Who Are The Lai People ? Here is a short history of the Lai people and how they settled in Mizoram.


From the plains of the Shan country, the Pawi settled down initially at Hmunli, where they found plum fruit. After eating the plums, they drank the water and found it sweet and decided to stay there.From Hmunli they moved to Lailun, where possibly they first dwelled in a cave. Lailun is near Sunthla, a village between Falam and Haka [Halkha].From Sunthla the pawi group expanded in all directions. Pawi is a particular name given by the Paite and the Lusei to those who tie their hair on the top of their foreheads. The Pawi themselves do not call themselves Pawi but Lai,which stands for all Zo people.

The Haka originally settled down near Haka and all their traditions say that their village, Zothlang was once huge
and covered the hills of Khuava. The descendents of the Laichiefs Seohle and Hluasang founded the village Pailan,
which lay three miles north of Haka. Seohle, the elder of the two brothers, asserted his right as chief of the newly
formed village and insisted that his younger brother
Hluasang give him a pig once a year, in token of his over
Lordship. To this Hluasang pretended to agree and only
asked that he be allowed to kill the animal while Seohle
held it. The pig was therefore produced, and as Seohle
stooped down to seize it Hluasang stabbed him in the heart with the traditionally prepared bamboo killing spike.

Hluasang was now in the undisputed position of ruling the village, but believing that the place where he had slain his brother would bring ill - fortune, then he moved to the present village of Haka and allowed his people to build
hamlets [village] around the area. Thus began the spread of
Lai people in the Thantlang, Zokhua, Zotung, Mi-E,and Lakher
areas. Several generations later Tanthle, Zathang and
Bawmlong, three brothers directly descended from Hluasang
began gathering scattered peoples into villages in order to strengthen their tribal war position. This is how the Lai people fist settled in land which is now called "Mizoram".

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This Article was mailed to us by :
Thansiama Llawtlai
University Of Dehli

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