Kuki (Indic people); Lushai (Asian people); Lushai language
On the Chittagong side, we find, as early as 1777, records of frontier
disturbances ascribed to "Kookies, men who live far in the interior
parts of the hills, who have not the use of firearms, and whose bodies
go unclothed" (Lewin's "The Hill Tracts of Chittagong and the Dwellers
Therein," page 21). These Kukis were allies of the Chuckmahs, and we
have seen that about fifty years later the Chuckmahs joined with the
Zadeng and the Sailos in an attack on Purbura.
The various branches of the Sailo family were frequently at war, the
cause almost invariably being a dispute as to land. About 1856 a war,
known as "The War of the North and the South," broke out and lasted
about three years. The Northern combatants were the descendants of
Lallula, their opponents being Cherra's family. The bone of contention
was the Piler hill, and this quarrel was on the point of breaking out
again in 1892, when Mr. McCabe and I, appearing on the scene from Aijal
and Lungleh respectively, "frightened both the heroes so they quite
forgot their quarrel." The war ended in a victory for the North, who
surprised Konglung, a village on the top of a very precipitous rock,
and captured the young chief and his mother, who later were ransomed
for many necklaces.
In 1874 the Southern Lushais fell out with the Thlantlang (Klangklang)
chiefs. Vandula, head of the Lushais, had raided Vaki, a village on
the Arracan border, and brought away as part of the loot a brass bowl
and a big earthenware vase, which the Thlantlang chief claimed as
being part of the promised price of his daughter, who had recently
been married to the son of the Vaki chief. As Vandula refused to
give up the articles, the Thlantlangs attacked a Lushai piquet on
the Koladyne, killing some men. To revenge this insult, the Lushais
attacked Bunkhua, with disastrous results, as is described in Chapter
III, Para. 5, and had to make an ignominious peace.
Later the Northern chiefs quarrelled among themselves, and the war of
the East and West broke out and lasted several years. The cause is said
to have been a girl called Tuali, for whose affections Liankhama and
Khalkhama were rivals. It is unnecessary to go into the history of our
dealings with the Lushais, which have ended in the whole of the Hills
being annexed, and a stop put to all such wars, but when we occupied
Lungleh in 1889 we found the Fanai clan coming into prominence, and
there is little doubt that, but for our intervention, that clan would
shortly have attempted to eject the Southern Lushai chiefs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account