A Comparative
Study of Women Status in
Lali and Chhingpuii
Rohmingthanga
Ralte
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Mizo, GANC
16th
October 2018
The two short stories we are going to compare is “Lali”
by L.Biakliana and “Chhingpuii” written by Kaphleia. L.Biakliana and Kaphleia were
soulmates in the field of Mizo literature. They can be best described as ‘birds
of a feather’. They are inseparable in the field of Mizo literature in that it
would be incomplete to mention either name without mentioning both. Both had studied
outside Mizoram and developed great interests in uplifting the people of their
home state and the society. They were social thinkers whose vision entirely
focused on social reformation. However, they were prevented from working out
their vision as they suffered from the same disease; Tuberculosis, which was
incurable at that time. Both died at very young age. Both were concerned about
the status of women in pre-modern Mizo society which they beautifully reflected
in their short stories. Here we are going to study the two stories in the
context of women status in Mizo society.
1.
About
the authors:
L.Biakliana was the son of a well-known Pastor Rev.Liangkhaia
and was born on August 26th,1918 at Mission Veng, Aizawl. His mother
Ngurchhawni was the daughter Dorawta, Sailo chief of Saitual village. “His
parents married in 1916 and Biakliana was their first child. At a very young
age, Biakliana was different from the other children; he was too curious and very
good at memorising what he learnt. He was a sincere and honest boy” (Khiangte
8).
When he was five years old, his mother
passed away. In the year 1928, he completed Lower Primary Examination. He
completed middle English in 1931. He studied high school in Silchar and later
he moved to Shillong. In 1936, he appeared for Matriculation under Calcutta
University. He was one of the outstanding students and passed Matriculation in first
division. During his entire school days, he passed all standards in first
division. He was admitted to College in Gauhati (former name of Guwahati) and it
was during this that he was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. He looked for
treatment in several hospitals, but unluckily for him Tuberculosis(TB)
treatment was not discovered at that time. Losing all hopes for cure, he
returned to Mizoram. Near the Presbyterian church hospital at Durtlang, a small
isolation hut was constructed for him where he spent the rest of his life with Kaphleia,
who also suffered from the same disease and who went on to become his compatriot
in literature. Biakliana passed away at a very young age on October 17, 1941.
Kaphleia was born on January 10th,
1910 to Chhingvunga and his wife Chuailovi. “In his earlier childhood, he lived
in Hauhuktar village. Then, his
family moved to Sialsuk village. His
father, who was a mail runner, was later transferred to |hiak.
He was again transferred to Tachhip in
1927” (Lalthangliana 3).
Kaphleia studied upto class three in
Sialsuk. Then, he studied Middle School
in Aizawl. He studied high school in
Shillong. In 1935, he passed Matriculation. In the same year on july 19, he
joined Scottish Church College in Calcutta. But, because of his illness, he could
not complete college.
Kaphleia was a smart and neat man, who
used to keep notes of what learnt. He regularly maintained his diary. Like
Biakliana, Kaphleia was also suffered from Tuberculosis (TB) while in college.
He returned to Aizawl and stayed in the isolation hut which was fondly named ‘Inte thawveng’ with Biakliana. He passed
away in his village, Tachhip in 1940.
2. Introduction
to Lali and Chhingpuii:
“Lali” written by Biakliana is the First
Mizo short story. From this story, we can see a great deal of the status of
women in the society and in the family, their loyalty and trustworthiness in
love relationship. “It is a well-plotted story about how strong faith in God
despite miseries in the family pays off in the end” (Khiangte 26). Lali’s story
is set in post Christianity Mizoram.
Kaphleia wrote “Chhingpuii” in the year between
1938-1939, it is the Second Mizo short story. This story is a historical
fiction based on true incidents. The plot and settings of this story takes
place in Pre-Christian Mizo society. In this story we see a strong bond of love
between a man and a woman. In the meantime, we also see loyalty and patience of
a woman. Then, we see the sacrifice of love for lovers. The central theme of
the story is;
Those who may call us ‘brothers, sister’
when we have fortunes may eventually leave us when we have nothing. Those who
are eager to share others’ fortunes but tend to run away when they are in
troubles are fake friends who are more dangerous than known enemies (Lalthangliana
34).
Both the stories have woman as
protagonist as well as title. We are going to analyse the two stories in their
similarities and difference.
3. Lali
and Chhingpuii Status in the Story:
In “Lali” short story the main character
is Lali. Her real name is ‘Lalawmpuii’. Even though her village is a Christian
village, his father is among the non-converts who refuse to adopt the Christian
faith along with a few elders. He is a drunkard too.”(Khiangte 81).
Lali has two brothers, and she is the
middle sibling. She has no sister and household chores are her responsibility. Works
like fetching water, husking and shifting rice, processing rice and what not are
performed all by herself. She even expresses her feelings to her friend Vani “How
unfortunate to be a single girl among siblings. How I want to have a younger
sister” (83).
Lali’s characters and physical
characteristics;
Lali is not a woman who is famous for
her looks. She however is one of the most sought-after girls in her village
thanks to her friendliness and good characters. Besides she is not ugly. She is
an average girl standing at five feet two inches tall. She is more of a leany
than chubby, but she is not too leany. She has an oval face with a high bridge
nose, which is untypical of a Mizo girl. She has crystal clear eyes with
straight even teeth. Her hair is not thick but long. (85)
Lali and her mother are true
Christians, and Lali’s father is their biggest burden. As has been said, Lali’s
father is a drunkard. To make matter worse, he usually unleashes domestic
violence when he gets drunk. Lali and her mother would long for establishing a good
christian family but they are under the administration of a non-believer. This
is the ordeal that Lali has to endure in her family.
In “Chhingpuii” short story, the
protagonist is Chhingpuii, who is a single daughter whose father is ‘Ralte Awmkhauha’. She is one of the
most beautiful girls in the village and is one of the most sought-after girls.
She is among the top five beautiful maidens in her village.
Her physical
characteristics are;
Chhingpuii has a rosy dark complexion
with fascinating charms. She is taller than average girls. Because of her
father’s wealth she has beautiful clothes to wear that makes her more
attractive. However, the village folks talk more about her skills in weaving
than her physical attractiveness. She attacks a crowd of suitors (CTBEB 74).
Chhingpuii is fond of Kaptluanga
and both work together in the jhum. After Kaptluanga is bewitched by a
sorceress, a strong man becomes a weak man, he is unable to venture out of his
house, not to mention going to forest and jhum fields. From that day when Kaptluanga
becomes disabled, Chhingpuii avoids the company of young men, while going to
the jhum fields, she walks beside married men and elders. During that time there
is a war between east and west. In the course of the war, Chhingpuii is killed
by enemies who take her head.
4. Women
Status in the Household:
Mizo family
system is patriarchal in nature, father is the head of the family and maintain
the family matters, women have no voices in the family administration and
matters. There is an old saying, “Hmeichhe
thu, thu ni suh; Chakai sa, sa ni suh.”(Crab’s meat is not a real meat as
women’s word is not a word). There is also another male chauvinistic saying, “Hmeichhe finin tuikhur ral a kai lo” (a
women wisdom does not reach to the other side of the village well). Women may
enjoy different status in different families. However, their responsibilities
in the family and the society remain more or less the same.
Lali’s family is under the rule
of a drunkard. That makes her condition worse and miserable compared to Chhingpuii.
She does not have a protection from her father. Whereas Chhingpuii is a single
daughter and her father gives her the much needed protection.
Lali is burdened with heavy
workload in the family and the jhum to such an extent that she makes this remark,
“I ambusier in the autumn leisure time” (Khiangte 83). This shows that when
autumn leisure time comes and there are no works in the jhum fields, Lali has more
works to do in the family. She does not have the time for doing things she likes
when everybody else is doing so. How men do whatever they feel like doing is
clearly defined in the essay “Thlirtu”
which is written by Kaphleia, the author of “Chhingpuii”:
When autumn leisure time comes, our body
and mind are relaxed, nothing to worry about works. Every morning, men are planning
what they would do on that day. Some are going to catch the crabs, while others
go fishing. The hunters go hunting with their dogs; while the dogs keep barking
along the river valley and the hills, the hunter keeps watching with high hopes
to go home with antlers (CTBEB 11).
We see from the two short stories
that women, while not out in the jhum fields, are busily engaged in household
chores like fetching water, weaving, fetching firewood, which are part of their
life. In ‘Lali’ story, we see Lali engaging in weaving, shifting rice and
fetching water for most of the time. On the contrary, we see Chhingpuii weaving
most of the time in ‘Chhingpuii’ story. At night, we also see Chhingpuii busy
spinning wheel and cooking pig feeds. Even though Lali and Chhingpuii have
different family background, we can conclude that they are equally busy in the
household.
5. Woman
in Love Relationship:
What we see from the two stories about
the nature of women in love relationship is that women try to hide their
relationship as long as possible. Lali is secretly in love with Biakmawia,
which is almost impossible to be observed by others. They keep their
relationship between themselves so that no one can suspect that they are in
love. Their good friendship since childhood is more visible to others. Even
though most of the folks see them as good friends, some young men, who watch
them closer, are jealous of Biakmawia.
As have been said, Chhingpuii is
among the top most beautiful girls in the village, and she has a lot of suitors.
She is in love with Kaptluanga. However, she never openly shows his love for
him, which is very clear from the following text:
As she stands up to re-arrange
firewood in the hearth and goes back to take seat, she sits not exactly where
she sat before, but a little bit closer to Kaptluanga’s head (note that Kaptluanga
is laying by the side of the hearth which men usually do while courting girls).
Every time she rises upto fetch firewood and put it in the hearth, she sits
back closer to him. The third time she does this, she is close enough to sit on
the portion of Kaptluanga’s puan
(wrap-around cloth) (CTBEB 75).
If Chhingpuii openly shows her love
for Kaptluanga, she would be a foolish woman. That is the nature of women
status in pre-modern Mizo society. They treat all their suitors equally.
6. In
Marriage:
As we have mentioned previously,
Mizo family is a patriarchal system. Father is the head of the family. Because
of this, the status of man and woman status are different in terms of marriage.
Men can marry a woman they love the most. But, sometimes women cannot marry a
man of her choice. So, some women may marry the person they don’t like. This is
because of their parents. Some parents also force their daughters into arranged
marriage.
Lali’s father likes Rozika to be
his son-in-law because of his family’s wealth and status. That is why Lali has
almost married him. But Rozika has indulged in sex with another woman Zami,
which luckily prevents Lali from marrying him. On the other hand, depending on
the family system, all women are not forced to marry persons they dislike.
Lalnawta takes advantage of his
rich family background to court Chhingpuii. Lalnawta makes every attempt to win
her heart. On one occasion, when Kaptluanga is away in the forest hunting, he
makes desperate efforts to win her. However, Chhingpuii’s father seems not
interested in Lalnawta, which is clear from the fact that he interferes when Lalnawta
stays for too long one night:
. . .Lalnawta says to chhingpuii,‘You
don’t want to reply me?’ She replies with a smile, “What are you saying? I did
not know what you said?”. And when he is about to speak another words,
Chhingpuii’s father makes sound by spitting tuibur
(nicotine-induced water put in the mouth) on the head side of the bed. Lalnawta
becomes dumb founded, he keeps toying the tongs for a few moment and leaves for
home (CTBEB 86).
7. Women’s
Loyalty and Patience:
Loyalty and patience are two of
most important characters in human life. Unfaithful and impatient people make
human relationship bitter. A person who is faithful and patient gets the prize
in the end. We find these two important human qualities in “Lali” and
“Chhingpuii” stories.
Since Lali’s father is a
drunkard, he is in the habit of beating his wife and children under the
influence of alcohol. Whenever he comes home drunk, he looks for trouble in the
house. But, Lali and his mother patiently endure the torment and never think of
leaving the family.
But one evening, when Lali’s
father makes proposal about his daughter’s marriage, Lali and her mother
protest. Angered by this, Lali’s father starts beating his wife and his
daughter again.
Despite the regular beatings she
received from her husband, Lali’s mother never wanted to leave the house. But,
that evening, she decided to leave the family given the situation that her
husband forced their daughter into, with a hope that her leaving would make
things better” (Khiangte 98).
For this time too, leaving her husband is not for her
own good but for the good of her daughter, who she knows is in trouble. Also,
she does not leave for too long, she comes back soon because of her son’s
sickness. If Lali’s mother had lost patience on her husband, her family would
have been broken.
Lali and Biakliana are good friends from childhood. They
keep this friendship when they grow up. However, those who look at them from another
point of view speak ill of them. Some youngmen are jealous of Biakmawia. Lali
and Biakmawia also fear that Lali’s father would one day cause hindrance to their
preparation to serve the Lord (Khiangte 86).
As
we have said before, Lali and Biakmawia are best friends from their childhood
days. Both have faith on each other. So, they never see themselves as lovers.
But, when Lali lands in trouble and is about to be forced into marriage with
another man, Biakmawia comes to realise that she is more than a friend to him.
Lali also has a big faith on Biakmawia and she never opens his heart for the
other bachelors. Owing to Lali’s faithfulness and patience, they are married in
the end of the story.
Chhingpuii
loves Kaptluanga from the bottom of her heart. Lalnawta tries to win
Chhingpuii’s heart when Kaptluanga is hunting. But, Lalnawta fails because of
Chingpuii faithfulness which becomes stronger when Kaptluanga is under a magic
spell.
When Kaptluanga was bewitched and became disabled,
Chhingpuii didn’t want to walk along with any young men to the jhum fields.
Because she was afraid that walking to jhum with other men would hurt Kaptluanga.
So, she decided to walk with elderly women (CTBEB 91).
Before
Kaptluanga was bewitched, the time when he wooed her, she treated him equally
with other suitors. She never disclosed her fondness of him. Though, the time
when her lover became disabled she never wanted to do anything together with
other young men, and not even going to the jhum with them. The day when she was
killed by their enemies on the way to jhum, she was walking with an elderly man
Pu Rena. It can be said that her fear of hurting Kaptluanga’s sentiments by
walking with other men cost her own life. Had she gone to the jhum with men on
that fateful day, she would have been safe.
8.
Conclusion:
From the two short stories, we study women status from
different points. Firstly, in terms of chores and household duties, all women
status is the same. So, Lali and Chhingpuii share equal number of works in
their respective families.
In terms of relationship, all women try to hide their
feelings. Lali and Chhingpuii hide their feelings and emotions. But when
situation comes, they boldly reveal their feelings and faithfulness to their
loved ones. There is this old Mizo customary practice that when young men are
not happy with a maiden they would tear down a portion of the wall of the
maiden’s house. This could may be one of the reasons why girls treat their
suitors equally.
Regarding marriage, the fates of Lali
and Chhingpuii are very different. Her father forces Lali to marry the man she
dislikes, While Chhingpuii is not forced and lives freely. But apart from this,
their behaviour on their suitors and lovers are the same.
Comparing men and women in terms of faithfulness and
patience, women are better than men. There too are weak women, but faithfulness
and patience are the good qualities that add to the women’s beauty.
The two stories clearly reflect the status of women in
Mizo society. The writers outline this beautifully and creatively. We can also
see that owing to modernity, women status in the society has gradually changed.
However, as we can see from the stories and looking
into today’s Mizo society, Mizo women duties and responsibilities in the family
are still more or less the same, only that the household chores have become
easier.
The more developed a society the more freedom women
enjoy. They hold important positions in politics and society. In some
countries, no matter how developed they are, women still enjoy the status that
is a little higher than animals.
It appears that women enjoy equality with men in
Christian society. As we have different cultures and different traditions,
women status in every society will be different across the world. Is women
status is defined by men or it is their destiny? Let us conclude with this
Bible verse that Biakliana uses in his story,
And I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel. To
the woman he said, I will make your pains in child bearing very severe; with
painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you (The Holy Bible).
When
evils rules, its enemy of woman status is very worse and very critical, but
Gospel destructed the evil and made it free from their slavery (Khiangte 109).
Works Cited
Ainawn Bu Thar. College Text Book(Mizo) Editorial Board(CTBEB), 2016.
Print
Khiangte, Laltluangliana, editor. Biakliana Robawm. L.T.L Publications,
1996. Print
Lalthangliana, B. Kaphleia
Leh C.|huamluaia Hnuhma. The RTM Press, 1991. Print
Web Source
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A15-16&version=NIV
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