Appellation of the term Darlong

Appellation of the term Darlong

               The Darlong tribesmen and women call themselves Hriâm which literally mean human. It is interesting to note that many tribal communities in Tripura identify themselves by different appellation. As such, Kokborok speaking communities called themselves Borok or Twiprasa, the Reang as Bru, the Garos as Achikmandi and others, all meaning human. The identification is a manifestation of ethnocentrism and a significant characteristic of all men on earth. The mental phenomena can be credited to the contentment of a tribe with its own culture and heritage that they comfortably used to reduce the other as non-human or semi-human and something other than themselves. The Darlong, in the process, used the term Miluk Milȃi, to refer the other tribal group having a slight connotation of despise in it.

            The Darlong have not less than a dozen of interpretations on the origin of the appellation Darlong. One interpretation has the appellation in course of their migration. The Darlong raided and killed their enemies by cutting the head at the level of the shoulder. Hence, they are called as Dȃrleng, a compound word of Dâr meaning shoulder and Leng meaning cutting in a single strike. In course of time, Dȃrleng took the utterance of Darlong. Secondly, assumption is also made on the tribe’s long halt at Dȃrlawng Ṭlȃng, which is located in the state of present Mizoram and hence the settlers came to be known as Darlong after the name of the hill tract. However, some Mizo historians believed that the tribe was called so even before they entered the state of Mizoram and was one of the earliest settlers of the territory. Thus, the hill tract was but called Dȃrlawng Tlȃng after the settlers. “Yet another interpretation has it that the headman of this tribe used to be called ‘Darhlaw’ and in course of time the entire tribe came to be known as ‘Darhlaw’ and then ‘Darlong’. It is a known fact that during the ancient days and before the chieftainship, people of this tribe managed their own affairs under the leadership of democratic village headman. Everyone respected and obeyed him. It’s a social binding that the hunter should give the headman the foreleg of the animal he had killed as a token of respect and recognition of his authority. Hence the headman was called ‘Darhlaw’ which means to receive (hlaw) the foreleg (dar) of the animal killed. In course of time the leader and the led came to be known as ‘Darhlaw’ and then Darlong” (L. Darlong pp.17). According to C. Thuamdinga Darlong, the appellation of Darlong was born in time when the tribe encountered a fierce and ruthless plunderer tribe called Pawi. The Pawi tribe was the most feared and well known for their treacherous character in the contemporary time. He argued that the Darlong forefather “Sûnlunga and his children namely Niachala, Hnelachala and Miachala leaving their original inhabitant Sinlung, breathed their last. The descendents which were divided into many clans and sub-clans, collected the hairs of their ancestor to form a bouquet. Whenever there was trouble, the elders would hang the bouquet of hairs of the Sunlunga and Chala brothers in their midst to ensure that a balanced judgment was pronounced by them. In course of time, the bouquet of hair became a symbol of peace, prosperity and mutual progress to the tribe. One day, Pawi the eldest among of Sunlunga’s sons, out of greed, stole the bouquet of hairs and ran away. The theft brought about chaos among the tribesmen and women. Thus, Pawi and the Darlong became a fierce enemy ever since. When the Darlong crossed the Lȇnṭlâng and came to settle at the mount of Arte Ser Ṭlȃng, they became aware of the vulnerability of meeting their brother Pawi once again. Hence, the council of elders devised a resistance plan. Women and children of the village were gathered in the midst of the village with all their gongs and bells that and the men hid themselves yards away from the village. As expected, the Pawi tribe came to the village to plunder. No sooner did the women and children had the sight of the Pawi armies they started to hit their gongs and bells producing disturbingly unpleasant sound. The sound distracted the Pawi armies. There was a historic battle between the Pawi armies and the Darlong armies and the latter came up victorious at the end. It was here that the appellation of Darlong was born. He further argued that the term Darlong is a Pawi word, which means hitting a bell” (Personal Interview). Similarly, Dâr in the Darlong language also means a bell. No matter how logical may the interpretation sound, yet absolute agreement with the interpretation cannot be made due to lack of definite chronological support and written documents. In fact, the term Darlong had its genesis in the late 1940s when the Christian missionaries asked the Darlong tribesmen and women (attending the schools) to write Darlong instead of Kuki. “Pastor Tuakunga of Muruai recollects that the Darlong students used to write letters only in Lushei language. Thus;

            “Ka pa duh tak,

            I dam chuan ka lawm e; kei pawh ka dam e etc.

                                                                        I fapa duh tak

                                                                        ........................ Kuki.”

This means, “Dear father, If you are fine I am happy. I am fine too, etc. Your affectionate son..............Kuki” The missionaries however, insisted that they should write ‘Darlong’ in place of ‘Kuki’ as their history revealed that they were Darlongs, and not Kukis”  (L. Darlong pp.60). Besides the Lushai language, Chungṭlâng was widely used by the Darlong tribesmen and women until the early 1940s particularly in the present Kailashahar division. The language was commonly known to be used by the Rivung clan of Ṭhangura successor. However, the Darlong tribe never knew the art of writing until the coming of the Christian missionaries in the year 1917. The Christian missions felt that teaching of the Christian disciplines and ideologies can never be fulfilled without the knowledge of reading and writing. Thus, education with the Roman script and a phonetic form of spelling based on the well known Hunterian system was introduced among the tribe’s common men and women. “The first schools in Darlong villages were established in 1926 after which education among the tribe slowly spread” (L. Darlong pp.60). In the year 1952, Johanna Darlong published a book called Abul Bu which means the beginning book. The book gave an outline on the art of writing Darlong language in a form of English roman with modification in the accent and tone. Thus, A, Aw, B, Ch, D, E, F, Ng, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, Ṭ, U, V and Z are the alphabets used by the present Darlong tribe. The dialects of the Darlong tribe can be divided into Omhroi and Fathlȇi. Nevertheless, the dialects have not much difference except for the intonation and the speakers could easily converse and communicate with one another in their respective dialects. From a theological perspective, the term Darlong in itself contained the seed of change and revolution. Regardless of the varied interpretations made people take pride and honour in quoting the term Darlong as their surname.