About Mizoram - > People
ZAWLBUK
Education makes a man, so goes the saying. Though the Mizos had
no education during the pre-British days, they had a novel way
of making their men. It was mandary on all Mizo youths over age
15 to stay in Bachelor's dormitories, known as Zawlbuk where
they received training in 'tribal welfare wrestling, hunting and
village government'. The boys who went to the Zawlbuk emerged as
complete men. The training was intensive and strenuous, strict
disciplines was maintained and basic values of life were
inculcated on the youngsters. In other words 'Zawlbuk' or the
Bachelor's dormitory was an institution where the young Mizo
males not only picked up skills in self-defense but developed a
positive attitude to life based on hope-spun values as well.
The importance of the Zawlbuk in Mizo society could be gauged
from the fact that some scholars have compared it to guru and
his sasya in an Indian Ashram. 'It (Zawlbuk) was not only the
physical abode of the youth of the Mizo Village but also was the
crucible where the Mizo youths, the marginal man, were shaped
into responsible adult members of society', observe an author.
| '…The simple forms of education
for life, as evolved in Zawlbuk through their various
activities, code of conduct and mode of living, ensured a
healthy reciprocity between the different age groups and the
elders as also between the claims of the family as a social
unit and the wider Mizo society as an organic whole ..' |
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Every Mizo Village had a bachelors'
dormitory of its own in those days. Some villages, which were
large and divided into several parts known as Vengs, contained
more than one. In fact, each Veng had its own Zawlbuk in a big
village. A dormitory was located in the open on the highest
point of a village opposite the house of the Chief. The village
elders, called Upa had their houses clustered nearby. Made of
timber and bamboo, the Zawlbuk had a thatched roof and its
entrance was approached by a platform of rough logs at the
uphill end. A fireplace, which burnt round the clock occupied
the center of the dormitory hall, while there was a raised bunk
to sleep on spreading from the far end through the whole breadth
of the room. The open space by the hearth served sometimes as a
wrestling arena and sometimes a dance floor. The Zawlbuk was
used as not only a place for sleep by unmarried youths but also
as rest house by travelers and visitors to the village. 15 was the eligibility age to gain admission to the Zawlbuk. But younger boys too had their own assignments to do,
though they had no right to participate in the Zawlbuk
activities. The village boys over six years of age were
entrusted with duty of supplying firewood to ensure that the
hearth was always alight. A boy earn freedom from
firewood-gathering duties and gains admission to the Zawlbuk as
soon as he can prove that his public hair has grown and is long
enough to tie around a smoking pipe. Maintenance of discipline
at a Zawlbuk was the responsibility of a youth Commander called
Val Upa, elected by the elders and the chief. The Zawlbuk usually came fully to life in the evening
when youngsters gathered there to exchange ideas. They sang
songs of heroism and spoke of the achievements of their
ancestors. Late in the evening they went out to keep dates with
their girlfriends and returned around bedtimes to have
goodnight's sleep. The practice of sleeping out on a regular
basis with their friends and neighbors helped the Mizo youths to
build up a strong awareness of community welfare. The Zawlbuk, as a social institution, was not, however,
exclusion to the Lushais. Several other tribal clans had their
own respective versions of the Zawlbuk. According to Lt. Col J.
Shakespear, the Chiru, Kom and Tikhap clans too had the
dormitory system. The paites had no Zawlbuk, but the front
verandahs of some of their bigger houses sometimes served as
bachelors dormitory. The Zawlbuk began to lose in importance after the
appearance of the British on the scene. The introduction of
formal education and conversion to Christianity on a mass scale
struck at the roots of the indigenous village administration in
Mizoram leading to a steady decline in the utility and relevance
of the Zawlbuk. The Mizo, who developed a new outlook under
Christian influence, felt their own homes were a better place
for their sons to live in than the bachelors dormitories. The
Zawlbuk suffered a fatal blow when the power of the chiefs, who
administered the dormitories, were taken away. Although some Missionaries such as Rev F.J.Raper of the
Baptist Mission at Serkawn later made an effort to revive the
Zawlbuk in a modernized form it met only a partial success. But
the role played in the earlier days by the Zawlbuk as a
collective organ of social control and the influence it exerted
on the community life of the Mizo on the whole could hardly be
exaggerated. |
