The chieftain system persisted among the various clans and tribes from the precolonial era through to the British colonial period and Indian independence briefly.

Upa who are given headmen positions act as lesser chiefs known as Belrawh mualkil and if they're granted privileges like sachhiah (meat tax), they are known as sangal khawnghrang.

[9] Zalen were families exempted from paying the paddy-tribute due to their specific obligation to help the chief if the food supply declined.

An Inpui Chhung Bawi was expected to work within their physical capacity but would gain privileges under the chief regarding food, rice-beer and meat taxes.

Privileges of being a thangchhuah include a special pattern of striped clothes to denote their status, the right to build a window in their house, erect a shelf by their bed and a beam on their veranda.

Houses would not be built in a valley or the base of a hill, but raised three-four feet off the ground as protection from wild animals and draining of water.

Windows were not built unless an individual had performed the khuangchawi ceremony, a public feast given by chiefs to well-to-do Mizos, or it was believed to bring bad fortune.

Responsibilities of the men in zawlbuks could include organising hunting parties, warfare and raiding missions, or cohesive policies decided by the chief.

However, historically the tribes and chiefdoms had been linked to ancient trade routes connecting Yunnan with the Bay of Bengal, which passed close to the mountain ranges of Mizoram.

Mizo people were traditionally allowed to freely migrate to other villages, which Parry argued was a check on the arbitrary powers of a cruel chief.

[42][43] In reality the lack of roads, rough terrain, and the chief's seizure of property for anyone who was migrating made it difficult for individuals to make on foot journeys to other villages.

After dusk when courtship would occur the war party would enter the village and celebrate with bawhhla and firing shots to announce their victory and procured heads.

The village maidens also would make Arkeziak a white spun cotton yarn not boiled with rice and hence tied around the neck, ankle or wrists of the warriors.

[46] Lalchukla is the first recorded chief to come into contact with Bengali merchants in Sylhet who sold goods such as rice, salt, rubber, sulphur and flint glass in 1838.

[55] An issue with the proliferation of tea estates led to a conflict with elephant hunting traditions and subsequent trading of the Lushai chiefdoms with the plains.

The elders of the Lushai chiefs gathered and pleaded for merchants to return to Tipaimukh bazaar, which was granted after they paid a fine to compensate the traders.

In cases where a father chief lived long, and their older sons gained power and prestige, the decision to abandon loyalty was also able to be pursued.

Other objects buried alongside chiefs would include food and drink, weapons such as their favourite gun, human heads of animals and slaves.

For armour, the Mizos sometimes used copper helmets with goat hair dyed red fixed as an accessory and a cloth wrapped around them called Tawllohpuan (no retreat).

[126] In April 1879, Sukpilal's sons Labruma and Lengpung planned an attack on the villages of Poiboi, Lemkam and Chungleng in retaliation for the burning of jhum huts.

The pressure of famine led the chiefs Poiboi, Khalkam, and Lalhai to meet and agree to cease hostilities and obtain food together from Cachar.

This phenomenon extended beyond the Lushai Hills to Cachar and southern Manipur, recorded by British administrators like Colonel McCulloch, purporting how a flowering of bamboo had led to a boom in the rat population and social chaos.

[131] The most common way of dealing with an incoming famine was to save rice from previous years with kaka which consisted of crop millet that can be preserved in the long term.

[134] Cotton seeds were devoured by rats, so the economic opportunity to import food was also impacted as no goods could be produced to effectively trade, such as Lushai cloth and handicrafts.

Lushai chiefs would cross boundaries and appeal to British authorities for protection at times and even offer gifts and tributes, which were declined.

Another expedition was prepared in 1850 to strike against Chief Mulla who had razed a Kuki village in Silchar tolling twenty-nine deaths and forty-two captives.

[152] The results of the Lushai expedition saw administrators like Edgar prefer a humanitarian approach of trade, barter and education versus T.H Lewin, who advocated complete subjugation of the tribes.

The government's policy of non-intervention decided to ban British subjects from entering the Lushai Hills to potentially agitate raiders and chieftains.

After the death of Suikpilal, a close cooperator and prestigious chief, the succession wars over his descendants began, intensifying the anarchy in the Lushai Hills.

British interest in cash crops such as coffee, cotton, potatoes and oranges was also introduced under private ownership policies, further changing the traditional doctrines of land distribution under chieftainships.