Sihai Phangrei Water Immersion Verdict

The Tangkhuls of yore revered land/soil as sacred and choose not to get into dispute with their neighbours even in provoking instances. Land according to them is older than man. In most cases, people then used to be reluctant to get involved in lawsuits related to land. As a result there were very few land disputes in olden day. However, there were exceptional cases where none of the contending party chooses to relent and the dispute ends with an extreme form of swearing.  For land dispute, the last resort of deciding the case when all means are exhausted was to either eat a handful of soil from the disputed land or to immerse in water.  In the previous case, the guilty one is believed to die within the year of swearing/eating the soil. In the latter case, the guilty one remains afloat while the righteous one comfortably remains underwater. The ordeal is witnessed by the whole village/villages as witness. 

Sihai Phangrei is a long hill range, one of the favourite picnic spots in Ukhrul district. The hill range which has some chromites deposit in addition to its natural beauty used to be a bone of contention between Sihai village and Lunghar as the hill range was claimed both by Sihai and Lunghar as their own. The dispute first came to light in the 1960s and since then, the two villages had been involved in numerous lawsuits both in traditional courts and government courts. In 2008, the two villages accepted the proposal to perform the water immersion test suggested by the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM). Considering this to be the best way to ward off all future contentions, people from the two village, public leaders, people from all over Tangkhul Villages assembled at Nungshong River on the 16th of October 2008 to watch the chiefs of Lunghar and Sihai take the water immersion test. Based on the test, Sihai village was declared the victor. With the announcement of the verdict, Sihai village was confirmed to be the rightful owner of the hill range which from time immemorial had been dearly called Sihai Phangrei.

*** When everything seem to be a failure, the ways of our forefathers can still guide us through.