Kuki Ethnic Group / Tribes:
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The Kukis are an ethnic group including multiple tribes originally inhabiting the North-Eastern states of India such as Manipur, Mizoram and Assam; parts of Burma (now Myanmar), and Sylhet district and Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh.
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Kuki is not a term coined by the ethnic group itself. The tribes associated with it came to be generically called Kuki under colonial rule.
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In Manipur, the various Kuki tribes, living mainly in the hills, currently make up 30% of the total population of the State.
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Traditionally the Kuki lived in small settlements in the jungles, each ruled by its own chief.
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The youngest son of the chief inherited his father’s property, while the other sons were provided with wives from the village and sent out to found villages of their own.
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The Kuki live an isolated existence in the bamboo forests, which provide them with their building and handicraft materials.
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They grow rice, first burning off the jungle to clear the ground.
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They hunt wild animals and keep dogs, pigs, buffalo, goats, and poultry.