Darlong tribe

The Darlong people (Darlong: Darlong hnam) are a small tribal people living in the Indian state of Tripura. The Darlong call themselves ‘hriam’ or ‘manmasi’ (literally meaning ‘people’). They constitute less than one percent of the population of Tripura.

The Darlong tribe, like many other tribes of the Kuki-Chin origin believe that man originated from a certain cave called ‘Sinlung’ which literally interpreted means closed stone of Tibet-China. The Darlong tribe believe that their forefathers came out of this cave one by one, and when the sub-tribe Fatlei came out of the cave, they talked so much and made such loud noise that the guardian- god of the cave fearing that the human population had grown too large closed the cave with a stone preventing any further exit of human being from the cave. According to another interpretation this tribe made a long halt at Darlong tlang (hill) and came to be known as Darlong’s after the name of the hill. This interpretation wins greater reliability on geographical and historical grounds, because the hill still stands as a living witness as Darlong tlang (hill) in the present Mizoram. Besides, the historians are of one opinion that the Darlong’s made a long halt at that hill in course of their migration.

In the 2014 report of the DHI: Darlong Hnam Inzom, head local governing body of all Darlong villages, a total of 24 Darlong villages were reported in Tripura and total 8281 in numbers. The sex ratio is 979 of females per 1000 of males.

The people are simple, hard-working, straightforward and honest with a high standard of integrity. In the social front the Darlong code of ethics is based on the concept of ‘tlawminngaina’. Tlawminngaina to a Darlong stands for self-sacrifice, selflessness, kindness and love. A Darlong (Hriam) must be hospitable, kind, unselfish, compassionate and helpful to others. The whole village is involved in important occasions like celebration of birth of a newborn child, marriage in the village and death of a person in the village or a community feast arranged by a member of the village.

The Darlong tribes traditionally live in villages and prefer joint family. The village is a closely knit unit consisting of households of different clans. As of 2017, there are 24 Darlong villages in Tripura. Darchawi is the largest village with a population of 1433 (DHI Census, 2014). Boitang is the oldest Darlong village, which is more than 100 years old. The Darlong villages are roughly scattered around the Northern parts of Tripura in three districts,viz. Unokoti, Dhalai and North Tripura.

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