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Mizo

Encyclopedia : M : MI : MIZ : Mizo

The Mizos are a scheduled tribe in northeastern India, primarily in the state of Mizoram, where they are a majority. Mizos are a close-knit society with no class distinction and no discrimination on grounds of sex. The entire society is knitted together by a peculiar code of ethics called Tlawmngaihna, which makes each individual responsible for his/her actions and demands that he/she be hospitable, helpful, considerate and honest in his dealings with others. The Mizos are divided into numerous tribes/sub-tribes, which include the Lushai, the Ralte, the Hmar,the Khiangte, the Paite, the Mara, and the Pawi. Their languages (of which the largest is Lushai) belong to the Tibeto-Burman family, and are closely related to those of the Chin in the adjacent Chin State of Myanmar, as well as those of the Nagas, Kukis and others.

Mizos have long complained of political isolation and neglect from India, which was brought to a head by the Mautam (Bamboo Flowering) and these sentiments fueled aspirations for independence or greater autonomy. The Mizo National Front took up cudgels on behalf of the Mizo people and declared independence from India, leading to a long and bloody struggle with losses on both sides. The MNF, however, finally signed the Mizoram Peace Accord, gave up arms and joined the mainstream. It has now become the leading political party among Mizos and is currently the strongest player in the Mizoram government.

There are also smaller numbers of Mizos in Myanmar (chiefly in Chin State) and Bangladesh (chiefly in the Chittagong Hill Tracts).

Religion

Almost all ethnic Mizos are Christian, mostly Presbyterian and Baptist. They adopted Christianity in the 19th century with the intervention of missionaries from the British, extinguishing nearly every trace of their native Shinlung religion. Mizos have adopted the idea of evangelising Christianity to a large degree.

A minority of the Mizos have recently been observing Judaism following the announcement of a local researcher that the Mizos were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel (see Bnei Menashe). Roughly 5,000 Mizos and Kukis, a related ethnic group, have become or are the children of those who began to convert to Judaism during the mid-1980s. The state's powerful churches dismiss this belief.

On 1 April 2005, the Chief Rabbi of Sephardic Jews in Israel, Shlomo Amar, recognized the Jewish community as authentic descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The decision coupled with a gesture to send a contingent of Rabbis to India to perform formal Orthodox Jewish conversions. With the conversions, the Mizo Jews, who claim ancestry to the Tribe of Manasseh, would be allowed to move to Israel under Israel's Law of Return.

Mizo related websites

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