Zo (people) - Speculations On Zou Origin

Speculations On Zou Origin

According to a Burmese scholar Thantun, Tibeto-Burmans probably once inhabited the T’ao valley of Kansu province in north-west China. Because of frequent Chinese incursions, the Zomis might have moved to the north east of Tibet around 200 BC. In order to avoid them, the Zomis traveled across ridges and forests and move further south. The journey probably took hundreds of years and eventually landed in Upper Burma. But it is difficult to substantiate such claims with hard evidence.

In the year 862, a Chinese historian, Fan Ch’o Hao in his book already used the word Zo to call a peculiar ethnic group of people. Another scholar, a Catholic Father Vincent, in his book published in 1783 mentioned a group of people known as Zo. Sir Henry Yule’s narrative of the Mission to the court of Ava in 1885 showed the Chindwin plains and the area west of Chindwin River as Zo district. FK Lehman, a renowned Social Anthropologist in this book ‘Structure of the Chin Society’ reiterated the fact that the so called Kuki-Chin linguistic groups have a special term for themselves variously spelt as Zo, Yo etc.

Dr. Vumkhohau, a Zo scholar and diplomat from Burma, in his profile of the ‘Burmese Frontier Man’ has affirmed that "we called ourselves Zomi from time immemorial". There are different theories regarding the etymology of the root word Zo. The Zomi ethnic community is known by others as Kuki in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam; Chin in Burma and Lushai in Mizoram, Tripura and other Zomi occupied areas. B.S. Carey and Tuck says that there can be no doubt that the Chins and the Kukis, are one and the same race; for their appearance, manners, customs and languages point to this conclusion. One of the pivot conception in the minds of Zo people which can never lost remains till today is an almost fading story of "Pu Zo" simply means "Father or Grand Pa Zo" which has been handed down over the centuries by words father to son. It cannot be said Legend or Myth because Zo people strongly Confirms when they were argued and it's from their blood they said. And from "Pu Zo" (Father or Grand Pa Zo)came out all the Zomis tribes and Zo was the First born son and his descendants are today's Zo people. Thus Zo people strongly claimed that they are the real Zo or the First born.

The words Kuki, Chin and Lushai have neither any bearing on the culture of these peoples. In the absence of a centralized state formation, the Zo people or Zomis were vulnerable to their formidable neighbours, the Shan, the Burmese, and finally British imperialism subjugated them during the late 19th century.

The Zou/Zo language is one of the prescribed MIL (Major Indian Languages) in the high schools and higher secondary schools of Manipur state. The Zou/Zo community has a script of its own known as "Zolai". Zou youngsters learn their script as a piece of curiosity; but the Roman script is the official script used by the Zous of Burma and India. Bible translations in the Zou language too adopted the Roman script and it served their purpose very well. In Manipur, the literacy rate of the Zous/Zos stand at 61.6% (Census of India 2001). Unfortunately this is below the Manipur state average of 68.8% literacy rate in 2001. The bulk of Zou(Zo) people lived in the Chin Hills and Sagaing division of Upper Burma. With a slight variation in spelling convention, the Burmese Zous called themselves "Zo". The Indian Zou and Burmese Zo belong to the same dialectal community. The Zou/Zo dialectal group is only a branch of the larger Chin-Kuki-Lushai ethnic group. More over, bulk of Zo people in Burma live together with other tribes such as the Tedim-Chin, Sihzang, Thados, etc. and got assimilated with them in dialects, cultures and traditions.