Chieftainship in Mizo society
Dr. Lalthakima
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Pachhunga University College
Mizoram : Aizawl
When the British annexed the area where the Mizos
lived, they were surprisingly amazed to find large number of village units of
administration, running .independently of one another and all headed by a chief
of immense local standing. It is not possible to state clearly when and how in
the past this institution took concrete shape. But it can be reasonably
asserted that this happened at quite an early stage of evolution in their group
life. It was said that during the 16th Century where the Mizos lived
in Lentlang, a place somewhere in Burma side, the Hnamte clan invited Zahmuaka
and his six sturdy sons to accept chieftainship of Khawrua and Tlangkhur
village. One of the sons of Zahmuaka was Thangura whose descendants were called
Sailos, who established themselves as a ruling clan over almost all the areas
inhabited by the Mizos.
Position: The chief was usually called 'Lal' which means in
Mizo 'a lord'. He maintained his position more through his personal qualities
than hereditary rights, the chiefs position in the village was indeed that of a
benevolent ruler. All those who lived in the village were looked upon as his own
children. He was bound to help them in their adversities, counsel them in their
difficulties, reward them in their achievements and punish them when they were
found guilty of misdeeds or infringement of established customs. The villagers,
on their turn, were to obey his orders implicitly, carry out errands assigned
to them individually and collectively and help the chief in all possible ways.
It must however, be mentioned that the chief was riot an autocrat, and in fact,
could not afford to be so if he desired to retain his chiefship as they would
leave him and take shelter under a different chief in another village if they
found him tyrannical or indifferent to their needs and conveniences.
The chiefs commanded respect in return of the
administration they carried out over their subjects, the sailo clans who
established their chiefship claims that thy came out of the space between the
moon and the sun. Killing of sailo chief was the most heinous crime in those
days and a sailo captured in a raid shouldn't be enslaved nor killed according
to convention. The chief was exercising judicial powers including power of life
and death. Being the protector and father of the subjects, he leads the war
party in wartimes. He appointed important officials of the village like Council
of elders (Lal Khawnbawl), Blacksmith (Thirdeng), Priests (Sadawt
and Puithiam), and Village Crier (Tlangau).
Rights and Privileges:
The chief, as the supreme authority of
the mizo society enjoys rights and privileges which were curtailed after the
annexation of the British. However since the beginning of the institution, the
chief were entitled to various privileges which may be sum up as under:
- He has the right to make all
his trusted sons a chief by dividing his land between his sons.
- He was the
rightful owner of all lands within his jurisdiction.
- He was entitled
for free labour from the villagers for the construction and repairing of
his house.
- He was entitled
to ‘Fathang’ (1-3 baskets of paddy) from every household in the
village at the end of every year.
- Different kinds
of taxes known as ‘Chhiah’ were entitled to him viz., Meat tax (Sa
chhiah), Bee tax (Khuai chhiah), Salt tax (Chi chhiah), Fish
tax (Sangha chhiah).
- He had the right
to collect additional quantities of paddy from Ramhual and Zalen (Those
men of possession in the village, who were exempted from paddy tax).
- He was entitled
to keep a special priest called Sadawt to perform religious functions for
the sake of subjects
- He had the right
to confiscate half of paddy from the migrated villagers without
permission.
Effects of British annexation on the
institution of chieftainship
The British rule in the Lushai Hills
was marked by the Chin - Lushai Expedition conducted in 1889 -
90. By the time the present Mizoram was annexed they had accumulated a certain
amount of wisdom of how best to go about governing such areas. The British
created a system of administration which placed emphasis on self-government
based upon the traditional chieftainship.
The British in order to bear minimum expense
in administering Lushai Hills decided to carry on the existing system of
chieftainship. John Shakespeare, the first Superintendent of the amalgamated
Lushai Hills District, was the architect of this administrative system. The
administrative officers were to support the chiefs, the natural leaders of the
people and to interfere as little as possible in the internal administration of
their villages. The chiefs were made responsible for the maintenance of law and
order in their villages, and for the collection of taxes.
Before the annexation of the Lushai
Hills, the chief had the right to make all his trusted son, chiefs by dividing
his territory among them. The youngest son inherited his father's lands and
properties. The British changed this custom and the principle of primogeniture
was recognized. Thus, the eldest son of the ruling chief, unless he was a
minor, or physically or mentally unfit, inherited the lands of his father. As
far as the other sons were concerned they became commoners as a result of this
changed method of succession. The British, in order to update the village
administration, also provided education to the eldest sons of the chiefs in
order to make them more fit to discharge the duties to chief for being the
heirs.
The British occupation of Lushai Hills
brought some drastic changes in the status of the chief. The traditional right
of the chiefs such as right to order capital punishment, right to seize food
stores and properties of village proprietary rights over lands, right to tax
traders, right to freedom of action in relation to Bawi's (slaves) were
extinguished. Thus, the village administration by the chiefs under the British
rule was no longer as simple as it used to be. The circle interpreters (CIs),
village writers (Khawchhiar), teachers and pastors were having an
influence on the people and contributed toward undermining the authority of the
chiefs. The chiefs as a result had lost much of their authority when the
British annexed Lushai Hills. But these were considered necessary in the
interest of unified district administration and were not intended to undermine
the authority of the chiefs, though that was the result. In all other matters
the government sought to uphold the authority of the chiefs.
Before the advent of the British the chiefs were
allowed to keep slaves (bawi's) who surrenders their freedom due to
several reasons on which the categories had been made. The British
administrators in order not to offend the chiefs were at first reluctant to do
away with this bawi system. However, various developments took place and after
a lot of controversies the government laid down the principles governing the
bawi system. The bawi whosoever wish to leave the house of his chief were
allowed to remain free and the chief had no control over them. But the chief
was allowed to demand freedom price (a maximum ofRs.40/-or a mithun family).
The use of the term bawi was to be discontinued leading to lowering status of
the chief with the bawi. The institution of Bawi was finally abolished on 29th
Oct, 1915 by an order of Secretary of State For India, Austen Chamberland.
The advent of the British in the Lushai Hills
brought certain anomalies (change). The position of the chief was one of the
greatest changes which took place during the British rule. It was an existence,
for the first time, of a higher authority above him and the measures taken by
it to limit his traditional powers tended to lower his status in the eyes of
the people. Yet as a ruler representing the supreme government's agent, the
Superintendent, who recognized his rights and upheld his authority, however,
reduced 'that, may have been, also gave his authority, a strong foundation.
Somehow the chiefs position was secure in some way than it had been in the
past. There was no possibility now of their position being challenge by other
chiefs, for their jurisdiction had been clearly divided by the government. The "Land
Settlement" was introduced in 1898-99 where the government apportioned
village areas into the chiefs and established their boundaries.
The Sailo clans established themselves
as a ruling clan before the annexation of the British, besides them there were
a few Hualngo and Pawi chiefs who were established by the Sailos
to hold charge of sub-villages belonging to the latter. With the advent of the
British control over this area, these chiefs were recognized as independent
ones. Moreover, the Britishers started increasing the number of chiefs by
allocating vacant lands to commoners known as 'Hnamchawm' chiefs as a
reward for the services rendered by many of them in Lushai wars.
The advent of the British brought development in
the life of the Mizos which continue ever. One of such development was
political consciousness of the people leading to the formation of the first
mizo political party called "Lushai Commoners Union" which was
later changed to "Mizo Union". The MU became the pioneer in the
removal of the Mizo chieftainship. Moreover, Lushai Hills District Council was
inaugurated on 25th April, 1952. Under the leadership of the MU the
DC proceeded to take measures to dismantle the entire edifice of the ancient
political institution of chieftainship. At its meeting on 25th
November, 1952 the MU unanimously resolved to abolish the chieftainship.
Following this the DC prepared a bill to implement this decision. Accordingly,
the Assam Lushai Hills District (Acquisition of Chief's Rights) Act,
1954 was introduced in the Assam Legislative Assembly. Under this Act, the
land of the chiefs was vested to the state. A sum of Rs.125 lakhs, was awarded
as compensation to be distributed among the dismantled chiefs of the district.
On 16th August, 1954 the DC empowered the village councils to run
the internal administration of the villages. Thus ended the old era of
chieftainship and began the new era of government by the people.
Thus the advent of the British to the Lushai Hills
had brought tremendous changes in the institution of Mizo chieftainship which
eventually leads to the abolition. of the whole institution. Although the
British had retained the chiefs and used them as an instrument of ruling of
villages, the position of the chiefs had greatly lost its significance during
the British rule. It can be said that the British rule in the Lushai Hills had
direct impact on the abolition of chieftainship.