Togetherness is our survival

Written by M.C Hoi Kyaing

                Firstly, I thank to Ko Peter Lawilu who requested me to write about the facts of Khumi people in “Khumi Media Group”. It is needless to say that I am not a Khumi historian but I love my people. In any case, I would like to share oral traditional Khumi history from “togetherness” perspective. Oral traditional Khumi history   is our Image, Identity and Dignity.

Most of the Khumi people were lived in Paletwa area. They named themselves “Khumi” and Rakhine were called “Chaungphia” (Upper) Khumi.

                The Khumi legends say they were ruled in older days by Hill King (Khupeang / Khu Keung). People moving into the Hill King’s jurisdiction were called “Mi” (People). They were called “Khumi” , meaning “Moving Being” or “Human Being”. Live in Pakistan and Chittagong Hill is “Leaunghu” (Western Khumi) were entered first in Paletwa area but latter they gave land for second group so they became immgrants in India. The second group migrants were “Maupui” and “Mawidym” (highlander and plain people) group. All Khumi people believed that they descending from this tribe. Today, they speak Maupui and Mawidym words.

                They believed that came from an area called “Tuibam” (may be Tibet) country. Because of the instability of the life in Tuibam, the Khumi people passed through the big mountain ranges and moved west. The advance group cut down plantain trees to mark their trail, but when the slower group arrived they found only growing plantain trees. As a result, they assumed the advance group had already gone for beyond; so they decided to camp and plant rice. Thus two groups lost each other.

                The people left behind cultivated the land, using shifting cultivation, and they frequently moved about in search of new farmlands. On their moves, they fed themselves on fish, oysters and shrimp caught from streams. Another version of the groups split involves foods eaten. On coming to a big stream are group caught shrimp of a much larger size than normal. Shrimp normally turned red when cooked, but these did not. In waiting too long for shrimp to turn the group was left behind. At a junction of streams the first group went a long the right branch (Mi), and the latter group followed the left. Some reason probably “Maykha” and “Mayliekha” streams which flows into Ayerawaddy River.

                The origin of the Khumi people, a Mongoloid stock, can be traced back to China and Tibet. They descended southwards and settled first Ayeyawaddy River before the 19^th century A.D. They live in this region for some centuries and slowly journeyed to the northwestern part of the region for a better life. They climbed up the mountain ranges and settled there to live a peaceful life.

                “Mi” for the group of the right branch and “Kham” for those of the left. “Kham” also mean to encounter great hardship, which means that the people following the left branch had many difficulties on their way. In order to cultivate their land in peace the Khumi people chose a Hill King to rule over and protect them. The Hill King receives the first yield of every crop, meat and fish, and half of the heart and a leg of every animal killed. The land of the Hill King was “Khu” this title was “Khukeung Khupeang” (owner). That is why the Khumi people are also called “Khumi”.

                The Khumi people later traveled farther from the “khu” land and reached Rungkhua (Village of rocks) or Rungtlang Mountain in Hakha district. It may be “Ryhmkho tapiu” (Cave of rocks) in Khumi language. After living there forty years they moved to the “Mt. Saphawi” in Kanpatlet area where they lived for about two hundred years. Bit by bit, they moved to the “Mt. Khanglyn” range between Paletwa and Matupi area. A groups of the Khumi who moved farther south are now called Mro or Awa Khumi which for Rakhine. Some group of Khumi who moved “Bumla” and “Sangla”streams, migrants to “Japangtavo” (Kaladan river) which is Rakhine called “Chaungphia Khumi”. Today we live in present Paletwa area very well.

                Today, we are faced with a world so devided, polarized and broken by dominant power relations and wars between peoples and powerlessness of many poor millions. We are living in the very midst of hopelessness, extreme violence, terror, war and natural disaster. In this content, we need that more unity spirit, more educated, and more togetherness in minded. Our ancestors struggled for their selfhood, right, human dignity, togetherness, and identity against the dehumanization. They are, “Survival of the fittest.

                This situation reminds us for building up our identity, dignity, enhancing life survival and promoting “togetherness”. Let us advocate to living, loving and linking together for our survival.

“Never say depart

Every say together.”

Togetherness is our survival.

M.C Hoi Kyaing

Myoma, Paletwa

Ref: Vumson,Zo History. 1986.

ျမန္မာ့ဆုိရွယ္လစ္ လမ္းစဥ္ပ္တီ၊ တုိင္းရင္းသားယဥ္ေက်းမႈရုိးရာဓေလ့ထုံးစံမ်ား (ခ်င္း)၊၁၉၆၈။