LUSHAI HILLS, a mountainous district of Assam, south of Cachar, on the border between Assam and Burma. Area, 8,092 sq.m. ; pop. (1931), 124,404. The hills are for the most part cov ered with dense forest or bamboo jungle, in which there are clear ings for cultivation. They are sparsely inhabited by the Lushais and cognate tribes. The earliest known inhabitants were Kukis, and the Lushais were not heard of until 1840 when they invaded the district from the north. Their first attack upon British terri tory took place in 1849, and after that date their warlike spirit and predatory habits made them one of the most troublesome tribes on the north-east frontier of India ; but military operations in 1890 resulted in the pacification of the northern Lushais, and in 1892 of the eastern Lushais. The final submission of the chiefs of the southern Lushai hills, who were under the control of the Govern ment of Bengal, was not secured till 1895. The latter hills were in 1898 transferred to Assam and amalgamated with the northern hills in one district. The limits of the district have more recently
been extended by the inclusion of goo sq.m. between the south of the Lushai hills and the Chin hills in Burma. The headquarters are at Aijal, 3,500 ft. above sea-level, where a battalion of the Assam Rifles is stationed.
The villages are, as a rule, perched on the tops of ridges or spurs. Each is ruled by a chief or headman, in whose house live the orphans and poor of the village. In another house all the young unmarried men and strangers sleep. Dogs, said to be similar to those eaten by the Chinese, are used both for sacrifices and for food. Between 1911 and 1931 mass conversions to Christianity took place among the Lushais, due to the efforts of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission at Aijal, and of the London Baptist Mission at Lungleh. The number of Christians consequently rose from 2,000 to 59,000 or nearly one-half of the total population.