Herald of the re-union of Siyins and Vaipheis

Son Za Howe *

Pic: zolengthe.net

In the month of September 1957, Mr Peter Ngin Za Thang, proprietor of the Chin Burma United Co. Ltd., of Rangoon and editor of the Hun Thak weekly (published from Rangoon in the Siyin language) called upon me to accompany him to India for the dual purpose of opening a border trade firm called Frontier Trading Co., at Lamka (New Churachanpur) and for carrying out historical researches on the affinity between the Siyins (Suantaks) and Vaipheis.

Having jumped at it, I arranged a rendezvous with him to meet each other at Lamka in the last week of September 1957. I set off from home in the mid of the month so as to reach our RV ahead of him and after trek/iddim on the Imphal-Tiddim road below a police station.

So all the casual visitors had to seek for new acquaintance for taking shelter in their own sweet way. As I entered a foreign territory illegally I was self conscious of crime of intrusion upon it that I dared not stay in the heart of the town near police and CID stations. I preferred to sojourn with my friend Shri Song Kam Paite who was a seri-cultural officer residing in an isolated quarters on the outskirts of the town which adjoined a mulberry plantation with a silkworm rearing house that afforded me safe haven from the threats of the police, CID personal and traitorous civil informers. Though there were some Vaiphei families living nearby, I did not make acquaintance with them as yet for I feared that my immature exposure might betray myself to give them any trouble.

Also I was in no mood of over staying their welcome until my boss Peter's arrival.

By the last week of September 1957, Peter arrived there legally from Rangoon by plane to Culcutta and onwards to Imphal by train and bus successively. He was warmly greeted and received by the Vaiphei elders at Paukhawcin's.

In the evening, Paukhawcin fetched me to his home to join up Peter in his lodging. They (the Vaipheis) were very glad to see us and they welcomed our visit as to receive the return of the prodigal son as told in the Bible. They treated us as VIPs beyond measure. In the night we made an agreement with Paukhawcin to lease his house to us for our company office.

According to our schedule, we departed for Dimapur the following day by Manipur State Transport bus to take train to Jaipur via Culcutta.

After a tedious journey for a whole week without any stopover between them, we reached Jaipur where we were welcome and received by a Gujarati millionaire who owned a chain jewelry shop all over the country of India and abroad. He was so kind to us to study his business transitions.

During our stay there for three days, we went for sight seeing in the city of Jaipur and its surrounding country where we were much captivated by the sight of the imposing palace of Maharaja of Rajasthan.

We left Jaipur again on the 6th October 1957 for Imphal and on tracing our steps, we reached back Churachandpur on the 13th October 1957. We put up at Paukhawcin's and took rest for three days. On the 14th October 1957 the Vaipheis of Lamka slaughtered a pig to play host to us in honour of our visit which they thought to be the unprecedented visit of a Siyin to them.

All the Vaiphei families of Lamka proper and some invited guests from the surrounding Vaiphei villages came to the feast. Pu ThianLam who was then the Headmaster of the Government High School of New Churachanpur was also present among others to grace the auspicious occasion.

We conducted exhaustive interviews with the old folks exchanging between us on the contemporary stories of the two tribes. Then Peter narrated, "In their early era, the ancient Vaipheis lived together with their Siyin brothers in the Siyin Valley for a few generations. But with the increase of population the Siyin Valley had no more sufficient fertile land for cultivation, they (the Vaiphei clans) shifted to the eastern reverse of the Letha range and settled at Mawnglian (near the present Ngalzang village) for another number of years.

As Mawnglian village was accessible easily from the Kale plain, the plain people raided it from time to time that they moved back in to the Siyin valley, as they were intolerant of the repeated assault from Kale. The Khuasak and Lophei villagers gave them land for cultivation and lived there until the British annexation of the Chin Hills in about 1886.

In fear of the British invaders the Vaiphei clans took to fight in the north and some of them settled at Tuipi on the way and the rest reached as far as Manipur State and settled there. Hence the separation between the Siyins and the Vaipheis".

As the separation has not yet been remote the existing Siyin animists are still adopting Vaiphei folksongs and they sing them with dancing the Vaiphei folkdances in their marriage ceremonies held according to the Siyin old customs. The remains (skeleton) of the dear ancient Vaipheis carefully preserved in earthen pots which were buried in the ground can still be seen today in their graveyard near Khuasak village.

We can learn that the Vaipheis were good cultivators because their masonry works and terraces on the slope hillside for prevention of soil erosion are still their integrity upto this time. Besides, as they were curious to learn the social advancement in the Siyin society. Peter added "by the Grace of God, there have come up many personages in our society in military and civil service in the Government of Burma."

To mention but a few—Pa Vum Khaw Hau of Thuklai rose up to an international level as an ambassador of the Union of Burma to France. He, one of the founding fathers of the Union of Burma, was a member of Aung San's inner Cabinet who went to London to take part in NU-ATLEE treaty for taking independence of Burma from the British Government.

He was also the leader of SIA (Siyin Independence Army) in rebellion against the Japanese Imperialist army that he was the bosom friend of Earl Mountbatten, Supreme Commander of South East Asia Command in the Second world war; occasionally he led the Burmese delegation to the UN session on some international affairs. Pa Lun Pum of Khuasak became Minister for Land Naionalisation in the Burmese Government. Then, when Peter listed all of the high ranking officer in the Burmese Army and Civil Service and several medical college graduates, the crowd raised rapturous applause. And he said that Pu Thianlam from Vaiphei side had reached the upper echelon of Education Department in Manipur State.

To conclude his speech, he reciprocated his thanks to the Vaipheis relatives for their warm welcome and entertainment throughout our stay with them at Lamka. He added, "We will leave from here for our home tomorrow. So I want to leave you with a word for your kind remembrance that this unprecedented meeting will serve as a herald of our future unification again in one land as our fore fathers were. Also with this wish : "Bless be the tide that Bind us" and may it bring a stronger and closer relation between the Vaipheis and the Siyins forever, Amen.

The Vaipheis relatives gave us a hind leg of the pig killed for us for bringing home according to our customs and, with this meaningful flesh we left Lamka on the 15th October 1957 by land route in motor cars via Imphal, Moreh, Tamu and Kalay. We arrived back Khuasak on the 18th October 1957. On reaching home, we handed over the leg of pork to Pi Cing Khaw Zam, mother of Peter and after slicing it up, she doled them out with pride and joy among her neighbours to show the significance according to our customs.

Though we have been dispersed far apart in the flesh, our tie in the hearts has never been lost that it has been growing into a closer and stronger one since then. They began to trace back their origin, afterwards. Most likely an observation team consisting of some reliable leaders of Tamu Vaiphei community was sent to Khuasak village to attend the 75th Anniverssary (Diamond Jubilee) of the conversion of the first Christian converts Pu Reverend Thuam Hang and Pu Pau Suan of Khuasak held in 1979.

After the anniversary the Khuasak Baptist Church slaughtered a cow to host a meeting of the secular and religious leaders of the Siyin and Vaiphei clans to make consultation on their common future in the aftermath of the Jubilee. In the meeting, the Vaiphei elders moved that the Siyins and Vaipheis would be reunified to live in a land in Tamu area where there is a lot of arable land flowing with milk and honey. The meeting affirmed their proposals but no Siyin people have yet joined them up to this time, except Saya Do Thian Pau, PAT from Buanman village who married with a Vaiphei woman there so as to become our pioneer. Both of them are descendent of Lian Sung (Lian Chunga).

Since then, many of the students studying in India have already graduated with secular or theological degree with the financial or moral support of our Vaiphei relatives in India. Gazing into long futurity, the Vaiphei Christians of Tamu area have been affiliating with the Siyin Region Baptist Association (SRBA) since the year 1999 and working together in one fellowship for the services of the Lord, as we have had desired from a long time ago.

Bless our unification ! Pome WA !