THE DARLONG BUKPUI

 

-By Malsawma Darlong

 Principal-in-charge Chailengta Govt Degree College.

Website link: Darlong Hnam Inzom

            The origin of Bukpui system is difficult to be fixed as most of the knowledge of Darlongs’ history is lost in antiquity. Old folks state that the Darlong people had this custom even before their migration from the east of the River Tiau during the seventeenth century. All their young men used to sleep in their Chief’s house so that they can be prepared themselves for any eventuality. Though the Darlongs had no formal education during the pre-British days, they had a novel way of making their men in their own system of education. It was mandatory for all Darlong youths at the age of 15 and above to stay in Bachelor's dormitories, known as BUKPUI where they received training in ‘warfare, wrestling, hunting-game and village administration etc'. The boys who were accepted to the BUKPUI emerged as complete men. The training was intensive and strenuous, strict disciplines were maintained and basic values of life were inculcated to the youngsters. In other words 'bukpui' or the Bachelor's dormitory was an institution where the young Darlong males not only picked up skills in self-defence but also developed a positive attitude to life based on hope-spun values as well.

            The importance of the BUKPUI in Darlong society could be gauged from the fact that some Darlong community elderly persons have compared it to guru and his sasya in an Indian Ashram. 'It (Bukpui) was not only the physical abode of the youths of the Darlong Villages but also was the crucible where the Darlong youths, the marginal man, were shaped into responsible adult members of society'.

            The methodical forms of education for the complete life of the Darlong community, as evolved in Bukpui were through 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 Darlong society as an organic whole ..' Every Darlong Village had a bachelors' dormitory of its own in those days. Some villages, which were large, were divided into several parts known as Khua which is called in mizo- Veng. In fact, each Khua had its own Bukpui.

            A dormitory was located in the open on the highest point of a village opposite the house of the Chief. The village elders, called Ulian had their houses clustered nearby made of timber and bamboo. The Bukpui 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 Bukpui was used not only as a place to sleep by unmarried youths but also used as a rest house by travellers and visitors to the village.

            For incoming and formal admission to the Bukpui, a person must attain a minimum age of 15 years. But younger boys too had their own assignments to do, though they had no right to participate in the Bukpui 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 Bukpui 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 bukpui was the responsibility of a youth Commander called Val Upa, elected by the elders and the chief.

            The Bukpui 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 neighbours helped the Darlong youths to build up a strong awareness of community welfare.

            The Bukpui, as a social institution, was not, however, exclusion to the Mizos, Lushais. Several other tribal clans had their own respective versions of the Bukpui, in mizos which is called as Zawlbuk. According to Lt. Col J. Shakespear, the Chiru, Kom and Tikhap clans too had the dormitory system. The paites had no Bukpui, but the front verandahs of some of their bigger houses sometimes served as bachelors’ dormitory.

            The Bukpui of the Darlongs began to lose its importance after the appearance of the British on the scene. The introduction of formal education and embracing Christianity en-mass scale, struck at the roots of the indigenous village administration in India particularly to the North-eastern part of India leading to a steady decline in the utility and relevance of the Bukpui within the Darlong Community. The Darlongs, 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 Bukpui suffered a fatal blow when the power of the chiefs, who administered the dormitories, were taken away by the British Government and even after India achieved her Independent.

            Although some elderly people among the Darlong community tried to revive the Bukpui in a modernized form but it could hardly succeed. The name itself has been virtually forgotten by the new generations of the Darlong community; only in a village called Deora the name of the Bukpui till date survives. But the role played in the earlier days by the Bukpui as a collective organ of social control and the influence it exerted on the community life of the Darlongs on the whole could hardly be exaggerated.

 

Source:Click  Darlong Hnam Inzom to know more.