Lai people

Strictly speaking, Lai are the people belonging to the Lai Autonomous District Council of Mizoram, North-East India. From a historical point of view, Lai is a dominant tribe of the so-called Chin-Kuki–Lushai, the community is scattered in different parts of the world, mainly concentrating in Mizoram, Chin Hills of Burma, South Bangladesh (identified as Bawm), Manipur, etc.

Demography

Total population is around 1,700,000 in 1991. Lai is an ethnic identity to call all the tribes of Chins, the Pawis, the Bawms, etc.

Clans

Ethnic origin

The Lai who are living in the Lai Autonomous District of Mizoram are but a segment community of the much larger Lai (Hakha) population of Burma and elsewhere to whom whatever name may be given. Regarding their origin, they share common ancestry with those of any mongoloid race in the Northeast India. Further back, a historic tradition has it that Lai were a people who had once lived in China. They migrated through the Tibetan mountains moving further towards the East to become a major tribal group in the Chin Hills of Burma from where same few came the to present habitat (Mizoram) in the beginning of the 18th century or earlier.