- Ruata Lungchuang
To the untrained eye, it may look like the people in this video are digging for treasures and are fighting to get their hands on the buried treasures first. But these lads are not Treasure hunters nor are they digging for treasures, they are actually digging a grave!
Mizoram does not have undertakers or a mortuary industry. As it has always been, in Mizoram the dead are still buried by the community, funeral expenses are taken care of by the YMA including grave digging where young men would volunteer to do the job even for strangers, Mizo or non -Mizo.
It may appear as if the lads are excited to do the job, but what you are witnessing here is a show of what the Mizos called 'Tlawmngaihna'. Mizo philosophy of altruism. They are trying to stop their friends from taking all the loads, the principle here is
'you rest, I will do the rest'
To an outsider, this may look like madness and counterproductive but in the Mizo conscience this is a very beautiful thing and every Mizo child is taught to be a Tlawmngai person.
As modernization slowly degrades Mizo values and ethics, especially in the City. It is a necessity that values such as 'Tlawmngaihna' survives and continue to live on, one way or another in this "Me first" world.