Thadou Kukis

Geographically Assam is a shadow of its former self. It has been reduced to one-third of the original size by successive reorganisation during the last 30 years. The depletion in geographical area resulted from political changes that came one after the other since 1947; Assam lost Sylhet district except a major portion of Karimgunj Sub-Division to Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Thereafter Assam continued to lose territorry and population step by step as Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, the former NEFA, were carved out of it.
This study on the Thadou Kukis relates to the time when Assam was in its original shape. During those days, the Thadou Kukis lived in a large area of the hilly country bounded by the Angami Nagas of the Naga Hill District in the north, the province of Burma in the east, the Chin Hills and Lushai Hills in the south and the District of Cachar in the west. Their substantial concentration was in the hills of the State of Manipur on all sides of the Imphal Valley. The Thadous resemble one another very closely in appearance and have, gene rally speaking, mongoloid countenance