preservative free beer
IMPACTS OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE NYISHIS: A CASE STUDY ON HIYA VILLAGE: KURUNG KUMEY DISTRICT, ARUNACHAL PRADESH

IMPACTS OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE NYISHIS:

A CASE STUDY ON HIYA VILLAGE: KURUNG KUMEY DISTRICT, ARUNACHAL PRADESH

INTRODUCTION

Rapid religious change is gradually occurring in the Hiya village in the recent years. Three Christian prayer Churches— a Baptist, a Catholic, and a more recently constructed a Revivalist —already exist in Hiya village, a largest village of Kurung Kumey District. Despite small population size of Christianity in Hiya village in mid 1980s, when Christianity was first introduced into the village, conversion has increased. This has also led in the present day to doubts amongst people living in Hiya village about the moral desirability of ritually interacting with Uyub (termed ‘devils’ by Christian missionaries and converts). In the village, oral historical forms of knowledge, of which shaman-priests and accomplished storytellers are the main custodians, remain robust. However, many people oscillate between Christian forms of worship and ritual engagement with Uyub. Whilst many people in village have a strong faith in the efficacy of modern medicines, incidents of human misfortune, illness, and a wide range of other phenomena are still commonly referred back to the activity of Uyub. In the event of serious or prolonged illnesses, people often take the long journey, sometimes of days, to the nearest medical facilities in Ziro and Itanagar. If medical interventions fail, people usually turn to the shaman-priests for diagnosis through divination, and ritual forms of healing.

Many who convert to Christianity develop syncretistic forms of understanding. Whilst many preachers request members of their congregations to discontinue all ritual practices, and in many cases seek to dissuade people of the power and influence of Uyub, concerns about the influence of malign and benign Uyub persist. Thus Nyishi Christians commonly retain a strong conviction that Uyub exist and exert manifold influences, but express a desire for peaceful coexistence with them. A common Nyishi saying amounts to the following request: ‘You Uyub, do not stay here where we humans live—stay and live in your own place!’ And yet, ironically perhaps, interactions with Uyub, at least with Dojang Uyub, seem inevitable. And as I have shown, such impacts manifest both through ecological phenomena and cases of human illness and misfortune.

The impact of western Christianity on Nyishi culture and traditions is a significant kind of anthropological research problem, often approached in terms of the interplay between two sets of beliefs and practices, each with its own internal dynamics and in dialectical interaction with the other. The analysis of the process has utilised many catchwords: fusion, reinterpretation, alteration, elimination, coexistence, substitution, concurrence, adaptation, syncretisation, elaboration, and so on. In brief, the general model is as follows: ideas and structures, transplanted from one society to another, may serve needs different from those satisfied in the place of origin. The resulting dynamics of transformation have been often described by anthropologists as ‘culture radiation and reception’ and ‘spiraling indigenisation’.

The tendency to contrast traditional and modern institutions, based on supposedly mutually exclusive social qualities, derives - as others have noted - from the works of H. S. Maine, H. Morgan, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Ferdinand Tonnies, and R. Redfield. These scholars have all advanced parallel concepts of a dichotomous relationship of certain principles of behaviour which they believe underlie western history: status and contract, societas and civitas, traditional and rational authority, Gesellschaft and Gemeinsckqft, mechanical and organic solidarity, popular and folk tradition.

Impacts of Christianity on the Nyishis is organised within a dichotomous framework and substantially it focuses on the nature of the beliefs and rituals of Nyishi-speaking Christians as expressed within a whole range of institutions: diverse Churches and congregations deriving from the work of foreign missions and independent Nyishi movements. It has made a study of two traditions in acculturation: one foreign (western Christianity) and another indigenous (Nyishi) confronted and changed by a variety of cultural, economic, and historical forces, thereby serving the fundamental needs of a modern society, but in a somewhat modified manner than in western countries. As it shows, whatever their degrees of involvement with the Christian religion, Nyishis have by no means surrendered their allegiance to traditional supernatural forces. Rather, the new God has been added to the totality of the existing resources on which they can call for aid.

This is to be seen in the worship of Nyishi deities, the homage to ancestors, and the recourse to divination and other rituals. The evidence here opposes the popular assumption that Nyishi culture - including its religious aspects — will shortly or inevitably disappear. The scope and hypotheses of this theme are broad, but the general idea can be reduced to the following contentions:

(i) That Nyishi society is characterised by a considerable degree of dialectic heterogeneity,

(ii) That many of the religious groups have developed through either conflict or doctrinal and social divisions, and

(iii) That the sets of ideas developed by the orthodox Christian tradition of the western world have become part of Nyishi society, and have remained as some of the shared concepts for the Independent Nyishi Churches. The theoretical theme is thus consonant with that being articulated in recent years by a number of people who emphasise the Christian religion as the major source of change in Nyishi society.

This study examines the theme of dualism in the Nyishi Christian’s worldview, and explores the relationship of the western Christianity to the Nyishi tradition. We are told that the central theme is the worship of an all-powerful God who rules the physical universe and cares for all his creatures. Every believer may have a close and direct relationship with God who is viewed as the Father. This represents that part of the Nyishi Christian’s outlook on the universe which is closely related to the Bible. But, as it may be argues, what a Nyishi meets in Church does not necessarily account for his whole world-view, because dead ancestors are present in the homestead as a protection against witches and sorcerers. The two traditions are closely related to the concept of scale. Christianity is only one facet of the large-scale society, and it includes those social and cultural products that are diffused through the mass media and learning. These have been transplanted to Hiya village not only from other parts of the state but also from outside the state.

In this connection, many Nyishis of Hiya village are members of Churches which are formally linked with other Christians who differ from them in language, ethnicity, and race, and with international Church organisations in many parts of India and the world. The difference between the great and the little tradition is that the former is available to a much wider society, and may form part of the cultural ambianceof people with quite different local cultural patterns, whereas the latter implies a relatively small degree of commonality between those involved in any single manifestation. Traditional Nyishi religion is illustrative of the little tradition because of the comparatively extensive persistence of features representing affinity with other societies in an overall environment that is much wider and more complicated. This study has added some substance to the proposition that the acceptance of Christianity in Hiya village does not occur in a vacuum, and is in fact due as much to the development of the traditional cosmology in response to other features of the modern situation as to the activities of missionaries.

The early Christian contacts with the people of Arunachal Pradesh were basically from two strategic places i.e. Sadiya and Lakhimpur, both in neighbouring Assam (Rikam, 2005). It may be mentioned here that the western Christian missionaries including the Roman Catholic and American Baptist Mission were primarily looking for a passage to enter into the soil of China and South-East Asia. Prior to the arrival of American Baptist Missionaries in Sadiya, the British Baptist Mission and Serampore Mission were already preaching gospel in lower Assam but without much success. The Roman Catholic missionaries also entered into the hills and had brief contact with the Adis and the Mishmis in 1840 and 1854 respectively.

Soon after the establishment of mission centre at Lakhimpur in December 1893, John Firth was designated as a first and independent missionary and he toured entire region just after assuming his designated office. He soon encountered the tribe such as Nyishis, Miris, Adis etc. who dwell along the foothills and realised that there is a prospect of missionary works among these tribes. Hence, he pleaded the authority to depute separate missionary for them, to which a Garo young man; namely, Tosin was sent in 1898, especially to work among the Nyishis and the Miris. It is to be noted here that, John Firth had formally founded the Lakhimpur Field and he along with his wife and few other missionaries had rendered their valuable services for three decades. That is why in recognition to his contribution, later on Lakhimpur Mission School was named after him as John Firth Mission School. This school had practically become a nerve centre for missionary activities particularly in the Subansiri belt of Arunachal Pradesh which nowadays bifurcated into four districts i.e. Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, Papum Pare and Kurung Kumey.

The spread of Roman Catholic Church among the Arunachalee tribes slowly began with the foundation of mission centres/schools along the borders. With the establishment of mission centre with schooling facility at Tezpur in 1934, there was a surge in the missionary activities and it also added thrust to open and develop new mission stations in other parts. North Lakhimpur was one of such venture which was opened in 1944. Despite their consistent attempt to extend their activities towards the tribes of Arunachal, the result was not encouraging, may be because Arunachal being a closed territory, the outsiders including the missionaries were not freely allowed to penetrate. But gradually their plot of spreading Christianity gained a slight success by way of imparting education at the mission schools. This process gained momentum after the foundation of mission school at Harmutty near Banderdewa, a gateway to Arunachal’s capital complex in 1977. Many tribal boys and girls flocked into this school as it was essentially provide free education. Besides teaching general subjects, the students were also taught on Christian doctrines and when they came back to their villages they started preaching Christian religion.

The universe of present study is Nyishis of Arunachal Pradesh. But the model of study is Hiya village, which the name is taken from the hill slope of same name. Hiya, the largest village (in terms of area and population) of Kurung Kumey district is located in the extreme eastern part of the Nyapin circle, one of the oldest administrative circles of the state, with whom a status of small town was declared in the same name in 1953. The village has a population of more than 701 souls as per the recent electoral rolls of 2009. This excludes the population below 18 years of age.

In fact, the Hiya village is the blend of two villages i.e. Hiya-I and Hiya-II and one adjoining sub-village i.e. Lumtey. Hiya, once a single village was bifurcated into two villages in the year 2001 where the adjoining sub-village Lumtey shift under Hiya-I. The village has now one government aided newly upgraded secondary school, one centrally sponsored primary school under Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) and two pre-primary community schools. The administrations of the village are run under Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) with 2 Anchal Samiti Members (ASMs) and 8 Gram Panchayat Members (GPMs). Besides, the village too has 2 Head Gaon Burahs (HGBs) with few numbers of Gaon Burahs (GBs). The mosaic of these two combinations looks after the administrations of the village.

CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS IN HIYA VILLAGE

While talking about the Christianity in Hiya village, there are three groups or denominations of Christianity in the village. They are Baptist Church, Catholic Church and Christian Revival Church. Christian as a whole has a population of 639 individuals in the village with 329 males and 310 females which is 91.20% of the total village population. Remaining 8.8 % are indigenous believers which has a population of 62 individuals (34 males & 28 females) from 11 families.

Baptist Church

The Baptist Christian is the first entrant and the largest of the Christian denominations in Hiya village. Baptist church agrees with the basic Protestant doctrines, but they stress the belief that only Christian believers should be baptized (called “believer’s baptism”) and that this baptism should occur by immersion, a practice they trace back to the early Church. Baptist church in the village has local church autonomy but is connected to each other through various church associations in the district or across the state. The Baptist Christian would see massive growth in the village during the mid 80s of last century, followed by an increased interest and effort in different church activities across the district and the state. The Baptist Church in the village has a strong tradition within church members and they tend to be evangelical in doctrine, and vary greatly from extremely conservative to liberal socially and politically.

In earlier period of its establishment lots of difficulties were faced by the villagers. It is to be noted here that the people of this village went too far distance village to attend the church. The church was located at a distance of 20 km from the village namely, Nyangpo Baptist Church which is under neighbouring circle, Sangram. It took at least two days to come back to their village. During that time only few families of the village were went to attend church services there at other neighbouring village and rest of the villagers were unaware of Christian religion. Prominent evangelists who came to preach in the village were Mr. Hiba Nill, Mr. Tai Tagi, Mr. Tash Taram and others. They were the persons who first give an idea to the villagers about the benefits to be in the Christian before and after the construction of Baptist Church in the village.

It was only in the year 1987 the Baptist Church was constructed in the village. The first Pastor was Mr. Tarh Tamar, who is presently a Head Gaon Burah (HGB) of Hiya-II village with few intellectuals like late Mr. Tarh Lotak, who was the first to achieved diploma in religion with Assamese medium from the then undivided Hiya village. The original location of first Baptist Church is about 500 metres away from the present church’s location in the hilltop. It is to be noted here that the first location was there because the present village was once settled near that area. Due to transportation difficulties the village was shifted to present location near the roadside but still few populations are settle in the old village location. Presently it has strength of 431 members (228 males & 203 females) with 115 male and 112 female baptised members from 59 families in the village which is 67.40% of the total Christian population in the village.

Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church in Hiya village is traced by the Catholic Churh back to early 1990s and thus covers a period of nearly two decades, making it the second oldest church in the village. Catholics consider the Catholic Church to have been founded by Jesus Christ, its spiritual head.Catholic Doctrine asserts that it is the continuation of the Church that was founded at the Confession of Peter. It interprets the Confession of Peter as Christ’s designation of Apostle Peter and his successors in Rome to be the temporal head of his Church.

The first to bring the Catholic denomination was Prembhai, who was very famous during the period in evangelical activities. Though there was already a Baptist Christian, some families were interested in the teaching and ideas of fathers and brothers who were come to village for some medicinal helps to the people. One of the reasons why the people were interested in the Catholic was that this denomination was very helpful especially for poor and weak people as they provide medicines, clothes, and necessities at free of cost. It is to be noted that these activities were carried out by the Catholic missionaries under Mother Teresa’s “Missionaries of Charity”.

At last, the Catholic Church was established with few families in the year 1994. Now it has 16 families with a total of 96 members (49 males and 47 females) and with baptised members of 41 male and 43 female respectively which is 15% of the total Christian population in the village.

Christian Revival Church

The Christian Revival Church (CRC) is the newest and the second largest next to Baptist denomination among the Christian denominations existing in Hiya village was established in the year 2003. The founders of this denomination were either indigenous believers or the other Christians who left the other denominations like Baptist and the Catholic. Prominent founders were Mr. Tarh Baju, Mr. Tarh Kak, Mrs. Tarh Rodo and others. The contribution of Mr. Dari Gigik, an eminent evangelist of this denomination in the Kurung Kumey district was enormous as establishment of Church was possible due to his preaching ideas to the people.

At present, this Christian denomination has a total population of 112 members (52 males & 60 females) and baptised members of 23 males and 31 females respectively which is 17.60% of the total Christian population from 18 families of the village.

Table No.1: Various denominations of Christianity in Hiya village with their populations.

Sl. No.

Denominations

Population

Baptised Members

Male

Female

Male

Female

1.

Baptist Church

228

203

115

112

2.

Catholic Church

49

47

41

43

3.

Christian Revival Church

52

60

23

31

4.

Indigenous Believers

34

28

——

——-

Source: Churches records, Hiya village.

Table No.2: Various denominations of Christianity with the Church leaders and their portfolios.

Sl. No.

Denominations

Pastor

Women Pastor

Secretary

1.

Baptist Church

Mr. Tarh Hamu

Mrs. Tarh Yaniang

Mr. Tarh Tali

2.

Catholic Church

Mr. Gyamar Kain

Mrs.Tarh Yajar

Mr. Tarh Maya

3.

Revival Church

Mr. Tarh Kak

Mrs. Tarh Yakey

Mr. Tarh Baju

Source: Churches Records, Hiya village.

CHURCH RULES

All of the Nyishi Christian Churches in Hiya village have rigid rules and standards for membership which, if violated, lead to expulsion. In a survey of 3 existing Churches of different denominations in the village, it found that there is a similarity in their rules: All insisted upon monogamy, and even forbade smoking or drinking. When asked for other specific church rules, some leaders mentioned the Ten Commandments of the holy Bible, some said that their Churches did not allow scandal-mongering or quarrelling, and some other did not allow their members to attend gambling places.

However, neither the Churches nor their members want to withdraw from society, but rather to improve their present conditions. Consequently, an attempt is often made to translate poor education, lack of skills, and bad habits into behaviour that enhances the competitive position of members. The Churches also use their own rituals such as healing, river baptism, dancing, prophecy, night communion, and drumming to uplift daily life and to return the individual to himself.

CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN THE CHURCHES OF HIYA VILLAGE

Christianity is today’s largest and only alien religion other than traditional Nyishi religious beliefs and ritual practices in Hiya village, yet many people who were not raised in a Christian atmosphere especially older people do not understand what Christianity is all about. But the Christian religious practices in various Churches of the village are not as complex or strange as they may first appear to native people. Take a look at some of the most important practices in use today by Christian believers in and outside the Churches.

Many Christian rituals and religious practices in various Churches of Hiya village vary between denomination, individual church and individual Christian, but some practices are common to virtually all forms of Christianity of the village. Most Christians attend worship services at church on Sundays, which generally include singing, dancing, prayer and a sermon by church leaders. All the Christian Churches in Hiya village including Baptist, Catholic and Christian Revival have a special ritual for ordination, or designating a person fit for a leadership position in the church. At home, most practicing Christians pray regularly before and after sleeping and many read the Bible at the same time. However, reading of Bible is not applicable to most of the convert villagers because they did not know to read and write.

Nearly all Christians will have been baptised, either as an infant or as an adult, and regularly participate in communion (also called the Lord’s Supper) whenever church organised any big conference and function. Baptism and communion are considered sacraments - sacred rituals instituted by Jesus, the Christ himself. The Catholic Church in the village recognises five additional sacraments, as well as many other distinctive practices that are known as “sacramental” or “devotions” which also include praying the rosary.

Baptism is very common to all the above mentioned branches of Christian religion in the village. Jesus Christ, whom they called as the saviour, is worshipped as the Son of God by them and is said to have died on the cross so that God will forgive the any and all sin people commit in their life. However, there is little variation in the procedure of baptism among the Churches of the village. Baptist Christian takes baptism by means of holy dip in the river and stream and Catholic on the other hand baptised the Church members by means of flushing holy water to body the members. However, Christian Revival Church performs same to that of the Baptist. Baptism is usually offer by the evangelists who came from other places and sometime it is Church’ Pastor who do the job on special occasions of the Church.

Easter is another celebrated day in the Christian tradition and is also maintained in the various Churches of the village. They believe that this is the day when Jesus rose from the dead, as he prophesied he would do. They also believe that if he had not risen then salvation for human would not be possible. Christian Churches celebrate this with singing Christian hymn songs of praise to the Lord, and often having a community feast at the last day of the Church service.

Christmas is celebrated by many people in the village, not just Christians, but it has a very special meaning to it for those of the Christian faith in different Churches. Religious practices in Christianity include celebrating Christmas as the Jesus’ birthday. One of the Church leaders in Hiya Baptist Church tell that the actual date of Jesus‘ birth is unknown, but it is a symbol of the hope he gave the world that we celebrate 25th December as his birthday in our Church and the world around. We show the love of God to others by giving gifts and gathering with family on Christmas Day in the Church.

Lastly, though many people of various Churches are already aware of this common practice whether they realise it or not, Sunday is considered a day of rest in all the Churches. According to the Holy Bible, the people of the village believe that God created the world and mankind in six days, and on the seventh he rested. They try to honour Sunday and keep it holy; if it is possible they will not work, though present village economy usually make this hope fairly unrealistic because some people went to field or jungle for collect something after the Church service is over in the Sunday afternoon. The day Church services are held on every Sunday morning to worship the Lord, and sometimes again on Sunday night. All Churches hold other services during the night as well in their respective Church. It is worthy to mention that Hiya Baptist Church host a Sunday Bible school in the morning to teach the children and women about the Christianity and make them to learn English and Hindi. The teachers are appointed from young followers or youths who are expert in teaching. Christianity, as I understand, plays an important role in the lives’ of Christian followers in Hiya village through education.

As we can see, Christian religious practices in Hiya village are all involved in some way or another with spreading the good word of the salvation of Jesus Christ and the love of God. And the people believe that by spreading peace and love among the villagers, not only will harmony come to the village, but all will be saved from Hell’s fire and can rejoice together forever one day in Heaven with God Almighty.

NYISHI TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND RITUAL PRACTICES IN HIYA VILLAGE

Complex systems of beliefs in the spiritual qualities of nature and at the same time the conception of a Supreme Being are the two significant traits which characterises the traditional religion of Nyishi people in Hiya village. The spiritual world of the people is dominated by a number of Uyub (spirits) either benevolent or malevolent. It is normally believed by the villagers that various diseases, miseries and misfortunes are caused by the evil spirits. These spirits have such great powers that they may exert influence on man in his earthly life and after life too. Almost every tribal people believed in a Supreme God, who is just, benevolent and good. Traditionally, the village people often considered Donyi-Pollo or the Sun and the Moon as one high God symbolising the eternal truth.

Belief in the existence of supernatural powers is almost universal. Day-to-day unexplainable experiences have led the villagers into believing in other than the material visible world i.e. in the invisible spiritual world or supernatural power. Generally the people are found to establish a close relationship with the spiritual world either by controlling or overpowering the spirit by enchanting or practicing some techniques and canalising the power, for good or bad or by offering ritual or worship to propitiate the supernatural power for acquisition of the thing or object desired.

However, nowadays, there are clear indications that the Christian religious ideas have penetrated into the traditional religion of the people in the village. They have taken up certain ‘Christianised’ rituals as well as participate in the worship of God in church. Apart from their relative physical isolation from the higher Christian personalities, with certain amount of avidity, the people as a group has definitely came within the Christian social fold. Side by side few families of the village retain their traditional religious beliefs and ritual practices which are altogether free from Christian influence. In the present study, however, an attempt has been made to grasp the nature of belief of the people in supernatural powers. An endeavour has been made to know the form of their religious practices, rituals, ceremonies which its members observe and how they maintain a harmonious relationship among themselves, nature and supernatural powers. It would facilitate to understand their world view and of the mechanisms they have adopted to regulate the relationships with their visible, invisible and unexplainable worlds around them. For the purpose of the study, intensive field investigation has been made among the specific personalities of Hiya village which is a multiclan village inhabited by the Nyishis.

The Nyishis of Hiya village believes in the existence of a number of spirits which are called Uyub. They believe that there are Uyub in the jungles, on the lofty hills, on the top of huge or giant trees call Sangrik Sangney[1] (Banyan tree), in rivers, and inside and outside the houses and these spirits often hurt human beings. Most of the Uyub are malevolent in character and cause harm to the human beings. The most dreaded Uyub are the Dojang and Yapam who resides in the jungles and take a toll of the human lives as they please by making people fall ill. Similarly, Jengee and Pamte, Nyori and Pamsi are known for causing various kinds of fever. A number of these Uyub (spirits) live in the forests that make people miserable by causing fevers and aches, swellings, dysentery and sores. Parte-Ringte Uyub is believed to be responsible for agriculture and, therefore, if a man is to have a good crop, these Uyub (spirits) should be pleased. Then, there are domestic Uyub like Ringtum Partum, Chirr Yorr, etc., who look after the welfare of the family and are given offerings of chicken and fowl. It is very difficult to mention the name of all the Uyub here since their number is very large.

The people believe in Ane-Donyi (Sun, the mother God) who is regarded as the Supreme Mother, kind and benevolent. She showers her kindness on the society and nothing can be achieved without her will. She gives crops and keeps the Nassung[2] (granaries) filled; she gives children and keeps them well; without her mercy nothing could get. Generally, no special prayers are offered to Ane-Donyi on ordinary occasions, but on special occasions like marriage etc. she is given the highest offerings and her name is sung in the songs on all important occasions.

The people’s indigenous religion practices is coherently and comprehensively expressed in their oral traditions in the form of poems, myths, legends, folklore, folktales and performing arts that is passed on from generation to generation by word of mouth by priests and shamans. In the early days, cult of sacrifice was the dominant features of indigenous religious practices of the people in the village. They believed that human share the world with Uyub (spirits) of benevolence and malevolent, which take up residence in every animate and inanimate object, specific places and sometimes in human being. The Uyub is the nearest equivalent term for God used in Nyishi language (Showren, 2007), which literary meaning for both benevolent and malevolent Uyub (Gods). Thus, encompassing all these features the traditional ritual practices of people are categorised into following:

1. Roo-Kugnam (Chicken Liver Examination): This ritual practice is takes place to ascertain the type of Uyubs through Roo Kugnam or Ruksing Kanam[3] (omen examination). It is usually perform by the Nyub (priest) and Nyajak (shamans) who are expert in such ritual. At the very beginning, the Nyub use to have a Roo (baby chicken) on his hand blows warm air from the mouth and start the ritual process. Besides this the chicken egg is also examined which coincides with the prediction and result. This examination of egg is called “Paap Chiinam”[4]. It is the chicken liver examination which tells everything for which the ritual chanting has been proposed. The chanting is done for specific case to trace out the main cause or vindicating the particular illness. Thus, the Nyub chant to find out the exact cause of the illness.

2. Sangrik-Tangnam (Cutting of Banyan Trees): This ritual practice is perform when a man or woman or children is accidentally dead. The chicken liver is examined after chants by the priest whether the spirit or God (Gangda Uyub)has taken away life or not. If the chicken liver indicates positive then a ritual is performed. Until the ritual is complete the dead body remains in the house. In that very evening the people of the whole village are quietly informed to get ready for an attack journey. In the next morning, a Ryatar[5] is performed for an all-round protection and to gain power and strength to fight against the evil spirits. The villagers then attack that particular tree called Sangrik Sangney (Banyan Tree). The people arrived suddenly around the tree with a weapons accompanied by a Nyub (priest) and tied a rope around the tree. When the tree is felled down, its upper portion is well guarded. Whatever the animals like snakes, birds, lizards, squirrels, and many other comes out are killed. It is believe that they are the form of evil spirits who have taken the life of a human being. This ritual is kind of revenge to the evils. The priest chants and people follow him during the attack in the following manner. It is called Gamte Tanam[6].

Sugh Gangtey ge Atu nu, Ish ge Ayu nu

Nu debe dapa nilo, tangbe tangpa nilo

Ho Gangtey Atu no, Anglik yama be

Uyub namtam namdar taju,

Sungkung namtam namdar taju

Poyub nyatey nu, Nyayub nyatey nu

Sanglum namtam namdar taju,

Sangrik namtam namdar taju.

The above phrase means: “Oh..! The owner of this land if you have taken the life of our man then you should not leave. We are going to destroy you and your dwelling place too.” Thus, it is a warning and challenge to the evil spirits called ‘Poyub’ and ‘Nyayub’. Lastly the tree is burnt down. After this, they retreat to their house with pronouncing a peculiar sound called Gugre Renam [7]while coming back. After reaching the village, the killed birds and animals are fixed on the Dapo[8] (pole) and are shooting with arrows by the villagers. After this, the people are dancing around the Dapo and by the same time the last rites of the deceased is perform and ultimately it is buried. The priest and the people who participated in the attack of Uyub used to sleep by placing their stomach facing the ground for up to five days. They are not enter the house for five days, and are only eat and drink on the ground. Any kinds of preparation including the animals sacrificed in this connection are restricted inside the house rather all preparations are done on the ground itself. It is because they believe that if such preparations are done inside the house, then the evil spirits will enter the same and will cause more miseries in the future.

3. Jarbik-Bignam: The Jarbik Bignam[9] is a prophecy of ritual through which the prediction is taken place. Here the sacrificed of animals does not take place. It is done through the special objects like Bopa (Head-gear), Alang (Stone), Uriuk (sword), Pate-Heegh (Tiger-teeth), Taab-Dumpo (Snake-head), Kyokam-Kheele (Claw of eagle), Kiidi (Soil) and through Ish (Water) etc. Usually, these objects are nearby the Nyub (Priest) during the ritual. This ritual is generally done to find out the cause of epidemics (diseases), theft cases and illicit relations etc. The Nyub (Priest) through chanting enquire the matter using the above objects to make a positive signal through its movement in favour of Nyub’s enquires. The silence atmosphere prevailed to maintain the secrecy during its night long chanting performance. The Nyub makes an enquiry through Jarbik Bignam chanting are as follows:

Lapang Atu nu,

yaj yallu ham napey niri?

Gangtey Atu nu kamju sucho paj bu nu,

Yaj yallu ham napey niri?

Hul nyetey nu ngam Nyijak-Nyub yaarj bu nu,

Yaj yallu ham napey niri?

Rillo- Pullo damj bu nu,

Yaj yallu ham napey niri?

Giir nyetey nu, sangkung mumii nu,

Yaj yallu ham napey niri?

Niid Atu nu, kamchang kamte nu, tungji bu nu,

Yaj yallu ham napey niri?

TheNyub through his chanting enquires the almighty protector, whether he had taken the soul or not. The Nyub also asks the creator of art and architecture the same. The spirits of the forefathers and ancestors are also taken into account in this enquiry. The God of prosperity and development is also asked for the same. The evil spirits of man who met unnatural deaths through accidents are also made enquire. The God of orator and debate is also asked about the soul.

4. Sudung-Ignam: The Sudung-Ignam[10] is an extraordinary traditional ordeal way of examination or proving through which the wrong or guilty person is prosecuted in a general gathering. It is done only when there is claim and counter claim between two parties for their innocence. Before going for such examination, it is to be established that the accused is specified by the omen of the chicken liver for his or her involvement in the erroneous act. This ritual practice is takes place in a special place far away from the village or human settlement. The people from both the parties gather and examination of Sudung takes place at the witnesses of everybody. It is peculiar to note that sometime even if a man who has been blamed for wrong act is innocent and yet is involved in some other act wrongdoing, which is equivalent to the mentioned case, he, too will have the same effect during the Sudung examination. Therefore, if a man who has been blamed unreasonably and who is ready to go for such examination must be free from committing any crime in his lifetime. If alleged person has committed any other such misdeeds, he is allowed to confess before the Nyub (Priest) by means of stick counting known as ‘Kyotar Tarha Nam’.

Therefore, the Sudung-Ignam is meant for particular examination for a particular person. It must be well proved through the omen of chicken liver; otherwise, it will be a wrong punishment to an innocent man. In this practice, there are two types of examination. One is the boiling of water maximum boiling point level (100 degree Celsius) in an Udung[11]. Then a small stone put inside the Udung and the accused is asked to take it out from the boiling water. So, one has to inserts his/her hand to take out the stone. If the person is innocent, the stone will be taken out without any harm but if he/she is guilty, he/she will never be able to take it out and his/her hand will be badly burnt in the boiling water.

Another way of proving the same is by tying off a long thread to a small Udung. Inside the Udung few gravels of stone and piece of Sangrik-naney (Banyan leave) is put. It is done so that the mouth of Udung does not touch water when it is floating on the water. After this, the Udung (Bamboo-tube) is slowly released to lake or river. The thread is controlled by the left hand with a sword in the right hand by the Nyub. If the person has done wrong, the Udung will be drowned in the water and if he/she is innocent, it will never go under the water. The chanting of hymns is started simultaneously with the preparation of the thread and the Udung for the Sudung examination. Thus, at lasts the proof of the Sudung come into limelight. If the offence is proved, according to the magnitude of the case a heavy fine is imposed. However, in Nyishi society imposing of such fine depends upon the decision of the elders present in the meeting. The financial capacity or position of the concerned family is also taken into account. In most of the cases, the imposition is finalised before taking such extreme step. Sometime if a person is proved wrong, he/she is instantly killed in the spot. Therefore, during such occasion both the party gets ready to protect each other because in such situation anything can be happen. In this way, the process of Sudung-Ignam is complete only within a day with hundred of witnesses from the village.

5. Sotung-Tungnam (A Black-Magic): TheSotung[12] is a dangerous way of taking revenge between two individuals, families or the clans. Such ritual is done for a particular individual or family to fulfill the desired effect. Thus, Sotung is the most evil traditional practice of taking revenge causing a heavy loss to human lives just for a slight misunderstanding and mistake. While performing Sotung, the Nyub become very awesome as the spirit penetrate into his body for all the miraculous tasks. Sotung-Nyub[13] invites all the different malevolent spirits at a place to convince and pursue them by offering gifts for the evil act of killing a particular man or a clan. It also includes the invitation of the particular Uyubs who are protecting the particular man or clan by the miraculous chanting power of the Nyub. Here, the “Cheney Butey-Radey Uyub”, the spirit and protector of that clan is fully convinced to attack their own people whom they are protecting. The Sotung-Nyub will try to offer and sacrifice animals like goat, pig and fowls etc. in favour of Sotung-Uyub so that the evil spirit may take the soul of the concerned man or clan. The people generally sit together only in the Nyodang[14] side of the house but never in the Koda[15] side during the Sotung ritual because the door of the house is half-closed. The ritual chanting with rapid walking takes place in the Koda. The Nyub digs a grave for the concerned living man with the Changlang-Kiidi (Soil for graveyard) in his left hand side and starts chanting and directing the evil spirits to kill the person. The Sotung chanting takes place usually at night in a very secret manner without the knowledge of others. If it is not done for a special Sotung ritual, it takes about 2 to 3 days to complete the process. The Yugang[16] is also constructed at a distance and secret site as per the direction of the Nyub. The Nyub is assisted by the Boo (Assistant Nyub). The Yugang is made of bamboo, dupp, etc. and its structure is approximately 1 metre in length and breadth respectively.

Thecause of the Sotung-Tungnam may be due to a conflict involving woman, theft, land dispute and other personal enmities. During such Sotung performance, the Bujo[17] charged by the Sotung-Nyub are as follows:-

1. One string of beads (Sangmi) or Rs. 5000/- to Rs. 10,000/-

2. Letum-Ijee (Clothes) or Rs. 700/- to Rs. 1000/-

3. Uriuk (Sword) or Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/-

4. Dumso (Nyalap) or Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/-

THE CHANGING PERSPECTIVES OF NYISHI TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN HIYA VILLAGE

The traditional religious beliefs and practices in Hiya village are nowadays changed to many folds as compare to as it was in some decades back. The mass religious conversion of the people to Christianity has contributed a lot in the process.The village under study i.e. Hiya, most of the population are converted to Christianity from their traditional religion i.e. Donyi-Poloism. Nowadays the people do not performed any kind of rituals except few families who still remains as indigenous believers in the village.

The performance of ritual practices imposes heavy expenditureofanimalsacrificeand taboo, etc. which become unbearable for some people, particularly poor section of the people. This forced some people from avoiding the practice of indigenous belief systems and practices and later changes their faith to Christianity. The advanced and rationalised religion like Christianity took all advantages of this divertive force in the village. They interpreted that belief on evil spirits was superstition, practice of animal sacrifice in worship was wastage, and performance of worship in traditional system was the practice of demon/devil. Here they pleaded that there is only one SAVIOUR i.e. Jesus Christ upon whom the people should establish their firm faith and belief. This doctrine of faith attracted the innocent people to Christianity and accordingly most of the people in Hiya village gave up their traditional religious beliefs and ritual practices. In addition to this diversion of religious faith many of those neo-religious people gave up their festival celebration and secondly they began to challenge customary laws of the society. Thus, within a short period of time a great change of socio-cultural life appear to develop in the village. This is a great loss and a posing challenge to the village itself in respect of continuity of traditional religious beliefs and ritual practices.

However, in contrast to all those misfortunes the Nyishi indigenous or religious movements are geared up in many parts of Nyishi areas, though it did not yet come to Hiya village. The Nyishi indigenous religion institution Nyedar-Namlo[18] is believed to be drawn out of the religious philosophical thought and considered as the highest end of spiritual existence (Showren, 2007). The God is worshipped in the form of a symbolic image of the Ane-Donyi (The Symbolic Sun), which is kept over the raised small platform in the Namlo (house). The devotees came to the Namlo either alone or in a family group, makes his/her offering or then departs. It would see that an underlying philosophy of the Nyedar-Namlo is to emphasise on abut action to preserve the Tani religion and culture with pristine ethos within the Nyishi community. Community also belief that all embodied souls is under the control of three Truths or Observances. They are Ane-Donyi (The Creator), Abo-Tani/Abu-Tain (Inheritor and Preserver) and the Sachang-Ane (Mother-Earth), the Supreme Abode of all human beings after their deaths. Sachang-Ane is a dwelling place for all living creatures including human, animal, and all living organisms.

CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIAL CHANGES IN HIYA VILLAGE

Christian missionaries were among the first people to come and work for the welfare of the people of Hiya village. Along with Christianity as a distinct religious identity, they brought to the people a new worldview made up of western culture, politics, medicine, and literature. The advent of Christianity thus affected not only the people’s perception of the world, but also brought changes in all aspects of life.

Missionary influence led to other changes in the lives of their converts. Students were taught to wear western dresses like shorts, pants and shirts. Converts were not allowed to wear ornaments or dresses that were associated with traditional practices. In fact, when young people became Christians they began to lose much of their native traditions because they were asked to give-up going to or attend the traditional ritual practices. There is presently a tendency in the Churches in Hiya village to identify social concern with theological liberalism, liberation religion or with spiritual coldness and lack of concern for evangelism.

Christianity has brought great change in the lives of the people of Hiya village. The gospel has liberated people from many oppressive cultural forms such as slavery and hand-hunting (Nyalak-Chagnam)[19] practices. As mentioned above, education and literature, along with the gospel, were the agents of such change.

The introduction and spread of modern education also paved the way for modernisation and created a sense of solidarity and identity. However, as time went on, people began to view Christianity as superior and more acceptable. It caused people to abandon many of their own songs, dances, festivals, dresses, religious beliefs and ritual practices. Though many people acknowledge a certain degree of fusion or synthesis between the gospel and village’s tradition, many have expressed the concern that the gospel or Christianity has not adapted itself to village society.

People’s culture still has its roots in the customs and practices of marriage, inheritance and land ownership. Yet with the process of globalisation, a significant shift is taking place in the perception of their culture. The younger generations’ view that Christianity as superior has already shaken the foundation of the village society, both culturally and traditionally.

Modernity in the form of Christianity has brought in a new form of culture. People no longer sing traditional songs or traditional dances since they are considered to be primitive and belonging to an uncultured way of life. They have now been replaced with western music and dance in and outside the Churches. Hence a borrowed culture has become the guiding principle of the present younger generation in the village. The people of Hiya village are in danger of losing their own identity as Nyishi people with a distinct culture. Even though the people are in verge of facing a serious identity crisis in course of time due to the influence of Christianity, there still remains the possibility for maintaining their age old cultural identity. There needs to be the rediscovery and the giving of importance to their folk stories, folk songs, folk dances and festivals. That could only be possible when restrictions imposed by the Church leaders on any Church members especially youngsters to attending any ritual performances by the Priests are lifted.

IMPACTS OF CHRISTIANITY ON THE NYISHI SOCIETY

Custom, like law, in its widest connotations is a body of rules which regulates the conduct of human beings vis-à-vis each other and vis-à-vis the individual and the society. Most of the customs in Hiya village have become obsolete and alteration has taken place. Apart from this, Christianity has brought tremendous changes in the society. But pertaining to custom, religion has to some extent ruined the same. So it is said,

“For, as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified”, (Holy Bible Romans 2: 12-13).

The arriving of Christianity in Hiya village was extraordinarily rapid of which the first impact of the same was on local customs and usages.

Traditionally, women are not treated equally with men; their position is placed at a very insignificant position in Nyishi society of village. Despite this, they are treated with love and care, and adorned in much the same manner as men are treated. However, it is also opined strongly by certain sections of people that women are relegated to the lowest ebb of social hierarchical order though they occupy a place of honour within the family and in the socio-political life of the villagers. In order to emphasize such opinion it is said that the epithet “Weaker Section” in the society is literally compared to parables, such as “As the meat of a crab is not meat, so the word of woman is no word”, that “The wisdom of a woman does not extend beyond the limit of the village water source” and that “Let a woman and a dog bark, it pleases them”. These contrasting views express ‘inequality’ of man and woman. It reminds us that the lofty height of ‘idealism’ on equality as enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution of India is a manifestation of the anti-climax of ‘inequality’ that exists in any traditional Indian society. Under such dual premises, it would be of significance to examine some of the traditional social institutions relating to women with the advent of Christianity in the village. For this purpose, the following institutions are selected.

I. Bride-Price:

As in Nyishi marriage system, payment of bride-price in Hiya village too forms an important aspect of the traditional life of the people. Since from the past glorious days, the bride-to-be usually asked for bring Mithuns in the form of bride-price. Bride-price constitutes significant factor in Nyishi marriage in that, no marriage can be performed unless part of the bride-price is paid before actual marriage takes place. It is sacred institution prevalent in village society of Hiya. The bride-price is, however, not to be understood as a Sale-Price. It is not a commercial transaction. It is sometimes used as a weapon for a clever parent to reject a suitor. As cited above, in olden days, the bride-price was accepted only in terms of Mithun which is rarely available nowadays due to influence of Christianity and is therefore, replaced by hard cash payment to some extent in the village. This is also very relevant that the existing economic condition of the people hardly could meet the traditional bride-price.

II. Marriage:

Before the advent of Christianity in the village, people’s customs, marriage and divorce were easily contracted without any religious significant. In selection of life partner for their children, parents exercise utmost care and solemnity. The parents carefully enquire not only into the character and accomplishments of the prospective bridegroom of the bride-to be but also into his or her pedigree, reputation of the parents, grand-parents and the earlier ancestors. Marriage is in consideration of payment of bride-price and a man may marry any girl who is not too closely related to him. The exogamous group in the society is limited to a small group of relatives.

With the advent of Christianity and modern education, liberal attitude and world-wide view had brought in radical changes in the marriage system of the people in Hiya village.

III. Law of Inheritance:

A daughter has no share in the property of her father. Her responsibility is to become a true housewife. On the contrary, a boy is taught his duties and responsibilities towards his village and his community from childhood. Within a year or after he has his first baby, he stops living with the parents and begins to live an independent life by building a separate house. Similarly, the all other sons except the youngest settles down in the same manner after marriage. The youngest son is left to look after the parents and is also the inheritor of his father’s property including the ancestral home. However, in the event of the death of the parents the responsibilities of performing their last rites fall on all the sons.

As an effect of Christianity, this custom has been changed. Nowadays, they considered the traditional law of inheritance as inconsistent with the law of inheritance of the Christian doctrines. As a result the eldest son is made the heir of the parents with the provision that in the event of the eldest not being able to inherit the next son or sons who still exist would be the heir. But, this practice is not absolute in all the families; some are still inherits the family property to youngest one.

Christianity has also brought a very far-reaching significant change in the society. Such change had more spectacularly been brought among the females when they took up modern education. Though, they do not inherit property, women, generally play an active role in handling their husband as the male are very much attached to their wife, which make her indeed the inherent decision maker as they exert lot of influence on men. It may also mention here that in some family, the daughters are also given a share of parents’ property nowadays.

In more recent times, some family introduced another far reaching change whereby a daughter may now be said to enjoy equal right and privileges with her brothers. Herein it may be pointed out that there were cases of women who took over the estate of their deceased husband and brought up his children by herself but they were rare and as a custom, a woman who was left as a widow with small children had to have recourse to her husband’s relatives.

As per Nyishi law of inheritance, property cannot descend to a woman except in trust of her children but if there were no male with a better claim a woman may inherit and she would do so before people belonging to the same clan as the deceased, unless they had some other claimant to the estate beyond their clan relationship.

It is the general contention among the Nyishis of Hiya village that howsoever liberalism and changes brought about in the society, it will always maintain a dividing line beyond which status of women and their rights cannot cut across. This view was supplemented by one village elder on Christianity and its contributions to the Nyishi Society: “I do not ever, fully subscribe with their views. I am certainly convinced that the radical changes brought about by Christianity and modern education would definitely undermine such imaginary dividing line between man and woman in a not far distant future”.

POSITIVE IMPACTS OF CHRISTIANITY

The positive impact of Christianity may be seen in almost all spheres of Nyishi life. But the most glaring impact of Christianity is that of the rapid growth of literacy which stands at improved position as compare to the education scenario of earlier days. Opposite to some of the statement, ‘Christianity as Westernisation’, the contributions of Christianity to the people of Hiya village are commendable and tremendous. It has not only impact the socio-religious life of the people, but it impact the total life of the people. In short, following contributions and impacts with special reference to the Nyishis of Hiya village may be mention:

1. Child Marriage and Force Marriage:

Before the coming of Christianity in the village, child marriage and force marriage were not strange things for the people of Hiya. It was one way of marriage like love and engages marriages. On this issue, various youth and students organisations such as All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA) and All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU) fought a lot but they couldn’t control the same in interior places and villages. It was mostly those simple Christian preachers who have a privilege of visiting this village and start preached by telling the people that child marriage and force marriage as social evil prevailing in the society. As the people of Hiya village are receptive group of Christianity to accept the Christianity is to stop the child marriage and force marriage system which was available alternate for them.

2. Minimising of Drinking Habits:

Unlike modern drinkers, Nyishis of Hiya were social drinker, products of which were made from rice and millet. But this also led sometime to quarrelsome in family, accident and sometime it went up to murder. Of course Christianity is not only preached against these rice and millet beers only but preached all kinds of addicted things like smoking (maak tangnam), chewing tobacco leaves (kealii danam), etc. so as the people of this village embraced the Christianity they also stopped drinking rice beer (dagam opo) and millet beer (taiim opo) along with other addicted things.

3. Minimizing of Polygamy Practices:

Like other tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, Nyishis of Hiya village also marriage more wives as royal practices. It went up to the extent that richness of man was counted on the number of wives he owned. But it was Christianity who open the eyes of the people that having more wives generate more problems in family and as well as in society. This was the hardest things to stop even most educated people of the village practices this. But in contrast to this, Baptist Christian, a first entrant among the Christian denominations in the village preached against polygamy as unless man has single wife he would not be allowed to take water baptism. So to receive water baptism, the people gradually avoiding the practice of polygamy and it is now decreased in compare to a generation ago.

4. Indirect Impact on Ecological Balance:

It sounds surprise to listen that Christianity impact on ecological balances. But any sincere man will realised that, there is indirect impact of Christianity on ecological balances especially in green revolution.

When Christian started preaching against drinking of alcohol in Hiya village, the people stopped to cultivate millet field (taiim rongo) which were mostly grown in the Jhum field (tumph rongo). So, when people stop the habits of consuming alcohol, they minimized the culture of Jhum cultivation which is indirect way of decreasing the cutting and felling of trees in the village.

4. Impact on Moral Ground:

Of course the people of Hiya village were mostly innocent but with the coming of development, inhabitants of this village have many influences both positive and negative. Mostly there is direct influenced of the people of nearby town and villages. Because of mingling with these people, the people of this village never realising that it has some negative aspect too. At this point, it would be mentioning that there were eminent elders of the village who were works tremendously in the field of education and humanitarian services but moral standard were not taught properly such as the habits of chewing tobacco, smoking, gambling, etc. But it is Christian who first taught these habits as evil practices which is hazardous to health.

Besides above points, Christianity impacts many more aspects of the people of Hiya village. In short, it would be say that Christianity liberated Nyishis of this village from the social demons.

Summation:

In the foregoing paragraphs, enough instances of change brought about by the winds of dynamic forces as social change had been highlighted. It may reasonably be assumed that women in Nyishi society have not been placed high under these customary laws. But there ha