Tevo Bohia: The indomitable chief of Zyhno

Read an inspiring story of Tevo Bohia, one of the Mara Chiefs.

Tevo Bohia: The indomitable chief of Zyhno

K. Robin

The study of the institution of chieftainship has assumed an important arena in academic discourse of recent times. It has generated a lot of debate amongst various researchers and scholars alike, and there seems to be no concrete agreement over the use of the term.

In so far as the institution of chieftainship among the Maras is concerned, as is the case with many pre-literate societies, the Maras are also a victim of historical muddle with extreme dearth of written records on the subject under discussion. Therefore, in the backdrop of such material and empirical scantiness, it becomes even more difficult for one to establish the genesis of Mara chieftainship.[2] This complexity in turn has prompted one to turn attention to the oral tradition so as to answer the intricate questions of chieftainship and to reconstruct the genesis of this institution.

It is not known as to how and when the Maras came under the rule of the chiefs. But considering their sojourn in the Chin Hills (while taking into account the pattern of migration of the Tibeto-Burman groups), and the time of their arrival in their present settlement, it is apparent that chieftainship was inherent in their social and political set up. This may be corroborated by the existence of different ruling clans among the Maras like, Choza, Bôhia, Chhâchhai, Hlychho, Khuhly, Thlyuthâ, Zawthâ, Nôhro etc.

Of the Mara ruling clans, the Bôhia ascension to chiefly power seems to have an unusual twist of fate. They are believed to be borne out of a python and therefore having divine/supernatural element.

Tradition has it that once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden Pithlô from the Hlôvaw clan of Leisai village in the Chin Hills. She was the only girl child of her family and she was an apple of her brothers’ eyes and she was never allowed to toil and labour in the fields.

One day, however, to her brothers’ dismay she was pregnant and heavy with child. Even after repeated questioning and apprehension by her brothers of who might be the father of the unborn child, Pithlô reiterated that she had never been violated by any human soul. This testimony really angered her brothers and she thus became a scorn of her kinfolk day in and day out.

The scorn and ill-treatment of her family ultimately compelled her to state the fact that one day while crossing a creek, she came upon a huge wood lying diagonally across the stream. When she was about to hobble over it, the lumber all of a sudden turn its side and stood face to face and to her utter bewilderment, it was a giant python standing right in front of her. Bolt from the blue, she fled the scene trembling in fear and shock and that was the only thing that she could divulge to her scornful kinfolk.

Her brothers refused to take her word and continued to scoff at her and to her consternation, she went to a spot which was venerated by the villagers and in front of a gigantic tree she beseech vociferously “if the unborn in my belly is of human essence, let it perish within me, and if it is the essence of the spirits, let it have an innate birth with all the blessing of the mystical being”.[5]Very soon she gave birth to male twins and this further enraged his agitated brothers who then took both the child to the outskirt of the village and left them helpless in the dark of the night. That episode was followed all through the night by violent thunder, hail storm and incessant rain, and it so happened that the entire villagers stayed wide awake throughout that night.

As the villagers were aware of all the events, they were anxiously waiting for crack of dawn and with first light all the young folks rush towards the spot where the twins were left. Surprisingly, they were confronted by a giant snake in its regal coil face drawn towards the people. One of the village brave hearts then approached the python and saying “Oh…majestic one, do loosen yourself, have you ingest the young ones?” and suddenly, the snake uncoiled itself and to everybody’s shock, both the babies were sleeping warm and dry. The twins were taken back to their mother and the serpent also hissed away never to return.

The mother soon bestowed names to both the child, the elder was called Bôhia and the younger was named Thlyutha. When they grew up, they often accompanied their uncles, who by then had softened their rage, to the fields and forest. Along their journey, the elder, Bôhia would always come out with questions asking his uncles to whom the field or forest belonged to. If they said it belonged to no one, Bôhia would immediately shoot his arrow to mark the land and claiming as his own and in this way carved out a domain for himself and while the younger one Thlyutha would always remain silent and therefore, did not have any territory for his name.

In course of time, Bôhia married and had a son named Masaeipi. Masaeipi begot Siaro, Siaro begot Masaeita, Masaeita begot Khainô, Khainô begot Ngôthaw, and Ngôthaw begot Tevô. Among the descendants of Bôhia, Ngôthaw, father of Tevô was said to have lived for 100 years, and died at a ripe old age in 1892. When Ngôthaw died, his people mourned him for almost 3 years. He was soon succeeded by Hmôlai, son of his brother Vachô, chief of Laki. The rule of Hmôlai was marked by relative peace throughout his territory and his subjects were also said to enjoy harmony and prosperity and therefore, he was considered as the darling of his tribes.

By the time Hmôlai rose to power, most of the Mara chiefs had already been subjugated by the British. Therefore, he was the only Mara chief who continued to defy the imperial authority. In the meanwhile, the changing political scenario outside the Hills also started to have an impact on the Maras. There was a gradual shift towards individualism and sense of collective feelings and solidarity started to fade. To make matters worse, the news of the liberation of ‘slaves’ throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire also reached the shores of Maraland. Thus, news of ‘slaves’ being freed spread like wild fire, and this led to many ‘slaves’ trying to flee their “masters” domain.

In 1905, it so happened that, one of the ‘slaves’ of chief Hmôlai by the name of Reô along with his nine daughters fled his village for Paithar thinking that the place would probably be a safe haven as it was by then under the British rule. However, Hmôlai could not tolerate such an act as he thought it to be a comprehensible way of undermining his authority. He immediately dispatched a raiding party to Paithar village and Reô and his siblings were brought back and he was hanged at ‘chacha kawn’ near Tuipang village. When the British authority at Lunglei heard the news of the murder and capture of their subjects, a punitive expeditions headed by Colonel Cole and Colonel Loch was immediately dispatched to Zyhno in 1907[6] to penalize and to avenge the murder of Reô.

On reaching Hmôlai’s village, an agreement was however reached and Hmôlai agreed to pay a fine of 20 guns, 30 goats, 70 fowls, and to provide free rations to all the military troops. It also seemed that since Hmôlai could not hand over the required number of guns, he surrendered his very own gun ‘chawpate’ which was considered as the best in the village. This marked the beginning of external influence and gradual weakening of the indomitable Zyhno chieftainship.

In 1917, Hmôlai breathe his last and he was succeeded by Tevô, son of Ngôthaw. The death of Hmôlai was greatly grieved by his wife Machia Chozah, and this prompted the Zyhno warriors to raid Tybu, a Matu village, in the Arakan Hill Tracts. In this raid, 18 heads were slain and 13 people were brought as captives, including 10 women and 3 children.[7] The return of the warriors with the slain heads and captives from tybu village marked the end of mourning by Machia Chozah. The news of Tybu raid soon reached the ears of the British and accordingly, the following year, in 1918, the Superintendant of South Lushai hills sent punitive expeditions to Zyhno, the village of Tevô, this time however, to subdue the warring tribes once and for all.

Soon the British troops arrived in the vicinity of Tevô’s village and started burning and destroying the paddy fields. The people were left helpless as they could not compete with the much sophisticated and more superior arms and ammunitions of the British troops. Ultimately, they were forced to surrender in good terms without any loss of life and in 1924, the entire Zyhno tribes along with their chief Tevô bowed down to the will of the alien rulers.

However, Tevô Bôhia continued to be the chief even after the entire tribes came under the British rule. He was a man of benevolent character, wise and able administrator as well. He was a man of principle having tremendous understanding for his subjects. He would encourage the people to work hard and he is said to have his own jhumming field, where he would work untiringly bearing the harshness of heat and rain like any other common man. Thus, his personality won him favour among his tribes.

Furthermore, in order to have a firsthand knowledge of the wellbeing of his tribes, he would personally make frequent visit to every household. It may also be noted that if he found young boys or girls loitering in the village, he was always quick with his words “…my dear one, how uninformed is me in not knowing your illness that compel you so much out of labour, please pardon me for my ignorance”. Therefore, it was very difficult for a person in good physical shape to stay behind not labouring in the fields. This must have been perhaps the reason when NE Perry, an ICS officer remarked that “Zyhno tribes are the most laborious people of the entire Mara tribes…they have much larger jhums, and get heavier crops of rice.”

Thus, these tribes, having been brought under a new administration, their activities now circumscribed, ‘head-hunting’ stopped, ‘slaves’ freed, guns controlled, and thus were made to conform to a settled though loose form of administration[9], and the people lamented about their shoddy state of affairs with nostalgic remembrance of their traditional settings in these words :“Government has taken over all our country, we shall always have to work for Government; it were better had we never been born, or Government has now hemmed us in, on the north, on the south, on the east, on the west. Henceforth none of our young warriors will drink of the waters of the Salu river, where we always used to raid.”

After the incorporation of Zyhno to the British Empire in 1924, Tevô Bôhia ruled for seven more years and ultimately died in 1931. He left behind four sons who were also given royal status and territorial jurisdiction of their own. Thus, it may be stated that the death of Tevô Bôhia marked the beginning of the end of a long struggle for an independent existence against imperial hegemony.

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[1]Robin, K, Chieftainship and colonialism in Mizoram, in International Research Journal of Social Sciences Vol 1, Puducherry, 2008, p. 181.

[2] Ibid

[3]Hrachu, S, Mara Lal Ropui Tevo Bohia Chanchin, Unpublished manuscript, p.1.

[4] Ibid, pp.1-2.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Chawngkhuma Chawngthu, Tevô Bôhia: The famous chief of Maras, in Historical journal Mizoram, Voume-IX, St. Josheph’s Press, Aizawl, 2008, p.108.

[7] Ibid,p. 109.

[8] N.E.Perry, The Lakhers, Firma KLM Pvt Ltd, Calcutta, Reprint 1976, p.18.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid, p.14.

COMMENTS:

Tybu, also known as Taubu in the local dialect is perhaps a Mara village in East
Maraland, falling within Matupi township in Chin State. It was a time when our
people kept fighting to show their superiority over other families or villages,
or perhaps to satisfy the norms of consoling the departed family members
especially the queens.

Rahrisaw

Guest |2009-08-27 00:32:29

Good job; well written piece of work, Dr Robin.

According to our geneaologies, Bohia-Thlyutha and the Fachhai claim divine origin. Both could trace their ancestor mothers, not ancestor fathers. This kind of divine origin story is common in some South Asian people groups. Some kings in the Ancient Near East era too claimed divine origin to legitimate their ascension to the throne - who can go against a divine son?

On the other hand, since the last historical ancestor we could trace is female, at least for Bohia-Thlyutha and Fachhai, could this be a trace of a distant matrilineal system of the Mara society. This is a small research I am doing now.

Laiu Fachhai