Administrative Changes In The Lushai Hills Under The British Rule
Dr. H. Thangtungnung
The Lushai Hills was annexed in 1890. After the
annexation, the British introduced its administration through the
existing chiefs. It initiated several administrative reforms like
abolition of head hunting, introduction of forced labour, revenue
payment and curtailment of the chief’s judicial rights, apart from
others. The whole District was divided into circles under the control of
the Superintendent and Circle interpreter was appointed in each circle.
The Lushai Hills was classified as a “Backward Tracts” by the
Government of India Act, 1919 Section 52 (A) and ultimately included
within the ‘Excluded Area’ in Part 1 of the Government of India Act,
1935. By 1947, the Lushais were partially aroused from their political
slumber and they began to have national consciousness as a result of
petty administrative reforms and modern Colonial system of Government.
When the British left the Country, they were thus motivated to assert
their political rights through the formation of various political and
social organisations. This article is an attempt to highlight the
various administrative and political changes in the present Mizoram
during the Colonial period.
Introduction
The Lushai Hills was located towards the South
Cachar Hills adjacent to Tripura and Chittagong Hill Tracts of
Bangladesh. It also shares a long international boundary with the Chin
Hills of Burma towards the South East. It is bounded by Manipur in the
North East with a demarcation of Tuivai River as its natural border.
The British invaded and annexed the Lushai Land in 1889-90.1 After
the annexation of the Lushai Hills in 1890, the first and foremost
task, which occupied the mind of the British was that of permanent
occupation and administration of the land.2
With ‘the intention of the Government of India to completely dominate
the country’, D.R. Lyall, the then Commissioner of the Chittagong
Division, recommended for the present, the ‘system of Government to
function through the existing chiefs,’ as early as 12th January, 1890 and drew up a set of orders for the chiefs as follows3
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All raids are absolutely prohibited and any offending chief would be punishable even to death, in addition to his village being destroyed.
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There must be absolute security of person and property and everyone should have free access into another village so that any European would also be as safe as the European Superintendent. If access is refused or a traveller robed, severe fines would be imposed upon the offending chief.
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Each village and chief should be held responsible for the maintenance and improvement of roads. The Superintendent had the right to fine and compel any chief not complying with the orders of the Government.
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Each chief is liable to supply labour and accountable for revenue payment of his village.
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There should be a meeting of the chiefs every year at the centre post, and attendance should be compulsory as an acknowledgement of British sovereignty, and absence would be punished by fine.
Captain Lewis, who knew best the Hill people, had
a similar opinion with regard to the final point. Consequently, Captain
Browne summoned a Durbar of chiefs on 14th June, 1890 at Aizawl for supply of labour and payment of revenue. 4
He also announced that Lengphunga had been
deposed for four years from his chieftainship. These enraged the Lushais
so much that Browne had to pay his life later on.5
Resistances and Pacification
The Lushais were enraged with the imposition of forced labour and demand of taxes upon them by the British administrators.6 They
could not also be placated with the deposition of their chiefs like
Lengphunga. Not long after the British occupation, almost the whole land
rose in revolt to resist the British highhandedness.7
The North Lushai Hills was mainly actively engaged in resisting the
British power. The existing Lushai chiefs with the outright supports of
the common people led the resistances. Both the Western and Eastern
Lushai chiefs raised the banner of revolt in succession.
(Lalthlengliana, 2007, pp. 61ff). This episode was known as the Lushai
Uprising of 1890-95.
The Revolt, which lasted for five years was
completely suppressed by the British through military might. It involved
more time, manpower and equipments to suppress this concerted revolt
than to conquer the land during the Chin-Lushai Expedition, 1889-90. The
Lushai Hills was only completely subjugated and kept under control
after the end of this uprising. Modern administration and political
arrangements could be properly introduced only after the complete
pacification of the Lushais in this uprising, 1890-95.
Results of the Uprisings, 1890-95
The results of the revolt were decisive. It led
to the consolidation of the British rule in the Lushai Hills, which
effected into various social, economic, political and administrative
changes. With the end of the uprising, Kalkhama and some other chiefs
who led the revolt were deported for ten years. Labura who submitted
himself to the British authority was compelled to supply a hundred
labour forces to the latter. The other chiefs also had to comply with
supply of labour. The Lushai lands were thoroughly explored and roads
were built linking Silchar and parts of Burma through the Lushai Hills.
Taxes were imposed upon the tribes and colonial rules were enforced upon
them without any more resistance.8 It
led to the beginning of formative relationship between the Lushais and
the British. The North and South Lushai Hills, which were initially
independent units under two different political officers, were
amalgamated into one district under a single officer known as the
Superintendent.
Permanency of British occupation
A durbar was held between the 1st and 4th
of January, 1892 at the vicinity of Lunglei, which was attended by the
representatives of all the Southern tribes. The Durbar was addressed by
Shakespear, who emphasised on the subject of the ‘permanency of our
occupation’ and punishment from the government for the erring chiefs by elaborating that
the chiefs would suffer if they carried on feuds with one another. For
this, each chief was made to swear friendship or peace with each other,
which became effective in later years. (Reid, 1997, p. 45.)
The South Lushai Chiefs’ Conference was
inaugurated in 1935-36 with the initiative of Pu Makthanga, the chief of
Aizawl. Three Conferences were successfully held during that cold
season. (Ibid., p; 65; McCall, 2008, p. 21.) In order to create a
better understanding and co-operation between the chiefs and the
administrators, McCall summoned a conference on October 14, 1941. An
election for representation of the chiefs of the North as well as the
South Lushai Hills was held in this Conference. McCall pointed out
further that the elected chiefs were the representatives of the
Governor, the Viceroy and ultimately the King himself. (Sena Samuelson,
1985, p. 25.)
J. Shakespear in 1902 divided the Lushai Hills
into eighteen zones known as ‘Blocks.’ He created eleven Blocks in the
north and seven in the south. He also appointed two Government
representatives called ‘Circle Interpreter’ from each Block to represent
the Block (Ibid., p. 20.).
However, there is a slight variation in the
account of Robert Raid, which says that under the Circle Administration
of J. Shakespear in 1901-02, the whole District was divided into
eighteen Circles, twelve in the Aizawl Sub-division and six in the
Lunglei Sub-division. Instead of two, he stated that an interpreter was
appointed in each Circle as a ‘channel between the Sub-Divisional
Officers and the Chiefs and their people.’ (Reid, 1978, p. 44.) This
system of appointing Circle Interpreterdid work well except that there
were some reports of abuse by the interpreters for their own advantages.
As such, an interesting change was later on made in the Circle System
by which interpreters were made to reside at Aizawl and to visit their
circles once in three months instead of residing there permanently. (Ibid., p. 45.)
The dawn of the 20th century marked
the shift of British concerns from the plains to the Hills as a reprisal
against the rising tide of Indian nationalism. As a result, the
colonialists’ notions towards the Hills underwent a considerable change.
Under such circumstances, the Lushai Hills was classified as a
“Backward Tracts” by the Government of India Act, 1919 Section 52 (A),
essentially aimed at keeping the tribes aloof from the mainstream of
Indian nationalism and also to maintain their rule through the chiefs.
(Zorema, 2007, p. 94.)
With the passage of time, when there arose severe
impasses between the people and their chiefs, complaints against some
of the chiefs and their interpreters reached the Superintendent, who was
N. E. Parry at that time. In compliance or non-compliance to this
restiveness which first appeared outwardly in 1926, Parry developed the
idea of strengthening the power and position of the chiefs, who were the
direct agents of the British. For him, the decline of ‘Zawlbuk’,
the traditional bachelors’ dormitory, meant the relative decline of the
chiefs’ power and position. He therefore, issued orders as part of his
administrative measures for the restoration of the Zawlbuk system by
every village comprising more than 25 houses. He also ceased the further
division of the chiefs’ lands into smaller villages. In this way, he
attempted to save the political base and conventional administration of
the Lushai people.
In order to partially relieve the burden of the
people on whom demand for food supplies like egg, fowls, goats and
others were usually made through the village chiefs by circle officers
or interpreters while on tour, the Superintendent issued an order on the
13th November, 1926 stating that the officers on tour must indent and pay for what they obtained. In another issues like hnatlang or
forced labour, important steps were also undertaken by Parry to remove
some divergences. Yet, he desisted to abolish such inconsistencies with
the apprehension that such an act would create administrative difficulty
and reduce the chiefs’ authorities. Therefore, his orders supported the
continuance of the system as a custom, favourable to the chiefs except
in unusual cases.(Ibid., p. 97).
No Dilution of Lushai Chief’s authority
With regard to judiciary, the chief possessed
judicial right and authority over his subjects. All petty cases were to
be decided and judged by him except cases or appeals like murder, which
fell under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent. But when reports
reached the latter about the Church elders called ‘Kohhran Upa’
and school headmasters who tried cases without the knowledge of the
chief, bypassing the chief’s authority, he viewed the matter seriously.
In order to put an end to such a malpractice, which posed severe
problems and setbacks to the district administration, Parry issued a
prohibiting order, which sternly warned everyone to try all cases in the
Chief’s court. (Parry, 1992, p. 3).
Proper study found that there was no uniformity
in the administration of justice among the Lushais. The chief delivered
justice with the help of his council of elders in accordance with the
customary laws of the land. But the customary laws were not coded and
could be interpreted differently by an individual chief. This troubled
the British when they administered the Lushai Hills. It induced Parry to
prepare a pamphlet on judicial laws in 1925 with the hope that
inconveniences for the future administrators and chiefs would be done
away with.9
Parry’s ideas on the future administration of the
Lushai Hillsand the hill districts of Assam crystallised into a scheme
to form a separate administrative unit. His opinion was that though the
Lushai possessed a high literacy rate, they still remained backward and
savage at heart. Their land was not suitable for the introduction of
industries and had no future as there were no natural resources like
minerals. Trade and transport system were not properly organised or
managed. He thus, recommended the Lushai Hills to be placed as an
‘excluded area’ in future constitutional reform. Together with his other
two alternatives, he placed this suggestion before the Simon Commission
in the form of a memorandum when the latter visited Assam in 1928. His
other two alternatives were— (Zorema, op. cit., p. 100).
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A hill division comprising all the hill tracts of Assam must be constituted and placed under a Chief Commissioner directly responsible to the Government of India. This division should have a separate budget and the deficits shall be met by grants from the Imperial revenues.
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A separate North Eastern Frontier Hill Province may be formed to include the hill districts of Assam and Burma with headquarters at Kohima.
Parry was not in favour of the Hill districts
being merged with the plains under a single administration. Though, his
scheme did not materialise, it led to discord till almost the end of the
British rule. The Simon Commission came to the conclusion that the hill
areas should be excluded from the purview of the provincial legislature
without any representation in the legislature, and termed it as
‘Excluded Area’ to be administered through the agency of the Governor.10Another
term it coined for was ‘Partially Excluded Areas’, which were however,
to be represented in the provincial legislature. These recommendations
were accepted by the Government, which agreed to bear all financial
expenditure required for the development and administration of the
specified areas.
As the Lushai Hills was ‘Excluded’ from the
purview of administration of Assam Legislature, some sections of the
Lushai intelligentsia demanded the inclusion of the Hills in the
Reformed Council. To pursue their demand, a petition was submitted to
Sir Michael Keane as early as on December 4, 1933, asking for two
representatives from the Lushai Hill District in the Assam legislature.
Though there were many more such petitions, they were turned down by the
then Political Officer,McCall and curbed the protest with all high
handedness. (Zorema., op. cit. pp. 103-04). The Lushai Hills was
ultimately included within the ‘Excluded Area’ in Part 1 of the
Government of India Bill, 1935.11 It
became effective under the Government of India Act, 1935. This
fulfilled the intention of the British once again and acted as a
complete fulfilment of the indirect rule of the British in the Lushai
hills.
End of British rule: Chieftainship was abolished
After the end of the British rule in 1947, the
Lushais were left to themselves to decide their own future course of
political action. They were partially aroused and motivated with
nationalist ideas and feelings. This resulted into the formations of
various political and social organizations like the Mizo Union and
United Mizo Freedom Organisation. The Lushais themselves went in favour
of abolishing chieftaincy in the Lushai Hills under the aegis of the
Mizo Union and with the passing of the Acquisition of Chief Rights Act
in 1954, chieftainship was abolished.12 Soon after, the Hills could not be calm with political institutions and the whole land burst into a national sovereignty movement at the dawn of the sixth decade of the twentieth century.
Conclusion
More than half a century of the British rule in
the Lushai Hills, now known as Mizoram, belied the tribal political
fabric which separately existed for centuries. The Lushais, who were
once an independent tribe and who remained untouched by outside forces,
were eventually drawn into the national mainstream after India
independence but not without another active resistance. The freedom
loving people could certainly contain themselves under the Indian union
as they did under the British colonial rule.
Notes- Foreign Dept., External.-A, March, 1891, Nos. 124-78.
- Foreign Dept., External-A, Oct., 1890.
- Foreign Dept., External-A, Aug., 1890, No. 240.
- Foreign-A, Progs. August 1891, Section 1, General and Political Conditions prior to the Rising in September 1890.
- Foreign–A, Progs., August 1891, Nos. 30-38, Political Report of the Northern Lushai Hills for 1890-91.
- Political Report of Northern Lushai Hills for 1890-91. Excluded Areas records, Assam Secretariat, Foreign- A, 1891.
- General and Political Conditions prior to the Risings in September 1890, Sec. 1, Progs. August 1891, Nos. 30-38; Lalrimawia ‘Lushai Risings, 1890-95’ in Proceedings of North East India History Associations, Sixth Session, Agartala, 1985, p. 256.
- H. Thangtungnung, ‘The Lushai Uprisings (1890-1895)’, Third Concept, An International Journal of Ideas, Vol. 25, No. 299, January 2012, pp. 21-22.
- Rules of Procedure for the trial of cases on the Chin-Lushai border, Nov. 25, 1925, From Superintendent, Lushai Hills.
- It was decided as per the report of the local officers of the District. See Secret letter from L.L Peters, Offg. Superintendent, Lushai Hills to The Commissioner, Surma Valley & Hill Div., Silchar, August 1935.
- Appointment and Political Dept., Reform Branch, Govt. of Assam, Secret letter, No. 2709-12Fr, Shillong, the 15th July, 1935.
- Assam Act XXI of 1954, The Assam Lushai Hills District (Acquisition of Chief’s Rights) Act, 1954.
- Lalthlengliana, C (2007). The Lushai Hills, Annexation, Resistance and Pacification (1886-1898), New Delhi: Akansha Publishing House.
- McCall, A.G (2008). The Lushai Hills District Cover Aizawl: Tribal Research Institute.
- Parry, N.E (1992). A Monograph on Lushai Customs and Ceremonies Assam Government Press.
- Reid, Robert (1978). The Lushai Hills Calcutta: Firma KLM.
- -------------- (1997). History of the Frontier Areas Bordering on Assam from 1883-1941 Guwahati: Spectrum Publishers.
- Sena Samuelson, Ramchuani (1985) Love Mizoram Imphal.
- Zorema, J (2007). Indirect Rule in Mizoram, 1890-1954 New Delhi: Mittal Publication.
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