Darlongs In Tripura

The Darlong resides in the present state of Tripura that witnessed influx of tribal n the past from places like Mongolia, Tibet, China, Burma and others. The migrants settled in the state and became the sons of the soil. The tribal settlers mainly comprised of non-Aryan stock, speaking dialects that belonged to Tibeto-Burman language group. Presently he state has 19 schedule tribe listed as follows; Tripuri, Reang, Jamatia, Chakma, Lushai, Mog, Garo, Kuki, Chaimal, Uchoi, Halam, Khasia, Bhutia, Munda, Orang, Lepcha, Santal, Bhil and Noatia. However, only nine are considered to be major tribes i.e. Tripuri, Reang, Jamatia, Noatia, Halam, Chakma, Mog, Lushai and Kuki. The Kuki included 17 unrecognised sub-tribes of which Darlong community is one. It is very unfortunate to know that the Darlong has never been mentioned in the Schedule Tribe List of Tripura despite of their presence being known to the Rajas and Maharajas of Tripura many decades back. Nevertheless, on 26^th May 2016, a declaration was made on the inclusion of the Darlong community in the list of Schedule Tribe in Tripura by Union Cabinet,

            “...they will be listed as tribes in the schedule appended to the constitution and entitled to 

               slew of benefits conferred by Centre on all schedule tribe communities”.

In the words of Radhacharan Debbarma, the then chief executive member of TTAADC, “the Darlong in Tripura are a minority tribal group and they deserved to be listed as such in the constitution but somehow missed the bus; we in Tripura however extended recognition to the schedule tribes and all due benefits were extended; this decision will help them advance further”. With the inclusion of the Darlong, Tripura will have a total of 20 communities in the list. The earlier 19 communities had been included in the constitution in 1950. S.K. Darlong, a retired govt. officer concluded, “We have a separate language which is similar to Mizo, a distinctive culture and lifestyle. We have progressed in many respects but at time of inclusion of ST communities in the constitution we had missed the bus. We are recognised as STs by the state government and get all facilities. But our longstanding demand for inclusion in the central ST list has now been fulfilled”. Thus, the community will be entitled to a number of benefits, including reservation in jobs and education, scholarship after passing class-x, national overseas scholarship for studies, national fellowship, soft loans and free residential and food facilities in the student hostels.  

            The Darlong anthropologically is said as belonging to one among the many communities of the Zo mi. Zo mi is the name of a major tribe found in various parts of South and South East Asia. They are a tribe comprising of large ethnic group which Britishers called Chin in Myanmar and Kuki in Manipur and Lushai in Mizoram which is why they are also known as Kuki-Chin. They are found to have been geographically concentrated in such locations as Mizoram, the north Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong districts of Assam, northeast part of Tripura, Chittagong Hill Tract of Bangladesh and some parts of Burma[i]. The ‘Zo mi’ tribes inhabiting the state of Tripura are Molsom, Ranglong, Chorai, Bong, Kaipeng, Hrangkhawl, Rokhum, Darlong, Lushai, Rangchan, Paite/Paitu, Namte, Mizel, Lantei, Laifang, Khephong, Khareng, Balte, Jantei, and Hajango. In Bangladesh, about seven ‘Zo mi’ tribes can be identified viz; the Bawmzo, Asho, Khami or Khumi, Kuki, Lushei, Mosho and Pankhu. Ethnologically, the above named tribes belong to Zo mi group because their progenitor was said to be Zo. Besides, there exists proximity between the tribes in all aspect. The close ethnicity is proved by the peculiarity that though variations in dialects exist, the Zo mi unlike other tribes can converse with one another in their respective dialects with 70% comprehension. Secondly, the dress code, lifestyle, appearance, passion and other emotions can hardly be distinguished. Thirdly, the orature and folklore too have similarity and familiarity as J. Shakespeare states;

            “There are many tales common to all the Kuki-Lushai clans, though the       

             names under which the various personages figured in them are not    

          always the same. A numerous class of legends deals with the creation of      

           the world and the first appearance of mankind thereon and other natural     

          phenomena; another class accounts for the names of hills and rivers; a       

          third class remind one of Uncle’s Remu’s tales of the doings of Brer             

          Rabbit; but there are also a great many which are simply tales and which     

             are generally a trifle obscene” (91).  

Thus, the chain of their relationship is circumscribed not only by geographical bounds, but more often by racial unity having common primordial name, history, cultural affinities, belief system and economic life.

            In the The Kukis of Tripura, Ram Gopal Singh states that Darlong are none but Kuki “...that entered the present state of Tripura in different waves in different times...They do not call themselves as Kukis. They call themselves as Hre-em. They are known as Kukis to Bengalees and other plain living people. The Cacharis called them Lushais. This connotes something alarming; Lu means head and Chai means to cut. Hence, the word Lushai means head hunters...Lushai is the corrupted form of Luchai. The Manipuris called them ‘Khongjais’ which means the people who used to live in a dispersed way. In primitive time they were known as Kirats to the plain settlers who came over to Tripura from East Bengal. In the Chin Hills and generally on the Burma border all these clans are called Chins. The Kukis are also known as Darlong in Tripura” (8). According to Mackenzie, Kirat was an exiled son of Yajati who founded a kingdom called Tripura after the name of his successor. Tripura begot a son namely, Trilochun “devoted to the worship of fourteen gods who increased in wisdom and stature and was presented the unmistakeable royal marks-- a medium height, a moderate nose, a rounded body, well-shaped ears, a deep chest, a modest paunch, elephantine neck, plantain tree legs, with arms turned like the stem of a palm” (269). The Kokborok speaking communities in the present Tripura called them Sikam.

            Singh in his Preface also argued that the Kukis of Tripura may be broadly divided into two major groups like “Darlong Kukis” and the “Rokhum Kukis”. According to them the Darlong Kukis are “Mar-Mi” means “men of north” while the Rokhum Kukis are “Sim-Mi” which means “men of south”...The first wave which came into this land have become a faithful subjects of Tripura Rajahs and named as “Halams”. The Halams are known as “Mila-Kuki” in this state...The latter waves of them are probably the “Darlong” and the Lushais”. The Darlong and Lushais “have their own kings or chieftain whose titles were granted by the Tripura Rajah Darbar for controlling and internal ruling of the communities. It was not as late as the middle part of the 19^th century that the Kukis caused a series of troubles to the British Government and the Tripura Rajahs” (Singh 9). According to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders, Amendment Act 1976, the Kuki are listed as Schedule Tribes of Tripura along with few sub-tribes. However, the field investigations revealed that only three sub-tribes were recorded. Two of them are Darlong and Kozoi. The third sub-tribe has no separate name other than Kuki itself. The Kozoi are also called as Halam in spite of they being least bothered with the names they are called.

            The Kuki communities are said to be among the earliest settlers of preset Tripura. The Rajmala represents Shiva falling in love with a Kuki girl who was in consequence put to death by his shrew of a wife. The fact was further explained by Alexander Mackenzie in his book The North East Frontier of India;  

            “on the occasion of a visit paid by one of the kings of Tripura to the abode of Siva, 

             it would seem that the Kukis brought trouble even in the celestial mansions;

             for Siva conceived a violent passion for a Kuki woman in the Raja’s retinue and 

          that her neck was thereupon broken by a divine kick delivered by Parvati, the 

           jealous spouse of the enamored deity” (69).

Secondly, the Kuki are represented as the ruler of Udaipur who invaded Tripura, but was defeated and Udaipur became the capital of Tripura. “It is stated in the Mahabharat that the Kirats were present at the Rajashuya ceremony. The kings of Tripura had long before this conquered the Kirat country. The Kirats were, therefore, there as retinue of the kings of Tripura” (Bhattacharyya 3). Thirdly, “the Kuki forwarded a case to the Raja of Tripura accusing his general Raja Chachag of a design to make Tamul an independent state” (3).

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[i] The Tonzang district, the Tedim district, Hkamti district, Somra tracts and Kale-Kabaw valley.