The Lushai Hills: Annexation, Resistance and Pacification 1886-1898

In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Lushai Hills on India’s Eastern Periphery, now the state of Mizoram, was annexed by the British and incorporated into their Indian Empire. This book tells the story of how this was done, bringing into focus the hitherto neglected theme of resistance to the imposition of alien rule. The Lushais, or more accurately the Mizos, like so many other hill people in North East India, took up arms and fought the British for six years before they were finally pacified. This study also highlights their fears of what colonial would mean for their traditional way of life. Hence their decision to resist. The work is rounded off by an account of what came to be called indirect rule, that is, British rule through the medium of the chiefs, the utility of which system was realised during the operations and which the colonial rulers scrupulously followed till the end of their rule.