(21 Jan 1997) English/Nat
A centenary celebration of Christianity in an unlikely spot- - a tribal state in the wilds of Northeast India.
The Angami tribals from all over Nagaland gathered in a remote village over the weekend to mark 100 years of a religion that has transformed their lives.
While Christianity has brought spiritual solace to a society with savage traditions of head-hunting and animism , political peace still eludes the region.
Nagaland is a hotbed of insurgent activity and ethnic clashes - and its search for a political identity continues to cause unrest and violence across the state and concern in Delhi.
It is a land far away, a great tropical rain forest steeped in legend and history, the land of the Naga tribals.
One such legend says everytime the village of Khonoma celebrates an event , the rain Gods shower their blessings.
And so it was on a rainy winter morning that the Angami tribals of the village gathered to celebrate hundred years of an event that has transformed their lives.
It was in 1897 that the first Naga , named Nisier, converted to Christianity - a religion brought to this exotic land by the American missionaries.
Reverend C-D King and Rev. Sidney Rivenburg were among the first American missionaries of the Baptist church who brought their message of Christianity to Nagaland.
The land of the Nagas is perched on the Northeastern fringes of India and shares a border with Burma (Myanmar.)
About one and a half million people live in the state that is marked with lush green hills.
The village of Khonoma , the centre of the centenary festivities, is situated twenty kilometres west of Kohima, the capital of Nagaland.
The state has restricted entry rules even for domestic tourists and foreign travellers require permits to enter the area.
The missionaries had to face a lot of initial resistance from the Nagas, well known for their dislike for outsiders.
Getting the tribals away from traditions of animism and often brutal forms of nature worship was far from easy.
The centenary monolith symbolises the long journey the Christian faith has had to undertake to convert the primitive tribals.
The influence of the missionaries took hold, but the Christian faith has not totally wiped out the indigenous culture of the Nagas.
The tribals continue to have a distinct ethnic identity and there still exists a bewildering variety of local languages as each tribe has maintained its own dialect.
The Angamis read the Bible in their very own language and the holy book is available in six other dialects.
And even though Christianity is the dominant religion, Hinduism and Islam also have maintained a presence in some pockets of the region.
Believers say Christianity has not alienated them from their traditional roots.
SOUNDBITE: ( In English)
" I believe culture is..... language has to do a great deal with people's world. And it was our missionaries who learnt the people's language and then entered and taught the people. And how can you say the missionaries are there to uproot the people's life ? It is a wrong misunderstanding of the problem. "
SUPER CAPTION: Khrieleno Terhuja, Naga Christian
The Khonoma Baptist Church , built by the villagers famous for their masonry skills, stands near the village entrance.
Some scholars believe that the Nagas are probably a wandering community of Mongolian or Chinese origin.
Oral traditions and ethnic coalitions reflect a racial and anthropological kinship with people of Myanmar ,Thailand , Malaysia and Vietnam.
SOUNDBITE: ( English)
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