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Zawlbuk
Like the institution of chieftainship, most of the tribes have a system of
bachelor's dormitory where the young men learn the customs of the tribes and
get indoctrinated into the norms of social behaviour. The Lushais had in
every village a bachelor's dormitory, called zawlbuk. The Zawlbuk would
be situated at prime place in the village, generally opposite the chief's
house. The hall of the zawlbuk would be big enough to accommodate all the
young men of the village. The hearth in the centre of the hall would
always have a smouldering fire. Every evening, after the days work,
the young men would gather in the Zawlbuk and would have common pastimes like
wrestling, singing songs, telling stories, etc. Later in the evening,
the young men would go round the village in nula rim, to court the young
girls. Late in the night they would return to the Zawlbuk which had raised
sleeping platforms. Usually travellers halting at a village for the night
would stay at the zawlbuk. The chief also used the hall of the zawlbuk to
hold meetings of the villages as this would be the only common hall and the
biggest hall available in the village.
All the young men of the village would be available in the zawlbuk for
emergencies and common work for the village. Along with the spirit of
co-operation, completion would be encouraged. The most industrious young
men and the best hunter among then would be rewarded with special cups of
zutaima zuns given to the former and huai zuno to the latter.
Boys, naupangs, till they attained puberty would live with their parents, but
they were required to do odd jobs for the young men of the zawlbuk like
collecting fire wood and helping in the digging of graves by carrying bamboos
and stones. Once they attained puberty they would be admitted to the
full membership of zawlbuk. The naupangs were commanded by a captain
called hotu. There would be a number of hotus in the village - one for
each veng or part of a village. They would ensure complete control by the
Zawlbuk over all the boys in the village. Every morning there would be
roll calls to ensure attendance of all boys and young men in the zawlbuk.
The leader of the young men of the zawlbuk, called tlangval upa, would
distribute work among the inmates of the zawlbuk and enforce discipline amongst
them. A review would be done to see that the boys had done their
work as allotted to them. The defaulters would be allotted extra work to
compensate. Zawlbuk had a strict system of discipline. There was an
interesting system of punishment for the recalcitrant. If the father of a
boy would admonish or assault a hotu for all treatment of his son,
all the tlangvals would gather at the house of the offending man and vigorously
shake the house to make it nearly tumble down. This treatment would
be sufficiently deterrent for others not to interfere in enforcement of
discipline by the hotus. Only the chief of the village had some control
over the zawlbuk. He could throw a stone on the roof of the zawlbuk signaling the young men to quiet down if they made too much noise at
night. Theft of any article from the zawlbuk would attract fine of forty
rupees, irrespective of the value of the article.
Zawlbuk was mostly prevalent in Lushai and Pawi villages. The Raltes did
not have this system but adopted it after coming under influence of the Lushais.
The paites did not have zawlbuk as such, but young men would sleep in the
verandah or front porch of the houses of influential men of the village who
would provide adequate sleeping platform for the purpose. They would help
their host in construction and repairs of his house and also in his cultivation,
who in return would occasionally give them a feast.
The Lakhers did not have zawlbuk. The young men, however, did not sleep in
their parents house. They would sleep in the house of the maidens whom
they were courting.
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