07/15/2024
————About Dai————
By: Rev. Lalchamdama
( Matu Village, Matupi Township)
The people who are living around the junction of the four townships i.e Mindat, Matupi, Paletwa and Kanpetlet are identified as Dais.
But no one knows the reason why they are
called Dais. However, there are some
hypotheses which we shall concisely
discuss here.
Regarding their identity they call themselves or they are given different names.
1️⃣Some of Dais who live around River Lemro are called Lemro Chins by outsiders.
2️⃣Some of them who are close to Matupi are called Tuivang by their surrounding people though they never call themselves Tuivang.
Tuivang in a matter of fact is not the name of a tribe, it means overseas or beyond the river. Because they are living beyond the river for some people like Doems and Ngalas so they call them Tuivang. The people who are thus called Tuivang are in fact Dais.
3️⃣Some of Dai people who are in Mindat
Township are called M’kang.
M’kang in the Dai dialect just means high
mountain where no big trees are grown, only
small trees and grass are mostly grown.
So this type of high mountain is call M’kang in
Dai dialect. So M’kang is not the name of a
tribe, rather it is the name of a particular
place. They dubbed their name after the name
of their living place. Thus the people who are
called M’kang are also actually Dais.
4️⃣There are some people who are called Zos in Mindat Township are also Dais.
5️⃣Dai people who live in Kanpetlet Township
on the eastern side of Hmaw River call
themselves Yindu or simply Daar. Vumson
mentioned that Yindu in literature probably
referred to Dai. Lehman also stated that what was said of category Yindu in linguistic survey seemed to apply to the Dai.
6️⃣Dai people living on the western side of
Hmaw River in Kanpetlet Township call themselves Yang. The Yindu Dai call themselves Dai Ktu, some of the Dai people in Mindat township call themselves Nghilo. Why do they have different names? Are they not really Dais? By no means. They all are Dais. They are recognized as Dais by the Government of Myanmar and in the universe as well.
✍️As Dai people are scattered in different places their traditions and culture are also little bit different. The traditional folksongs of the Dais for instance may also be disparate according to the people nearby them. Their use of traditional folksongs may be perplexing for some people thinking that they are not Dais and make them a mind of separatism. The Dai people who are close to Matus or in some places might use “Hlo Hlai” or “Song La,” some Dai people might use “Ng’äi.”
Albeit their practices of folksongs are different according to their geographical regions they all are ethnically Dais.
✍️The question arises now is “Why are they called Dais?” The Dai people in fact never called themselves Dai. Originally they dubbed themselves Cho or Kho or Zo.
But now they are recognized as Dais and they identify themselves Dai as well. There are presuppositions the reason why they are identified as Dai. Is the term “Dai” given by nearby people?
Mr. Sui Mnai said,
🔺"We never call ourselves Dai, but our neighboring people namely Muans or Muuns call us Dai.
✍️We call ourselves Cho. We simply call the people who are in the North, the people of the north; the people in the south, the people of the south and so on.
✍️The Burmese called us Yindu. Thus it has seemed that “Dai” has been given as the name of the tribe by their neighboring
people.
✍️The question arises again here is “
"Why is the surrounding people call them Dais?”
🔺There is no any other evidence or vestige the reason why they are called Dais. Nevertheless, there are two suppositions.
➡️Firstly, in the land where the Dais are living, most of the forest is infested with bamboo. In the Sho dialects the forest of bamboo is called dai. As one of the Sho clans the Dais also call the bamboo forest and the bamboo itself dai. Therefore, the inhabitants are also called Dais.
➡️Secondly, there was one village called Dai Tui in the south-west of Dai Area. There was one powerful chief in that village about a century ago. His name was Thang Cing and popularly known as Dai Tui Thang Cing after Dai Tui village. It was said that his kingdom was called Dailand and the inhabitants were also continually called Dais.
✍️But furthermore, there are some hypotheses with regard to the identity of the Dai people.
Did they have their name from the outset before they have settled in the region where they are living now?
Does their origin signify their identity as well?Theoretically the Dai people who are in Kanpetlet Township are those who came via Pokpa Taung (Pu pa m’cung in Dai dialect); who are living in Mindat Township, some Dais in Matupi Township and Paletwa Township are those who came by way of Mawpi; and some of them in Matupi Township and Paletwa Township are those who came through Bungtla. So this hints that they had the term
Dai from China or Tibet and they inherit it and now live in a region in Southern Chin State.
✍️In conclusion, Dais are obviously one of the Chin Tribes who are spread in the four townships in Southern Chin State. The origin of the term Dai is obscured. There are two presuppositions of the origin of Dai, but these are theoretical and conjectural. There are Dai people in China too, but we do not know whether there is a connection with
them. We need to investigate with evidence and discover logically the origin of the term Dai.
Credited to Rev. Lalchamdama ( Matu Village, Matu Township)
