Definition of Mizo – Mizoram
A book authored by C. Nunthara titled ‘Mizoram: Society and Polity’ is available online. The Author tried to define the term ‘Mizo’ but left us with no comprehensive conclusion.
He started as,
Our attempt at defining the term ‘Mizo’ may not be satisfactory as it does not take into account the Mizos outside Mizoram.
And explained the origin and the composition as,
The origin of the term ‘Mizo’ is obscured. It literally means highlander or hillmen.
He said Mizos are those who use Lusei/Duhlian fluently,
However, to the mass of the people, it ordinarily refers to the fluency in the use of Lusei language.
Thus, our defition of the term may include all those who identify themselves as Mizos including all the related branches or sub-groups of the Mizo tribes who are now scattered over the neighbouring territories and who are rather fluent in the use of Lusei language.
He stops using Lusei language and replaced with Mizo as follows:
Thus, being identified as Mizo presupposes fluency in the use of Mizo langauge (Lusei).
Lusei serves as the pan-Mizo-tribal language.
Who are Awzia(s)?
He author said,
The Mizos are broadly divided into two major sub-groups, the Luseis and non-Luseis or Awzia.
Awzia simply means those who speak dialect other than Lusei. Members of the Awzia group are thus, people who have dialect of their own different from the Lusei.
In fact, each of the Awzia clans has a separate dialect of their own while all the clans of the Lusei group speak the Lusei language.
Strength of Luseis and Awzias:
The Author said,
It is impossible to give precise figure of the composition of population based on the division into Lusei and the non-Lusei groups as the Cencus (referring to 1961) figure never indicate the relative strength of groups in terms of numerical number.
Awzias are numerically more:
But he said,
It should, however, be understood that in terms of numerical strength, the total population of the non-Luseis is far bigger than that of the Luseis.
Luseis and non-Luseis Within Mizoram:
For the whole of Mizoram it could be estimated that the Luseis are likely to make-up not more than one-third of the entire population of Mizoram.
Nevertheless, the very fact that all the members of the Luseis speak the same language means that as a group, they were much more homogenous as compared to the different clans of the non-Luseis.
Clans within:
Luseis are divided into twelve or more major clans whereas the non-Luseis are divided into sixteen or more major clans.
Noteworthy: In 1961 census there were 17.69% Chakma Christians.
The Book:
Chiefly political aspects of the study.
More details
Mizoram: Society and Polity
By C. Nunthara
Published by Indus Publishing, 1996
ISBN 8173870594, 9788173870590
304 pages.
Source: Google eBook
Posted: February 20th, 2009 under General.
Comments: 2
Tags: Definition of Awze, Definition of Awzia, Definition of Lushai, Definition of Lushei, Mizoram Non-Mizos
March 13th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Anyone who wants to be a Mizo have always been accepted as Mizo….
Of course, keep in mind Mizos speak Duhlian in addition to other languages…….
I think I call myself as Mizo (And there is no one to call me non-mizo) because simply I want to be Mizo….
There can be no specific boundary (ie which clan/tribe is Mizo or not). It depends on the individual whether he wants to call himslef Mizo or not.
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Hi
the mizo term is highlander goes with the thing as saying Chin is Jin. These guys they never get more than one sentence do they ? in school i think their teacher didn’t each them to write logically or this equals to this and give equation but just write down one sentence and get away. so smart when breaking up things. and not at uniting things.what’s good with their work.
Mi is simply People , national. all family has this term and so it is not highland. ok?
Zo is ancestral heritage. Cho,Sho,ZO,YO,Masho 3 million
for the chin and kuki guys, their ancestral from heaven might be surprised to se their sons fond of adopting or being Burmese and Bengali children. Zo living in the plain call themselves Sho. there is no highland people.
The Burmese gov are using this highlander term to all the ethnic people because they want to justify that WE burmese own the plains and u guys stick up with the hills.it is political term. But as usually some stupid ZO or a lot of them doesn’t understand that. Hakha is the most popoular guys here. you would come to see them say like
Chin = jin
Zo= highland
but then these half human guys can’t go any further than that.
i’s the same as Lai = Chin
why don’t they say Lai = lie. it has more sense. cause they are lying everything.even brainwashing their kids that they are not Zo. What good is an equation when u can’t come up with a explantion. a=b because …………………………………
Martin