Zo (people)

The Zo/Zou people are an indigenous tribe, living mostly in the present-day Tonzaang and the townships of Tedim, Falam and Hakah of Northern Chin State and the Kabaw valley of Western Sagaing division in the Union of Burma. With an estimated population of over 60,000 the Zo are scattered in various parts of Burma and the world. In India, they are officially recognized as a Tribe in India, although they are more than a tribe in true sense of a term.

Of the three major races of the Tibeto-Burman group of people – Tet, Pyu and Kanyan - the Zo Belong to the Tet group of people and are further sub-grouped under the umbrella name Chin.

The Zos are the original descendants (progeny) of a legendary person named Pu Zo, who is believed to be the elder brother of Pu Zing Phaw (presently known as Kachins). Though living under the present-day military-ruled Burma, the Zote were known to have lived independently and harmoniously since time immemorial.

Due to lack of evidence and difficulties in excavating archaeological remains, the Zo's origins are difficult to be proved.

Though widely believed to have descended from Mongolia, the routes to the present settlements are not clear. It is believed that the Zote have descended from Mongolia to China and to Tibet and to the present day Burma.

Origin

Some say they are from Tibet, others say they are from Mongolia, while others say they are a lost tribe of Israel. Somewhere in China Mystical Khul is said to be their origin.

The early history of the Zou people is lost in myths and legends. Linguistic and racial evidence suggest the Indo-Chinese origin of the people. Linguists classified the Zou language as "Tibeto-Burman". Perhaps one of the earliest recorded references to Zou (Zo) as a people is found in the travel account of an Italian missionary called Father Vencentius Sangermano who resided at Ava and Rangoon from 1783 to 1806. In his widely circulated memoir, Sangermano recorded his observation of the Zomis at the beginning of the nineteenth century A.D., writing:“To the east of the Chin mountains, ... is a petty nation called Jo [Yaw] . They are supposed to have been Chien … These Jò generally pass for necromancers and sorcerers, and are for this reason feared by the Burmese, who dare not ill-treat them for fear of their revenging themselves by some enchantment” [ Sangermano, Father (1833) " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000INPFFE A Description of the Burmese Empire: Compiled chiefly from Burmese Documents] ", (Translated by William Tandy and reprinted by Susil Gupta, London, 1966.] (Sangermano 1833: 43). Since it was recognisable to the Italian observer that the Zou (Zo) ‘are supposed to have been Chien [Chin] ’, the context suggests that Sangermano was referring to the same group of people later known as Chin-Kuki-Lushais, of whom the Zou tribe is a historical component today.

In South-east Asia, there had been dynasties (with no king), places and people that bear the label, Zou - with spelling variations. However, no definite connection can be established between such terms.

The American Baptist missionary, J.H. Cope, made an attempt to trace the pre-colonial history of the Chin Hills in a church journal, "Tedim Thu Kizakna Lai." [ Tedim Thu Kizakna Lai (Tedim Journal), July 1937, p.4. ] The journal (edited by Cope) provides a glimpse of the Zomis in Chin Hills before the arrival of British imperialism. Under the Manlun chiefs [ Fowler, E.O. (1924) Letter to Howchinkhup, General Department, No. 3432/7M-11, office of the Commissioner, North West Border Division, 25 march 1924, in Acts and Achievements of Hau Chin Khup, KMS, Chief of the Kamhau clan, Chin Hills, Tiddim (Ratnadipan Pitika Press, Mandalay, 1927) p. 17. ] , the Zous had a bitter struggle with the Kamhau-Suktes over the control of the hill tracts between Manipur (India) and Chin hills (Burma). Inter-village raids were frequent; but they never resulted in decisive victory. The fortification of Tedim village by Kamhau finally gave him the upper hand over his Zou rivals. British records about the Zou tribe became available towards the end of the nineteenth century.

Upper Burma (including the Chin hills) was officially annexed by the British at the end of the Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885-1887). On 28 September 1892, the Political Officer of Chin Hills submitted ‘a scheme in detail for the future administration of the Chin Hills’ [ National Archives of India (NAI) New Delhi (hereafter NAI), Foreign Department, Extl. A, October 1893, Nos. 33 – 34, dated Camp Falam, 28 September 1892 ] . The Yoe (Zo) - this being the colonial spelling for the Zou tribe - was enumerated as one of the five tribes inhabiting the Northern Chin Hills. The others were Nwite (Guite), Thado and Kamhow (Kamhau), and Siyin (Sihzang). The Zou tribe was placed under the jurisdiction of the Tedim post; but the new scheme of boundary demarcation proposed to ‘award’ majority of the Zou population to Manipur in India. British interest in revenue collection in the Chin Hills produced statistical information for Zou villages. Official statistics for the year 1893 showed that the Zou tribe consisted of nineteen villages and 630 households, inhabiting a tract lying between 60 and 90 miles north and north-west of Fort White. The tribe had the second largest number of villages in Northern Chin Hills, next only to the Thado tribe [ National Archives of India (NAI) New Delhi, Foreign Dept. Sept 1893, Nos. 80 –88 ] .

The Zou/Zo is a less well-known indigenous community living along Indo-Burma frontier. In India, Zous/Zos are officially recognized as one of the 29 "Scheduled Tribes" within the state of Manipur (See List of Scheduled Tribes of India, Modification 1956) [1] . According to the Census of India, the Zou population in Manipur (30,567 persons) is the tenth largest Scheduled Tribe population in Manipur. The unofficial estimate for the Zou/Zo population in India is around 35,000 to 40,000. The community is concentrated in Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur in North-East India. The Zou/Zo language is one of the prescribed MIL (Major Indian Languages) in the high schools [2] and higher secondary schools of Manipur state. The Zou/Zo community has a script of its own known as "Zolai". Zou youngsters learn their script as a piece of curiosity; but the Roman script is the official script used by the Zous of Burma and India. Bible translations in the Zou language too adopted the Roman script and it served their purpose very well. In Manipur, the literacy rate of the Zous/Zos stand at 61.6% (Census of India 2001). Unfortunately this is below the Manipur state average of 68.8% literacy rate in 2001. The bulk of Zou(Zo) people lived in the Chin Hills and Sagaing division of Upper Burma. With a slight variation in spelling convention, the Burmese Zous called themselves "Zo". The Indian Zou and Burmese Zo belong to the same dialectal community. The Zou/Zo dialectal group is only a branch of the larger Chin-Kuki-Lushai ethnic group.More over, bulk of Zo people in Burma live together with other tribes such as the Tedim-Chin, Sihzang, Thados, etc. and got assimilated with them in dialects, cultures and traditions. The same process is visible among the Zous in India too. Like their ethnic Mizo cousins, the Zous are a tribal Christian community undergoing profound social change and modernization since mid-20th century.

Various names of Zo

Oral tradition maintains that the Zomis hailed from the first three Zomi brothers - Songthu alias Chongthu, Songza and Zahong. Zomi origin myth accounts their first home in a Cave variously known as "Khul" or "Chhinlung", "Sinlung" or Khur. This site is near a village called Saizang in the Chin State in North Western part of Burma, where the descendants of Songthu became Thawmte tribe. This site can be verified by evidence to support such a claim. In fact, Thawmte Tribe has a story of how their ancestors from Songthu lived there for at least nine generations until one of his offsprings Mang Sum.

Vum Kho Hau says that all the Zomi clans of this particular Tibeto-Burman group descended from a common ancestor. The same opinion was held by Capt. Pu Khupzathang, a Zomi genealogist who authored Zo Khang Suutna Laibu (Genealogy of the Zomis). He constructs an elaborate genealogical tree to substantiate his case. Current ethnonationalist sentiments too in favour of such geanological interpretation.

The term Zo is an indigenous usage that dates back to antiquity, or (at least) pre-modern history. Before the Zomi society evolved from clan-based lineages to tribe-based identity, historical records referred them as Yaw, Jo, Chou, and Zhou. Such references are found in the Shan (Pong) Chronicles from AD 80 —1604.

Today the term Zo is used in a rather confusing way in Manipur (India) and the Chin Hills of Burma. While colonial records referred to the Zo tribe variously as ‘Yo’ or ‘Yaw’, the Zomi community living in Manipur inscribed their name rather stylishly as ‘Jou’. The first Christian church established by the Zomi tribe in Manipur was called Jou Christian Association (JCA) on 20 February 1954 . But the Government of India officially recognised the name of this tribe as ‘Zou’ in 1956. Sometimes, the term Zomi is also used interchangeably with the word Zou so that the apex political organisation of the Zo is called United Zomi Organisation (UZO). To add to this confusion of terms, the Zous in Burma called themselves ‘Zo’ , which is actually a generic term used to replace the hyphenated term, Chin-Kuki-Lushai in current academic and political discourse. The term ‘Zomi’ is a collective name by which the Tedims of Burma, the Paite and Vaiphei of Manipur generally identified themselves. Noting at the very outset, the variations in spelling and usage of the terms Zo, Zou, and Zomi to mean the same people in certain geographical contexts on the one hand, and also as a generic term to refer to the larger Chin-Kuki-Lushai ethnic group on the other, will save us unnecessary confusion later. This conflicting usage of the same term (signifier) for different meanings (significance) has been highlighted by a Zo scholar, Sing Khaw Khai:

“While all clans and families belonging to the tribe who call their chief Topa designated themselves with ‘Yo’ or ‘Zo’, they in turn apply their common name to a particular clan. The Yos [Zous] are most unique in the sense of the name they bear and the culture they practice in reflection of the ancient Zo tradition … No proper study has yet been made as to why the generic Yo as spelt in former literature was applied to them” [8] (Khai 1995: 22).

Meaning and definitions

The word "Zo" comes from the progenitor of Zo people who are descended from Pu.Zo; their great progenitor. Professor F.K. Lehman (Anthropology and Linguistics, University of Illinois (USA)), in his research findings, concludes that despite the variation in the form of writing, it appears to have a single root of Zo, Yo, Ysou, Shou and the like.

Language

The language belongs to the Kuki-Chin family of languages related to Lushai, Tiddim-Chin, Paite, Vaiphei,zoham etc.

Religion

The Zo people were ancestor worshippers mixed with the worship of one omnipotent supreme being called Pasian.

Demographics

They are living in the Chin Hills of Burma and South and S.E districts of Manipur state in India.

Identities

The simplification of term Zo into English is "'Scion of Pu.Zo". Zo people who occupied part of India and Burma are indigenous people. Zo people settled down in large part of Churachanpur district, Chandel district of Manipur State, India.

Zomi who settled down at the central part of Chin State are known to themselves as Zo, LaiZo,because of the central location of their inhabitance. Additionally, the Lai Zo were fond of the idea of exclusiveness from the Zophei, Zokhua and Zotung people. Hence, the idea of dichotomisation was applied by using US-THEM method of segregation for centuries, in this segmentation. The LaiZo, later dismantled the word "Zo" from LaiZo and use only Laimi, however they are very much part of "Zo" or "Zomi". Nevertheless, the word "Laimi" only covers a small numbers of people at the center part of Chin State. On the other hand, the name "Zomi" or "Zo" covers people who called themselves Mizo, Zomi, Kuki, [Bawm] Zo and Chin as a whole.

The southern part of Chin State, Burma occupied by Asho, Cho people, nonetheless, the words simply are the indication of their beings as southern Zomi (Zo People).

References

External links

* [http://www.pu-zo.com PUZO Site present the life of Brief ZO History, ZO Custom ]
* [http://mysticalseven.info/files/AN-INTRODUCTION-TO-THE-ZO-PEOPLE-OF-BANGLADESH,BURMA-AND-INDIA.pdf An Introduction to the ZO People of Bangladesh, Burma and India.]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=zom Ethnologue page for Zome language]
* [http://www.zoaw.blogspot.com ZoAw: A Zo Blog]
* [http://www.maraland.net Maraland.NET: Mara people in southern part of Mizoram state]
* [http://www.zokuomthawn.co.nr Zo Students' Association]