Tawlhlohpuan had the most cultural significance among the Mizo Puan (woven cloth). Tawlhloh in Mizo language means ‘to stand firm or not to move backward’. Tawlhlohpuan is produced throughout the state of Mizoram, and the main centre of production is at Aizawl and in the village of Thenzawl.
It was worn only by a very courageous warrior among the Mizo men as a symbol for their bravery. Before going out to fight in a war, Tawlhlohpuan was draped on the warriors in the Kawrtawnghak style of draping. Mizo men wearing this Puan were expected to stand on their ground and never to retreat during the fight.
It was also said that this Puan could not be woven by all common people in Mizo society and that the process of weaving usually require a lot of time as compared to other puan. Thus, this Puan cannot be possessed by all household of the society and are therefore referred to as ‘Tawlhlohpuan’.
In one Mizo folktale, a great warrior (Pasaltha in Mizo) named Darhnawka from Hualngo village urged his wife to weave a special cloth for him so as to portray his bravery towards enemies and wild animals whenever the cloth was worn by him. This cloth was named Tawlhlohpuan as it depicted the bravery of the warrior Darhnawka.
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In the original design of Tawlhlohpuan, the cloth is woven in 80 inches length and 45 inches in width. Two pieces of cloth are woven which are sewn together by Puanpuizung Thui stitches with red and white threads alternatively. The edges of the Puan are stitched with Bahrangulzem stitches.
For the ground fabric, undyed cotton yarn is used for the warp and indigo dyed black cotton yarn is used in the weft. It is woven in weft-faced plain weave, using a higher density of weft yarns, covering the warp yarns so that the ground fabric appears solid black colours. In contemporary Tawlhlohpuan, for both the warp and weft yarns, synthetic black coloured yarns are used.
Tawlhlohpuan is characterised by the presence of breadth wise stripes of red and white in the design of Hruih. Hruih is a compactly woven band of weft-rib weave where none of the coloured yarns on the warp are allowed to make their appearance against the band. The design consists of groups of red and white stripes woven in a total of five batch intervals.
The stripes on both ends of the Puan consist of seven red and white stripes. The middle three stripes are of 0.5 inch wide, in which the white stripe is centrally placed in between the same width of two red stripes. 0.5 cm wide two red stripes bordered with thin yellow lines are present on either side of the central stripes.
This is then followed by group of nine stripes of red and white, which is similar to the previous stripes except that 0.5 cm wide red stripe bordered with thin white line is placed in between the red-yellow bordered stripe on either side.
The group of stripes in the centre of the Puan consists of eleven stripes. Five 0.5 inch wide red and white stripes are placed in the centre followed by alternate white and red stripes. Three 0.5 cm wide red stripes bordered with thin yellow and white lines are also seen on either side of the central five stripes.
GI Tag Registration Date : 14 August 2019
GI Tag Number : 582
Certificate Number : 351
Geographical Area : Mizoram
Special Cover Release Date : 26 November 2021
Cancellation : Aizawl 796 001
Type : GI Tag Cover
Cover Identification Number : NE/09/2021-2022
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Enlarged View of Cancellation
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