Literary culture is very crucial for nationality, race, ethnicity, and tribe, and literature and language contribute a lot to communication between different communities that have unique customs, languages, histories, and cultures.
Racial literature, Language, and culture are essential for promoting contribution to society, empathy, and social progress. In addition, it gives brightness to human civilization through the challenges of human experiences, different sounds, and historical stories.
Nowadays, there is an ethnic group that is fighting for native literature, language, and culture with pride. This ethnic group is the Chin (Zomi) people. They have striven as far as the ages have reached for literature.
The Zomi people believed that they had a large amount of literary history. Therefore, they continue to fight for literature, language, and culture amid internal conflicts and oppressions faced in the past and present.
History and Belief of Zomi Literature and Language
The Zomi people, who live in the western part of Myanmar, have preserved their native literature for generations. According to the historical literature records, it is believed that the native literature has progressed step by step after passing through continuous five ages.
It is said that the Zomi literature can be observed in five eras: (1) the period of hieroglyphs literature, (2) the period of Pau Cin Hau scripts literature (or) racial traditional literature, (3) the period of Burmese literature, (4) the period of Roman literature, and (5) the independent era.
The Chin ancestors were handed down to their descendants by singing songs, poetry, poems, proverbs, and sayings. Even through their efforts at Zomi literature, they could only claim that their literary culture had existed since ancient times. However, according to Zomi literary scholars, no reliable primary zomi literary evidence has been found to date.
Tedium (Zomi) language is a language spoken mostly in the northern areas of Chin State of Myanmar and the southern areas of Manipur State of India.
In addition, this Tedium language is still spoken mostly in Kalay and Mawlai towns in Sagaing Region, but it is said that they often speak a mixture of languages such as Falam, Zomi, and Burmese.
“There was a saying that the Chin people used to have literature in ancient times. But no solid evidence has been found to date. Before there was literature, the things that the Chin ancestors wanted to remember were handed over to their descendants by making songs, poetry, proverbs, and sayings. Those ancestors calculated and remembered the numbers that they wanted to remember by knot, scratches on the wood, and adding and subtracting Aung loun sword bean. When craft and culture progressed, the things they valued were also recorded by carving images on wood and stone tablets,” Dr. Swin Liang who is Zomi, said.
Diversity of Opinion on Zomi Literature and Language
The Chin nationality has different Chin ethnic groups, and on the other hand, it can be found that literature and language are different. Some people accept Zomi literature as a representation of the entire Chin nationality, but some do not accept it.
When the Chin people were going through life without native literature, it is said that Pau Cin Hau was able to successfully create a kind of literature within 2 years, with the guidance of the Pasian Religion that they believe, in 1899.
The emergence of this literature coincided with the Chin people’s long-awaited need for their literature. The Pau Cin Hau literature has rapidly spread to all parts of Chin Hill. Since it was the first published literature, the inventor Pau Cin Hau was honored as the inventor of Laipian literature.
During the reign of the British imperialists before Myanmar’s independence, there was a competition between Zomi literature and Roman literature in Chin Hill. The teaching of Burmese was banned under the pretext that Burmese literate Chin students participated in the Student Movement in 1920.
Instead of Burmese script, the Roman alphabet was invented and enforced for Chin script. Different alphabets were invented and implemented for each region to make it impossible to communicate with each other. All Burmese schools in Chin Hill were abolished from 1924 to 1925, and primary schools teaching Chin script based on the Roman Alphabet were started to open.
During the time under British rule, the Chin people’s literature which is the Laipian Pau Cin Hau literature, and Burmese literature, faded away, and the Chin had to learn and use only the Roman alphabet and English literature.
The Zomi literature first appeared in Chin Hill, but their language literature, and cultures were colonized under British rule. Therefore, there were different views on Zomi literature. Additionally, even the terms of Zomi-Chin, and Chin-Zomi were confused. It is said that there are no records of where the term Chin came from.
Regarding such differences, “I believe that when the colonialism planted by the English is depleted, all Chin people will show true patriotism and accept the Zomi literature,” said Dr. Swin Liang.
The Zomi literature was developed based on the speech and accent of the Chin people. It is said to have been invented to be the most easy and appropriate. The Chin speech and pronunciation cannot be written entirely in the Burmese language, and the Roman alphabet cannot be written down accurately to describe the Chin people’s speech and pronunciation.
Since the Chin’s speech is a tone language, different tone pitches have different meanings. Zomi literature and language researchers believe that only Zomi literature can accurately record such high and low tones.
Although there are different beliefs and different groups among the Chin people, some Chin peoples have highlighted the fact that they have not been able to unite the Chin ethnic groups about literature due to the historical conditions and the impact of Burmese politics over the years, and they have accepted that they are all brotherhood.
The Zomi people have lived in Tedium, Tungzang, Kyikhar, Tamu, Kalay, Mandalay, and some townships of Yangon, and according to records, more than 300,000 Zomi people are living in these areas even in 20214.
Uploading Zomi Literature on Computers and Mobile Phones
Linguistic Okawo D Christopher and Anshuman Pandey have documented native Chin (Zomi) literature at the University of California since 2010 and tried to use it as a Unicode Character.
Laipan literature groups had conducted to be used Zomi literature on computers, mobile phones, and online systems based on their efforts. Now it is easy to install and use in Windows OS, Mac OS, and Android OS.
The Zomi literature analysts estimate that there may be tens of thousands of people who use and learn Zomi literature in Myanmar. Zomi literature is still not used, but it has been learned that there are quite a few ethnic groups that have accepted it. Currently, it is learned that even the Mizo and Kuki-Chin people in Mizoram State and Manipur State in India have started to accept it.
Difficulties and Hopes of Spread of Zomi Literature during the Military Coup
Before the military coup, the teaching of Zomi literature was conducted on the ground, but currently, it can be done through the online teaching system during the military coup.
Many difficulties can be encountered when preserving literature. If the literature is not used, it is easy to forget it. The lack of a regular-use environment can worsen over time.
“In the past, Zomi literature was unable to be written in books, published, and recorded with sounds and videos. That’s why, only if those who literate Zomi literature give a specified time, it can be learned, so hands-on learning is very difficult. If those literate Zomi have low education and their living is difficult, it is more difficult to give time to teaching methods. So, there are times when it can’t even be taught once every five years,” explained Dr. Swin Liang, who is Zomi.
Amid the difficulties, online learning systems are actively working to spread the Zomi literature during the coup. Literate teachers of the Zomi literature and language are teaching the literature as far as possible they can.
“Currently, it is impossible to teach it on the ground. It is done online teaching. In the future, we will promote Zomi literature, by taking a little fee for teaching. If it is free, the literature will not be valued” said a Zomi teacher who is currently teaching Zomi literature online.
According to some historical records, the Zomi people are an ethnic group living in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, and the diversity between them was caused by British colonial policies.
According to the comments of some historians, it is said that the Zomi were the ethnic group that suffered the most from the British imperialists. Amid such great difficulties, a savior appeared for the hunger for literature, but the Zomi people only encountered oppression. However, the Zomi people have been waging a literary battle by preserving literature that has rarely emerged from Chin Hill, up until now.