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Chawang Phungning
From Ramting Kabin they went to Chawang Phungning which is also called Gwang Phungning. The concept of Chawang or Gwang means king or chief was developed at Chawang Phungning. There are many references to the prosperity of Chawang Phungning in many ritual hymns. From this place some of the migrants took towards the North-East and arrived at Makuilongdi. Chawang Phungning is identified with present village of Oklong in north Manipur.
Makuilongdi: A cradle of Zeliangrong Culture
The Zeliangrong ancestors ultimately came to occupy Makuilongdi or Nkuilongdi meaning “Big round mountain”. Nothing is known about Makuilongdi before the zeliangrong migration. Many Liangmai lineages traced the origin from Chawang Phungning which was the main village of a cluster of villages which came to be known as Makuilongdi. Since the migrating people came in groups, they must have established separate settlements. Chawang Phungning was a main settlement and the settlers from this village built up Makuilongdi. These were perhaps cluster of villages or settlements under the jurisdiction of Makuilongdi that was adjacent to Chawang Phungning. The land, forest and water available at the new sites in the rounded great mountains provided enough sustenance to the people. The ancestors of Zeliangrong lived at Makuilongdi for many generations. The village became prosperous with enough land for shifting cultivation, which produced surplus food grains. From a small village it had became a cluster of small hamlets and settlements, which were established for organizing shifting cultivation, as they were quite distant from the original village. The territorial extension of Makuilongdi was far and wide. At Makuilongdi at polity was developed under a chief. Religious beliefs and social customs developed and flourished. Clans and lineages also grew up. Several migration teams were sent out to establish new villages in different directions. The people depend their lives on forest product as well and this led them to migrate from place to place in search of food,shelter and fertility of land.
Exodus from Makuilongdi
According to legends, the sudden mass exodus from Makuilongdi occurred after a divine warning for violating the law of nature and regular social life of the village. They devoted to the performance of Tarang ki/kai ceremonial house rituals and celebrations in a single year without any break forgetting their lunar calendar of the agricultural cycle and indulging in enjoyment and merry making. Suddenly cicada insects flew into the village and in their shrill voice announced to the people that the lunar year had come to an end. The people were shocked and horrified and made quick exodus out of Makuilongdi towards different directions.
Makuilongdi was the cradle of Zeliangrong Culture. There was a well knit society based on shifting agriculture and with a well organized polity. They spoke a language a kin to the present Liangmai dialect. At Makuilongdi two major clans, Pamei and Newmei emerged at indicted by the two stones megaliths namely Pamei stone and newmei stone. However, there are references to several lineages or families that traced direct descendants from Makuilongdi. They are the sub-lineages of both Pamei and Newmei clans.
Some scholars opined that the exodus from Makuilongdi could be due to the great pressure on agricultural lands as a result of the increasing population. Differences also cropped up over the succession to the office of the chief. Other reasons besides the causes mentioned above could have also prompted the exodus from makuilongdi.
The Rongmei Migration
The third son of Nguiba, Rembangbe(pronounced Nriengbangbe in Zeme, Rengbangbou in Liangmai) led a large group of people from Makuilongdi towards the South. They came to be known as Marongmei or Rongmei, dwellers of the fallow lands and of the Southern region. This group was the most adventurous and scattered groups.
The migrants settled down at Kajinglong at present a Liangmai village, for many generations. Many lineages of the Rongmei section trace their origin to Kajinglong, which was another sub-centre of Zeliangrong migration to the Southern region. The settlement history of many Rongmei and Puimei villages points to Kajinglong as their original native village. These adventurous groups went out of Kajinglong and founded many villages that are still occupied by their descendants in the trans-Irang basin in the present Tamenglong District of Manipur. The movement of the migrating people was in small groups. Each group consisted of mostly two clans who founded the villages.
Later on they were joined by the relatives and clansmen. The migration of the Rongmei continued for many centuries and they moved up to the confines of Chin Hills and Mizoram in Tuivai(Duigai) valley. The Rongmei migrated both to the East and West of the Barak and Irang basin and even to the Cachar and Imphal Valley.
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