Vumson CHAPTER 2

ROOTS OF ZO

In the absence of written documents, and because the Zo had lim- ited contact with neighbouring peoples, it is extremely difficult to trace Zo history. However, through historical linguistics, archeo- logical findings, and ethnic relationships, it is now accepted that Zo belong to the group of people identified as Tibeto-Burmans.

The oral genealogy of Zo claims that a man named Zo was the originator of all Zo people. The genealogy however does not record time or locations, and may names must have been forgotten. The genealogy may also contain only information about those who were powerful, with those less successful being omitted. Estimates based on oral history account for approximately twenty seven genera- tions of Zo people. Assuming a generation to last twenty-five years. Zo people have been in existence for only about seven hundred years. Therefore genealogy as the Zo recall it cannot be wholly depended upon as a source of information. A written genealogy, the “Genealogy of the Zo Race,” was compiled by Khupzathang of Buanman. in 1974. The written versionhowever was based on in- formation from only parts of Zoram, and thus neither the written genealogy nor legned reveal the true origins of the Zo people. (See Table 1)

Origins in China

Zo legend asserts that the Zo were originally from a cave called Chinnlung, which is given different locations by different clans. The legend cannot be accepted as a fact, because it is contradictory to known facts of how man originated.

The physical features of Zo people, yellowish or brownish skin, brown eye. black hair, slanted eye, prominent cheekbone, wide nose, and flat face suggest their relation to the Indonesian-Malay subrace of the Mongoloid Race. By analysing Zo language and comparing with other languages anthropologists concluded that Zo language is related to the Tibeto-Chinese languages and27

therefore their cultural affiliations with them. The Tibeto-Chinese group of people are subdivided into several groups (see Table 2) and Zo people are placed together with Burman, Meitei (Manipuris), Naga. Kachin. Lolo, Tibetans, etc. as the Tibeto-Burmans. who at one time or the other must have shared common cultural or politi- cal affiliations or both. This leads one to believe that Zo people originated in China and that they might in some way be related to bones found in the caves of Chou k’outien south of Peking— the bones of “Peking Man”. Peking Man is earliest known man in China and surrounding areas, and anthropologists believe that Peking Man possessed certain characteristics peculiar to the Mongoloid race.

Traces of human existence are attributed to as long ago as a mil- lion years. and Peking Man may have flourished in 500.000 B.C. In the Ordos region of China stone implements and a few bones of hunting people have been found, suggesting a time frame about .50.000 B.C.

By about 4.000 B.C. a Mongolian people with a neolithic culture appeared, but instead of being hunters they were animal breeders. Their tools included finely polished rectangular axes with keen cutting edges.

By about 2500 B.C., according to Eberhard”. there were eight prin- cipal historical cultures in China. The Ch’iang tribes. ancestors of the Tibeto-Burmans, were found in western China in the province of present day Szechwan and in the mountain regions of Kansu and Shensi. Their economy was based on sheep herding and the raising of yaks, ponies and some pigs. Cultivation appears to have resulted from alien influence and mainly involved wheat and buck- wheat.

During the Shang dynasty, (1600-1028 B.C.) the Ch’iang tribes were neighbors of the Shang people, with whom they were in a more or less constant state of war. They lived in the southwest region of Shansi and Shensi. During the Chou dynasty (722-481 B.C.), Ch’iang tribes were found in northwest China. between the sources of the Yangtse and Wei. Hall writes ......these people had been mountain dwellers, originally living in the northwest of China. The earliest Chinese records coming from the latter half of the second millennium B.C. called them the Ch’iang. Chinese hostil- ity forced them to take refuge in northeast Tibet.”

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During the Han dynasty the Ch’iang tribes appeared as the Tanguts— the Tibetan Tribal Federation. The Tanguts attempted to block Chinese access to Turkistan, which the Chinese had con- quered in 73 A.D. Heavy fighting ensued and the Chinese got the upper hand. driving the Tanguts to the South. Whether this was the reason for the Tibeto-Burman’s migration to the south can only be guessed. Hall-‘ gives an earlier time, the first millennium B.C., for the Tibeto-Burman southward migration. He writes

“....they were pursued by the Chinese rulers to Tsin (Chin) through the mountains towards the south.”

The Ch’iang tribal structure was always weak, as leadership arose among them only in times of war. Their society had a military rather than a tribal structure, and the continuation of these states depended entirely upon the personal qualities of their leaders. They were fundamentally sheep breeders, not horse breeders, and therefore showed an inclination to incorporate infantry into their armies.’

The absence of writing among most of the Tibeto-Burmans sug- gests that their separation must have begun at a very early date perhaps before the Chou dynasty, whose rulers were Tibetans. Ex- cept Tibetans none of the Tibeto-Burman group had writings. The Chou dynasty came to an end around 200 B.C. During the third century A.D. Buddhism was introduced into Tibet and China but none of the Tibeto-Burman group except the Tibetans were effected. They had been shifting their villages often in connection with their slash and burn method of cultivation. Civilization therefore did not penetrated them.

The southward movement of the Tibeto-Burman people took many years perhaps several centuries. Recent migration of Zo people to the Kale-Kabaw-Valley has taken a century and there is no sign that migration is completed. The same pattern was very likely the case with the Tibeto-Burman group. The Kachin, for example, were still moving towards the south until very recently. As they slowly moved through the hilly regions some settled in one location and some moved on. The result was their separation as different groups. Those who separated last remain closely related, for example, Zo and Meitei.

In moving toward the present Burma. Zo people separated into two groups. One group moving southwards between the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy. The other group moved south to the west of

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the Chindwin and reached Zo country and Arakan before 1000 A.D. According to G.H. Luce the Naga were in present Nagaland when the Zo-Meitei group passed through on the move south. One demonstration of this was a village in Nagaland whose inhabitants never married with other tribes. but who retained the original Zo language and culture. The villagers said they had lived in that vil- lage for several centuries. These villagers and some other Zo-Meitei groups remained in Nagaland as others moved to the south, and these people such as the Tangul Nagas, are linguistically and cul- turally closer to the Zo than to other Nagas. In the Somra Tracts the Pongniu, Sawlaw, Kayou and Heni clans, who speak the Kalaw dialect, are closely related to the Laizo of Falam. Zo people, and perhaps also Meitei slowly moved through the Hukawng Valley. When they came to the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin Rivers they settled there, the two big rivers giving them security and protection from enemies. One reason of their settlement could have also influenced by their inability to cross the two big rivers. Legends told us that Zo people found out building rafts only after they saw a rabbit floating on logs.

The ancient history of the Chindwin Valley was told by a chronicle found in Kale. The “Gazetters- speak of a ruined palace, and the chronicle of the town Yazagyo traces its history back to the time of Buddha, when Indian princes from Magadha ruled local Sak Kantu people. Even today the carved walls of the ancient town of Yazagyo can be appreciated at a place twenty miles north of Kalemyo, in the Kabaw Valley west of the Chindwin. The chronicle says that about A.D. 639 the palace was destroyed by combined forces of Manipuris and Zo According to the Gazetteer the Kale area was closely linked to ancient Magadha. Yazagyo is a corruption of Rajagriha, the residence of Buddha and capital of Magadha. Webula, a mountain a few miles west of Kalemyo, was named after Wepulla of the Pali history of modern Buipula.

Of all Tibeto-Burman peoples the Meitei of Manipur were the people linguistically closest to the Zo, and they settled together as one group in the Chindwin Valley. Historical materials of the Meiteis have shown the presence of Zo people in the Chindwin Valley after the beginning of the Christian era. Lehman” puts the Zo’s occupation of the area well into the middle of the first millen- nium A.D., in which period the Meiteis conquered the

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Andro-Sengmai group of people, who were inhabitants of present day Manipur.

Hodson” said that the Manipuris (Meitei) were descendents of sur- rounding hill tribes. Their traditions have remained similar and even today they retain many customs of the hill people. He wrote, in 1900, that the organization, religion, habits and manners of the Meitei of two hundred years before were the same as the hill people (Zo and Naga) of his own era.

There are legends and traditions which tell of early relationship between Meitei. Naga, and Zo. A Tangkul (Naga) tradition says that Naga, Meitei and Zo dscended from a common ancestor who had three sons. These were the progenitors of the tribes. This tradi- tion puts the Zo as the eldest and the Meitei the youngest. Hodson wrote, “The Tangkul legend is to the effect that one day a sow, heavy with young, wandered from the village of Hundung and was tracked to the valley by the younger of the two brothers who had migrated from the village of Maikel Tungam, where their parents lived, and had founded the village of Hundung. Oknung, the pig’s stone, where the sow was eventually found, is situated on the banks of the Iril River. The sow littered there and the young man stayed to look after her; and as he found the country to his liking. he decided to settle there. For a time he kept up friendly relations with his brother in the hills, who made a practice of sending him every year gifts of produce of the hills and in turn received pre- sents of the manufacture of the plains. The younger brother be- came well-to-do and proud, and abandoned the custom of sending presents to his brother in the hills, who promptly came down and took what he had been in the habit of getting.”

Hodson also told a Mao Naga legend, which connects the Naga, Meitei, and Zo. “Once upon a time there was a jumping match between the three sons of the common ancestor. The Kuki leapt from one top of one range of hills to the crest of the next, while the Naga, nearly as good, cleared the intervening valley, but his foot slipped and touched the river. Hence the limit of his ablutions. while the stronger Kuki to this day avoids all use of water. The Manipuri tumbled headlong, which explains his fondness for bath- ing. Another variant says that the father of them was a Deity named Asu who had three sons, Mamo, Alapa, and Tuto. From Mamo are descended the Kukis and the Nagas,

31 while the Gurkhalis are sprung from the loin of Alapa and the sons of Tuto are the Manipuris.” This and many similar legends of Zo, Meitei, Naga. and Kachin tell stories of their early relations. Most of the legends attempt to explain how they

separated or lost track of each other.

Grierson told a Thado legend which tells of the Khungsai (Thado) and Meitei separation. “Our forefathers have told us that man formerly lived in the bowels of the earth. The Khuangzais and the Meiteis were then friends. One day they quarreled about a cloth, and their mother took a dao and cut intopieces. From then on the Meitei and the Thado went separate ways. The Meitei, who had gone to cut haimang trees. left fresh footprints. so that many people followed them and the Meitei became numerous. The Khuangsais went to cut plantain trees from where they ascended to the earth. When people looked at the footprints of the Khuangsai they looked rather old and therefore few people followed them. which explains why there are only a few Khuangsai.”

Kachin legend says that they were separated from the Zo people, who had gone out in front. and they spent many days Irving to trice the way the Zo people had gone. As they could not find the trial they called the Zo people khang. meaning footprints, because they were looking for footprints of the Zo people. (As there are Khang tribes in the Hukawng valley, the identification of the Zo as Khang could be of modern interpretation.)

Khami legend says that the separation was due to the women and children. who could not walk fast and remained behind. where they cultivated the land and followed the others later.

Sizang legend is similar to the Khuangsai legend, but it does not specify from whom their group was separated. They went in front of the others and to mark their trial cut down plantain trees. The plantain trees grew up immediately after being cut, so that the people following them assumed they had lost the trial and went no further. There was another party, however, who marked their trail by cutting off tree bark. The people finding these still fresh cuttings followed them. Thus there were fewer Zo people.

There are also Meitei or Manipur legends that record the relationship between Zo. Naga, and the Meiteis. Tombi Singh, (1972), a Meitei writes. “If we have an element of truth in our

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legends and historical records, one thing is established: that the ancient forefathers of the Manipuris had their origin in the hill areas of Manipur. This period of forefathers reigning in hilltops is too remote from our memory and understanding to grasp it in its fullest details. As time passed, a super human being performed almost a miraculous feat to drain the water collected in the valley, boring a hole through a hill rock with a spear-like weapon. Even now the outlet is known as chingnunghut. As the result of the drainage provided for the water of Manipur, the population of Manipur moved down to the valley. . . special mention are seven clans, who established stable kingdoms in the different areas of the state.”

Little is known about Meitei history. In 777 the Shan prince Samlong found the Meiteis to be very poor. After a thousand years, during the region of King Pamheiba. Manipur became a strong nation. Conversion to Hinduism during the late eighteenth century and contact with Indians and Chinese widened the gap between the highlanders. Zo and Naga, and plainsmen, the Meiteis. There had been little contact except for warfare, and different cultures. customs, and modes of life were developed.

Table 2. Modern mythology interpretation of Zo relationships to other peoples, and a list of Zo main clans.

Tibeto-Chinese

Man Karen Tibeto-Burman Tai,chinese

Tibeto-Himalayan Assam-Burman North Assam Mishmi

Naga Sak

Asho Sho

Nangkha Muan (Myhn) Khaizo M’Kang

Burmese Zo/ Meitei Jingphaw Lolo (Kachin)

Khami

Khumi

Pansaizo Zaungtu (Reaungtu)

Hualngo

Fanai Khawlh

Zomi (Paite) Sizang

Thado Yo

Latu Senthang Saizang

Suleizo Ng’men Khaungsu Ring Pang Matti Panan Ralte

Teizang

Anu

(Pawmnau)

zo

Masho Mizo (Lusei)

Meitei

Laimi (Pawl)

Lakher

Mirang Zotung

Langzo

Limyo Yhppy

Hmar Zophei Chawte Mi-E Chawngtu Tawr Khiangte Laizo Ngente Khuangh Tlau Khualsim Vangchhia Zahau Renthlei Zanniat

Lente Ngawn

Zo Kingdom

Zo people believe they settled in the Chindwin Valley in early times. They know the Chindwin River by different names— the Lusei as Run. meaning river, and the Paihte as Tuikang, meaning white water. Pu K. Zawla in his “Mizo Pi Pu to Ieh an Thlahte Chanchin” suggested 996 A.D. as the year in which Zo people arrived in the Chindwin Valley. and he oelieves that they lived there two or three centuries.

The rise of the Tang dynasty (618-906 A.D.) brought contact between early Zo people in the Chindwin and the Tang Chinese. The Tang, as widely traveled traders. recorded the existence of three kingdoms in Burma—the Pyus, the Pegus (Mon). and the Sak. The Sak kingdom may have been the Zo of upper Burma.

The rise of the Nan-chao kingdom during the Tang dynasty influenced the Pyu as well as the Zo kingdom, and the Tang dynasty brought resurgence to the political power of the Nan-chao, who were Tai or Shan living in south-west China. In about 629 A.D. the Nan-chao chief was a subordinate of the Tang emperor. but in time the Nan-Chao chief Pi-ko-lo overpowered other small states and built a large Nan-chao kingdom. In 738 A.D. the Nan-chao conquered the Tu-fan (Tibet) and Shihman (Lolo) tribes. (Lolo tribes are one of the Tibeto-Burman races. They migrated from the north as the last of the Tibeto-Burmans) Because of a misunderstanding between the emperor and the second Nan-chao chief. Ko-lo-feng, a great battle was fought at Hsiakuan and 6,000 of the Tangs’ troops were killed. Thus the Nan-chao established themselves as a stable kingdom. During this period the Shan attempted to push eastward into China as well as southwest. In 750 A.D. Ko-lo-feng opened trade routes to India and to the kingdom of the Pyu in central Burma. He

Khuano Dim Guile Ngaihte

Simte Bake Vaiphei Gangte

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34 established permanent garrisons at staging posts, and these garri- sons were in later years to dominate northern Burma and conquer the Zo people in the Chindwin Valley. In 700 A.D. the Nan-chao plundered the Pyu capital and carried off thousands of captives to Kunming, which ended the Pyu kingdom.50

Tang Chinese travelers learned of an eighth century kingdom and various tribes existing west of the Nan-chao kingdom. The capital of the kingdom, “the wooden stockade”. was situated at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin Rivers. At that time the Zo people must have settled north and west of the capital, as most of the locations connected with the Zo people were found in the north of the Chindwin and Irrawaddy confluence. The northern most part of the Zo settlement was at Homalin.Fan-ch’o, a diplo- mat of the Tang. described the Chindwin River and the people liv- ing in the Chindwin Valley. The Chinese called the Chindwin River “Mino”; hence the people living in the Chindwin Valley were called Mino people. Fan-ch’o wrote in “The Manshu: Book of the South- ern Barbarians”, “It takes its source in the Hsiao-Po’lo men *Little Brahman Kingdom’ of the northwest. It flows south past the Yu- yeh-chu river valley. Then to ;he southeast it reaches the wooden stockade which is on a sand bank 100 Ii from north to south and 60 li from cast to west. They call their princes and chiefs Zo. The Mino have long white faces. They are by nature polite and respect- ful. Whenever they address anyone, they came forward making a bow at each step. The kingdom has no cities with inner or outer walls. In the middle of the hall of.the Mino King’s palace there are great pillars cut and carved in patterns and adorned with gold and silver... They are 60 day stages southwest of Yungchang city of Man.- (The Chinese called the Nan-chaos “Man”.)

“In the ninth year of Taho (835 A.D.) the Man destroyed their (Zo) kingdom and tooted their gold and silver. They captured two or three thousand of their clansmen and banished them to wash the gold of the Li shui (Irrawaddy)”

Remains of Zo settlements are still found today in the Chindwin Valley. Two miles from Sibani village, not far from Monywa, is a Zo ritual ground. The memorial stone was, in earlier days, about thirteen feet (4.3 m) high, but is now decayed from exposure. The Burmese called it Chin paya or Chin God. The place was called “Ashground” because of the high ash content of the soil.

35 In 1971 Khantinzamvungh found beads front necklaces, remnants of copper belts, and pieces of water pipes, used for smoking, in the earth. The Burmese told him that in 1968 Major Ko Ko took three Jeep loads of material from the ground and drove away. In Sathung, a village near Mintaipen, there are remnants of Zo memorial stones which have inscribed the date the Zo people were attacked by Mingyi Kyaw Saw. Near Sagaing bridge there is a village called Chin Ywa or Chin Village. There are no more Zo in the village. the Meitei descendents are still there. They are Burmanized and speak only Burmese. In the cemetery however, the Meitei keep their tra- ditions, burying their dead with the heads pointing north, whereas the Burmans bury their dead with heads pointing east. In Sagaing town itself is a place called Chin Suh or “Chin meeting place.”

When the Burmese descended to the plains of central Burma, dur- ing the ninth century, Zo people were already in the Chindwin Val- ley. According to Luce the Burmans fought against the other occu- pants of the area. such as the Thet, Mon, and Pyu, but they did not fight the Zo.

The reason seems very simple. Since the Burmese settled in the east of the Irrawaddy, and the Zo were dominantly between the two rivers, there was no conflict of interest concerning their terri- tory between the two tribes. Only after their kingdom was destroyed the Zo crossed the Chindwin and settled in the Kale-Kabaw- Myittha-Yaw-Valleys and Pandaung Hill. Asho tradition says that they lived in the Pandaung Hills and crossed the Irrawaddy and lived on the cast bank of the Irrawaddy during the Burmese Pagan dynasty.

The Shans established a state at Hkamti Long, previously held by a Tibetan prince in about 1000 A.D. It started as a military outpost of the Nan-chaos during the three-side hostilities involving Chi- nese and Tibetans. After establishing themselves the Shan began settling in the Hukawng, Mogaung, Kabaw. Kale, and to a lesser extent in the Yaw valleys. The Shans must have intermixed with the Zo people, as many Zo. in particular the Lusei and the Pawi (Zahau), legends tell us about their times with the Shans.

For example “Shan khaw fiartui the vat in dang, Ngaknun hnamchem ang an chawi”

Not only do songs describe a river, which speculation holds to be

36 the Chindwin, but the songs narrate life in a Shan village. The Paite, or other Zo clans, seem to have no such traditions. The Paite call the Shans “the children of Khamang” which perhaps means that the Paite regarded the Shans as Khmer. They call the Chinese “Sen” which must have been derived from Shan. The Paite were less intimate with the Shans during that time because they occu- pied the areas around Kan a little farther south from the Shan.

During this period the Zo occupied the countries west of the Chindwin and Irrawaddy Rivers—stretching from Khampat/ Homalin area in the north to the Yaw country/Pandaung Hills in the south. The Shans concentrated themselves in the northern part of this area— mainly north of Kale. Few Shans were in the Yaw area. Zo were the main occupant of the area south and west of Kale, the Myittha and Yaw valleys. Some Zo were already in the southern Zo— northern Arakan areas.

In 1253 the Mongol king Kublai Khan struck south from Linpan mountains of Kansu. through sonic 700 miles of no-man’s land, by-passing Tu-fan (Tibet), and attacking Ta-li the Nan-chao capi- tal. The Nan-chao kingdom of Ta-li was destroyed in 1279. After this destruction the surviving Shan rulers migrated to the present north of Burma, Thailand and surrounding areas.

The Mongols then invaded Burma and captured Conca (near Bhamo) on the ninth of December, 1283. The Mongols advanced as far as Myingyan and then retreated. The Shans of Hkamti Long and Mogaung took the opportunity to fill the vacuum thus created and in April. 1301 invaded and overran north Burma, east and west of the Irrawaddy. In 1364 they sacked the twin Burmese capitals of Sagging and Pinya.

After destruction of the Burmese kingdom petty Shan kingdoms were formed in different parts of Burma, including Kale. Like their sister states of Mohnyin and Mogaung, they became indepen-dent.

The Mongol invasion and the Shan activities drove the Burmans to migrate to the west of the Irrawaddy starting during the thir- teenth century. The Burmans settled down in the Yaw valley. At a certain time the Burman seemed to recognize the Zo people with their own name and called the area the Zo country. Yaw was de- rived from Zo or a very similar word. The river in the Zo

37 country was named the Zo stream or Yaw chaung. The Burmans brought their culture, religion and wet cultivation, which they cop- ied from the Pyus. Zo and Burman lived side by side over a cen- tury. Both of these tribes had at one time in the past the same an- cestor. They shared the Tibeto— Burman language and therefore the Zo plain dwellers of the Yaw valley adopted easily the Burman language and Burmese way of life including the religion. These Burmanized Zo people are still in the Yaw country today. They call themselves the Yaw people and speak Burmese with a distinctive dialect.

Most of the Zo people however did not easily change their way of life. Even in the Chindwin valley they used slash and burn method of shifting cultivation, and practiced their custom of animal sacri- fices. They preferred hill areas for their settlement and many of them occupied the Pandaung Hills as documented by Asho his- tory.

Because new immigrants were brought by waves of Burmese in- vasions of the kingdom of Manipur and Assam, the Burmans quickly spread to the Kale-Kabaw-Myittha valleys. By the four-teenth century the Burmese established themselves tightly in the area that their chronicles mentioned Kale as early as 1370. The Burmese hold on the Shan was so strong that by the fouteenth century the names of the Sawbwas bore Burmese names, includ- ing Kyitaungnyo, the Sawbwa of Kale.

Zo People Built Kale Palace

In 1368 Sao Saw Ke (1368— 1401) a Shan Sawbwa or prince became the king of the new dynasty founded at Ava. He took ad- vantage of the quarrel between Kale and Mohnyin and annexed both states and replaced the Sawbwas with his relatives. Kyitaun-gnyo, his very ambitious nephew, became the Sawbwa of Kale, who even attacked Ava in 1425 circling the city for seven months but failed to dethrone the king. In 1374 he built the palace of Kale. It had a double moat. measuring 30 yards (30 m) wide, and massive walls a kilometre square, enclosing an area of 2,34 acres. The remains of the massive walls of Kale city, still stand today two miles south of the present Kale. (The author did not see the remains himself.)

38 The Asho from the Sandoway distict of Burma have ballads that mentioned the bricked-wall city of Kale.

Ania la chap don a kho a, e e e e htoan za na baleng a hpuan a, e e e e apok a poichi a oat limit it, c e e e htoan za na baleng a hpuan a, ane ye olo ve dimo e, e e e e si sho e lo po e hnaung e, e e e e son sho e a toan e sy c. e e e c kanau o suam ei o htui yo

Translation

To the upper country To the plains and dry grasses To the brick city of our forefathers To the plains and dry grasses Which are so charming Let us, hie, come along! Let us haste with every speed Oh my fairy-like young brother (Taken from Vumkhohau)

Zo (the Lusei) verbal history states a cruel king and a great famine which killed thousands of people in the Shan country as the reason for their migration to the hill.” The Sizang records the oppressive Governor of Kale as the cause. He forced the people to construct a moat running all around the Kale palace. There were so many people involved in the construction and the fingers cut accidentally dur- ing the construction filled a whole basket. At the same time the people had to defend themselves against the Manipuris who in- vaded the Zo-Shan country constantly. They therefore could de- vote little time cultivating their fields and eventually famine struck the area. The Zo then decided to leave the plains and migrated to the hills.

Whenever there was a possibility of assimilation, the Zo moved away, and it was time for them to move away from the Burman because some Zo had assimilated to the Burman. They climbed the hills of the Zo country and following the highest ridges they looked for suitable locations for settlement, and they settled down wherever they came across caves big enough to protect them from rain and weather.

39 They left behind the Kale-Kabaw-Myittha Valleys, a land they oc- cupied for some centuries. To this rich land they came back again and again to hunt for the vast forest of the valleys was inhabitat by bountiful wild animals such as bison, bear, wildboar, huge herds of deer, tiger, elephants herds and even rhinoceras. The streams were full of trout and fishing was done with the nets obtained from the Shan and the Burman. They came back when they need slaves, and human heads for sacrificial purposes. And they came back to trade. They were the friends of the plains people until they quarrel, and they were enemies until they agreed once more to be friends. When peace was established after the British invasion, they came back to settle and today they live peacefully together.

Conclusion : Zo people must have come to the area between the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy rivers before the 8th century, possi- bly at the beginning of the Christian era. Zo people had built a Kingdom there. with capital at the confluence of the two rivers, which protects them from their enemies. Their Kingdom was de- stroyed by the Nanchaos during the 9th century. The Masho might have migrated to the Zo country without first living in the Chindwin Valley or their migration might have happened imme-diately after the Zo Kingdom was detroyed. Most Zo people lived together with the Shans from the 9th century upto the 14th century. The Bur- mese came to the Zo country in the 13th century. The majority of Zo migrated to the Zo country starting in the 14th century.

Festive Lusei dress