Thangliana Lung – Tlabung

Thangliana Lung – Tlabung, Lunglei District

At Tlabung village right next to the Bangladesh border, 98 km to the west of Lunglei, there is a memorial stone erected to the memory of Captain T.H. Lewin, a courageous and adventurous British pioneer whom the Mizos fondly called Thangliana, or “Man of Great Fame”. Lewin was the Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Hill Tracts when he entered Mizoram from Tlabung in 1865. He signed a peace treaty with one powerful Mizo chief of that time, Rothangpuia of Thangluah clan, following which he shifted his headquarters from Rangamati to Tlabung. He had many interactions with the Mizo chiefs and is remembered as the first white friend of the Mizos. He even wrote some books about the Mizo people. While he was in Tlabung he married a Mizo girl named Darpuii and they had a son who unfortunately died only a year later. Darpuii refused to go to England with Lewin when he retired from service. Lewin died at the age of 77 in 1916 as Honorary Lieutenant Colonel without any decoration for his great pioneering services. The memorial stone was erected in 1920 by arrangement with his English wife, Margaret Lewin.