The Legend of Darlawn Tlang
In his publication ‘Ei
Mihmasak Hei’, late Mr. Siamkȗnga Darlong of present Darchawi village, narrated
the emergence of the ‘Dȃrlawn Ṭlâng’ located in the present Mizoram in form of
folktale. To him, “once upon a time there lives a couple. One day the woman
went to have a bath in a lake called ‘Hri Li’. In the process, a strange thing
happened when the woman was pollinated by a huge snake as a result of which,
she gave birth to a baby girl. The little girl was name ‘Zawlṭleipuii’ who grew
up to be the most beautiful girl of the village and its adjacent territory. As Zawlṭleipuii
matured up in age, they eventually gets married to some other village who in
return presented the village with a treasure called ‘Dȃrsȗngsen’ also
known as ‘Tuiruangdȃr’, as a price for the bride which in today’s Darlong
community is done in term of animal forelimb called ‘Zuar Dȃr’
in the vernacular language. During the time of hand over, the bride’s villagers
were asked not to put it down until they reached their destination i.e. the
village. Bringing the gift the villagers returned towards their own home. But
the advice provokes the curiosity of the gift bearer who placed it on the
ground in order to know the secret of the gift. No sooner did they place it on
the ground the ‘Dȃrsȗngsen’ began to roll on its own towards the ‘Hri’ lake.
Attempts after attempts put from the culprits did not stop the ‘Dȃrsȗngsen’
from falling into the lake. As a result, the gift was lost in the lake.
Thereafter, many youth have to be employed to get into the depth of the lake
where one of them finally succeeds. Number of snakes had to be removed in order
to get to the treasure. Finally, appear the snake that pollinated Zawlṭleipuii’s
mother many years ago. The snake then claims his right over Zawlṭleipuii’s
price for he was the father. Thus, from then on the mount came to be called as Dȃrlawn
Ṭlâng”.
In the words of C.
Thuamdinga, a residence of present Saibual village the story had a little
variation from the previous version which I find it to be comparatively
authentic. Once in a village, there lived a young man namely, ‘Seneirâwia’ son
of ‘Râllenga’. This hamlet was claimed to be in the present ‘Dȃrlawn Ṭlâng’
located in the present Mizoram. Adjacent to the ‘Dȃrlawn Ṭlâng’ there situate
another hamlet called ‘Sentai’ which is said to accommodate several theatrical
beings among which ‘Zialunga’ was the most popular. The two villages was said
to be separated by a lake known as ‘Sentai Li’, which probably was the other
name of ‘Hri Li’, quoted in the previous version. ‘Zialunga’ and his wife, ‘Ngurdingliani’
had a beautiful daughter namely, ‘Zawlṭleipuii’ and every young man she came
across becomes the victim of her beauty. Several young men made a formal
marriage proposal to Zialunga for Zawlṭleipuii only to end up in a failure when
negotiation takes place in regard to the bride price. Finally, Seneirâwia
appeared on the scene and made a similar proposal as did his predecessors.
Zialunga replied, “If you want to marry my daughter, get me a ‘Tuiruangdȃr’ as
a bride price”. Seneirâwia agreed to find Zialunga the Tuiruangdȃr and began to
adventure. After venturing to different places, Seneirâwia one day end up in a
village called, ‘Ṭhlibingsȋp’. When night felt, he enquired about the bell where
he was told by the villagers, “there often is a claim that the Tuiruangdȃr is
pertained by a wretched women namely, ‘Thaichimi’, a worshipper of snake. She
lived at the bottom of the village on a hill top”. Without saying a word, Seneirâwia
left and reached Thaichimi’s house in a while. He then asked, “Granny, I hear
that you have the ‘Tuiruangdȃr’ is it really so, If it is can I have it? I am
looking for the stuff as a bride price of Zawlṭleipuii”. Thaichimi replied,
“Yes I do boy. However, I am neither allowed to give nor show to anybody as the
stuff was meant for Zawlṭleipuii’s price. It was handed to me by my deity”. Seneirâwia
was happy to hear that the stuff was meant for Zawlṭleipuii’s price. Thus,
confirmed Thaichimi saying, “I am the right person you are waiting for. I
wanted to marry Zawlṭleipuii and her father asked of me to find him the Tuiruangdȃr
as the bride price so I had to traverse these far”. Nevertheless, Thaichimi did
not easily let Seneirâwia and the Tuiruangdȃr go. She then asked Seneirâwia to
do her a favour by hunting down a wild boar that keep on demolishing her crops
before she let him leave with the stuff. The next morning, Seneirâwia set off
for Thaichimi’s jhum located few kilometres away from the village. Reaching the
jhum, the protagonist begins his research examining and analysing every little
movement suspected to be that of the wild boar. Ultimately, he made a trap for
the beast and came back home in the evening. The next morning, Seneirâwia
confidently went to inspect his trap and find that the beast was shot dead by
his trap. The beast was so huge that Seneirâwia alone could take it back home.
Hence, thought of asking the villagers’ hand. No doubt, before leaving the
beast he cut off the right ear, covered it with a bamboo leaves and mark it
with a ‘Perngoi’
as to signal other hunters that the deceased was hunted by someone else and it
belongs to him alone. Seneirâwia then informed the villagers that he had killed
the huge wild boar that had trouble Thaichimi for years. Thaichimi’s villagers
were joyful and rejoice at the news where some of them went to give a hand in
carry the wild boar back to their village. When Seneirâwia along with some of
the villagers reach back to the spot, they found that the huge wild boar had
transformed into a baby boar and the ‘Perngoi’ mark disappeared as well. At
this, the villagers were angrily said, “Seneirâwia you are a big liar. You
should have respected our effort to help you. You said you have cut the right
ear but both the ears are yet attached to the body. You said you have covered
it with a bamboo leaves but the animal is lying naked. We don’t see any truth
in your claim” and left him all alone. However, Seneirâwia did not lost hope so
he started looking for the beast he had killed. After a tiresome search, Seneirâwia
found out that his huge wild boar had been stolen by some ‘Ramsa Khal’
group. Seneirâwia then went to them and claim his hunt provoking many of the
group members. Eventually, the chief of the group came out and asked Seneirâwia
to prove his claim and the latter could easily prove by showing the right ear
he had cut before marking with the ‘Perngoi’. The chief then ordered his men to
return what was rightfully Seneirâwia and never to steal anytime when there is
a ‘Perngoi’ over it. As a penalty, Seneirâwia asked the group members to help
him carry the beast till the juncture of Thaichimi’s village which they readily
did so. When Thaichimi’s villagers saw Seneirâwia returning with the wild boar
he previously claimed to have killed, they all ran to help him and a grand
feast was held. The next morning, Seneirâwia left Thaichimi’s village along
with the ‘Tuiruangdȃr’ heading towards Sentai village.
Is it true that the Darlawng tlang relates with the Darlong (people) past or just seem to coincide with the name given to the hill by Mizo people? Is there genuine evidence pertaining to it?
ReplyDeleteYour question sounds intriguing. Since, I am no historian or anthropologist I cannot assure or give you genuine evidence. However, my writing is based on assumptions made in written and non-written I came across in course of time. In fact, K. Zawla (mizo historian) in fact mentioned in his book that many mountains and ribers were named by the Darlong in course of their passing through the place. Similarly, the Darlong elders too often claim that the tribe had migrated passing over the territory. Hence, Mizoram is often refer to as 'Zo Tlang' in many of the Darlong folksongs.
Delete