Churches in North East India

FOREWORD

Thirty percent of the Christians in our country live in North East India. The hill country of North East India is inhabited by more than four hundred tribes, each tribe unique in its culture and mores. The tribal ethos is so strong that an observer from outside gets the impression that for them tribal sentiments supercede Christian faith.

Search for identity and struggle for freedom have been integral to tribal life. These find expression through conflicts and strong concerted movements which the outsiders call insurgence. However, Christians of North East are highly missionary in their attitude and approach. What is required is a deeper understanding of the life and ethos of the people in this area.

Standing on her own tribal context Miss Awala Longkumer has made a systematic and critical effort to interpret the situation of the Christians in North East India. She has evaluated the common paradigm of looking at religious life and demanded a paradigm shift especially regarding women's concerns. We are sure that this booklet will be a resource for all those who are involved in ecumenical ministry in India .

Ipe Joseph.
General Secretary
NCCI.

An Overview.

I. The Land and its People.
[a] Social-Political life'
[b] Religion and Culture.
II. The Church.
III. The Position of Women in the Church and Society.
IV. Church as the Agent of Social Transformation.

I. The Land and its People

North East India is an almost unexplored land. It is a tourist destination, Its starkly remote terrain and beautiful scenery makes it a place worth a visit for those adventurous in spirit. North East India as a geopolitical unit comprise of seven states of Indian Union. They are: Assam , Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura-commonly referred and as seven sisters. It has an area of 2,55,036 sq km. The region has 31,6 million population [1991] Arunachal Pradesh 9 lakhs, Assam 224 lakhs, Manipur 18 lakhs, Meghalaya 18 lakhs, Mizoram 7 lakhs, Nagaland 12 lakhs, and Tripura 28 lakhs. The region lies between 22ºN Latitude, and 29.5º N Latitude. And 89.7º E Longitude, and 97.3º E. Longitude.

The region is surrounded by four countries: Bhutan , Bangladesh , China , and Myanmar . It is linked with main land India by a narrow corridor lying in the northern part of West Bengal . In the region there are about 442 languages and dialects speaking groups of people with distinct cultural and ethnic identity. Therefore they are not homogeneous though most of them are from the same root.

Racially, despite intrusion of Aryans, or Austric blood, the people of this region are of Mongoloid stock and are characteristically tribal. Yet all races are present here in a characteristic ethnic blend to be identified as North East Indian people, who are easily distinguishable from the mainland people. Any casual visitor can easily recognize it. These ethno linguistic and cultural groups came from different directions since time immemorial. If we examine the process of peopling of the region, we can find at least eleven major waves and streams of migrations have built up the present Northeast India .