THE VAIPHEI TRIBE

THE VAIPHEI TRIBE

TUALCHIN NEIHSIAL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Tualchin Neihsial is a Zomi Scholar of repute. He has to his credit well documented articles and publications. He holds a Doctorate degree in Philosophy. This article is reproduced from ‘(VA Millennium Magazine).

The name of Vaiphei has been originated from Phaiza, which was a village of Suantak families situated in the Chin Hills of Burma. It was big enough and vast in length and wide. The villagers of Phaiza changed the name of their village into Khawvaiphei, which means the village was at the length and breadth and vast. So, from this Khawvaiphei, the name Vaiphei has been originated (Khaw = village, Vai = breadth, Phei = plain). Thus, the actual meaning of Khawvaiphei is village breadth plain.
In the Chin Hills, they settled first at Sihzang area. From Sihzang the Suantak clan settled at Suantakzang, a place which was named after their clan and from where they moved to another place called Saizang and from Saizang they moved Ciimnuai. From Ciimnuai they moved again to Khawsak. From Khawsak they came along the course of Gun river and found a suitable place for settlement near a hill stream called

Ngatan lui. This place had a spring called Sih (si) and they settled on both sides of the spring Sih. The group which settled on one side of the spring became known as Sihzang while the other group on the other side of the spring was known as Vaiphet The Sihzang has been corrupted into Siyin by the Burmese and the Vaiphei into Waiphei by the Manipuris. They are called Tantes or Tanlctes in the Manipur records.
From Sihzang area they were divided into two groups, one Sihzang group remained there and the Vaiphei group migrated into the present Mizoram and Manipur. The first group went and occupied present Manipur’s Sadar Hills where they were classified as the old Kuki group because of their earlier arrival into India. The second group moved into Manipur during the Chin Hills Expedition (1889- 1891). Today the Vaiphei are found to have concentrated in Manipur’s Churachandpur district though many of them are in other hill district of Manipur also.
The Vaipheis live mainly in Manipur, Mizoram, Assam and Nagaland. They are one of the Scheduled Tribes of Manipur. Their language belongs to the so-called Kuki-Chin group of the TibetoBurman family. They do not have their own written script like other cognate tribes of Manipur. The Vaipheis have adopted the Roman script for the development of their language and literature. The adoption of  the Roman script is hardly a century old. In Manipur, the Vaiphei had 2882 speakers in 1921, 4623 in 1931, 4241 in 1951, 8215 in 1961, 12347 in 1971 and 16245 in 1981 census.
Every Vaiphei village has a traditional head called Hausa (chief) whose position is hereditary, and the entire land belonged to him. The chief is assisted by a member of elders known as SiamangUpa, the village black-smith (thiksek) , the priest (thiampu), and the announcer/crier (tangsam) are among the Siamang-Upas. All matter concerning disputes among the villagers must be appealed to the chief through the Siamang and Pachawng (incharge of tax collection) with ajar of zu (wine).
The tribe is divided into a number of clans, and most of the clans have further been divided into a number of sub-
clans.
The Vaiphei society is patrilineal and patrilocal. The family is patriarchal and is often a joint family. In olden
days, although the father is the head of  the family, both the husband and wife never mention each other’s name as a sign of respect. The children also never mention their parents’ name even after they grow up as a sign of respect. Parents are usually addressed by the name of their eldest child, suffixed with ‘pa ‘(father) or ‘nu ‘(mother).
The traditional religion of the Vaiphei is a combination of ancestor worship and animism. They believed in the existence of a supreme deity whom they called “Pathian “. Besides Pathian, there are a number of supernatural being who are equally revered and feared. Sacrifices of fowl, pig, dog and goats are made to appease these deities.
The most important traditional festival of the Vaipheis are Thazing-lap chawn, saai, gallu-ai, sawm zu and lawmzu nek. There is no specific date for any particular festival.
Thanks to Christian missionaries, Christianity and western education brought tremendous changes in the traditional religions, economic, social and cultural life of the Vaipheis.
 

(source - zillai millenium magazine)

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