Tangkhul

Tangkhul

Tangkhul Naga girl in a modern adaptation of the traditional dress
Total population
200,000 approx.
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Tangkhul language, other Tangkhul languages and other Naga languages
Religion
Christianity, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Naga tribes

Tangkhul is a tribe living in the Indo-Burma border area occupying the Ukhrul district in Manipur, India and the Somra Tangkhul hills (Somra tract) in Upper Burma. Despite this international border, many Tangkhul have continued to regard themselves as "one nation".

The Tangkhuls, as with other tribes on the hills, came to Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from China through Myanmar entering their present habitats in successive waves of immigration. The Tangkhuls came together with the Maos, Poumeis, Marams and Thangals because all of them have references to their dispersal from Makhel, a Mao village in Senapati district. They had also erected megaliths at Makhel in memory of their having dispersed from there to various directions.

The Tangkhuls point to the association of their forefathers with the seashore. Most of the ornaments of the Tangkhuls such as kongsang, huishon, etc. were made of sea shells, cowrie and conch shells a prominent feature of the people who live on the shore.

By the 2nd century A.D. the Tangkhuls were living in Samshok (Thuangdut) in Myanmar. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and geographer of Alexandria, in his Geography of Further India, c. 140 A.D., referred to the Tangkhul at Triglypton (Thuangdut). The Tangkhuls began disperse from Samshok after the invasion of Ko-lo-feng and his successor I-mau-shun the king of Nan-chao in the closing part of the 8th century A.D. and beginning of the 9th century A.D. They were further driven towards the north west of Myanmar by the Shan people.

Thus, the Tangkhuls as also other tribes who travelled from China to Myanmar and from there finally they came into their present land traversing through innumerable snow-covered landscapes, mountains and wild forests confronting wild beasts and wild tribes may be grouped collectively as Naga on the basis of ethnicity. The exodus of the Tangkhuls from China to Myanmar and finally to India is indeed a story of heroism of human courage and endurance in the face of great famine in China during those days.

In course of time every Tangkhul village became a small republic like the Greek city states. Every village had an unwritten constitution made up of age-old conventions and traditions. The Tangkhul villages were self-sufficient except for salt, and self-governing units ruled by hereditary or elected chief assisted by a Council of Elders. The chief was a judge, administrator and commander rolled into one.

Hunphun was the headquarters of the Tangkhul Long (Tangkhul Assembly), as well as the Tangkhul annual fair locally known as “Leih Khangapha” used to be held at Somsai in Ukhrul.

The boundary of Manipur and Burma (Myanmar) was laid down by an agreement signed between the British authorities (East India Company) and Burma on 9 January 1834 on the river bank of Nighthee (Chindwin). The Article No.4 (iii) of this agreement relates to the Tangkhul country. “Fourth (iii) - On the north, the line of boundary will begin at the foot of the same hills at the northern extremity of the Kabo Valley and pass due north up to the first range of hills, east of that upon which stand the villages of Chortor (Choithar), Noongbee (Nungbi), Nonghar (Lunghar), of the tribe called by the Munepooriis (Manipuris) Loohooppa (Tangkhul), and by the Burmahs Lagwensoung, now tributary of Manipoor.” As a result of this boundary demarcation without the knowledge let alone consent of the Tangkhuls, many Tangkhul villages situated in the Somrah hills are included under Burma. Later, when India and Burma attained national independence, the Tangkhuls found themselves belonging to two different countries.