False claim for Kukiland, the dreamland of the Kuki-Chin-Zo

K. Yugindro Singh / M. Manihar Singh / Y. Mangi Singh *

I. Genesis of Kukiland:

The Linguistic Survey of India is a comprehensive survey of the languages of British India written by George Abraham Grierson, a renown linguist and member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) describing 364 languages and dialects, published in eleven volumes.

The Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III Tibeto-Burman Family Part III, first published in 1904 by the British Government of India deals with Kuki-Chin and Burma groups of the Tibeto-Burman languages.

According to Grierson, the words 'Kuki' and 'Chin' are synonymous, Chin being a Burmese word to denote the various tribes living in the Lushai and Chin Hills while Kuki, an Assamese or Bengali term to denote those tribes who had been driven from the Lushai and Chin Hills into the surrounding country including Manipur state; the name is not used by the tribes themselves, who use titles such as Zo or Yo.

Grierson stated that the denomination Kuki-Chin is a purely conventional one, there being no proper name comprising all the tribes under the Kuki-Chin group and that the Meithei-Chin group would be a better appellation instead of Kuki-Chin group, as the whole group could be subdivided into two sub-groups, the Meithei and the Chin, the latter being comprised of various tribes known by the names of Chin or Kuki. However, Grierson retained the old terminology of Kuki-Chin used by the then British Government of India to avoid confusion.

The census of India 1901 published by the British Government of India categorized Meithei (Meitei) language as belonging to the Kuki-Chin group of the family Tibeto-Burman languages which comprised of two main sub-groups viz., the 'Meithei' and the 'Chin'[¹].

According to the census 1901 the Kuki-Chin group had a total population of 6,24,149 of which the share of Meithei's population was 2,72,997. This census 1901 book of the British Government of India reported that 'Meithei represents the language of the original settlers in Manipur and Chin that of the southern migration'.

As per the information provided in the Grierson's book "Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III Tibeto-Burman Family Part III" published in 1904, the Kuki-Chin group had population of at least 5,67,625 of which the share of Meithei's population was 2,40,637 and that of the Chin's population was 3,26,988 as per following break-up:

Sub-group I:	Meithei	2,40,037
Sub-group II:	Chin	3,26,988
-	a. Northern Chin	60,345
-	b. Central Chin	1,07,604
-	c. Old Kuki	48,814
-	d. Southern Chin	1,10,225
-	Grand Total, at least:	5,67,625

According to his survey, Grierson stated that the number of Manipuri speakers returned was as under:

Manipur State	1,50,000
Cachar Plains (Assam)	42,077
Sylhet (Bangladesh)	30,000
Hill Tipperah (Tripura)	18,000
Dacca (Bangladesh)	250
Mymensingh (Myanmar)	200
Sibsagar (Assam)	110
Total:	2,40,637

According to Grierson five tribes namely Thado, Sokte, Siyin, Ralte, Paite constituted the Northern Chin with the following population statistics:

Northern Chin:

Thado	31,437
Sokte	9005
Siyin	1,770
Ralte	18,133
Paite	-
Total:	60,345

Grierson reported that out of the five tribes of Northern Chin, only the 'Thado' had taken settlement in Manipur state. The rest of Northern Chin tribes namely Sokte, Syin, Ralte and Paite were reported living either in Chin Hills or Lushai Hills.

The distribution of Thado was as under:

Manipur State	20,000
Naga Hills	5,500
North Cachar	-
Cachar Plains	5,403
Sylhet	53
Total:	31,437

Grierson reported that the Thado tribe formerly lived in the Lushai and Chin Hills. According to him, between 1840 and 1850, the Lushai Chief Lallula expelled the Thados of the Lushai Hills into Cachar and about the same time the Soktes under their chief Kantum drived out the Thados of the Chin Hills into Manipur.

The Central Chin comprised of six tribes with the following population statistics:

Central Chin:

Tashon	39,215
Lai	22,450
Lakher	1,100
Lushai	40,539
Banjagi	500
Pankhu	800
Total:	1,07,604

Grierson reported that none of the Central Chin tribes lived in Manipur at that point of time. However, Lushai tribes obtained final and complete possession of the North Lushai Hills between 1840 and 1850 driving out the former possessors, the Thados into Cachar.

The Old Kuki comprised of 13 tribes with the following population estimates:

Old Kuki:

Rangkhol	7,820
Bete	630
Hallam	26,648
Langrong	6,266
Aimol	750
Anal	750
Chiru	750
Hiroi-Lamgang	750
Koiren	750
Kom	750
Purum	750
Mhar	2000
Cho	-
Total:	48,812

According to Grierson, out of the above Old Kuki tribes, only a few tribes namely, Aimol, Chiru, Koiren, Kom, Purum, Anal, Lamgang each with a population of about 750 lived in Manipur State while the rest i.e., Rangkhol, Bete, Hallam and Langrong lived in North Tipperah, North Cachar, Sylhet.

The Southern Chin tribes comprised of Chinme, Wealauug, Chinbok, Yiudu, Chinbon, Khyang or Sho, Khami. Grierson reported that none of these Southern Chin tribes lived in Manipur.

In his book 'Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III, Part III' G. A. Grierson described the territory inhabited by the Kuki-Chin group which included Meithei as under [³]: "The territory inhabited by the Kuki-Chin tribes extends from the Naga Hills in the north down into the Sandoway District of Burma in the south; from the Myittha river in the east, almost to the Bay of Bengal in the west. It is almost filled up by hills and mountain ridges, separated by deep valleys.

A great chain of mountains suddenly rises from the plains of Eastern Bengal, about 220 miles north of Calcutta, and stretches eastward in a broadening mass of spurs and ridges, called successively the Garo, Khasia, and Naga Hills. The elevation of the highest points increases towards the east, from about 3,000 feet in the Garo Hills to 8,000 and 9,000 in the region of Manipur.

This chain merges, in the east, into the spurs which the Himalayas shoot out from the north of Assam towards the south. From here a great mass of mountain ridges starts southwards, enclosing the alluvial valley of Manipur, and thence spreads out westwards to the south of Sylhet.

It then runs almost due north and south, with cross-ridges of smaller elevation, through the districts known as the Chin Hills, the Lushai Hills, Hill Tipperah, and the Chittagong Hill tracts. Farther south the mountainous region continues, through the Arakan Hill tracts , and the Arakan Yoma, until it finally sinks into the sea at Cap Negrais, the total length of the range being some seven hundred miles.

The greatest elevation is found to the north of Manipur. Thence it gradually diminishes towards the south. Where the ridge enters the north of Arakan it again rises, with summits upwards of 8,000 feet high, and here a mass of spurs is thrown off in all directions. Towards the south the western off-shoots diminish in length, leaving a track of alluvial land between them and the sea, while in the north the eastern off-shoots of the Arakan Yoma run down to the banks of the Irawaddy.

This vast mountainous region, from the Jaintia and Naga Hills in the north, is the home of the Kuki-Chin tribes. We find them, besides, in the valley of Manipur, and, in small settlements, in the Cachar Plains and Sylhet."

Quite treacherously, Dr. Seilen Haokip, the Spokesperson of Kuki National Organization incorporated as an excerpt the above Grierson's description of the territory inhabited by the Kuki-Chin group in his research articles published in books and journal by replacing the phrase 'the Kuki-Chin tribes' by 'the Kuki tribes' for claiming purposely a 'Kuki Country'[^4-5].

This modification in the excerpt from Grierson's work is a serious act of cheating on the part of Dr. Seilen Haokip because of the fact that Grierson's term of the Kuki-Chin tribes comprised of the Meithei and the Chin or Kuki tribes. Consequently, the vast territory inhabited by the various tribes of the Kuki-Chin group, as described by Grierson, comprises of the lands of Meithei (Meitei) as well as those of the Kuki or Chin tribes.

As such, the territory described by Grierson for the various tribes of the Kuki-Chin group can never be taken exclusively for the Kuki or Chin tribes by ignoring the lands of the Meithei (Meitei) who live in Manipur state, Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Ironically, Dr. Seilen Haokip's publications adorned with false and illusory ideas have far-reaching academic ramifications because of being used the said publications as fundamental reference by many other researchers including the academic fraternity of the Kuki-Chin-Zo.

Further, the Kuki-Chin-Zo scholars have drawn a hypothetical map based on Grierson's description of the territory inhabited by the Kuki-Chin group, claiming it as the map of Kukiland or Kuki country. Such a map of Kukiland is completely ridiculous and incorrect as it includes the entire land mass inhabited by the Meithei and other tribes, more particularly the Nagas.

Moreover, in his book Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III, Part III, Grierson did not provide any map exhibiting the territory inhabited by the various tribes of the Kuki-Chin group. Quite mischievously, such a deceptively-drawn-hypothetical map of Kuki country has been incorporated in several memoranda/representations submitted to many political leaders across India and abroad by various apex Civil Society Organizations of the Kuki including the World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC).

Such fallacious measures have created false impression and misconception as if the entire land mass covered by the map including the land of the Meitei and the Nagas were exclusively belonged to the Kuki.

Map of Kukiland available in the Facebook home page 'Kukiland'

Displayed here is the map of Kukiland available in the Facebook home page 'Kukiland', claiming it as a map provided by Grierson in his book 'Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III, Part III.' Notably, this map of 'Kukiland' mischievously includes the lands of the Meithei (Meitei) living in Manipur State, Cachar Plains, Sylhet, Hill Tipperah, Dacca, Mymensingh, Sibsagar reported by Grierson.

It may be pertinent to mention here that more than sixty years back, the Paite National Council submitted a Memorandum dated 20th May 1960 to the Prime Minister of India for re-unification of the Chins of India, Burma and Pakistan under one country [⁹] and also that through a Memorandum dated 24th March 1960, addressed to Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, the Kuki National Assembly, Manipur demanded for establishment of a separate Kuki state unification of all contiguous areas under the habitation of the Kukis in the North Eastern Region of India [¹⁰].

II. Actual homeland of the Kuki-Chin-Zo:

On the other hand, according to Grierson, the actual homeland of the Kuki-Chin-Zo is the Lushai and Chin Hills. Regarding the history of the Kuki-Chin-Zo tribes, Grierson wrote [⁶]: "With the exception of the Meitheis, who have been settled in the Manipur valley for more than a thousand years, all the Kuki-Chin tribes appear to have lived in a nomadic state for some centuries.

It would seem that they all settled in the Lushai and Chin Hills for some time during the last two centuries, and this country may be considered as the place where their languages have developed their chief characteristics." Grierson's observation agrees with that of E.W. Dun who wrote [^7]: "The whole of the wild tribes who dwell in the mountain district contained between Bengal and Burma, Cachar and Manipur and Arrakan, have received this designation (Kuki)."

Way back in 1896 Carey & Tuck said [¹³]: "Without pretending to speak with authority on the subject, we think we may reasonably accept the theory that the Kukis of Manipur, the Lushais of Bengal and Assam, and the Chins originally lived in what we now know as Thibet and are of one and the same stock; their form of government, method of cultivation, manners and customs, beliefs and traditions all point to one origin."

References:

1. Grierson, G.A. (ed.) (1904). Linguistic Survey of India Vol. III Tibeto-Burman Family Part III Specimens of the Kuki-Chin and Burma Groups, published by Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta.

2. Risley, H.H. & Gait, E.A. (1903). The census of India, 1901 Volume I India Part I-Report, pp. 270, published by Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta.

3. Ibid. No. 1 pp.1.

4. Haokip, Seilen (2011). Rhetorics of Kuki Nationalism – A Treatise appeared in Kuki Society - Past, Present , Future edited by Ngamkhohao Haokip & Michael Lunminthang, pp. 213-214, published by Maxford Books, New Delhi.

5. Haokip, Seilen (2019). Centennia Year of Kuki Rising, 1917-2017: Reflecting the Past Hundred Years appeared in Journal of North East India Studies, Vol. 9(1), pp. 83-93.

6. Ibid. No. 1 pp.2.

7. Dun, E.W. (1886). Gazetteer of Manipur, pp. 32, published by Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta.

8. Carey, B.S. & Tuck, H.N. (1896). The Chin Hills – A History of the people, British dealings with them, their customs and manners, and a Gazetteer of their country Volume-I, pp. 2, published by Government Printing, Burma, Rangoon.

9. Ngaihte, Thianlalmuan (2011). Role of Paite Elites in the construction of Paite and Zomi identities in Manipur, Ph.D. thesis submitted to North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.

10. Ajit, Sarangthen (2023). Kuki Memorandum and SoO Agreement, published by Borasa Publications, Imphal.

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* K. Yugindro Singh / M. Manihar Singh / Y. Mangi Singh wrote this article for e-pao.net
The writer are Independent Researchers and can be reached at yugindro361(AT)gmail(DOT)com
This article was webcasted on November 25 2024.

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