The Vaiphei people are an ethnic group who live in the North-East Indian states of Manipur, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and in the Chin State of Myanmar.* They share cultural similarities with other tribes in the region like Mizo, Paite, Thadou, Simte, Hmar, Zou people, Gangte and Kom (collectively known as the Zo-Mizo people) or Zo.
History
The Vaipheis Origin and Migration have a multitude of theories.
According to a theory preserved in their tradition, the term originated from Phaiza, a village established by the Suantak family in the Chin Hills of present-day Myanmar. As the settlement prospered and its population increased, various groups and sub-clans migrated into the village. Owing to its geographical expansion along the horizontal ridge of a hill, the settlement came to be known as Khaw-Vaiphei, meaning "a village expanded breadth-wise." Over time, the inhabitants of the village became identified as Khaw-Vaipheite or Phaiza-Vaipheite, meaning "the people of Khaw-Vaiphei" or "the people of Phaiza-Vaiphei." According to this account, the term gradually evolved into an ethnonym representing the Vaiphei people between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The tradition also holds that during their settlement at Phaiza, the Vaiphei developed a distinctive dance and song tradition known as Thazing Lam ("Autumn Dance"), which later became an important cultural festival among the Vaiphei. In addition, a number of traditional folk songs and victory chants, known as Hanla, are said to support this theory. This theory is backed by Letkhosei, a respected historian from Nagaland. He mentioned that the Thadous had also once lived in Khawvaiphei. He also claimed that Khawvaiphei was a village of Vaipheis where many tribes lived together peacefully for a long time and that as other related tribes moved to different areas, the Suantaks remained in the village. They were the last to migrate, which is why they carry the village name and are identified as the "Vaipheis." Hence, wherever they went, they were recognized as Vaiphei. Another version says that the Suantaks, who later came to known to be Vaiphei used to live with communities in Liankhama Sailo village. Once, a Pawi named Thangvuka killed a Suantak. This made the Suantaks infuriated and caused them to take revenge. The Suantaks chased Thangvuka around the village but he took refugee in chiefs house. In their customs when someone runs to the chiefs house for protection they can't be hurt as they become a slave known as "Bawi". Due to this, Suantaks were unable to obtain revenge, so they had decided to leave the village in mass, called an Vai in-an-phei tawh a which means "they departed together" or "they went into exodus." And hence, they attained the name "Vaiphei". These two theories theorize the etymology to be developed either from the Phaiza–Khaw-Vaiphei village tradition or from the Liankhama Sailo village incident tradition. Despite these explanations, several Suantak-related groups who had not resided in the village associated with the origin of the term objected to being identified as "Vaiphei." Consequently, many of them continued to identify themselves as "Suantak." As the Ralte people were their neighbours from the time they moved along the Ngun course and set up Phaiza, about 50% of Vaiphei vocabulary are borrowed from them and the other 50%, built up of Thadou, Paite, Tedim-Chin, Lusei, Hmar and the traditional shawls "Khiangkawi" and "Puandum" are also said to have been replicas of the Ralte's.
In regard, certain Suantak clans, including the Misao, Lupho, Lupheng, Dopmul, Sektak, Sailo, and Siyin of Myanmar, did not accept "Vaiphei" as their ethnic designation. These groups maintained that they had never lived in Khawvaiphei, the village linked to the origin of the name. Nevertheless, they acknowledged Suantak as their common ancestral progenitor.
In Vaiphei oral tradition, Suantak, once lived in an underground realm known as Khul alongside many other inhabitants. During this period, Nuaimangpa, the king of the subterranean world, organized a grand feast called Chawn. As part of the celebration, the youths participated in a high-jump event in which contestants leaped over a mithun. Zahong, an ancestor associated with Suantak, did not initially take part, as he was occupied with cutting bamboo for making nangmet, a type of binding thread. Zahong was later invited to join the competition. During his jump over the mithun, he accidentally struck a pregnant woman with his sword, causing her death. Due to the distress and shame brought to Zahong after this incident, he decided to leave the subterranean world and journey to the outside world. The name "Zahong" is traditionally interpreted as deriving from the words Za ("many") and Hong ("opened"), signifying "one who opened the way for many people" or "opened the gate for hundreds." Among those said to have followed Zahong out of the cave was Chongthu, who is regarded as the progenitor of the Thadou people. Thus, Chongthu, regarded as the progenitor of the Thadou people, emerged from the cave immediately after Zahong but chose a different route. Before departing, he is said to have marked his direction on a tree known as Khawngma, distinguished by its bright color and appearance of perpetual freshness. Many people subsequently followed Chongthu along this path.
In relation to the Khul origin tradition, Pu Ngulkholun Khongsai proposed that the Chin–Kuki–Mizo peoples, considered part of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic stock, once inhabited a place called Khul (meaning "cave", known as "Sinlung" to other communties) located within the region associated in tradition with the Great Wall of China. According to his account, groups led by Chongthu, Chongja, and Zahong emerged from the cave and gradually settled across various regions, including present-day Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India. Those who emerged from the cave were collectively referred to as "Khullians".
John Shakespeare, the first Superintendent of the British Lushai Hills, in his monograph The Lushei Kuki Clans, wrote that a village site known as Vai-tui-chhun, meaning "the watering place of the Vai" existed a short distance east of Aizawl. According to him, the site commemorated an earlier settlement of the Vaiphei people.
Shakespeare further suggested that the Aimol and Vaiphei communities may have abandoned their former settlements as a result of the expansion of the Lushai groups. The village associated with this tradition is believed to have been located somewhere in the Lushai Hills. This theory, like earlier explanations, associates the origin of the ethnonym "Vaiphei" with a specific place of settlement, implying that the tribal identity evolved from the name of that locality.
Further references to the historical origins and settlement patterns of the Vaiphei people are found in the writings of British colonial administrators and ethnographers. In their work on the Chin Hills, Bertram S. Carey and H. N. Tuck described the remains of an ancient Vaiphei village located on the summit of Lunglen Peak. According to their account, the settlement was heavily fortified with boulders and defensive stone structures known as sungars. The village entrance was reportedly protected by a rock face that had been cut vertically for approximately ten feet, making access possible only by ladder. Lunglen Peak, situated along the western section of the Chin–Manipur boundary, rises to approximately 6,531 feet above sea level and was described as one of the most prominent peaks in the northern region.
Carey and Tuck further observed that the Vaiphei, who had by then largely disappeared from the Chin Hills, left behind extensive traces of fortified settlements. Their villages were strategically constructed on steep mountain summits, and pathways leading to them were deliberately narrowed, blocked, or cut away so that only single-file movement toward the gates was possible. These defensive arrangements reflected the insecurity and intertribal conflicts characteristic of the hill regions during earlier periods.
Additional traditions regarding these settlements were recorded by Kaihau Vaiphei in his work Maite Days. He stated that the Vaiphei once inhabited these fortified settlements together with related groups such as the Lusei, Chawnthu, and Khiangte. According to his account, the Lusei occupied villages including Seipui, Saihmun, Khawkawk, and Suaipui, while the Chawnthu resided in settlements such as Sanzawl and Bochung. The Khiangte were said to have inhabited Lungchhuan, Pelpawl, and Belmul. Kaihau Vaiphei estimated that these settlements dated to around 1460 CE, suggesting that the ethnonym "Vaiphei" may already have been in use during this period.
Colonial records also mention later Vaiphei settlements in other regions. The Gazetteer of Villages in The Chin Hills, Volume II recorded a Vaiphei village of approximately one hundred houses at Losau under the leadership of Chief Pu Laltual. The inhabitants were believed to have migrated from Kaptual village in the Tedim area. Similar references were made by T. C. Hodson in The Naga Tribes of Manipur, where he described encountering stone sculptures and water troughs in jungle areas formerly inhabited by Kabui communities but later occupied by the Vaiphei, whom he identified as a Kuki sub-tribe.
Although British colonial officers did not attempt to determine precisely how the Vaiphei acquired their name, their writings provide important evidence regarding the migration, settlement, and historical presence of the Vaiphei people in the Indo–Myanmar borderlands. These records suggest that the community had already acquired the name "Vaiphei" prior to their settlement in the hills along the present-day India–Myanmar frontier. Consequently, colonial era monographs and administrative records remain significant sources for reconstructing the early history and movements of the Vaiphei people.
Migration Historical and oral sources suggest that the Vaipheis later migrated from the Chin Hills into present-day Manipur around the 16th century. Traditional accounts state that Vaiphei ancestors crossed the Kenny Peak from the Kale Valley and established settlements in places such as Cimnuai, Suantakjang, and Khuasak. Frequent inter-village warfare, particularly attacks by the Pawis, caused heavy casualties among the inhabitants and forced many Vaipheis to migrate westward into the hill regions of Manipur. Shakespeare classified the Vaipheis among the "Old Kuki" clans and noted that these groups appeared in the Manipur chronicles as early as the sixteenth century, Although it is said they moved themselves to Kamhou and from there they began to enter the south eastern hilly regions of Manipur around 1891 A.D.
Today, the majority of Vaipheis reside in Manipur, although significant populations are also found in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura. Smaller communities continue to inhabit the Siyin region of the Chin Hills and parts of the Sagaing Region in Myanmar. Many of these settlements maintain close kinship and cultural ties across the India-Myanmar border.
Scholars and oral historians generally attribute Vaiphei migration to 'push factors' such as inter-village warfare, famine, persecution, and infertile land rather than economic attraction or expansion.
Culture Vaiphei society is patriarchal and holds a heavy emphasis on respect for elders. Anyone older to the individual is greeted with the prefix 'U' before their names. A married man/woman is no longer called by their given names, rather they are acknowledged by the name of their first born child. Inheritance and lineage go through the eldest male of the family.
Village Institutions