Invented Scripts, Missionaries and Officials in Colonial Mizoram

Due to scarcity of historical documents, social research on Mizoram mainly relies on colonial writings and missionary accounts. The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act, 1873, a colonial document, marks the beginning of understanding contemporary Mizoram through historical sources. The archives do not have documents prior to 1873. A Fly on the Wheel; Or How I Helped to Govern India, written by Colonel Thomas Herbert Lewin, published in 1912, is the first monograph on Mizoram. It is based on an account of the first Lushai¹ Expedition of 1870–71. The book Modern Mizoram: History, Culture and Poetics by P Thirumal, Laldinpuii and C Lalrozami, by using innovative historical resources, adds to recent social research on Mizoram that includes historical images (photos), pamphlets, Mizo novels, poetry, hymns, letters, memoirs and diaries, adding newer understandings on contemporary Mizoram.

Textual Historical Sources