History, asked by kidjae7, 5 months ago

The most dominant privilege enjoyed by the traditional Mizo Chief was the:​

Answers

Answered by shreerampandav
0

Answer:

ek is Di is full of tk of tk LLC full hd tk ho to do to do dj dj do do do do

Answered by Aloneboi26
4

Explanation:

Chieftainship in Mizo society

Dr. Lalthakima

Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science

Pachhunga University College

Mizoram : Aizawl

When the British annexed the area where the Mizos lived, they were surprisingly amazed to find large number of village units of administration, running .independently of one another and all headed by a chief of immense local standing. It is not possible to state clearly when and how in the past this institution took concrete shape. But it can be reasonably asserted that this happened at quite an early stage of evolution in their group life. It was said that during the 16th Century where the Mizos lived in Lentlang, a place somewhere in Burma side, the Hnamte clan invited Zahmuaka and his six sturdy sons to accept chieftainship of Khawrua and Tlangkhur village. One of the sons of Zahmuaka was Thangura whose descendants were called Sailos, who established themselves as a ruling clan over almost all the areas inhabited by the Mizos.

Position: The chief was usually called 'Lal' which means in Mizo 'a lord'. He maintained his position more through his personal qualities than hereditary rights, the chiefs position in the village was indeed that of a benevolent ruler. All those who lived in the village were looked upon as his own children. He was bound to help them in their adversities, counsel them in their difficulties, reward them in their achievements and punish them when they were found guilty of misdeeds or infringement of established customs. The villagers, on their turn, were to obey his orders implicitly, carry out errands assigned to them individually and collectively and help the chief in all possible ways. It must however, be mentioned that the chief was riot an autocrat, and in fact, could not afford to be so if he desired to retain his chiefship as they would leave him and take shelter under a different chief in another village if they found him tyrannical or indifferent to their needs and conveniences.

The chiefs commanded respect in return of the administration they carried out over their subjects, the sailo clans who established their chiefship claims that thy came out of the space between the moon and the sun. Killing of sailo chief was the most heinous crime in those days and a sailo captured in a raid shouldn't be enslaved nor killed according to convention. The chief was exercising judicial powers including power of life and death. Being the protector and father of the subjects, he leads the war party in wartimes. He appointed important officials of the village like Council of elders (Lal Khawnbawl), Blacksmith (Thirdeng), Priests (Sadawt and Puithiam), and Village Crier (Tlangau).

Rights and Privileges:

The chief, as the supreme authority of the mizo society enjoys rights and privileges which were curtailed after the annexation of the British. However since the beginning of the institution, the chief were entitled to various privileges which may be sum up as under:

He has the right to make all his trusted sons a chief by dividing his land between his sons.

He was the rightful owner of all lands within his jurisdiction.

He was entitled for free labour from the villagers for the construction and repairing of his house.

He was entitled to ‘Fathang’ (1-3 baskets of paddy) from every household in the village at the end of every year.

Different kinds of taxes known as ‘Chhiah’ were entitled to him viz., Meat tax (Sa chhiah), Bee tax (Khuai chhiah), Salt tax (Chi chhiah), Fish tax (Sangha chhiah).

He had the right to collect additional quantities of paddy from Ramhual and Zalen (Those men of possession in the village, who were exempted from paddy tax).

He was entitled to keep a special priest called Sadawt to perform religious functions for the sake of subjects

He had the right to confiscate half of paddy from the migrated villagers without permission.

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