{{unreferenced, date=May 2013
The Tlosaih are one of the major groups of the
Mara people, who inhabited the southernmost part of
Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
under the
Mara Autonomous District Council
Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) is one of the three Autonomous District Councils within Mizoram state of India. It covers Siaha subdivision and Tipa subdivision of Siaha district. Primarily, an autonomous administrative government me ...
. The Tlosaih language was
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
into the
Roman script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
by late missionary Reverend
Reginald Arthur Lorrain, founder of the
Evangelical Church of Maraland
Evangelical Church of Maraland is a church in southern Mizoram in northeast India. It was founded by English missionary Reverend and Mrs Reginald Arthur Lorrain (brother of missionary James Herbert Lorrain) in 1907. It is the largest church amon ...
, and it is used as a liturgical language and in literature. The Tlosaih language formed a common language for all of the Mara people and is commonly known as the
Mara language
Mara is a Kuki-Chin language spoken by Mara people, mostly the Tlosaih tribe living in 30 villages of Chhimtuipui district, southern Mizoram, India and the adjacent villages in Burma.
The Mara (Tlosaih) languages belong to the Kuki-Chin branc ...
.
All Tlosais live in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. The group lives mostly in the western and northwestern part of
Maraland
{{Use Indian English, date=December 2018
Maraland is a region in the southeastern part of Mizoram state, India, referring not to a political or district name but specifically to the area inhabited by the Mara people. The region is one of the thr ...
, India. The towns
Siaha
Siaha (official name given by the Mara Autonomous District Council, popularly known as Saiha) is a census town in Siaha district in the Indian north-eastern state of Mizoram. It is the Headquarters of the Mara Autonomous District Council, one o ...
, Thosai, Tisopi, Amobyuh, Amotlah, Thiahra, Saikao, Laty, Pala, Tokalo, Kiasie, Lodawh, Lomasu and Bymari are all Tlosai villages.
Tlôsaih people can be divided into two groups; Siaha-Tlôsaih and Saikao-Tlôsaih. The village Saikao was previously known as Tlôsaih as in the past Mara villages were usually named after their sub-tribes, in contrast to the
Lusei tribe
The Mizo people (Mizo: ''Mizo hnam'') are an ethnic group native to the Indian state of Mizoram and neighbouring regions of Northeast India. The term covers several related ethnic groups or clans inside the Mizo group.
All Mizo tribes and clan ...
who named their villages after their chief. Almost all Tlosaih villages were ruled by Hlychho chiefs.
Ethnic groups in Northeast India
Ethnic groups in South Asia