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CENTRAL CHIN SUB-GROUP.
This sub-group comprises the following languages:-
Shunkla or Tash![]() |
39,215
|
Zahao, " " ... |
2,000
|
Lai... " " ... |
23,450
|
Lakher " " ... |
1,100
|
Lush![]() ![]() |
40,539
|
Banj![]() ![]() |
500
|
P![]() ![]() |
800
|
TOTAL
|
107,604
|
These languages are closely connected with the northern group, but have still
greater affinity to the so-called Old Kuki dialects. The chief point of difference,
when compared with Old Kuki, is the negative particle, which is lo in the Central
languages as in Thdo, but usually m
k in Old Kuki. P
nkh
is the
dialect which is most closely connected with Old Kuki.
SHUNKLA OR TASHN.
The tribes generally called Tashns live in the Chin Hills to the south
of the country inhabited by the Siyins and the Sokt
s. To the west they are
bounded by the Lushai Hills and to the south by the Lai. Messrs. Carey and Tuck
estimated their number in 1895 at 39,215. Their country is the most thickly
populated in the Chin Hills. They include the two powerful communities of Zahao
or Yahow and Wheno, which were formerly known as Pois, Poi-t
and Pai-t
.
Poi is the Lush
i name for the Chins in general, and t
is the plural
suffix. The Tash
ns call themselves Shunkla, and under this name they are
also known to the southern tribes. Shunkla is the name of a village in the southern
part of their territory, and they think that their forefathers came out of a
rock at Shunkla. Later on their capital was transferred to Klashun, and the
name Tash
n is the Burmese corruption of this word. Their chief village is
now Falam, and the northern tribes call them Palam-t
, inhabitants of Falam.
They were constantly at war with the Hakas, and the raids of this latter tribe
are supposed to have been the reason for their transferring their capital from
Klashun to Falam. After that time they gradually extended their influence over
their neighbours. Messrs. Carey and Tuck remark that the Tash
n tribesmen
do not claim one common progenitor. 'They are a community composed of aliens,
who have been collected under one family by conquest, or more correctly by strategy.'
The following five divisions of the tribe are distinguished:-
1. The Shunkla proper. | 3. The Tawyan. |
2. The Yahow, or Zahao. | 4. The Kweshin. |
5. The Whenoh.
|
Of these the Zahaos will be dealt with below. The notes on the other clans are taken from Messrs. Carey and Tuck.
The Shunklas proper are now all dependent on the Falam chiefs and probably all of the same family. Their ancestors lived at Shunkla till about four generations ago when
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