Guite people

Guite is the progenitor clan of Zomi people, also called Chin in Myanmar, Mizo, or Paite, or sometimes Kuki in India. According to Zam, Nigui Guite is the elder brother of the ancestral fathers of the Thadou people, namely Thangpi (great-grandfather of Doungel), Sattawng, and Neirawng.^[1] This genealogy was recently inscribed on the tribal memorial stone at Bungmual, Lamka in the presence of each family-head of the three major clans, Doungel, Kipgen, and Haokip, on August 7, 2011. Some historians, like Shakespeare,^[2] assumed Lamlei was the Nigui Guite himself but the Guites themselves recounted Tuahciang, the father of Lamlei, as the son of Nigui Guite instead, in their social-religious rites. Regarding Guite as the born son of Songthu and his sister, Nemnep, it was the practice of ancient royalty to issue royal heir and also to keep their bloodline pure instead. Depending on local pronunciation, the clan was also called by different names such as Nguite or Vuite,^[3][4] Gwite,^[5] Nwite,^[6] Paihte by the Lushei.^[2] In accord with the claim of their solar origin, the Guite clan has been called nampi, meaning noble or major or even dominant people, of the region in local dialect in the past.^[7]