03-03-002

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KUKI-CHIN GROUP.

　The word Kuki is, more especially, used to denote the various tribes which have successively been driven from the Lushai and Chin Hills into the surrounding country to the north and west. The tribes which first emigrated from Lushai land into Cachar, the Rngkhls and Bts with their off-shoots, are generally distinguished as Old Kuki; while it has become customary to use the term New Kuki to denote the Thdos, Jangshns, and their off-shoots. These latter tribes had driven the so-called Old Kukis out of Lushai land, and were afterwards themselves driven out by the Lushis.

　The terms Old Kuki and New Kuki are apt to convey the idea that the tribes so denoted are closely related to each other. But that is not the case. Not only do their customs and institutions differ considerably, but their languages are separated by a large group of dialects in the Lushai and Chin Hills. The so-called New Kukis are, so far as we can see, a Chin tribe, most closely related to the inhabitants of the Northern Chin Hills, while the Old Kukis are related to tribes more to the south. I have therefore abandoned the use of the title New Kuki, but have retained the name Old Kuki for want of a better word to denote a language which we know in many dialects, such as Rngkhl, Bt, Aimol, Hallm, and others.

　 Chin is a Burmese word used to denote the various hill tribes living in the country between Burma and the Provinces of Assam and Bengal. It is written and dialectically pronounced Khyang. The name is not used by the tribes themselves, who use titles such as Zo or Yo and Sh.

　McRae records a tradition among the 'Kukis,' according to which they and the Maghs are descended from two brothers, the younger being the progenitor of the Kukis. There can, of course, be attributed little or no importance to this tradition; but this much is certain, that the Kuki-Chin languages belong to the Burmese branch of the Tibeto-Burman family.

　The history of the Kuki-Chin tribes is only known from comparatively modern times. With the exception of the Meitheis, who have been settled in the Manipur valley for more than a thousand years, all the Kuki- Chin tribes appear to have lived in a nomadic state for some centuries. It would seem that they all settled in the Lushai and Chin Hills some time during the last two centuries, and ths country may be considered as the place where their languages have developed their chief characteristics.

　Their total number may be estimated at between 600,000 and 1,000,000. There are, however, no reliable statistics available, most of the local returns being mere estimates. The total 600,000 is based on the informa- tion collected for the Linguistic Survey.

　The details are as follows:-

I. Meithei...			240,637
II. Chin languages:-	1. Northern Group...		60,345
	a. Thdo...	31,437
	b. Sokt...	9,005
	c. Siyin...	1,770
	d. Rlt...	18,133
	e. Pait...	?
		60,345
Carried over.			300,982