Draft:Lushai Raiding
Lushai raiding also known as Mizo raiding were war parties under Lushai chiefs. Before the British annexation of the Lushai Hills in the Chin-Lushai Expedition, Lushai raiders would use muskets or rifles to accomplish raiding missions and collect heads or pillage resources from neighbouring settlements such as Cachar, Chittagong, Sylhet or Manipur.
Motivations
[edit]Characteristics
[edit]Smuggling Trade
[edit]British investigations into the procurement of firearms among hill tribes revealed that these supplies were coming through the River Koladyne along with powder and salt.[1] While the Nagas procured firearms through planters in Cachar, the Lushais procured firearms and sulphur through the Kingdom of Tripura, Cachar and Chittagong. The Shendus in the Southern Lushai Hills were revealed to procure firearms from Burma. After the Lushai Expedition, an official noted that all of the guns the Lushai-Kukis equipped themselves with had been obtained from Calcutta.[2] An investigation of native Indian arms dealers revealed exports of arms and ammunition to the districts of Chittagong, Tripura, Faridapur, Backergunge, Sylhet, Jessor, Pubna, Dacca and Noakhally. The total unaccounted weapons numbered at 2,883 firearms, 241 pistols, 20962 pounds of gunpowder and 24155 boxes of percussion caps.[3] Encounters of the British and the Lushais also accounted for opportunities such as Lalbura's raid on Monierchal garden, which saw 13 muskets taken from the dead police and sepoys.[4]
Carey and Tuck describe that obsolete guns were also unaccounted for. When the flint-lock gave way to the percussion cap gun, the older guns were sold as old iron; instead of being decommissioned, they were shipped to ports in Rangoon and Chittagong to be sold to the natives. The matter was raised C.G Bayne and Alexander Mackenzie and E.N. Drury[5][6][7] In 1869, three Kukis of the Kongjai tribe were sent to the Lushai Hills to procure information. The observations showed that firearms had been adapted to local life in a period of 10-20 years and that they were of English make and tower-marked. The Lushais declared to the Kukis that if the British entered their country they would kill them and take their arms too.[8] Thomas Herbert Lewin in 1869 records that formerly the weapons such as bows, arrows and spears were obsolete in favour of uns which is valued more than any other kind of property.[9]
The trade of firearms also promoted the Bawi system. Captives from raids would be exchanged for firearms. Shakespear records that different captives would fetch different values such as a a strong male slave being worth two guns.[6][10] Saipuialal, a future ally of the British, is recorded to have exchanged the wife and four children of a chief in return for two old tower muskets. The Northern Lushais would trade brass from bazaars and market trades for guns from the southern Lushais. Firearms also held a social significance as they became used in the bride price system of Lushai marriages. Guns also represented prestige of chiefs, Rothangpuia is said to have armed every man of his settlement with firearms compared to neibhouring tribes where only 10% of men would possess one.[9]
Weaponry
[edit]Traditional
[edit]Chem
[edit]A chem is a dao (sword). There are three types of chem. Chempui is a large knife with a sharp edge of two feet long. Lulak chem refers to Lu (head) and lak (chop), a knife for decapitating enemies. Kingkawt is a bent sword which would be decorated if its wielder slayed many enemies.[11]
Sairawkherh leh thal
[edit]Sairawkherh refers to bow and thal to arrow.[12] The introduction and adoption of the bow and arrow made champion duels obsolete and a necessity of warfare.[13]
Fei
[edit]Fei refers to spears. The fei was the most common weapon in traditional Mizo warfare before the introduction of the firearm. Three spears are used for war: Fei beng, Fei Kibar and Muzuk fei.[12]
Kawlhnam
[edit]Kawlhnam refers to a long sword. The name indicates that the long sword has origins in Burmese culture as the prefix kawl is used. Hnam refers to sword.[12]
Hrepui
[edit]A common weapon in war was the hreipui or axe.[14] The axe's head were made of iron about half a inch in width and tapered to a pointed end.[15]
Phaw
[edit]Phaw refers to a shield. There are two types of traditional shields. One shield is decorated while another isn't. The shields are made from the hide of a mithun's neck or the hide of a buffalo or rhinoceros. The skin is dried by keeping it on a shelf above a house's hearth. The more dried it becomes the harder it acts as a shield. If the shield is decorated then it has copper or brass plate fitted with some feathers lined on it.[14]
Armour
[edit]Darlukhum
[edit]The Mizos made armoured helmets made of brass or copper. The origins of the helmet tradition is not known but it is widely speculated to be borrowed by the Burmese. The helmet was used extensively in warfare.[14]
Sahmim
[edit]Sahmim refers to an armoured pouch. This was produced from bear skin and plaited with cotton string. It would be resistant to piercing via a sword or spear. The bag would be used to transport rice and food during expeditions.[14]
Tawlhlohpuan
[edit]This was a woven cloth of a specific design of patterns. The name Tawlhlohpuan refers to standing steadfast against an enemy. It was worn by a warrior and tied to them to stand fast against an enemy. It was also used as night bedding for encampments.[16]
Firearms
[edit]Guns were known as Silai by the Mizos. The name is believed to have derived from the Burmese word Sinat or Sinah. The Mog people of Bangaldesh similarly use Sinaih to refer to guns. There is a Mizo account of the first time guns were interacted with them.[17] The story recounts that a Haka man entered a Lusei village from Burma. As the Lusei had never seen a gun, they questioned the man about it. The man was said to have stated "Meithal silai". Meithal was the Haka word for gun, and silai referred to "it is". Hence offering an explanation of the corruption of the term.[17]
The first circulation of guns among the Mizos is not known but it is agreed to not have been before 1777. The earliest guns were disposed surplus weapons from the time of the Napoleonic wars. The Maras claimed to have had their first gun under Chief Lakhai, father of Theulai who died in 1927, putting it to occur over a 100 years before the 1920s. The Lai (Pawi) were said to have been in possession of guns alongside the Burmese as early as 1404. One of the first known Mizo chiefs to possess a firearm was Chief Lallula around 1800.[17] Other chiefs such as Sibuta were also speculated to have had a firearm earlier than Lallula.[18]
Muhpuah
[edit]Muhpuah or Mu pek are imported muzzle-loading guns and believed to have been the earliest model used for hunting. These were matchlock guns. It was loaded via the mouth with the help of a muzzle-loading rod. It would be fired by burning gunpowder through a small hole at the bottom of the barrel.[18]
Olan
[edit]These were similar to the SI. No.1, which was popular during the time of Shah Jahan in 1720. Many of these models were produced in the Netherlands at the time. The gun had a trigger which, when pressed, would hit against the flintlock to produce sparks and burn gunpowder.[18]
Tukuli
[edit]Another gun was the Tukuli. It was produced in modern day Turkey as part of the Ottomon Empire at the time. This gun arrived in India in 1840 as arms disposed during Napoleon's regime. The gun was a muzzle-loading type and firing was done by sparks from a percussion cap struck via trigger. These guns did not become obsolete easily and were used as recently as the 1950s.[19]
Ammunition
[edit]The Mizos began to manufacture their own form of gunpowder via the Burmese. The gunpowder was termed zen by the Mizo. The Mizo used leial or leitha which was a thick animal excrement or manure that would be collected underneath their elevated houses. The manure would be collected and mixed with water, filtered and boiled. This would produce nitrate which was essential for gunpowder. The liquid was boiled and evaporated until a nitrate crystal was achieved. The nitrate was then mixed with meihawl (charcoal) and pounded in a mortar with a pestle. After pounding, the powder is exposed to the sun and ready for use in the gun. Sometimes sulphur would be used instead of nitrate obtained from dung heap. The gunpowder was weaker and slow in equating. However the British records that it was powerful enough to hit over 200-400 years.
To produce silaimu (bullets), the Mizo preferred to use lead. However the lack of consistent supply of lead meant that other metals such as brass, bell-metla, iron, round pebbles and even clay pellets were used as substitutes. To produce lead bullets, a small bamboo tube of desired bullet size is taken. The lead is kept in a small pan of tin and heated until it melts. The molten lead is poured into the bamboo tube where the heat is allowed to dissipate. The bamboo tube is split open and a stick of lead is taken out. The stick of lead is cut into pieces which are rolled between two stone slabs until they become properly round. Sometimes the bullets were hammered into shape.[20]
Firearms decline
[edit]After the annexation of the Lushai Hills and the subsequent Lushai Rising, Major John Shakespear began a policy of gradual disarmament. Gun license policies were introduced with limitations of a firearm to every ten houses and fines or imprisonments for defying the orders. Unlicensed guns would also result in punitive action.[21] In 1896-1897, 77 guns were confiscated in the Lushai Hills with 146 gun licenses issues.[22]
Warfare strategy
[edit]Bawi system
[edit]Zawlbuk
[edit]History
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 422.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 423.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 424.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 421.
- ^ a b Kakanti 2019, p. 137.
- ^ Carey 1896, p. 223.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 426.
- ^ a b Dzüvichü 2021, p. 427.
- ^ Shakespear 1912, p. 15.
- ^ Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 47.
- ^ a b c Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 48.
- ^ Lalthangliana 2005, p. 21.
- ^ a b c d Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 49.
- ^ Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 12.
- ^ Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 50.
- ^ a b c Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 43.
- ^ a b c Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 44.
- ^ Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 45.
- ^ Lianhmingthanga 1998, p. 51.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 433.
- ^ Dzüvichü 2021, p. 434.
Sources
[edit]- Carey, Bertram Sausmarez; Tuck, Henry Newman (1896). The Chin Hills: A history of the people, our dealings with them, their customs and manners, and a gazetteer of their country. Rangoon: Government Printing, Burma. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
- Dzüvichü, Lipokmar (2021). "Guns in the Hills: Firearms Circulatiuon along the North-East Frontier of British India, 1860s-1910s". Journal of Modern European History. 19 (4). Sage Journals: 416–435. doi:10.1177/16118944211050773. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
- Kakati, Aditya Kiran (2019). "Guns, Gifts, and Guerillas: Knowledge and objects during World War II in the Indo Myanmar (Burma) frontier". In Dzüvichü, Lipokmar; Baruah, Manjeet (eds.). Objects and Frontiers in Modern Asia. London: Routeledge India. doi:10.4324/9780429261909. ISBN 9780429261909. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
- Shakespear, John (1912). The Lushei-Kuki Clans. London: Macmillan and Co. Retrieved 15 January 2025.