missionary
who came to Lushai Hills was Rev. William Williams, a Welsh missionary who at that time was
working in Khasi Hills . However he came only on an investigative visit for a week in March 1891.
On 11 January 1894, F.W. Savidge and J.H. Lorrain, commissioned by Arthington Aborigines Mission,
arrived at Aizawl. This marked the origin of formal education and Christianity in Mizoram.
They made camp at Thingpui Huan Tlang, Chandmary , later named MacDonald Hill,
Zarkawt. They immediately worked on creating Mizo alphabets based on Roman script. After only two
and half months, Savidge started the first school on 1 April 1894. Their first and only pupils were
Suaka and Thangphunga. They translated and published the Gospels of Luke and John, and
Acts of the Apostles. They also prepared A Grammar and Dictionary of the Lushai language which they
published in 1898, and became the foundation of Mizo language. In 1903 Baptist Missionary Society
of London set up Baptist church by sending Lorrain and Savidge at Serkawn, near Lunglei.
From there they expanded the church, education and health services. Rev. Reginald Arthur Lorrain,
younger brother of Rev. J.H. Lorrain and founder of the Evangelical Church of Maraland
was the first pioneering missionary to the Mara people at the southern extreme of Lushai Hills.
He entered Maraland and settled at Serkawr village on 26 September 1907.
Lorrain created alphabets, prepared Bible and textbooks in Mara. With his mission the
task of evangelising and educating the mass of the Mizo people was complete.
Lushai Hills District Following the Bordoloi sub-committee's suggestion,
a certain amount of autonomy was accepted by the government and enshrined in the Six Schedule of
the Indian Constitution. The Lushai Hills Autonomous District Council came into being
in 1952 followed by the formation of these bodies led to the abolition of chieftainship in the Mizo
society. The autonomy however met the aspirations of the Mizos only partially. Representatives of
the District Council and the Mizo Union pleaded with the States Reorganization Commission in 1954
for integration of the Mizo-dominated areas of Tripura and Manipur with their District Council
in Assam. The tribal leaders in the northeast were laboriously unhappy with the SRC recommendations.
They met in Aizawl in 1955 and formed a new political party, Eastern India Union
and raised their demand for a separate state comprising all the hill districts of Assam.
The Mizo Union split and the breakaway faction joined the EITU.
By this time, the UMFO also joined the EITU and then understanding of the Hill problems by the
Chuliha Ministry, the demand for a separate Hill state by EITU was kept in abeyance.
Mautam famine In 1959, Mizo Hills was devastated by a great
famine known in Mizo history as 'Mautam Famine'. The cause of the famine was attributed to the
flowering of bamboos which resulted in a boom in the rat population. It caused mass destruction of
food stores and crops. A number of people died of starvation. Earlier in 1955, Mizo Cultural Society
was formed with Pu Laldenga as its secretary. In March 1960, the name of the Mizo Cultural Society
was changed to 'Mautam Front' to fight against the famine. In September 1960, the Society adopted the
name of Mizo National Famine Front . The MNFF gained considerable popularity as a large number
of Mizo Youth assisted in transporting rice and other essential commodities to interior villages.
Insurgency After recovery from the disaster
the Mizo National Famine Front was changed to a new political organisation, the Mizo National
Front on 22 October 1961. The specified goal was sovereign independence of Greater Mizoram.
It resorted to armed insurrection with the 28 February 1966 uprising against the Government,
attacking the government installations at Aizawl, Lunglei, Chawngte, Chhimluang and other places.
In Aizawl, on 5 and 6 March 1966, the Government of India bombed the city of Aizawl with Toofani
and Hunter Jet fighters, this was the first time India used its air force to quell a
movement of any kind among its citizens. "The next day, a more excessive bombing took place
for several hours which left most houses in Dawrpui and Chhinga veng area in ashes",
recollected 62-year-old Rothangpuia in Aizawl. The Mizo National Front was outlawed in 1967
and the demand for statehood increased. The Mizo District Council delegation met
prime minister Indira Gandhi in May 1971 and demanded full-fledged statehood for Mizoram.
The Indian government offered to convert the Mizo Hills into a Union Territory in July 1971.
On 21 January 1972 official declaration of UT was made with the name Mizoram. Mizoram was
allotted two seats in Parliament, one each in the Lok Sabha and in the Rajya Sabha.
Birth of Mizoram state Election of Rajiv Gandhi to the
office of Prime Minister of India in 1984 incited the beginning of a new era in Indian politics.
Laldenga met the prime minister on 15 February 1985.
Terms of negotiations were resolved between the two parties. The Mizoram Peace Accord
was therefore signed between the Mizo National Front and the Union Government on 30 June 1986.
Signatories were Pu Laldenga from MNF, the Union Home Secretary R.D. Pradhan on behalf
of the government and Lalkhama, Chief Secretary of Mizoram. Statehood was a
prerequisite of the accord so that Mizoram became a federal state of India on 20 February 1987.