CHAPTER I

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Despite the predictions of social scientists in the late 19th and 20th centuries regarding

the dissolution of religion and the inevitable secularization of the world, religion is

still as important and relevant as it had always been even in today‘s self-proclaimed

modern, globalized world (Casanova 1994, 2001). Much academic attention has been

given to the uncomfortable tension between globalization and religion, particularly in

the context of religion and violence (Asad 2003, 2008, Modood 2007). Interestingly

where we find Anthropology of, for example, Islam, an Anthropology of Christianity

still struggles to fully emerge (Cannell 2005, Robins 2007). Christianity, in its various

forms, is no longer an isolated narrative of the West but has become a central story for

understanding the world especially the people that seek to construct their lives in

Christian terms (Jenkins 2003: Keane 2007).

Christianity is associated with western culture and civilization. The early

converts associated themselves with British rulers as they adopted their religion and

imbibed their style of life, food, clothing, naming, manners and attitude. Thus

Christianity demands a better life-style from its converts.

No one can deny the fact that the tribal people in Northeast India were

exposed to the western world after the arrival of Christian missionaries. Along with

the Christian faith they received, they were told that everyone was counted, every

1
individual mattered and everyone had a right to life, property and above all a separate

identity that is unique in culture, tradition and habits.

Amidst the establishment of churches and the spread of Christian faith, there is

a growing consciousness about individual tribal identities on the one hand and the

pan-Naga identity on the other. The latter is recently gaining momentum and this is

evident in the territorial demands they are making for the Naga tribes of Nagaland,

Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

The articulation of tribal identities is not a recent phenomenon. It started ever

since they received education with the help of Christian missionaries, who started

working amongst the Tangkhuls as early as 1896. Prior to the introduction of

Christianity, they followed their traditional belief system known as Hau. Historically,

it is seen that only with the advent of Christianity and its religious influence that Hau

and its adherents began to dwindle gradually. Over the years, the conversion to

Christianity has accelerated and this tribal religion was affected. Today, almost all the

Tangkhuls are Christians.

It is evident from the above brief discussion that Christianity has been the

most important force in the life of the Naga tribes in general and Tangkhuls in

particular. While this goes unquestioned a lot remains to be known about the impact

of Christianity on a tribe like the Tangkhuls living particularly in the urban milieu. It

also remains to be explored if the urban milieu in itself has facilitated the spread of

Christianity amongst them. The present study sought to understand the influence of

Christianity on the Tangkhuls of Manipur.

2
1.2 Review of Literature

1.2.1 Anthropology of Christianity

Despite the predictions of social scientists in the late 19th and 20th centuries regarding

the dissolution of religion and the inevitable secularization of the world, religion is as

important and relevant as it has always been in today‘s self-proclaimed modern,

globalized world (Casanova 2001, 1994). In the words of Casanova ‗globalization

affects all cultural systems, including religious ones. Globalization threatens to

dissolve the intrinsic link between sacred time, sacred space and sacred people

common to all world religions, and with it the seemingly essential bonds between

histories, peoples and territories, which have defined all civilizations. The

contemporary salience of religious movements around the globe, and the torrent of

commentary on them by scholars and journalists, has made it plain that religion is by

no means disappearing in the modern world.‘ The ―resurgence of religion‖ has been

welcomed by many as a means of supplying what they see as a needed moral

dimension to secular politics and environmental concerns (Asad 2003). Much

academic attention has been given to the uncomfortable tension between globalization

and religion, particularly in the context of religion and violence (Asad 2003; 2008;

Modood 2007).

Indeed, the link between religion, secularism, globalization and modernity

form a complex constellation that extends far beyond any one-world religion (Smith

2008). Interestingly where we find anthropology of Islam that is able to provide

comparative analysis on pressing issues, anthropology of Christianity still struggles to

3
fully emerge (Cannell 2005, Robins 2007). In fact even recognizing that absence is

notoriously hard to explain, in this case the effort to do so prove instructive.Broadly

speaking, one can distinguish two kinds of factors that might have suppressed the

development of anthropology of Christianity. We can call one kind of factor cultural

and the other theoretical. Christians are too similar by virtue of drawing on the same

broad cultural tradition as anthropologists, and too meaningfully different by virtue of

drawing on a part of that tradition that in many respects has arisen in critical dialogue

with the modernist ideas on which anthropology is founded. Both the similarities and

the differences make Christianity more difficult than other religions for

anthropologists to study (Robbins 2003). Christianity, in its various forms, is no

longer an isolated narrative of the west but has become a central story for

understanding the world after colonialism and the many people and communities that

seek to construct their lives in Christian terms (Jenkins 2003, Keane 2007). The last

decade has seen a remarkable increase in interest in Christianity among scholars in the

social sciences and humanities and among public intellectuals. This attention to

Christianity has followed on its recent growth, especially in the global South, and its

increasing public political role in many parts of the world (Robbins and Matthew

2010).

1.2.2 Christianity in India

The major religions and philosophical traditions of the world had their origin in Asia,

namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions.

Christianity has its roots in the East. The apostles took up with courage and

conviction the challenge and responsibility to ‗go into all the world and preach the
4
gospel everywhere‘. The teachings of Jesus reached well beyond the Jews,

transforming the moral and spiritual life of individuals of different classes and races.

The increasing mobility of people and the growth of cosmopolitanism have also

encouraged the expansion of Christianity (George 2009). Indian Christianity may be

as old as the religion itself. Church tradition and legend trace the beginnings of Indian

Christianity to the evangelical works of St. Thomas—one of the twelve disciples of

Jesus—who arrived in Southwest India in about AD 52. Though spread throughout

the country, major concentrations of Christians are found in the South Indian states of

Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the western state of Goa, and the tribal belt of Bihar and

Assam. While there is ample- even abundant- scholarly interest in non-Christian

religious traditions of India, the heritage and strength of Indian Christianity is

reflected very meagerly in scholarly literature (Raj 2002). An interesting experiment

of giving Christianity an Indian feel was made by the Italian Jesuit, Robert de Nobili,

who founded the Madura Mission. Seeing that conversions by the Portuguese were

contemptuously looked down in India, he wore a sacred thread, put on the robe of the

Indian Sanyasin, practiced vegetarianism and ablutions, appeared in the sacred city of

Madura as a ‗Roman Brahmin‘, and propounded a fifth Veda in which the tenets of

Christianity were presented in a language similar to the Hindus (Jeyaseelan 1996).

India, the world's most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is haunted

by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. In eastern State of Orissa,

during the religious clashes, Christian families were being forced to abandon their

faith in exchange for their safety (Sengupta 2008). However, in the 18th and 19th

centuries, however, the dynamics of cultural and religious interaction on the

5
subcontinent were significantly changed by the new Protestant and Catholic

missionary movements from Europe and America. From 1813, missionaries were

working all through the century.Thepresence of the missionary thrived under the

protective structures of British imperial rule. Christianity was also highly visible on

the sub-continent as a defining mark of a ruling race and a central element in their

relation between rulers and the majority of the subjects (Brown and Robert 2002).

Christianity in India offers a fascinating field for study that includes Syrian

Christianity, Roman Catholicism and various forms of Protestantism and

Evangelicalism. Ecologically, one covers pockets of concentration in the North East

region, the central plains, and the southern and western coasts of India (and some

inland areas). Both caste and tribal communities have been drawn into the fold of

Christianity in different places, and among the former both the highest and lowest

groups. Some Christian communities have existed for hundreds of years, while others

have not completed a century in the faith (Robinson 2003). Christianity has spread

quite widely among the tribals in different parts of the country. It is more evidently so

among the tribes of the North Eastern region of the country. Christianity could not

obliterate the traditional caste system among the converts (from Hinduism). Their

dress habits, food and language remain the same as their Hindu neighbours (Burman

1977: 201-211).

1.2.3 Christianity in North East India

Church history of North East India is credited to F.S. Downs for his many years of

research in his studies on Christianity in Northeast India. The Mighty Works of God: A

6
Brief History of the Council of Baptist Churches in North East India: The Mission

Period 1836-1950, published in the year 1971,was his first detailed study. The book

was fundamentally on institutional histories. In the words of the CHAI (Church

History Association of India) Editorial Board ―Guidelines‖ it was still ―internal

history‖ in which ―the Church is viewed as a relatively self-contained unit which

acted upon and was acted upon by the society outside.‖ It mirrored the nationalist

historical perspective in which a study was made of how mission controlled

programmes and institutions became church controlled; studies of how Indians took

over from foreigners. By and large it was also denominational rather than ecumenical

or regional.

The CHAI ―Guidelines‖ propose to go beyond that. They identify four

ingredients in the perspective from which the CHAI history of Christianity is to be

written: (1) the socio-cultural, (2) the regional, (3) the national, and (4) the

ecumenical.

Church History Association of India has produced excellent volumes on

History of Christianity in India. Of note:History of Christianity in India, Vol. 5: North

East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1992), is authored by Frederick

S. Downs.His book on Christianity in North-East India: Historical Perspectives

(1983) is an updated and revised form of which has been published in the CHAI

series.

While the book is by no means entirely successful in incorporating the

perspectives of the CHAI ―Guidelines‖, it has attempted to do so. Its main weakness

7
is the failure to fully integrate what he identified as the three main components in the

history of the Christian movement in the Northeast—the political, the ecclesiastical

and the socio-cultural. He tried to achieve this integration through the common theme

of identity, which he felt is the key to understanding the nature and function of

Christianity in this region, particularly in the hill areas where it has had the greatest

impact.

His most recent work The Christian Impact on the Status of Women in North

East India (1996) has referred to three perspectives on the impact of Christianity on

the status of women among the hill tribes of North East India. Firstly, it focused on

the problems arising out of differing historiographical perspectives on the subject.

Secondly, the impact of the western women‘s movement on the thought and work of

the missionaries who served in North East India in the nineteenth and twentieth

centuries was discussed. Finally, it dealt with the impact on women of missionary

activities from the perspective of the local context.

Other church-centred histories relating to the North-East are J. Fortis Jyrwa‘s,

The Wondrous Works of God: A Study of the Growth and Development of the Khasi-

Jaintia Presbyterian Church in the 20th Century (1980); O. Pavioti‘s, The Work of His

Hands: The Story of the Archdiocese of Shillong-Guwahati 1934-84 (1987); and

David Syiemlieh‘s, A Brief History of the Catholic Church in Nagaland (1990).

Syiemlieh‘s (1990) book is an attempt to critically examine the role of the Church

among the Nagas. Thestudy dealt with structures and institutions and the Church‘s

organization. An extraordinary growth has taken place in the number and quality of

institutions and other infrastructures of service, whether they be schools, colleges,

attention from the mid 1960s when the Church made a significant drive to enter new

areas and open new mission centers. The type of Christianity in Nagaland and indeed

in the entire hill area of Northeast India continues to be greatly influenced by western

forms of Christianity. Syiemlieh (1996) also talked about the presence of Christianity

in North East India. He said that Christian missions had established what may be

called ―spheres of influence‖ over the peoples of North East India. The Welsh

Presbyterians had entrenched themselves in the Khasi and Jaintia Hillls and in the

North Lushai Hills, after a rather dismal start in the Barak Valley; the American

Baptists were comfortably located in the Brahmaputra Valley, working among

converts and the tea garden labourers, the Garo Hills, the Naga Hills, and the

Naga/Kuki inhabited hills of Manipur; the South Lushai Hills were given to the

English Baptist Mission; the Catholic Church had found a base in the Khasi and

Jaintia Hills, the two large valleys and at Haflong in the North Cachar Hills. Other

small denominations such as the Anglican Church and the Lutheran Mission restricted

their work to small Christian groups in the Brahmaputra valley.

1.2.4 Christianity as an important agent of change

There are many scholars who shared the notion that Christianity has been one of the

important factors of change in Northeast India. Karotemprel (2009: 51) contends that

for better or for worse, no one will deny that Christianity has been one of the most

powerful agents of social change in northeast India. Kulirani (2009: 110) said that the

most predominant agent of change in North East India is Christianity. Undoubtedly

the tribal society in North-East India has undergone immense changes in its
9
psychology, world-view, languages, cultures, social habits, economic activity etc., as

a result of its interaction with Christianity. Obviously, there are many other factors

than Christianity that have had a great impact on social transformation in North-East

India. The momentum of change has been extraordinary, given the psychology of the

tribal society, its democratic ways, aspirations for a new life, simple socio-cultural,

theological and philosophical thought patterns favouring quick social transition

(Yadav 2000). In Northeast India, the missionaries worked with exemplary zeal and

dedication. They negotiated successfully with strange languages, customs and usages

of the people, besides the difficult terrain and hostile climate in the hills and the plains

of the region. The modern educational institutions, health-care facilities, and the

introduction of several arts and crafts, plantations and cultivations owe their origin to

the early missionaries who were the pioneers of development in the history of the

region. Besides evangelical and humanitarian social works, they also took keen

interest in studying the land and the people, their history and culture, language and

literature, religions, customs and traditions. In fact, the observations of these

missionaries in the form of notes, diaries and correspondence that are preserved in

various missionary archives all over the world constitute a primary source as recorded

experience of the man on the spot for research in the social history of the region

which historians have of late started to use to supplement the British archival

materials with encouraging results (Bhattacharjee 1989). The American Baptist

Missionaries were the earliest and largest group of foreign missionaries who played a

significant role in the socio-economic-cultural life of the people of North-Eastern

India (Barpujari 1986). However, the Catholic Church has also undoubtedly

10
contributed immensely to the process of modernization of the Nagas. It has

particularly enhanced education and health care facilities (Syiemlieh 1990). It is clear

that whatever the various factors that made socio-cultural change inevitable in the

hills areas of North-East India, Christianity was the primary agency in the formation

of a new cultural synthesis (Downs 1994).

1.2.5 Religious Conversion

Scholars have different views regarding religious conversion. According to Joshi

(2007), religious conversion is the outcome of religious enthusiasm; different

collective religious enthusiasms are likely to co-exist in areas of emerging, mixed

religion, certainly in modern times, and for centuries beforehand. Heirich (1977)

defined religious conversion as ―accepting a set of beliefs and practices which is quite

different from the system of truth and religious commitment previously experienced‖.

Interestingly the question that evolves is what does conversion mean to the

Christian missionaries? In theory, they might have been content with Nagas accepting

Christian baptism and simply abandoning, as one of them states, ‗the miserable

worship patterns handed down to them by their ancestors.‘ But in practice they called

for a total cultural transformation (Eaton 2000). To Alan de Lastic (1999) an

archbishop, conversion is a free, personal and consequently responsible act. A forced

conversion is therefore, a contraction in terms. In the Christian belief, conversion is a

gift of God. It is not something that can be acquired by right, still less can it be

acquired by inducement, or by the offer of rice and jobs.

11
 Downs (1983), has written on the history of Christianity in North East India.

According to him, the role of Christianity in social change of the Nagas and other

North-East Indian tribes essentially was in terms of ―acculturation‖; acculturation as a

―means‖ and ―agency‖ for social change, whereby the Nagas adopted another culture

or civilization through continuous contact and interactions with Western and Indian

people. According to Jolly (1996), to be converted in this sense is to give in by giving

up what one wants in favour of the desires of someone else. She speaks on the

narrative of converts while dealing with the study of conversion. These narratives are

better understood as testimonies. But Joshi (1980) does not appreciate these views.

According to her there can be no conversion without change of commitment and

commitment in turn must always be as in the case of religious conversion is to always

ascertain belief-sets. Conversion must involve: (a) a radical change in the beliefs

entertained by the person, (b) as the person is committed to act according to his

beliefs, there is consequently a radical change in his behaviour also, (c) in the

acceptance or rejection of the belief-system, the believer must be completely free. She

goes on to say that in the North-East India we also come across instances where

people converted to Christianity without giving up some basic beliefs of his native

religion. What is questionable is whether this sort of conversion is accepted by

Christianity as a case of true conversion, for Christianity believes that the only true

case of conversion is a recognition that the true God is only the Christian God.

Kanito (1980) tries to bring a critical assessment of a mutual adoption between

the tribal religions of North East India and Christianity. He says that their gods seem

helpless against the evil influence that menacing and exacting demons have over man.

12
When Christianity informs tribal people that its God is all powerful and supreme over

other spirits and demons, the poverty-stricken section were the first to readily

accepted Christianity happily. Misra (1980) after studying the phenomenon of mass

conversion to Christianity that has taken place (since 1836) in most of the hill regions

of Northeast India finds two major factors for conversion, viz., Christians do not

observe caste and some believe in their preaching about the truth. In a historical

survey of the Manipur Baptist Convention made byLolly (1985), he provides ample

indication for a deeper study on the success missionaries in the past and the ministry

or the pioneer national leaders in the cause of the Gospel of Christ when the Tribal

society was in profound darkness. Like Kanito (1980) he says that the tribals of

Manipur began to embrace Christianity when they realized that only Christ could set

them free from the fearful life and bondage to evil spirits and demons. At first

conversions did not come in abundance. But once they came, they came in large

numbers. Today the Mizos and Nagas are close to 100 percent Christian, while the

Khasis, Jaintias and Garos and other tribal groups have a sizeable Christian following

(Syiemlieh 1996).

Some scholars regard conversion as an innovative practice that partakes in the

transformation of the social without being a mechanical result of it (Veer 1996).

Taking the situation of 17th Century France, Veer considers conversion as a means

whereby people change their religion as a result of social and political pressures or

enticements, such as government posts and pensions. These were the motives behind

conversions. Keeping this politics behind conversion in mind, Asad (1996) gives his

comments on conversion thus: ―there was time when conversion didn‘t need

13
explaining. People converted because God had helped them to see the truth. Religious

conversion is usually thought of as ‗irrational‘. Most individuals enter a new religion

as a consequence of focus beyond their control‖. Dirks (1996) thinks differently;

according to him conversion is always a relationship of domination even when the

means to dominate is much more subtle and even voluntary than in the more general

colonial situation. According to Jolly (1996), to be converted in this sense is to give in

by giving up what one wants in favour of the desires of someone else. She speaks of

narrative of converts while dealing with the study of conversion. These narratives are

better understood as testimonies. According to her, conversion is both transitive and

intransitive unlike Veer‘s (1996) view who finds conversion very materialistic. She

gives the Church the credit for holding an essential task of securing the truth through

human power. The reasons of conversion of the Aos into Christianity, as perceived by

Mills (1973), were (i) the expectation of miraculous results due to a lamentably

common frame of mind, where they regarded Christianity as a sort of patent medicine,

a dose of which without much after treatment will cure him of and protect him from

all ills bodily and spiritually in this world and the next, and (ii) the fear of hell-fire.

There could be many reasons for a person‘s conversion from one religion to

another. They could be economic, or for the sake of pleasure or even for self-

realization. To come to a decision as to which is the specific one is extremely

difficult. To determine the one reason as the cause would require us to have a

knowledge of a person‘s entire past history, his subjective feeling, and so on (Joshi

1980). On the other hand, Miri (1980) opines that if it is accepted that no religion is

14
superior or inferior to another, ―then there is no need for being converted from one

religion to another‖ (K.J. Shah cited in Miri 1980).

1.2.6 Acceptance of the impact of Christianity as a given fact

Talking on the impact of Christianity, many scholars have given their ideas on the

various aspects of changes. Smith (1925) wrote, ―for a considerable length of time the

Ao Nagas, as well as the other Naga tribes, were isolated in the hills where

unmolested they went through their narrow round of life, which practically knew no

variation from generation to generation.‖ Elwin (1961:16) remarked, ―conversion to

Christianity has made other changes: the stress on personal salvation has introduced a

new individualism in place of the former community spirit.‖ It must be admitted that

the Christian missionaries proved to be the harbingers of progress to a considerable

extent, particularly in the tribal areas. They deserve the credit for stamping out certain

savage practices, putting down sanguinary and reprehensible customs and abolishing

some evil practices and beliefs based on superstitions, such as headhunting, tribal

warfare, inter-tribal feuds, and slavery. As a result, a new era, an era of peace,

progress, freedom and security began (Rongsen 1999). The Nagas‘ head-hunting past

gradually disappeared with the annexation of the region in the nineteenth century by

the British and the subsequent introduction of Christianity by the American Baptist

Mission (Joshi 2007). Yunuo, a political scientist (1974) wrote on the early history of

the Nagas, their relations with the Meiteis, Assamese, Burmese, etc. The changes

brought about by the British rulers and the American Christian missionaries in the

Naga hills, the background to the revolt against free India‘s government, the role of

Phizo and other rebel leaders and that of foreigners in it, the events leading to the
15
formation of the state of Nagaland and the current state of affairs are dealt with in

detail. To him Christianity imprinted the civilization in a considerable degree of

resonance not only to the Naga life but also a far-reaching moral crusade to change

the Naga personality in the direction of self-sacrifice and service of humanity. Singh

(2008) does not deny the fact that the Nagas benefitted from Christian missionaries.

Despite the positive changes that came with conversion – education, medical

facilities, a script for each previously unlettered tribe and other humanitarian services

– the conversion of such large numbers was disturbing to anthropologists and British

administrators (Syiemlieh 1996). Old beliefs and customs are dying, the old traditions

are being forgotten, the number of Christians or quasi Christians is steadily increasing

and the spirit of change is invading and pervading every aspect of village life (Hutton

1921). The Christian missionaries caused immense damage to the tribal culture; many

institutions received death blows at their hands. Due to the disappearance of

dormitory (morung), the Nagas suffered immense social, cultural and architectural

loss (Kumar 2005). [I]t is very much obvious that the western missionaries while

replacing the ancient Nagas‘ faith with the new faith of Christianity, did all to bring

about total change in the ancient culture of the people… They accepted Christianity,

no doubt, but not at the cost of total destruction of their ancestral values, which were

passed from generation to generation. It should be remembered that the culture and

traditions are rooted in the blood and heart of the people. No alien power or elements

can uproot the entire traditions and customs if they have real values. The Nagas‘

ancient culture and social values were valuable. That is the reason behind the ancient

traditional wisdom and social practices including religious festival ceremonies

16
remaining as fresh today as it were in the beginning. It is heartening to note that,

today, the Nagas as a whole are very much aware of their past cultural values. They

are applying all the efforts to revive and preserve them. The Nagas are rich in their

old cultural and social values, which are inter-related (Singh 2008).

1.2.7 Christianity in Manipur

The first missionary who came to Manipur was Rev. William Pettigrew. Pettigrew

came to Imphal on 6 January 1894 and began to think that his missionary call must

have been among the Hindu Meiteis of the Manipur valley. Thus he immediately

started his proselytizing activities by opening schools. No sooner had he started his

work when some orthodox Hindu Meitei leaders were suspicious of Pettigrew‘s

preaching. They felt it was a deliberate attempt to impose upon them (Meiteis) the

‗government‘s (British) religion.‘ Fearing that trouble might arise if William

Pettigrew was allowed to continue his proselytizing work, the school was taken out of

his hand and brought under the management of the state government. Propagation of

Christianity among the Meiteis was also prohibited forthwith (Dena 2010). However,

Pettigrew was permitted at his own risk to work among the Tangkhul Nagas in the

hills, north east of Imphal. Pettigrew toured in the Tangkhul areas in 1895 and chose

Ukhrul as the centre of his Mission centre (Sangma 1987).

With the advent of Christianity social transformation of the Tangkhul society

took place in numerous ways.While several new things were introduced many

indigenous social practices and aspects of culture were abolished.At the same time

many modifications were made in the traditional social customs and practices. This

kind of transformation gave birth to the much needed reformation of the Tangkhul
17
society (Ruivah 1993). He also discussed the factors that brought about a socio-

cultural change among the Tangkhuls. To him the most important factor of social

change among the Tangkhul was proselytization. Shimray, a local Tangkhul Naga

historian (2001) made a comprehensive study on the history of the Nagas, their origin,

migration, settlement and the changes taking place among them. Shimray (2005) in

his other book deals with the advent of Christianity and its impact on theNagas in

general. When he talked about the impact of Christianity, he gave absolute credit to

the Christian missionaries. Borgohain‘s book, „Scrolls of Strife‟ (2011), is an attempt

to probe the tumultuous history of the Nagas. In this book, he mentioned the long-

term impact of the British colonialists and American missionaries on the people. He

said, ―The Nagas had been living a relatively sheltered existence, not easily exposed

to life-changing developments happening at the time in the rest of the world. Equally

crucially, the Nagas did not have a written script, nor any institutionalized system of

education. It was, therefore, highly fertile soil for the missionaries to plant their seeds

of the Christian way of life.‖ He further said that, Christian missionaries established

formal education for the local population all over India. Today it is widely recognized

that some of the finest schools and colleges in the country are those built by the

missionaries.

When they became ardent believers of Christianity, western influence crept

into their culture to a great extent… The younger generation is totally unexposed to

their rich tradition, culture and heritage and completely ignorant about their own folk

literature. The dances, the songs and the festivals related to Tangkhul culture are

slowly disappearing from the lives of Tangkhuls under the influence of Christianity

18
(Arokianathan 1982). Horam a local Tangkhul Naga scholar (1977) highlights several

significant aspects of their traditional social and cultural life as well as the recent

changes in their norms and values, customs and practices, and myths and ballads. He

found the new religion proved beneficial in countless ways such as removal of

superstitions, introduction of schools and hospitals, cleanliness, and a turning away

from head-hunting and such other practices. Yet the spread of Christianity has not

always been an unmixed blessing. Das an anthropologist (1985) discusses the

interaction between valley and hill people of Manipur. He showed that religion played

a determining role in the assertion of tribal identity. He also agreed that Christianity is

a major unifying factor in tribal life. There is no denying the fact that Christianity is in

many ways responsible for improving tribal life, but on the other they fail to find

suitable substitutes for the basic premises, values and goals of their traditional culture.

This led to tribal nationalism based on traditionalism, which is synonymous with

social freedom and political power. Shimray (2007:115-16) believed that there was a

drastic shift in socio-cultural and economic system with the rapid growth of education

and Christianity.Modern education improved livelihood, health status and Naga

economy and brought about social change. At the same time, the new faith virtually

wore the traditional foundation like dances, folk songs, games, customs, practices and

folk-stories. Furthermore, Christianity re-modeled the Naga traditions like abolishing

the practice of feast of merit, ceremonies and rituals. The feast of merit, disapproved

by early missionaries in fact has important social and economic functions. It is a

social reciprocation manifesting the attitude of generosity, compassion, social concern

and responsibility. Such practice enhances social cohesiveness and communitarian

19
feelings. In this context, Shimray (2007) shared Verrier Elwin‘s opinionthat openly

attacked the work of missionaries and argued that their teaching undermined

traditional institutions. During the process of proselytization many Naga customs and

culture were abandoned and destroyed beyond repair. Subsequently, many cultural

practices became Christian taboos portrayed as ‗sin‘. Drinking traditional Naga rice

beer is banned among the Baptist cohorts. Many traditional festivals were discarded

[giving priority to Christmas], folksongs and dances were gradually diminishing

[taking over by hymn] and many traditional games vanished in the process. The

circumstances created a ‗vacuum‘ between the Naga traditions and the Christian faith.

This has not been felt sufficiently by the missionaries and contemporary educated

Nagas and could later threaten the Naga identity and social solidarity.

The above review of literature reveals that Christianity is an important aspect

of the tribal societies of Northeast India. However, the extant literature seems to

suffer from the following shortcomings. One, the impact of Christianity has been

accepted as a given fact without explaining how exactly a change was due to

Christianity and not due to other related factors like education, urbanization and

modernization. Two, a number of authors may have been concerned with the factors

responsible for conversion to Christianity of the Tangkhuls in particular and Naga

tribes in general but they failed to pay attention to the processes of such conversion.

Third, the impact of Christianity at the personal, societal and tribal levels has hitherto

not been paid any or adequate attention by the previous authors on the Tangkhuls of

Manipur.

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1.3 Objectives

The main objectives of the present study are:

(i) To study the spread of Christianity among the Tangkhuls of Ukhrul

town of Manipur, keeping in mind the town as a cultural space.

(ii) To examine the influence of Christianity on the life of the people of

this tribe.

- at the personal level

- at the societal level and

- at the tribe level

(iii)To understand the process of change that might have taken place

among the Tangkhuls after becoming Christians.

1.4 Methodology

In the process of selecting the field, the choice fell on Ukhrul town for various

reasons. First, Tangkhuls are predominantly settled in the Ukhrul town of Manipur.

Second, this town is the centre of Tangkhul social, religious and political activities.

And third, Christianity was first introduced among the Tangkhuls of this town. Hence

the proposed town was ideal for carrying out the present study.

I started my study with a survey of the town, meeting the elders, pastors,

leaders, intellectuals, etc. for preliminary information. After preliminary survey was

made, detailed study was initiated. Data was collected on the basis of observation and

interview with well-informed adult men and women from the twenty-five tangs or

localities of the town. The interviews were both structured and unstructured.
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 Further this study was based on primary data collected from three generations

of Christian converts. Inter-generational comparison was made to understand the

impact of Christianity. For the same purpose, case studies of key informants were also

collected. The present research also tried to reconstruct the pre-Christian social

scenario on the basis of secondary sources as well as interviews with the old and

knowledgeable informants to better understand the impact of Christianity amongst the

Tangkhuls of this town.

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