1.1.Social
Evils
The
above statement shows that the British government gave orders to maintain law
and order and to do administrative justice among the Mara society. The Mara
chiefs were not without blemish for some of them were cruel, corrupted and
capricious, and persecuted and oppressed their subjects without any sympathy. These
collections of orders seem sometimes to have arisen out of the contextual
situations.
1) No
one is allowed to ill- treat, maltreat and loot others.
2) Every
village has to clear their respective roads.
3) Every
chief is a tax-collector in his village.
4) All
the chiefs must regularly attend the meetings.
5) It
is strictly prohibited to accuse someone as evil eye (ahri mokhao).
6) The
chief is curbed from confiscating and plundering belongings of the villagers.
7) It
is not legal to gang rape a reputedly loose woman by young men.
Due
to the implications of these orders the lives of the poor and the oppressed
people in the Mara community were much relieved. The advent of the British in
this perspective was liberation for the oppressed people from the injustices
done to them by the corrupted chiefs.
This
is very notorious custom in the Mara society. The British government did
justice by prohibiting this evil practice because young girls of poor families sometimes
suffered this gang rape as they were helpless.
1.2.Decentralization
of political power
With the advent and extension of
British Empire to their border the Maras frequently encroached the British
Empire by head hunting and looking the British subject. Reputation of such
incident was intolerable to the British rulers and they were ultimately
subjugated by the British in 1924 but no local self Government was constituted
nor the political autonomy granted for the management of their local affair.
Briefly, the British Superintendent and the Mara chiefs used to rule over the
Mara people as virtual dictator. When Maraland was annexed and brought under
the Indian British way, the homeland of the Maras was partitioned for
administrative convenience- one part was annexed to the East Bengal province
which after a gap of 20 years again included in the South Lushai (Mizo) Hills under
the Assam province whereas a major portion went to Government of Burma
(Myanmar). This is a historical fact and as a result a smaller portion of the
Mara inhabitant area remained within the union of India today. Formerly the
Maras and their frequent successful raids on their neighbouring tribes proved
to be the powerful, mighty and brave warriors of those days. Colonel Phayre in
a letter to the Government of India gave a very vivid picture of the warlike
nature of the Maras. “I have known all the tribes personally except the Shindu
[Maras] for many years. The Mara tribe has always been spoken of as powerful
and as being much feared”.[1]
Indeed,
before the annexation of the Maraland by the British, the lands belong to their
respective chiefs. J. Shakespear, the British administrator introduced the
process of decentralization of the political power of the Mara chiefs and the
chiefdom. The policy seemed to be simple, if there are more chiefs, the
powerful chiefs will lose their political power and therefore, J. Shakespear
then drastically increased the number of chiefs from the existing for example 60
to 350 chiefs with the aim of decentralizing political power. With the
decentralization of political power of the chiefs, the Superintendent of the
Lushai Hills and Chin Hills became more powerful and the Mara chiefs had fewer
powers.
The
Superintendent had final authority in appointing and removing the chiefs,
although most of the chiefs were appointed to their former positions. Moreover,
lands were apportioned to the chief by the government in accordance with the ‘indirect
administration’; lands were made over to
persons who had no pretence to chieftainship under indigenous conditions.
This again helped to lower the whole status of the Mara traditional chiefs.
The
above remark clearly indicates that the British rulers had very vague knowledge
about the Maras before the Maras were brought under their control. The reason
is clear, it was because of their warlike natures which caused them
difficulties in clearing with them.
1.3.Abolition
of traditional rights of the Mara chiefs
Mara
traditional chiefdom was often thought of in terms of the divine right theory. But
now the divine right theory had been removed, superseded and supplanted by the
British administration. Consequently, the following traditional rights of the Mara
chief were also arbitrarily extinguished to meet the exigencies of the
situation:
a) Right
to order capital punishment.
b) Right
to seize food stores and property of villagers, who wish to transfer their allegiance.
c) Proprietary
rights over lands, now arbitrarily reserved by the government in the interests
of the public living in neighbouring areas in British India and in British
Myanmar.
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