SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF MIZORAM

ETHNIC GROUPSAmong the various tribal groups of the Mizos, the Luseis, somehow, became to be known as the dominating tribes, and from the culture and tradition of the Luseis, many of the present Mizo customs, cultures and traditions flourished. The Luseis, Raltes, Hmars, Pawis, Paites, from a larger tribal groups, while others like Khawlhring, Khiangte, Chawngthu etc. form a smaller tribal groups, although all have numerous sub tribes and sub clans. Apart from the Mizos, there are certain distinct tribal groups like Chakmas and Riangs localized in the south-wetern and western part of the state.

            The Chakma tribe belongs to eastern group of the Tibeto-Burman group of people. They are Buddhists, speaking a Chakma dialect which is a corrupt form of the Bengali language written in corrupt Burmese script. Over the years, due to their cultural interaction with people of other races, they have lost much of their originality. Even then, they are very near to south eastern Bengali, both culturally and traditionally, which differs from the Mizo culture in all respects. The Chakmas emigrated from Arakan and moved to Chittagong Hill Tracts (now Bangladesh) in the last quarter of the 19^th Century. The Chakmas are at present, inhabiting most of the inaccessible areas and low lying valleys of the south western Mizoram. They are classified as one of the Mongolian racial types.

The Riangs are mainly confined to north western margin of the states especially on the low lying valleys. They are also believed to be Tibeto-Burman group who migrated down  to the present habitat from the east. They speak a language somewhat akin to Bengali and lived as semi noradic tribes.

The Maras occupying the south eastern part of the state have a dialect unintelligible to rest of the other tribes, and still maintain their own dialect. The generic term ‘Mara’ includes several groups namely, the Chapi, Vytu, Zyhno, Hawthai, Sizo, Tlosai etc. The Hawthai group has one sub-group-the Locheis. The Hlaipao has a number of sub-groups such as Heima, Lialai and Zyhno. The Sizo sub-groups are the Aru, Chapi, Khihlo, Lialaira, Rutu, Saby, Sosai, Tokua, Tikei, Tisi etc. The Tlosai sub-groups are the Saikao and Siaha. The Maras are widely distributed but the greater numbers of the people are found in the Mara Autonomous District of Mizoram.

At present, there is hardly any feeling of superiority or inferiority among the various tribes and ethnic groups; for majority of the people is content to be a Mizo, the people of Mizoram.

LANGUAGEMizoram represents, perhaps, the most significant deviation as far as linguistic diversity in India is concerned. It is a mono-lingual state in which Mizo or Lusei is the lingua-franca of the state. The Mizo language belongs to the Assam-Burma branch of Tibeto-Burmese family of language.

            By 2001 census, there were only ten languages with more than one per cent speakers. Mizo language, by and large, is the dominant language, spoken as mother tongue by nearly 73 per cent. It is followed by Chakma with more than 7 per cent. Lakher (Mara) and Pawi (Lai) come closer with 3.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively. Languages of the indigenous tribes like Paihte and Hmar are surpassed by the speakers of Riang language. It is seen that Hindi Speakers of language accounted only 0.86 per cent, indicating tribal dominance of the state.

            The speakers of these languages together accounted for 98.84 per cent of the total population of the state. Mizo / Lusei alone constituted almost three-fourth of the total speakers of the state.

            The speakers of Mizo / Lushai has a steady fall in terms of decadal growth in number of speakers. It was 75.55 per cent in 1971, 71.15 per cent in 1981, and after two decades in 2001, it stood 72.90 per cent.

            The Chakma speaking population has maintained a constant growth, registering a decadal increase of 8.08 per cent from 1971 to 1981, 7.8 per cent during 1981 to 1991, and 7.54 per cent in 2001. The percentage of Lakher speakers also decreased to 3.38 per cent in 1981 from 3.49 per cent in 1971; however the percentage share in 2001 was 3.9. While that of Pawi rose to 4.65 per cent from 3.10 per cent during 1971 – 1981, the share in 2001 was 2.8 per cent. Hmar speakers, on the other hand, maintained their share in the population with 1.36 per cent in 1971 per cent in 1981 and 1.6 per cent in 2001.

            The state of Mizoram has uniqueness amidst the heavy tribal concentration, that language diversity is insignificant as compared to other tribal areas like Nagaland or Arunachal Pradesh. The reason is clear; unlike other tribal groups who came in pre-historic or ancient period, occupied inaccessible hilly areas, thereafter, lived in nearly complete socio-culture isolation, the Mizos came very recently between 15^th and 18^th Centuries. When the Mizo migrated from Burma, they have a fairly developed spoken Mizo language. During the last few centuries, variation in Mizo language has not been significant.

            Chakma language is a deviation from Bengali and Lakher is unintelligible to the Mizo. Pawi and Hmar language have much similarities with Mizo language. In fact, many of the words are comprehensible one another to the speakers of these languages. The Riang language is also related to Bengali.

RELIGIOUS COMPOSTIONUnlike most of the other constituents of India, Mizoram is marked by a monopoly of a single religion which is Christianity. The reason can be best explained by socio-cultural factors; as the region is dominated by high tribal concentration with no significant ethnic and cultural diversities. Christianity was brought to the region by British Missionaries in 1894. Been having no definite religion, so influencial and conducive was Christianity to the Mizos that within a span of only fifty years, it became the major religion of the region. In fact, it is claimed that all the Mizos are Christians today. The other religions pursued by small sections of the population in Mizoram are Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism etc.

            It is vivid from the table and figure that Christian population dominates the state with a high percentage of 86.97. Next to it Buddhist community represented by the Chakmas accounted for 7.93 per cent. The Hindu population constituted 3.55 per cent, while the Muslim community contributed 1.13 per cent. In terms of decadal growth percentage, the Christians and Buddhist go side by side with 23 per cent each. The rate is moderate with the Hindus and Sikhs around 10 per cent. The growth rate is very high in the case of Jains, with 97.76 per cent; but actual numerical strength is negligible.