It is
often assumed and asserted that the Darlong people, currently scattered within
the present political map of Tripura, embraced Christianity 'en masse' in less
than half a century essentially due to the fact that they
were backward in every aspect including intellectually and spiritually and have
nothing better to choose. This article argues that this assumption may not be
fully correct for the simple reason that these people did have own their
philosophy or ideas of God, life ,death, life after death and some highly
valued social norms some of which are quiet akin to Christian values and
teachings. Hence the higher level of acceptability of Christianity to the
people.
Introduction:
Two months ago, one evening I was seated by the side of
my Boss(Ex Boss) and were talking on the point of conflict between different
religions. After a while our topic got little diverted and my Boss started
asking me about the early religions of Darlongs. One of his sentence that
really pierced my thought was that, ‘If the Darlongs have had proper religion,
they would not have embraced Christianity en masse as they did today’. I found
that his observation was quiet sharp but did not react to it as these could be
how outsiders perceived the transformation of the Darlong society. The issue
however lingered on my mind for all over the month. In one sense, I tend to
agree that if the Darlong people had been deeply engrossed in the religious
teachings of Islam or for that matter in the clutches of Hinduism or Buddhism
with the entire attendant practices, Christianity could not made much headway
as it has been doing as of today. But it may not be fully correct to assume and
assert that their conversion to Christianity was wholly due to this factor.
There were certain other factors as well. Amongst them was the then existing
beliefs and practices of the people during the pre-Christianity period which is
broadly being termed as the ‘Darlong Philosophy ’for the purpose of this
article.
Concept of God:
It is admitted fact that the Darlongs worshipped
anumber of Gods or deities. What they did may not really be termed as ‘worship’
which signifies more of the ‘adoration and honor’ to the object. It was more of
appeasement acts to various evil spirits whom they attributed to be causes of
their illnesses and ill lucks. Once the sacrifices were performed with or
without the expected positive outcome they were ignored. The priest determined
the nature of sacrifice and the right animal to be offered to the deity. Some
of these spirits do not have even name and often referred to as ‘Ramhuai’
'Khawhri' Tarpa, Rikul khawbawl, Bungzut Ripui, Khuachultenu(Zingngawrtenu),
Lasi, Khawbiak, Lungtan Pathian, Hrawlsenahel or any other awesome reference.
They were attributed with all kinds of shapes and sizes who may prank or harass
the people but not necessarily expecting any offering.
God as Human Being:
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life’7 The Darlong people did not have problem with this Bible’s commandment as
well. God, having a son may be an issue for many other people since God is
believed to be spirit and he should not and can not have a son. However, the
Darlong people have not questioned this miraculous verse of the Bible. This is
again due to their philosophical background of the concept of God. For them God
can do anything including having a son, however awkward it may appear to be in
human terms. Therefore, God having a son or Gods son becoming a human was neither
questioned by the people nor was the idea strange or repulsive to them.
Similarly to believe in the son and having eternal life at the simplistic level
was so not a questionable proposition to the people. The difficulty possibly
could come for them only when it says that, ‘I am the way,the truth and the
life. No one comes to the father except through me”. It implies that one should
have full faith only in Jesus, surrender everything to him and live your life
according to his desire and commandments. Here, people started doubting and
reportedly asked the missionaries. ‘Will your Jesus be able to defeat all these
numerous evil spirits if we only trust in him?’ ‘Can he really protect us from
all these harassments and evil designs? In fact, because of this point of
faith, many people started doubting the ability of the new Christian faith to
take care of their future interest in this life. It was widely claimed that
those families who fully converted themselves into Christianity did paid the
price in some forms from the evil spirit such as serious illnesses in the
family or even death. Many of them went back to the pre-Christian practices
though those who did not give up apparently did not face extraordinary
sufferings as expected of them by the people.
Social norms and Values:
In the Bible, particularly Gospel books of the New
Testament record a numbers of incidents and stories wherein Jesus scorned upon
the hypocrisy and the arrogance of the Jews people particularly the upper class
such the Pharisees and Sadducees. His main thrust of the missionary work was
humility combined with a strong sense of social service. A number of incidents
were there where the arrogance of the rich people was thrown to the dustbin and
the lowly sincere attitude of the ordinary persons was emulated by Jesus. His
social service attitude is best exemplified by the story of the good Samaritan
helping the poor victims of robbery on the roadside. The thrust of the social
values largely embodied in the Bible is quiet receptive to the Darlong people.
Since time immemorial, they have had certain ethical social codes. These have
been well emulated all along by various groups of the Darlong people. Humility,
sincerity, respects for elders, concern for others particularly the widows and
other weaker sections of society and courtesy in speech and behavior were very
much part of the cultural ethos of the Darlong people. However, on the positive
side what stands prominently is ’Tlawmingaina’. This connotes and implies
uprightness, courage and self sacrifice. It also symbolized courstey, humility
and modesty. Its essence is consideration for what is good and pleasing for
others and for society. respect for parents and older people and ready to help
for the needy.
Conclusion:
The philosophy of the Darlong people may be Rudimentary
compare to that of the Greeks or the Romans or the Chinese. But they did have
their own concept of God, life, death, life after death and other social norms.
These ideas and values were largely uninfluenced by the surrounding civilizations
and religious thoughts such as Buddhism in the east, the Islam in the South and
west and the Hinduism in the North and North West. Their ideas and thoughts
remained pristine, unpolluted by these larger and more influential thoughts.
When Christianity arrived in their part of the world, though quiet late due to
the physical distances and poor communications, they found many of own in tune
with that of Christian concepts and values. This undeniably helped them to be
more responsive to the teachings of Christianity and its values. It is therefore not wholly
correct to attribute their backwardness and absence of organized religion for
rapid Christianization of the Darlongs.
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