British rule in the Lushai Hills, spanning from the late 1889 to the 1947, commenced with the Chin-Lushai Expedition of 1889–90 leading to the formal establishment of the two administrative districts (North Lushai Hills, South Lushai Hills) in 1889 and continued through the integration of the regions into the province of Assam with both districts being merged as the Lushai HillsChaterjee, Suhas (1985). Mizoram under the British rule. Mittal Publication. p. 225. until India gained independence in 1947.
After the Chin–Lushai Expedition of 1889–90, South Lushai Hills was occupied in 1889, and the following year, it was formally annexed, becoming part of Bengal Presidency.Zorema, J (2021). The South Lushai Hills. Om Publications, https://www.ompublications.in/product/books/OM50888 North Lushai Hills was also occupied in 1889 and became part of British Assam. In 1889, the two districts merged and continued to be part of British Assam. In 1912, it was put into British India's Assam Province.
Etymology The Lushai hills are named after the Lushei clan. The name of the tribes became a colonial misnomer which applied to all of the Mizo tribes. The earliest recorded documentation was in 1862 which described Lhooshai Kukis living on the border of Cachar. The spelling of Lushai became standardized with the Progressive Colloq. Exercises in Lushai Dial. 3 by Thomas Herbert Lewin. Lewin claimed that Lu denotes head and sha or shat denotes cutting, which would imply the tribe is named as decapitators, a title supportive of the fact that the tribes had a reputation for headhunting. This view was rebuked by John Shakespeare who argued the name Lushai to be an eponym of a chief or ancestor of the Lushai clans. It is also argued that the name is a purely Lushai language word, that Lu means head and shei means long, as a reference to how the hair knot makes the head appear elongated. Theories have also proposed that the name is Burmese derived and means people ten. The name Lushai continued as the name of the district past Indian independence before becoming changed into the Mizo District with the political efforts of the Mizo Union in the Lushai Hills District (Change of Name) Act, 1954.
British discovery of the Lushai Hills The Lushai people and the British colonial area started to engage in war in September 1826. About ten miles south of Tlawng river, traveled a Mizo village leader named Buangtheuva (known to the British as "Bungteya") and his troops, who then invaded the Sylhet forest's timber. In addition to taking some slaves home, they slaughtered an unknown number of people. Thus, the British came to perceive the Lushais (then known as Looshais) as a vicious and barbaric tribe as a result of this event.Zorema, J. (2007). Indirect Rule In Mizoram 1890- 1954. New Delhi: Mittal Publication.
Background
After the annexation of Cachar in 1832, the British became close in proximity to several Lushai tribes and clans. Reports of the time show a friendly relationship between Lushai and Cacharis, who pursued trade and other exchanges. However, the individual choices of select chiefs, such as Lalsuthlaha, to raid villages deteriorated relations. It was thought that the British invaded the Lushai Hills not because of any commercial desire but due to a series of Mizo invasions to the plains.R. Vanlalhmangaihsanga. Political History of Lushai Hills since the Pre-Colonial Era. mzuhssjournal, http://mzuhssjournal.in/images/resources/v6n1/vanlalhmangaihsanga.pdf
The Lushai chiefs relentlessly and viciously invaded Chittagong, Cachar, Tripura, Sylhet, and Manipur between the end of 1870 and the beginning of 1871. Up to 20 invasions were said to have occurred during this time.Lalthangliana, B. (2009). Mizo Chanchin (Reprinted). Aizawl, Electric Veng: Gilzom Offset.
The raid of Katlichhera and Alexandrapur by Sailam chief Bengkhuaia appeared to be the most important of all Lushai chief invasions, having a tremendous influence on the lives and future of the Lushai people. James Winchester, the tea owner of Alexandrapur, was killed, and the Mizos kidnapped his daughter Mary Winchester (Mizo: ). The British retaliated by organising an expedition to rescue the hostages. The expedition turned out a success and the hill tribes agreed to negotiate peace terms. The peace lasted until 1888, when tribes resumed raiding British enterprises and settlements, which saw the Chin-Lushai Expedition establish the territories under British sovereignty.
History The outcome of the Chin-Lushai Expedition saw the region subdivided into two sections. The North Lushai hills were administered by a political officer stationed at Fort Aijal under the Assam Government. The South Lushai Hills were under the administration of a political officer stationed at Fort Treager. This political officer reported to the commissioner of Chittagong who was under the Bengal Government.
Lushai Rising
Paramilitary units were established to pacify the recently conquered tribes effectively in unfamiliar terrain. The North Lushai battalion was founded for this reason, and by 1898, the strength of civil and military police in North and South Lushai came to about 1106 personnel. The British also began to invest into local infrastructure to improve the army and police's ability to curb insurgency and raiding. Roads between Sairang-Silchar were constructed and another connecting Aijal to Serchhip. Bridges across rivers were also constructed to improve mobility during monsoons and rainy reasons. The total expenditure for public works amounted to Rs 80,000.
Early Institutions The British administration set up schools imparting literacy to both sepoys and young individuals of both genders from the Lushai tribes. By 1900, there were three government schools and one mission school. These schools operated with the Lushai language and taught arithmetic, Hindi and English. 45 villages out of 93 in Aizawl had the light of literacy with British support. Initial intentions for education was to instruct in Bengali but this proposal was deflected by Welsh missionaries who saw the parallels of Bengali imposition in Lushai Hills to English imposition in Wales.
Medical infrastructure was also established to maintain the health of soldiers. This service extended to the civilian population with free medical provisions that affected the image of the Raj in the tribes. In 1896, the British constructed a big hospital in Aizawl and medicines were distributed freely to the chiefs. The conduct of the British in the Lushai hills functioned parallel to a welfare state.
Chin-Lushai Conference The beginnings of British rule over the Lushai Hills had proposals of amalgamating the Chin-Lushai tribes into a single administrative unit rather than maintaining a division between Chin Hills and (North and South) Lushai Hills. The conference was held at Fort Williams, Calcutta on the 25–29 January 1892. It was under the presidency of Charles Alfred Elliott who was the governor of Bengal. Five resolutions were adopted as a result of the conference. The first resolution stated a majority opinion supported the idea of a single administrative unit of the Chin Hills and Lushai Hills preferably under the Chief Commissioner of Assam. The second resolution delayed the urgency of the creation of a single Chin-Lushai District on the opposition of the Chief Commissioner of Burma Alexander Mackenzie, stating it should not be taken immediately.
The recommendation ultimately reached the Viceroy Landsdowne. While Landsdowne favoured the recommendation, the council was evenly split. The opposition of the former Chief Commissioner of Burma Charles Crosthwaite with knowledge of the Chin-Lushai tracts worded a strong argument against the district's creation. A decision was made on 2 August 1892 in a telegraph to the Chief Commissioner of Rangoon, stating that the Chin Hills would remain under Burma. The legacy of this decision was finalized in the 1937 split of Burma and India under the Government of India Act 1935, which established an international boundary between the two countries, splitting the Chin-Lushai tribes.
Construction of Aizawl
Fort Aijal was founded in 1890 on an abandoned village site. It functioned as a barracks for two columns of the forces from the Chin Lushai Expeidition with fortifications improvised from locally harvested teak trees. The Fort grew with the relocation of the Silchar Police Battalion. Local resources such as quarried stone led to installing of bungalows and barracks. Commandant of the Military Police, Captain Granville Henry Loch, with a Khasi contractor, expanded the settlement. Loch was a soldier but possessed experience as an engineer. Loch trained his own men in quarrying and shaping stone. He used sepoys in greater numbers and instructed them in masonry, carpentry and roadmaking. This initiative lent his battalion a reputation as a pioneer instead of an ordinary infantry unit. Within the span of a few years, Loch had removed the improvised structures and abandoned village remnants into a station of well-constructed stone houses with corrugated iron roofs, proper doors and windows.
Christianity
On 11 January 1894, the first missionaries entered the Lushai Hills, known as James H. Lorrain and Frederick W. Savidge. It took both missionaries five years to baptise their first two converts. The meagre gain from their efforts convinced Robert Arthington, the patron of the Arthington Aborigines Mission, to move to the next hill tribe. Before the departure of Lorrain and Savidge, D. E Jones, a missionary under the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist mission, joined them. Jones struggled with obtaining results from his efforts, and many of his converts would be expelled shortly after being received into communion. His later converts would also leave on their own volition in 1904–1905. In seven years, the 1901 census recorded 45 Christians amid a population of 82,000, and only five were baptized church members.
Mizo alphabet James Herbert Lorrain and Frederick William Savidge discovered that the Mizos possessed an oral language with no written system. They spent four years learning the Mizo language. In 1898, they reduced the Mizo language to writing and introduced the grammar of the language. To introduce a writing system, the two missionaries established a Mizo alphabet via simple Roman script using diacritical marks in some of the letters. The alphabets were: a, â, âw, aw, b, ch, d, e, ê, f, g, h, i, î, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, ṭ, u, û, v, z.
At first, the letter "aw" was used for long-sounding vowels while "o" represented short sounds. However, Reverend D.E. H Jones and E. Rowlands found it inappropriate. In 1903, a conference was held between the missionaries at the Welsh mission on the Mizo literary issue. The "aw" and "o" letters were allowed to be separated.
Merging of the Hills A conference was held from 14 to 18 December 1896 with the superintendents of the North and South Lushai Hills to discuss administrative issues. It was decided that the merger of South Lushai Hills to Assam would provide a saving of 2 lakhs. The government of Assam forwarded numerous proposals, including the recommendation for Aizawl to become the headquarters of the district and for Shakespear to be appointed the superintendent of the new district. Due to the increased territorial administration, Shakespear was to be assisted with political assistants. Three assistant superintendents were permanently transferred to the Assam government for the administration of the future district. The south Lushai Hills would be proposed to be formally transferred from 1 October 1897 into the northern district.