The Camera as Witness: A Social History of Mizoram, Northeast India

506 Pages·2015·40.533 MB·English

by  Joy L. K. Pachuau, Willem van Schendel

The Camera as Witness
A Social History of Mizoram,
Northeast India
Joy L. K. Pachuau | Willem van Schendel
Cambridge House, 4381/4 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi 110002, India
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© Joy L. K. Pachuau and Willem van Schendel 2015
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First published 2015
Printed in India
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schendel, Willem van.
The camera as witness : a social history of Mizoram, Northeast India/Willem van Schendel, Joy
L.K. Pachuau.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-07339-5 (hardback)
1. Mizoram (India)—History—19th century. 2. Mizoram (India)—History—20th century.
3. Mizoram (India)—History—19th century—Pictorial works. 4. Mizoram (India)—History—
20th century—Pictorial works. 5. Mizoram (India)—Civilization. 6. Mizoram (India)—
Civilization—Pictorial works. 7. Mizoram (India)—Social conditions. 8. Mizoram (India)—
Social conditions—Pictorial works. 9. Mizoram (India)—Social life and customs. 10. Mizoram
(India)—Social life and customs—Pictorial works. I. Pachuau, Joy, 1969-II. Title.
DS485.M684S544 2015
954 ’ .166—dc23
2014030968
ISBN 978-1-107-07339-5 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Table of Contents
List of Figures v
List of Maps xxv
Acknowledgements xxvii
I: Becoming Mizo 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Coming into View: The First Portraits 24
3 Adjusting Mizo Culture 36
4 Domesticating a New Religion 59
5 Getting Educated 87
6 Controlling the Hills 109
7 The Trouble of Travel 145
8 First Stirrings of the Market Economy 168
9 Mizos in the World Wars 189
10 Mizo Visual Sensibilities 212
II: Mizoram in the New India 231
11 The Long Goodbye 233
12 The Emergence of Popular Politics 245
13 Mizoram and the New Indian Order 253
14 Mizoram Comes to Delhi 266
15 The Search for Authenticity at Home 275
16 Mizo Style: Cowboys at Heart 288
III: Visions of Independence 295
17 Famine and Revolt 297
18 The Mizoram Government at Home and in East Pakistan 318
19 The Mizoram Government in Burma,
China and Bangladesh 341
20 A State and its Minorities 359
Table of Contents
IV: Mizo Modernities 377
21 Being Cool: The Music Scene 379
22 Being Cool: Sharp Dressers 397
23 Studio Modernity 410
24 Conclusion 423
Copyrights and Sources 425
Glossary 439
Bibliography 443
Index 463
IV
List of Figures
Chapter 1
1.1 Lalsawma makes a self-portrait, 1974 14
1.2 P. Rohmingthanga capturing a cultural event, 1970s 14
Chapter 2
2.1 Twekam, the Khumi chief of a village on the Kaladan river 25
2.2 Likebo, a Shendu/Lakher/Mara chief 26
2.3 Lushai woman 27
2.4 Gopi, a Khumi girl 28
2.5 A young man, Pangkhua sub-group 28
2.6 Tington, the headman of Chepui 29
2.7 Lushai woman with pipe 30
2.8 Portraits of Lushai, Paite and Lai (Poi) men 30
2.9 Young man of the Mru (Mro) group 31
2.10 Group of Lushai, 1872 32
2.11 L ushai chiefs posing with guns during their visit to Calcutta
(Kolkata), 1872 32
2.12 Pakhoma, a village chief near Tlabung (Demagiri), 1882 33
2.13 Lushai women at the loom, Pakhoma’s village, 1882 34
Chapter 3
3.1 Lushai implements 38
3.2 Mara musical instruments 38
3.3 The band of Chapi village, southern Mizoram 39
3.4 C hapel in the small village of Rotlang: A traditional
drum hangs in front of the pulpit, 1932 39
3.5 A group of hymn-singing Mizos, accompanied by
a trumpet and a snare drum 40
3.6 A group of performers wishing a happy New Year 41
List of Figures
3.7 ‘Strumming!’ Zawnga and his banjo, 1940s 41
3.8 A group of fashionable young Mizos pose with their guitars 42
3.9 Boys with a ukulele 42
3.10 The first Mizo choir to tour northern India, 1929 43
3.11 M issionary Katie Hughes directing a church choir rehearsal
in Durtlang 44
3.12 A Christmas carol party in Venghnuai, 1949 44
3.13 L ushai women spinning, combing and drying cotton, southern
Mizoram 45
3.14 Lushai women spinning, combing and drying cotton, southern
Mizoram 45
3.15 Mizo women weaving, Aizawl 45
3.16 I nhabitants of Chelam (Selam) and Durpang villages,
northeastern Mizoram 46
3.17 Lushai boy 46
3.18 Young Lushai man in front of his house 47
3.19 The first Sunday School in Mizoram 48
3.20 Our first three students 49
3.21 L altawnga, the first Mizo to become a licensed medical
practitioner, and Thuama, the second, 1913 51
3.22 Chuautera and Challiana, schoolmasters at Serkawn 51
3.23 Lalbeveli and M. Suaka, c. 1920 52
3.24 A group of educated young men, 1920–1925 53
3.25 K aithuami dressed in homespun with western shoes
and stockings, 1923 54
3.26 Family group with pet dog, 1938 55
3.27 Group of nurses in festive dress 55
Chapter 4
4.1 B ritish troops at the memorial site of Vanhnuailiana, a recently
deceased chief, near Champhai in eastern Mizoram 60
4.2 Vanhnuailiana’s shrine with memorial stone: A human
head, skulls of sacrificed animals and rice–beer container 60
4.3 ‘Prayer house’ 61
4.4 M emorial stone showing human figures, spears and the horned
skulls of sacrificed cattle 62
4.5 Shrine in northern Mizoram 63
4.6 Hut serving as the first church in Mizoram 64
VI
List of Figures
4.7 Preaching the Gospel in Mizoram 65
4.8 Khuma and Khara, the first Mizos Christians, 1899 67
4.9 Passage from pastor Chhuahkhama’s sermon, delivered in
the Mission Veng chapel, Aizawl, on 26 April 1931 68
4.10 The printing press at Serkawn, 1940 70
4.11 Sunday School in Aizawl, c. 1929. 71
4.12 I n 1910, 13-year-old Lukira of Serkawn Sunday School passed
his scripture exam and received this certificate of merit 72
4.13 Mizo students in Silchar reading The Children’s Newspaper 73
4.14 Young ex-Christian, 1932 73
4.15 A bachelors’ dormitory or zawlbuk 75
4.16 A Christian village with the church on the hill to the left, 1930s 76
4.17 People coming to church in Rotlang village (southern
Mizoram) on a Sunday morning in 1932, against the
background of a cloud-filled valley 76
4.18 The journey of souls after death 77
4.19 Killing a gayal 78
4.20 Y-shaped posts, each erected to commemorate the killing of a
gayal at a feast, c. 1910 79
4.21 T wo gayals to be slaughtered for Christmas in Venghnuai
village, 1944 80
4.22 Feeding salt to gayals before slaughter at a wedding, 1958 80
4.23 A feast of gayal meat being prepared among Christian graves,
Sihfa village, 1956 81
4.24 Women evangelists or ‘Bible Women,’ 1923 81
4.25 Evangelists setting off for Burma, c. 1910s 82
4.26 Choosing a new sakhua: A mass baptism in southern Mizoram,
c. 1913 84
Chapter 5
5.1 Mizo villagers and a Gurkha interpreter (in white), 1894 88
5.2 Preaching in a Mizo village, c. 1913 89
5.3 M issionary Fred Savidge and his helper Challiana at work in
the study of the Serkawn mission house, c. 1914. 89
5.4 T eachers and children pose in front of the Aizawl Mission
School, 1903 90
5.5 Geometry lesson, Lunglei school, 1905 92
VII
List of Figures
5.6 A n early Mizo primer, produced by the missionaries and printed
in Madras, 1909 92
5.7 Hrangshela, the schoolmaster of Dawn village, sits on a chair,
surrounded by his pupils, 1914 93
5.8 Hopeful boys in the school playground 93
5.9 Mara youths who used to board at Serkawn before schools were
opened in their own region, 1932 94
5.10 A model timetable for school teachers, 1905 95
5.11 F riday morning hygiene lesson in Serkawn kindergarten:
Teacher Chhumi supervises the cleaning of the classroom
furniture 95
5.12 A gainst a background of morning clouds, students and prefects
of Serkawn Girls’ School line up in classes, 1926 96
5.13 Schoolgirls marching to music at a rehearsal of Open Day at
Serkawn school, 1923 96
5.14 The first Mizo students in Shillong, 1906 97
5.15 Kaithuami and Laii, nursing students in Shillong, 1919 98
5.16 Mizo B.A. students in Kolkata in 1920 99
5.17 Mizo students in Shillong in 1929 100
5.18 Mizo students in Jorhat (Assam), 1937 100
5.19 Mizo students at Cotton College in Guwahati (Assam), 1948 101
5.20 Studio portrait of Lalthanliana, Philadelphia, 1937 102
5.21 T heological School, Durtlang. An exercise book for lessons in
Reformation and Church History, 1925 104
5.22 Lalsiami and Chhumi, the first nurses trained in Serkawn,
c. 1923 105
5.23 Nursing students at ‘stretcher drill’ on the first Open Day of
the South Lushai Girls’ School, Serkawn, 1923 105
5.24 S tudents of the Theological and Teachers’ Training School in
their scouting uniforms 106
Chapter 6
6.1 A rmy camp, probably at Tipaimukh, at the northern edge of
Mizoram 109
6.2 Breakfast at Tipaimukh camp 110
6.3 ‘Camp Joi Bûm, Lushai’ 110
6.4 British officer surveying in Mizoram, 1872 111
VIII