Selesih (also known as Seleishih) was a village founded around by two brothers, Chief Chungnunga and Chief Lianlula. It eventually dispersed and consolidated Sailo rule in precolonial Mizoram. In modern day, Mizoram, the site was established between

Khawbung Khawbung () is a village in the Champhai district in the Indian state of Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India, with Aizawl as its Capital city, capital and largest city. It shares 722-kilom ...

and

Zawlsei Zawlsei is a village in the Champhai district of Mizoram, India. It is located in the Khawbung Khawbung () is a village in the Champhai district in the Indian state of Mizoram Mizoram is a states and union territories of India, state in ...

(

Champhai district Champhai district is one of the eleven districts of Mizoram state in India. The district is bounded on the north by Churachandpur district of Manipur state, on the west by Saitual and Serchhip districts, and on the south and east by Myanmar. ...

), which is now under a football field.

Etymology

Selesih refers to "Sele" ( wild mithun) and "Sih" (natural water spot).

History

Chungnunga and Lianlula were the two sons of Chief Sailova who crossed the Tiau river in the early 18th century after his death. Under the village of Lianlula's son, Pu Kawla, the two chiefs established a joint settlement. Selesih was the largest Mizo settlement of the time in 1740 and functioned as a confederation of chiefs and tribes. This includes the five major tribes and the 12 minor tribes. The sons of Chungnunga (Lalhluma, Rohnaa and Lalchera) cooperated with Lianlula's sons (Pu Kawla, Darliankuala and Darpuiliana) to rule the settlement. Chungnunga and Lianlula would die in Selesih. It is believed that Selesih is the second village of the same name after the Haka-Lusei War destroyed the first Selesih east of the Tiau river. Selesih consisted of 20

zawlbuk Zawlbûk (; ) was a traditional bachelorsʼ quarters of the Mizo people, predominantly of the lushei tribe, Luseis living in Mizoram, India. It was prominently the largest house in the tribe, tribal village, and it was customary for every villag ...

s and seven villages under the joint chiefs. Mizo heroes such as Lianchia, Aihniara, Buizova Chula and Saichawmkhupa also resided in Selesih. It is estimated that Selesih boasted up to 7000 houses.

Decline

It's been speculated that the scarcity of water and firewood led to the seven villages dispersing, thus dissolving Selesih in favour of a western migration. The Mizos who remained in the region were subject to taxation and tribute to the Pawi tribes, which was ended with the Thlanrawn Rawt under Chief

Lallula Lallula (, - ) was a Sailo chief who migrated from the Chin Hills in modern day Myanmar into the Lushai Hills of current day Mizoram. He resided in the settlement of Selesih which functioned as a confederation of chiefs to guard against Poi a ...

. The nature of jhumming also required regular migration to feed the population. The Thlanrawn massacre by Chief

was estimated to have occurred . Fearing reprisal of the Pawi, Lallula and his followers left Selesih to establish his chiefdom of Zopui.

Legacy

The influence of Selesih saw the standardisation of the Duhlian dialect becoming a dominant language within the settlement. After Selesih, Lallula and other chiefs would expand across in Mizoram and establish the Lusei dialect as the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

of the Lushai Hills.

Chiefs

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{Lushai frontier History of Mizoram Precolonial Mizoram Former villages