Wednesday 21 March 2012

SOMETHING ABOUT TONSING

The Manipur Tonsings are part and parcel of the Paites, who reside mainly in the district of Churachandpur (Lamka) and number about 10000 to 15000. They are a small group of people who are an important constituent of the Paite tribe. Their customs and traditions are no different from that of the Paites. Infact, the traditions and practices of the Tonsings are the Paite traditions and usages. There is no separate identity of the Tonsings outside of the Paite community. We inherit our traditions and customs/usages from and with the Paite and thus, those found at the Paite pages are those of the Tonsings too. There are other Tonsings in parts of Mizoram and Burma (Myanmar). There is also an umbrella organization of all the Tonsings called the TONSING INPI (Inpi= main house) which as the name suggests, is the body which looks after and keeps record of all the Tonsings and their relations with other clans. The offices of the Tonsing Inpi is located at Lamka, Churachandpur, Manipur, India. This house is right now busy collating information about all the Tonsings in the contiguous areas of Manipur, Mizoram and Myanmar (Burma) to compile the genealogy in a book form. It is a big project and it is nowhere near completion. As soon as the editors think it is almost complete, some other Tonsings pop out from somewhere else and the process begins all over again. We are hoping it will be completed in as little time as is humanely possible. It had been common knowledge among the Paites that the Tonsings are descended from the Guites(and the Paites are part of the Zomi/Mizo nomenclature). The Guites claim the Chief-ship among the Paites and that all the Paite sub-tribes are under them. There are some other stories and legends that try to explain the birth of the Tonsing clan. A. One woman called ZUALNING, the wife of the chief of ZUANG village near Tiddim in Myanmar, was captured by the Guite chiefs and brought to their village. She was a captive and as was wont for war captives, she was kept at the courtyard. One of the Guite chief's sons clandestinely slept with this woman and she became pregnant. She was tied to the TONMUNG, which was the sacrificial pillar. The birthing of the baby coincided with the Ton of the Guite chief and since the baby was born in time for it, he was called TONSIM, literally meaning "one who partakes" of something (the TON festival in this case). It is said that TONSING is a corruption or modification of the word TONSIM and this boy's descendants came to be called TONSINGs. B. Another source refutes this illegitimate child theory and say that the woman, ZUALNING, was already pregnant when she was captured. The birthing of the child was a public spectacle with all the villagers coming out to watch the birth of the baby. It was thus with much shame that the mother gave birth to this baby. It is said that the baby thus born was called BUANSING, descendants of whom are still are existent and are regarded close to the Tonsings genealogically. Since this woman, Zualning, was very beautiful, those who go by this theory say, that the Guite chief took her to be his wife. It is rather out of this legitimate relationship that Tonsing was born.

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