Religion, Beliefs and Practices in North-East India

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In tribal society, religion, beliefs and practices govern all aspects of life. It is the outcome of feelings; the feeling of insecurity and ideas as to its causes induce an individual to act for its remedy and derived satisfaction out of helplessness. It grew out of man's reflective thinking and recognition that there exists something greater than his self and thus strived to develop procedures to achieve a satisfactory relationship with it. These endeavours exercised a strong influence in the development of rituals, myths and beliefs. Even the material culture, the disease, selection of agriculture plot, beginning of house construction and hunting activities are influenced by the faiths and beliefs of tribe which are more often reflected in rituals. In a nutshell tribal religion exists within the whole system of their being. It is in this background the present volume delves the conceptual and contextual studies among different tribes of north-east India within the fold of academic and intellectual discourse.

LALRINNUNGA HMAR (b. 1980) is currently working as Assistant Professor in Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar College, Belonia, Tripura. He did is master degree and PhD in history subject from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. 'Migration and social formation of the Mizo' was the titled of his PhD thesis, awarded the degree in 2011. He contributed a lot of research papers in the proper academic forum.

The need for a compact volume on the Religion, belief and practices in north-east India has been a long felt need. To the outsider, north-east has been known for its durable disorder since the time of India's independence due to its political turmoil reinforce by ethnic violence. This resulted in producing a number of research papers on the traditional economy, polity and social organization of the tribal. Even to the ethnologist the area is sometime compared to the anthropological museum inhabited by different ethnic groups. Most importantly, the aspects of their religious activities never attract attention. In tribal society, faiths and beliefs govern all aspects of life. Even the material culture, the disease, selection of agriculture plot, beginning of house construction and hunting activities are influenced by the faiths and beliefs of tribe which are more often reflected in rituals. It is in this background that an attempt is made to unearth a coherent understanding of tribal beliefs and practices of north-east India within the fold of academic and intellectual discourse.

I know that it will be an uphill task to make a book like this without the encouragement and support from friends and well-wishers. I gradually gleaned this idea from my interaction with some scholars from north-east region whom I used to meet them in different seminars. At last, for better or for worse, I made a bolt decision to go ahead. Then, I started contacting different scholars from the whole north-east region. So far as possible I choose the young scholar to write their own traditional beliefs system. Accordingly, there are representative-contributors from all States of north-east India including Sikkim. Regarding the structure of the chapters I made rough instruction for all the contributors. For example, (1) Apart from conceptual frame- work, if needed, the first part should be a brief introduction of the tribe-their location, size of population, self-identification, how do other people know them, (2) the second part should be a brief history of their migration, (3) material background of their religion, (4) Brief narration of their beliefs system, (5) agent of change and the subsequent impact on their way of life and so on. At first I expected thorough interpretation and investigation from the contributors to comply with the style sheet, but, when it goes along, I realized that many communities have no proper written documents so far. Therefore, there are some descriptive presentations based on primary sources collected from the field works. Summary of the papers are given below: Dr. Malsawmliana Hmar, traces the development of Mizo religion from the Chin Hills of Burma till the advent of Christianity.

He mentions that the traditional Mizo religion evolved out of fear and subsequently developed in tune with the material condition. He also tries to understand the connecting link between economy and religion by giving Pialral concept. After analyzing the nature of Mizo religion he points out the reason of the Mizo mass conversion into Christianity. He contends that the greatest Mizo desire after death was to go to pialral (paradise) which required to attain the coveted title of Thangchhuah during life time. But it was beyond the reach of most people because only prosperous persons and chiefs could attain the title. Thus, it seems there was less scope for the common people to enter Pialral after death. Meanwhile Christianity offers paradise for every individual by simply believing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. K. Zohra describes different types of good and evil spirits in the world of Maras. He asserts that the nature of Mara religion was dominated by an appeasement to the spirits and ritual ceremony were performed to get good health, good crops, and fertility of domesticated animals and also to make them rich and wealthy.

Dr. Bendanginla explains the philosophical foundation of the Ao Naga religion. She claims that Religion for the Ao was the outcome of their yearnings to place themselves in a proper relationship with whatever they regard as more powerful and greater than themselves. The Aos made no separation of the religious and non-religious aspects of their socio-economic life. The author investigates the mass conversion into Christianity and she contends that Illness was due to the displeasure of the spirits and curing it involves elaborate religious functions, in this way the treatment given by the missionaries was more effective than the traditional sacrifices.

North-East India is the academicians' delight. It is home to so many large and small tribes and communities. Over he past century their hills and plains have been brought together into a geographical region. This in part has been responsible for a collective identity within which each tribe and communities have maintained their own culture and tradition.

Over the past century and more, various factors have reached out to these tribes and communities in such manner that their lives are being significantly changed. In understanding their search for their roots and past, several studies have been conducted and more will be written in time. Religion, Beliefs and Practices in North-East India is another collection of essays on this subject. Religion is so central to the traditions of the several tribes that are studied. Several of the articles delve deep into the understanding of the subject. Others have studied both the religious beliefs and the impact religions such as Christianity have made on the several tribes. What is of significance is that the essays that form this book is written by young scholars of the region. They attempt to understand the religion, beliefs and practices of their own tribes. This has both the advantage of better understanding of what is being studied-it also brings the authors close to their own subject and therefore may lack objectivity.

Understanding one's own people should be encouraged. Lalrinnunga Hmar, the editor of this book and my student at NEHU, is encouraged to go forward in academic excellence and in contributing to our knowledge of the people and region we call home.

**Contents and Sample Pages**