The People

Tlawmngaihna

There was an excellent custom called tlawngaihna by which one was duty bound to help others.

With the advent of Christianity the institution of Zawlbuk and the custom of tlawmngaihna gradually died. The Christian in a village would not join a Zawlbuk and hence when the majority in a village become Christians, the zawlbuk in the village languished and ultimately become extinct.  Similar was the fate of tlawmngaihna. When the people were turning away from their old beliefs, the customary network of  duties and obligations was also snapped.  New structures and institutions like village churches, schools, medical centres and administrative centres etc, were coming up.  The people started depending, individually and collectively, more on the church and the Government for guidance and help.

Bawi

In the hills social system permitted was partly a type of slavery and partly a system of social security.  Amongst the Lushais this was the system of the bawi.  Under this system a chief would have a number of dependants (bawis) who would remain with the chief, work for him and help him in all respects and in turn would get food and shelter from the chief.  He could free himself from the obligation to the chief only under certain conditions, usually on giving a mithun or payment of certain amount.

Apart from the bawis, there was another class of dependants consisting of the persons captured during raids.  They were called sals. The victors in a raid would kill the adult warriors and old women of the defeated side.  The marriageable women and  children would be taken captives. They would be treated well in the captor's family.

Sei

Lakher counterpart of the Lushai bawi was Sei. Unlike the Lushais among whom only the chiefs could have bawis, the Lakhen custom allowed anyone to keep one's captive as a Sei.  A Sei was sometimes allowed to set up his own house hold. But the obligation was hereditary.  A Sei could acquire property of his own, but his master could always take a share of the crops or animals of the sei.

With the British administration prohibiting raids by the chiefs, the custom of tuklut bawi, sal and sei ceased to have new entrants. The custom was of mutual assistance, help and obligation and not of slavery. The bawi was after treated as a part of the family and could be adopted in the family by the saphun (adoption) ceremony.

The bawi custom gradually died.  The administration liberally allowed freedom of the bawis on usual cash payment.  A bawi was allowed to leave at will and the chief only had the remedy to sue for the compensation.

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