By Bruce K. Thangkhal
THE ZOU COMMUNITY marked a significant chapter in their history by commemorating the first-ever Zou Gal Day on March 17, 2011, observed simultaneously in Delhi and Manipur. This day honours the Zou resistance against British colonial forces during the 1917–1919 Kuki Uprising in the hills of Manipur.
In Delhi, for the first time, Zou Sangnaupang Pawlpi Delhi Branch (ZSPDB) hosted the celebration at MP’s Club, South Avenue from 1 PM to 6 PM. Meanwhile, in Lamka, Manipur, thousands of Zous gathered at the Zou Gal Memorial Hall, Zoveng, where festivities began at 11 AM and lasted until midnight.
Delhi Programme Highlights
The Delhi event was emceed by Mr. Zuanneithang, General Secretary of ZSPDB. Mr. Kamlianlal, Co-ordinator of the ZSP Study Forum, offered an overview of the historical significance of Zou Gal. This was followed by a moment of silence and prayer led by Mr. Khakhai Zou, President of the Zou Youth Organisation (ZYO), Delhi.
Mr. Samuel Samte, Vice President of ZSPDB, delivered the welcome speech. Speaking on behalf of the student body, he expressed heartfelt gratitude to the young Zou members whose SMS messages began circulating before daybreak. These messages paid tribute to the brave souls of our forefathers who defended our ancestral land against British forces during the 1917–1919 resistance.
He acknowledged Mr. Zoulun for widely publicizing the event through SMS and online platforms. Mr. Kamlianlal and Mr. Khaibiak were also credited for crafting inspiring messages that stirred a strong sense of pride and unity among the community. One such message by Mr. Lawrence Munluo read: "I'll fight with my pen." The day’s rallying cry—“Kathang e, kathang e, ka Zougal sat!”—echoed as the spirit of the celebration.
The keynote address was given by Dr. David Vumlallian Zou, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Delhi University, who provided a a historical analysis of the Zou Gal or Kuki Uprising, emphasizing its causes, course, and consequences.
Mr. Philip Thanglienmang, President of the United Zou Organisation, Delhi Branch, presented a brief history of how the Zou Gal resistance began. Cultural performances were interwoven throughout the programme, including songs, especially "Tanglai Zomi" by duet - Miss Chochong and Mr. Joseph Samte, and others.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Zamlianmang, Secretary of Games & Sports, ZSPDB, and a closing prayer by Mr. T. Zamlunmang Zou, Chairman, Manipur Evangelical Lutheran Church, Delhi.
Pu Khupminthang, Secretary of the Simte Welfare Association, Delhi, and Mr. David Sukte, President of the Tedim Chin Students' Association, Delhi, were among those who attended the event.
Celebration in Manipur
In Lamka, the programme was held at the Zou Gal Memorial Hall and featured prominent leaders. Pu L.B. Sona, Chairman of the Zomi Council, served as the Chief Guest. Guests of Honour included presidents of the Mizo People’s Convention, Hmar Inpui, and the Meitei Society, Churachandpur. The Functional President was Pu Tongzathang, President of Kuki Inpi Churachandpur, while Pu Ginsuanhau, President of United Zou Organisation (UZO), acted as the Chief Host.
Rt. Rev. Dr. T. Ginkhanmung Zou, Bishop of MELC, opened the event with a humble and heartfelt prayer. This was followed by a welcome address from Pu T. Manglianthang, Vice President of the United Zou Organisation (UZO). Soon after, ZYO Sugnu Block captivated the audience with vibrant performances that showcased the richness of Zou cultural dances and songs.
Pu Chinlunthang, General Secretary of UZO, narrated the story of Zou Gal, recounting the community's heroic resistance. The crowd listened in awe as Pu Vumchinkhup, Chairman of HEC/UZO, recited the patriotic song “Zogal Hanla”—a moving tribute to the Zou martyrs who laid down their lives during the three-year war against British colonial forces .
It is worth mentioning that Pu S. Lianzakap, Adviser of UZO, delivered the vote of thanks. The day's event concluded swiftly and solemnly with a closing prayer by Rev. Tualzachin, Executive Secretary of ZPCS.
As reported by Zogam Thusuo, Editor S. Nengkhanlun noted, “This was the largest single-day gathering of the Zou community to date.” Tribal leaders and government officials also graced the occasion.
The evening session featured Pu Langkhanpau Guite, Chairman of ADC Churachandpur, as Chief Guest. Other key attendees included ADC Vice Chairman Pu Demmang Haokip, members Pu G. Suanchinpau and Pu Tongkai Baite, and Finance Committee Chairman Pu P. Sianzadong. Miss Grace Zamnu, ADC member, served as the Chief Host for the evening.
Notable officials present were Deputy Commissioner Pi Jacintha Lazarus, Brig. Surender Neta (Commander, 27 Sector AR), and SP G.B. Sharma, IPS. Youth leaders from the Zomi Youth Association, Kuki Khanglai Lompi, Hmar Youth Association, and Young Mizo Association were also in attendance.
In his address, Pu Langkhanpau Guite emphasized his discussions with Manipur CM O. Ibobi Singh regarding the Village Council Act, stressing the need for public support of ADC members. He recognized Zou Gal Day as an important occasion and pledged to advocate for its recognition as a state-level festival in Manipur.
Cultural Showcase and Tribute
The Zou tribe in Manipur has been observing Zou Gal—commemorating their resistance against British colonial forces—every March. The celebration featured an array of cultural performances, including traditional dances and folk songs which captivated the audience.
Guest appearances and performances by veteran artists such as Pu Haumang, Pi Lhingbawi, Pu Lawrence, Lia Hatboi, Pu KS Thang, Pu TT Lal, and Pu Khaiminlun, along with Pu Jangkholam Haokip and Lia Jony, brought the night to life. A hip-hop troupe also performed a choreographed tribute, blending tradition with modern expression.
Mention maybe made that Upa Nengkhenthang offered the opening prayer for the cultural night, followed by a welcome speech by Pu Suankhanmang (Adviser, UZO). Pu P. Chinzakhup (Adviser, UZO) delivered the vote of thanks at the conclusion of the event.
The dual celebrations in Delhi and Manipur stood as a unifying remembrance for the Zous, reviving a proud legacy of resistance, cultural identity, and solidarity.
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Here is a brief summary of Dr. David Vumlallian Zou’s keynote address.
“The most serious incident in the history of Manipur and its relations with its Hill
subjects was the Kuki rebellion … it cost 28 lakhs of rupees to quell, and in the course of
it many lives were lost.”
- Sir Robert Reid, Governor of Assam (1937-1942)
The Zou Gal or Kuki uprising was the outcome of British forcibly recruitments of the tribals for labour corps. The Kukis resented forced labour that consisted of two types: first, Pothang Bekari (locally called “pawt pua”) – the obligation to carry goods and baggage for touring officers, or construction works without payment. Second, Pothang Senkhai – household contribution in cash or kind such as chicken, egg, or meat to feed touring officers free of cost. Because of a strong movement against pothang, it was abolished in the valley of Manipur in 1913. But it was retained in the hill areas. In 1915-16, there were individual petitions by hillmen asking for exemptions from pothang. In 1917 stiff resistance broke out from the areas of Thadou-Kukis and Zous.
The Zou people (also spelled ‘Zo’) is an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma. In India, Zou is officially recognized as one of the scheduled tribes in Manipur. According to the 2001 Census, the Zou population in Manipur is around 20,000, less than 3% of the population. The community is concentrated in Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur in North-East India. The Zou language constitutes dialectal variants like Haidawi, Khuangnung, Thangkhal, Khodai and Tungkua. All these dialects contribute to Zou language in a process of give and take. The inclusion of Zou as a Major Indian Language (till Standard XII) by the Govt. of Manipur also contributed to the evolution of Zou as a standard literary language.
The Zou tribe joined the so-called ‘Kuki Rising’ in Manipur against the British from 1917 to 1919. Hiangtam and Gotengkot Forts were two main centres of resistance among the Zomis. Pu Doungul Taithul was the chief of Gotengkot, which was a fairly big and fortified Zo village. Captain Steadman was the man responsible for suppressing Gotengkot with considerable casualties on both sides.
The Zou tribe was a non-Thado tribe to have participated in this abortive, yet bold attempt to oust the white imperialist from Manipur, even as a local folk song composed on the occasion of the revolt runs in the Zou dialect as follows:
Tuizum Mangkang kiil bang hing khang/Zota kual zil bang liing e/ Pianna ka gamlei hi e! phal si’ng e!/ Ka naamtem hiam a, i Zogamlei laal kanaw/ Sansii’n zeel e!/ Ngalliam vontawi ka laulou lai e.
Free translation: The seafaring White Imperialist coils like the ‘kill’ plant,Tremors of earthquake do quiver the Zo world,’Tis the land of my birth: I shall not part with it!Stain’d with blood is my Sword, That has routed the adversaries of Zoland, I shall yet fight with the injured-wild Boar.
This folk song of the Zou dialect, reflecting the collective mind of the natives, indicated that the anti-imperial fervour was very high in 1918; and interestingly the Britishers were compared by the native mind with the wild Boar, or with a native wild creeper-plant called ‘kill’. Independent India justifiably took pride in its legacy of colonial resistance.
In Manipur, the Palace uprising and Rani Gaidinlieu’s movement are relatively well-known. However, the “Kuki Rising” and the participation of the Zou tribe was less well-known. There stands a dilapidated, tin-roofed hall called “Zogal Memorial Hall” at Zoveng, Churachandpur (Manipur) built in honour of the Zomis who fought against British colonizers. The anti-colonial legacy of the Zou is a tribute to the multi-etnnic people of Manipur itself.
Colonel L.W. Shakespear prepared a sketch map of the “Area of Operations during the Kuki Rebellion 1917-19 in which Columns of Assam Rifles and Burma Military Police Battalions were employed.” In this sketch published in 1919, Shakespear included familiar places inhabited by the Zou such as Hengtham (Hiangtam), Chibu (Tonjang) and Shuganoo (Sugnu).
The scenes of fighting shown in the Churachandpur Zou Literature Society (2002, pp.19 – 27) Sketch such as Singngat, Muollum, Munpi, Saipheh, Behiang are missing in the map of Shakespeare. Mombi and Longya are the two villages in southern Manipur that stands out in the official map; but these two villages have not been able to identify in the present map of Manipur.
About 1.3 million combatants and non-combatants from India went to Mesopotamia during World War I. Of this, 293, 152 non-combatants served as Porter Corps and Labour Corps under the Indian Army Act of 1911, and this included 1,602 prisoners. In the Spring of 1916, the British recruited labour corps for the war efforts in Mesopotamia from tribals of the Santhal Pargana, Chota Nagpur and by tapping Indian jails. In the words of Lt. Col. W.B. Lane of the Indian Medical Services, “The honour of India was upheld first by aborigines and then by convicts.” But the Santhals of Mayurbhanj (a chiefdom in Bihar and Orissa) rose in rebellion against attempts to force them into the Labour Corps. During the Spring of 1917, the Government of India asked Maharaja of Manipur, Churachand Singh, to supply labourers for the war in Mesopotamia. In March 1917 Colonel Cole managed to enroll about 736 labourer from Manipur. In total, about 4,000 men proceeded towards Mesopotamia.
The Second Labour Corps for France began in August 1917. The Government of India set a target of finding another 50,000 men for Labour Corps for France. To satisfy this hunger for human resource, the Government sent a request for a Second Labour Corps to which the Maharaja of Manipur wrote to the Viceroy: “In view of the size and frequency of the drafts required for the first Corps of hillmen, I regret that I shall be unable to raise a second Corps of hillmen. But I hope to raise a second Corps, when required, from any valley Manipuri subjects, and it is my desire to accompany it on active service.” The Maharaja’s offer was refused as the Chief Commissioner of Assam feared the disapproval of conservative Hindu Meiteis.
In September 1917, the chiefs of Mombi (Mr. Ngulkhup) and of Longya (Mr. Ngulbul) were the first to dissent. With an escort of 100 riflemen, the Political Agent and Captain Coote set out for Mombi village (six days out from Imphal) to arrest Ngulkhup, who was the first chief to revolt against the British authorities. As Ngulkhup refused to meet the Political Agent, Mombi was burnt down by the British. They were en route for Longya when orders were received to return and to take no further action with the Kukis.
In December 1917, for about two months, both sides did nothing. But suddenly Chiefs of Hinglep and Ukhul raided the Manipur State Forest Toll Station at Ithai. Mrs. Cole, the wife of the Political Agent of Manipur, knew Ngulkhup of Mombi personally, and attempted to mediate by meeting Ngulkhup near Sugnu. But negotiations broke down.
On 22 January 1918, two columns from Manipur and Burma were ready to strike. The First Column consists of Imphal and Teddim in which Captain Steadman proceeded from Teddim to Mombi to converge with Captain Coote and Mr. Higgins (Assistant Political Officer) moving through Mombi and Longya area. Steadman was badly wounded at three places. Using Haika as a military base, it was apparently Captain Coote who crossed the Imphal River (Guun) to attack Gawtengkot stockade that became famous in Zou folklore. It was on record that Higgins received a severe bruise “on his shoulder from a spent bullet” while he was in action in the Mombi area.
The Second Column is Imphal. The Political Agent of Manipur and Captain Hebbert to proceed from Imphal towards Tamu to reopen the Burma road. Escorted by the Assam Rifles, the Political Agent of Manipur, Cosgrave, proceeded to Tammu, burning hostile villages on his way.
In February 1918 Hutton conducted operations in the western hills of Manipur with a column of Naga Hills Rifles. Laipi, chief of Senting, surrendered before Hutton. Meanwhile, Colonel Cloete led a force from Silchar to Imphal. And Cosgrave marched to south-west Manipur.
In May 1918 Home Department accepted the need to provide better equipment to the Assam Rifles. Military operations would halt during the monsoon, and resumed in the next winter.
Beatson-Bell, the Chief Commission of Assam, came to Imphal to consult the local authorities.
In July 1918, Beatson-Bell visited Shimla to seek advice from the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief. The Political Agent of Manipur and the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills were summoned to Shillong to discuss the renewal of operations in the next winter. This would be under the unified command of General Keary.
In August 1918, General Keary arrived in Shillong to plan the military campaign involving the combined forces of Assam and Burma. He would assume complete military as well as political
control of all the areas under operation16.
The second Military Suppression occurred in January 1919, February 1919 and March 1919.
During January 1919, operations resumed, and the General Officer commanding Manipur reported 44 persons killed, 48 villages burnt, 40 mithuns killed, large quantities of food grain destroyed, and 44 rebels made to surrender.
In February 1919, the British occupied Chief Ngulbul’s Longya village, killed his son, and arrested his brother along with another 55 persons. They also captured the chief of Ukha, Mr. Ngulkhup (chief of Mombi), Mr. Tinton (chief of Longya) with his henchman Enjakap.
In June 1919, active operations were over, and rebels were tried by a Special Tribunal under Regulation 111 of 1818.
The piece complied by ZLS gave a list of Zou leaders who surrendered at Hiangtam in 1919; as –Pu Goulun, Pu Langzagin, Pu Lagou, Pu Tonghau, Pu Henkham, Pu Vungdam, Pu Suohgou, Pu Helthang, Pu Lampum, Pu Suohkham, and Pu Salet.
“We also have another list of 48 names who participated in the Zou Gaal, and another list of 10 names who were imprisoned by a Special Tribunal. We need to find more information about our war heroes, and perhaps compiled them as a collection of short biographies,” says Dr. David Zou.
Kumbi against Kangla
Chingakhamba Sanachouba Singh, Manipuri pretender to the throne; he lived with his disciples at Kumbi near Moirang. According to colonial reports, Chingakham told the Kukis that “he was destined to be a raja and that if they would follow him and help him he would make things pleasant for him in every way possible when he came to power and that their house tax should only be Rs. one per year … the Manipuri had told them that the sahibs had gone to fight the Germans and that there were very few troops left in Imphal.”
Chinga Khamba claimed to be the elder brother of the incumbent Mahajara of Manipur, Churachand Singh. At Moirang, he was instrumental in the establishment of some unauthorized courts. John Paratt (2005) saw Changakham’s role as a “testimony to patriotism of the Kukis,
and a strong tie between the two people of hill and valley in any emergency”.
According to official version of interpretations, Shakespeare recalled that Major John Butler (the elder) in the early 1850s wrote that procrastination and forbearance of the British would be seen by “savages” as a sign of fear and weakness. He further claimed, “Had they [Political Agent and Capt. Coote] been allowed to punish Longya as well, it is probably the clans would have thought better than to rebel; as it was, the speedy retirement of the detachment heartened both Chiefs, who sent in messages to the effect that they closed their country to us … The start of this rebellion was largely due to our procrastination in not dealing at once and fully with it when the trouble first showed itself”.
Subaltern Perspective
According to Bhadra, the “Kuki uprising was the outcome of three distinct forces – anti-
British, intra-tribal, and intra-dynastic.”21 (p. 35). The Kukis resented forced labour that consisted of two types: first, Pothang Bekari (locally called “pawt pua”) – the obligation to carry goods and baggage for touring officers, or construction works without payment, and second, Pothang Senkhai – household contribution in cash or kind such as chicken, egg, or meat to feed touring officers free of cost. Because of a strong movement against pothang, it was abolished in the valley of Manipur in 1913. But it was retained in the hill areas. In 1915-16, there were individual petitions by hillmen asking for exemptions from pothang.
J.E. Webster, Chief Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam (June 1918) reported
that over 1000 persons (“friendlies”) from villages loyal to the British camp at Imphal
due to “the terror of the Kukis”.
Dawn of Political Consciousness
How did the experience and memory of the war returnees who met at Suangpi shape the subsequence “hill politics” or political consciousness” of southern Manipur? Radhika Singha said, “The imperial quest for labor yields new perspectives on the political transformations underway in the course of the Great War … Flight and episodes of full-scale resistance on the part of those targeted for noncombatant recruitment influenced this reevaluation, as did their marked preference for fixed and limited terms … The Kuki-Chin uprising of 1917-1918, and other smaller convulsions in the northeastern hill districts brought on by labor recruitment for the war, alerted the Army authorities in France to the need to maintain contractual faith with ‘hill-men’ who had gone there in Labor Corps … Limited terms and rising wages could make ‘noncombatant’ service attractive enough to cut into combatant recruitment”.
In Memory of Zou Gal, Zogal Jr. High School was established at Tuining in 1972, but later relocated at Behiang village where it received Grant-in-Aid on 1 October 1980. Zou Gaal Memorial Shield was introduced on 19 October 1976. Zou Gaal Hall was built in 1978 with financial assistance from the Government, and it is being redeveloped currently at the same construction site. A statue of Chengjapao Dougel, “King of the Kukis and the leader of the Kuki Rising, 1917-1919” in the heart of Moreh town). In 1958, the Kuki Political Sufferers’ Association of Manipur (KPSAM) demanded a “War Memorial in the heart of Imphal town to commemorate Kuki Martyrs and Sufferers”. Accordingly, a plot was given at Imphal where the Kuki Inn (Kuki House) came up in 1963. Recently the central government sanctioned funds for a war memorial complex which includes a museum, a library and a committee hall in the same premises.
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