03-03-059

NORTHERN-CHIN SUB-GROUP.

　　This sub-group comprises the following dialects:-

Thdo, including Jangshn, spoken by...	31,437
Sokt " " ...	9,005
Siyin " " ...	1,770
Rlt " " ...	18,133
Pait " " ...	?
Total, at least.	60,345

　 Rlt and Pait form the link connecting this sub-group with the Central Chin languages.

THDO.

　The Thdo tribe formerly lived in the Lushai and Chin Hills where they had estab- lished themselves after having expelled the Rngkhl and Bt tribes. They were after- wards expelled both from the Chin Hills and the Lushai Hills, and are now chiefly settled in Manipur, in the Naga Hills, and in South Cachar. The Lushai Chief Lalll began, about the year 1810, to move north wards, and the Thdos were gradually expelled from the Lushai Hills, and settled down in Cachar somewhere between 1840 and 1850. About the same time the Thdos of the Chin Hills were conquered by the Sokts under their chief Kantum, and were driven towards the north into Manipur, where they settled down in the hills to the south. There are now only six Thdo villages left in the Chin Hills. Thdo is the name of their original progenitor, but it is also used by the Chins to denote the tribe itself. In Assam and Bengal they are known as Kukis, a name which also comprises other tribes such as the Rngkhls, Hallms, Bts, etc. The Thdos and their co-tribes are usually spoken of as new Kukis, owing to the fact that they came from the Lushai Hills at a later date than the other hill tribes, the so-called old Kukis. In Manipur they are called Khongzis, and they use this name themselves in conversation with Manipurs, whom they call Mei-lei.

　Several sub-tribes trace their origin back to Thdo and his brothers. McCulloch states that the principal clans are the Thdos proper, Shingsol, Chongloi, Hangseen, Keep- gen, and Hankoop, from which have sprung several sub-clans of smaller importance. Mr. Damant mentions four principal tribes, Thdo and Shingsol, Changsen and Khln- gam, while Mr. Soppitt speaks of 'Jansn' as the principal tribe and 'Tadoi' as a co-tribe. Kotang, Shk-Shinshum, Rlt, and Sri are, according to him, different offshoots of these tribes. Other sources give the names Katlang and Sairang, and the different hill tribes use several other names to denote the Thdos. It is, however, of little use to make all these divisions and sub-divisions. They have nothing to do with the language. All these tribes, with the exception of Rlt, speak the same language, and the dialectical differ- ences are only slight. The language itself is, according to Messrs. Stewart and Damant, called Thdo-pao, Thdo language.

　The Thdos maintain that they have come out from the bowels of the earth. They explain the origin of the different tribes by the legend that the grandsons of their first king were told to catch a rat, but were struck with a confusion of tongues. In this way they also try to bring themselves in connection with the Meitheis and other surrounding tribes. They state that they have come from the north, and this tradition probably con- tains a remembrance of old wanderings, from the times before they settled down in the