The Mizos, formerly known as Lushais, belong to the Kuki-Chin group of Tibeto-Burma family of people. They live in the hilly region on the southern area of North East India bordering on to Burma and Bangladesh. Due to poor terrain and thick forest, the country was considered inaccessible for outsiders. Though the country is surrounded by Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist civilizations, these great religious and philosophical systems had almost no impact on their religion and culture. Their religion had often been described as ‘animism,’ with a ‘Supreme God’ and numerous evil spirits who were the prime cause of all ills humanity is subjected to. Their main aim in life was to perform a series of rites involving feeding of the whole village, and also killing a number of wild animals whose meat was to be shared by everybody in the village. Any of these two achievements would ensure a place in paradise where they would rest from their worldly labours and freely fed for ever.
Tea industry started in North East India sometime in the middle of the 19th Century. A new type of tea, other than Chinese Tea was discovered growing indigenously in the area. Cachar Valley, on the northern end of Mizo Country was also considered suitable for tea plantation. Planters started clearing forests in areas which the Mizos claimed as their country. The Mizos tried to prevent the planters from cultivating their land; the planters, backed by the British arms, did not care or give way to Mizo claims. After a series of raids and reprisals, the country was finally annexed to the British territory followed by complete subjugation of the Mizos, making it possible for Christian enterprise to begin.
The first two missionaries arrived in the heart of Mizo country in 11th January 1894. Their patron, millionaire Arthington, allowed them to stay only for four years and sent them on to new area. During their short stay they learnt the language and could communicate fluently in one year. Preaching the Gospel involved teaching and this called for ability to read and write. They were compelled to reduce the language to writing using modified Roman script. The Government did open some schools but the teaching medium was Bengali, a language which even the native speakers find difficult to master. They persuaded the few Mizo boys in the Government Schools to learn their new system of writing. Their pupils soon picked up and became proficient. Eventually the Government adopted the new script, for educating the Mizos. For the next half century the Missionaries were entrusted with the whole education system and institutions, giving them a small monetary grant.
The Missionaries found it necessary to provide their new literates with reading materials; they had to produce tracts, booklets, text books etc. Translation of portion from the Bible was considered very important. They composed Christian hymns and published a hymn book. Within a span of four years they were able to produce a fairly extensive Mizo-English dictionary.
When they left the country the Welsh Mission took over the work. The first Mizo converts were baptised on 25th July 1899. The two Pioneer missionaries came back to Mizo country in 1903 under the auspices of the Baptist Missionary Society. The northern part of the country was assigned for the Presbyterians; the southern portion, about half in area was allotted to the Baptist. The two denominations work in close cooperation in all Christian enterprises. Except for the method of baptising, few laymen could tell the difference between the two denominations. The Welsh Revival of 1904, after crossing oceans came to Mizoram and had not left the country altogether ever since. In 1933, what is popularly known as Charismatic movement started indigenously and when the Jubilee of the Christian enterprise was celebrated in 1944, it was claimed that over 85 per cent of the population have embraced Christianity.
The rapid spread of Christianity among the Mizos of Mizoram cannot but be described as miraculous. We see God’s hand in their history. When persecution and other adverse circumstances occurred, they were always followed by revival and new experience of God’s love and his guiding hand. In 1918, the whole Church decided to make special evangelistic endeavor in September every year with the object of making the whole country Christian within the next decade. They were not altogether successful but a trend had been set – with help or no help from outside agencies, a strong determination to make the Church self-propagating was created. There were also other human factors; early converts were fired by new enthusiasm and intense desire to share their experience of the new faith and of freedom with their neighbours. For example, Khuma, one of the first two converts, was said to have visited all Mizo families in his evangelistic campaigns. Within fifteen years, the number of Christians rose to over one thousand; many of them migrated to their neigbouring areas, Manipur, Assam, Tripura including Burma purposely to carry and spread their new found faith. At present, the Presbyterian Church alone sends out over 700 missionaries to various parts of India, Nepal and Taiwan. By the time the centenary is celebrated in 1994 the target is to send out over one thousand missionaries. In Mizoram itself there are still a number of migrants and transient population who are not yet Christians. Work is going full swing among them. Among the purely Mizo population, there may still remain three or four old people who refused to become Christian.
A Mizo village would contain a number of tribes or clans speaking different dialects, each clan living concentrated in one area of the village. The Chief and the aristocrats were mostly the Lusei clan whose dialect is known as Duhlian. Duhlian dialect was and is now the lingua franca throughout the country. The people now called Mizos, is composed of several clans, Luseis, Hmars, Raltes, Paihtes etc. Perhaps the Raltes and the Hmars form the majority in most villages. The early missionaries adopted the Duhlian dialect for communication; the Govern¬ment also did not think wise to encourage development of other dialects, seeing that production of adequate literature for them would be almost an impossible task. The adoption of one single dialect, enriched by others has facilitated Christian communication and growth in the country and promoted universal literacy for the common man. Mizoram attained second place in literacy in the whole of India.
With the help of the new literates, Bible Translation started, the Gospel of Luke and John were published in 1898 and Acts in 1899. Translation of New Testament was carried out by the two denominations. A draft would be produced by the Baptist, this will be processed by the Presbyterians, their comments and suggestions would be sent back from which a final draft will be prepared. The Baptist missionaries have more time to spare and the lion share of the burden fell on them. Normally the final draft for the Press had been always approved by a joint sitting or both the denominations separately. The New Testament was completed and published in 1917, re-edited in 1924, serving the church for the next sixty years or more.
The task of translating the Old Testament was also jointly undertaken under the auspices of the Bible Society. The same procedure as followed in the New Testament was followed. The books were farmed out to translators. A committee in the Baptist area would process this and pass them on to the Presbyterian centre. The procedure was excellent but time consuming. As the demand for Old Testament books became insistent it was decided that each centre should make final draft and send them on to the Press. In this way, the whole Bible was published in 1959. It thus took nearly sixty years to complete the translation of the Bible. Because of the care and pains that had been put into their works, the Mizo Bible is considered the most reliable among the Bibles of the tribal languages in North East India.
The translation was based chiefly on the English Revised Version. The Revised Standard Version was also used when the work was about to be completed. No one can, perhaps, produce translation so ‘faithful’ to the English Revised Version text as Mizo translators do, even the ‘the-s, and-a, lo-s’ etc., are reproduced; and as such the translation suffers from the defects of the Revised Version. That the translators did know the original Greek is, however, reflected in certain key passages but the English of the version dominated the translation.
When the Bible Societies adopted the new method of translation namely the use of a language used by common people called common language and the use of dynamic rather than formal equivalence, New Translation of the Bible in Mizo was also undertaken. A team, both from the Baptists and the Presbyterians were formed in 1963 and after working for more than 20 years produced the New Testament in 1987. The Team is now working on the Old Testament project, the completion target being the end of 1992, in time for release during the centenary celebrations in 1994.
No translation can be perfect and every translation can have some outstanding identity. We remember the ‘Wicked Bible’ because they omitted the word ‘not’ in the Ten Commandments and printed, ‘Thou shall commit adultery.’ Even though Mizo Bible translators were so careful, in some passages, their meaning is not clear. Jesus’ words ‘looking at a woman to lust’ as amounting to adultery was translated to give the impression that even a lover’s glance is included. The elders of one church, in order to avoid the sin of adultery, made all the ladies in the congregation to sit facing the side wall, instead of facing the pulpit near which the elders were sitting. Mizo is a spoken and tonal language, rather difficult to write. One word, for example, ‘ban’ can have seven different meanings depending upon the tone. The Missionaries did not provide the tonal marks. Some of the writing systems in the early days were orthographically defective. The word for ‘love’ is now written as ‘khawngaih,’ the last letter ‘h’ here is used as a sign of glottal stop. In earlier version the word was written as ‘khawngai’ which could mean ‘to beat to the point of crying.’ New readers often read the command, ‘husbands, love your wives’ to mean, ‘husbands, beat your wives to the point of crying.’ It may be added that in some villages where their education was not too advance, this was welcome directive; they could beat their wives to their hearts’ content. Poor ladies, they had to endure this and accept the biblical injunction humbly.
Like King James Bible, the Bible transformed Mizo lives giving them new motives for living. Needless to say the Bible has become the standard literature, even Mizo grammar structure had been modified. In the new translation we have tried to rectify some of the defects of earlier translations. In our anxiety to render the original text faithfully we often fail to give sufficient attention to the words we use. In the new translation, we try to put God’s words in a language even children, women and a man in the market can understand.
Second Revival
The year also witnessed the second wave of revival. It started at a small village, Hmunhmeltha on Burma border. There is a table land known as Champhai about three square miles in area suitable for wet-rice cultivation. One Christian was provided with a pair of bullocks to start cultivation and was made a chief by the Government. Within a few years, a number of Christians joined him and it was among these people the revival started. It moved to Aizawl and the 1913 Presbytery was dominated by the revival. Business meetings were held at the newly completed chapel. The movement was more powerful than that of 1906. As they sang, their waved their arms, their bodies swayed and shook, some came out to any available open space to dance. Any attempt to control the singing or the meeting was resented and there was complete confusion. The missionaries and other leaders who tried to restore order were accused as trying to control the Holy Spirit. Finally, order was restored on Sunday, 62 persons were baptised that morning. One of the revivalists, Tlira, a Mission School teacher at Champhai claimed special gifts and revelation and started preaching his own doctrine which the Church later condemned. Thus secessionist movement began to start from the extremist group
The songs they loved to sing, the topics of greatest interest were all related to the second coming of Christ. Many gave away their possession and felt intensely the urgency of preaching the Gospel before the Lord comes. Mission Vêng Church sent one of their elder to help the Kuki Mission started in Manipur recently. The Church was too poor to finance them but a number of men and women from Mizoram joined the mission. Four of the evangelists were ordained as Pastors. The church struggled bravely on at self support.
The revival continued for two years. Then came the First World War, 2000 Mizos joined the Labour Corps in Europe, D.E. Jones went with them. One new missionary took the responsibility of carrying on the work. Dissidents led by Tlira broke off and some joined the Salvation Army, who opened centres in Mizoram in spite of protests. During this difficult period many fell back.
Beihrual and Third Wave of Revival
At the Presbytery held at Hmunhmeltha in 1918, Missionaries and delegates from Burma and Baptists area of Mizoram were invited. It was then decided to make an all out effort to make Mizoram a Christian country during the next ten years. For this purpose, the month of September was chosen as a special month of endeavor, called Beihrual. The month was chosen probably because the heaviest season of work was over and people could spare more time. In each village, groups of four or five Christians were formed to visit non-Christian homes. This is still a regular feature, now the endeavor month being chiefly aimed at the weaker section of church members.
The third wave of revival that swept the country in 1919 started simultaneously on the 29th July evening at three widely scattered places. In the north it started at Nisapui, a village 20 miles north of Aizawl. In the South it happened at Zotlang, a furlong from Mission headquarter; and at Thingsai, a village forty miles from Lunglei. It lasted for about four years. It spread beyond Mizoram borders into the hill areas of Manipur and Tripura. In the Presbyterian Church alone 20,000 baptism was recorded during the four years. The character of the revival remained as such the same with ecstatic dancing as the new feature. People could not control themselves and had to be helped. They remained in a state of swoon for two or more hours after the singing ended. The use of drums in singing has been discarded earlier, drums being considered the Devil’s instrument. It was re-introduced in revival meetings. Singing to the beating of drums becomes a normal practice and is so to this day. After meetings in the Church, singing and dancing would continue in selected home where people can be more relaxed from formal worship. In one village, Rev. J.H. Lorrain joined such informal singing. He was so moved that tears streamed down from his eyes. He was reported to have said, ‘I had seen Calvary with my own eyes, but it has never been so near to me as it is tonight.’
Mizo Hymns
When the first two Missionaries left the country they had already composed a dozen hymns. Another hymn book containing 83 pieces was published in 1903 and another containing 125 hymns in 1906. The whole NT was published in 1923 and about the same time other hymn book containing 420 hymns were jointly published by the Presbyterian and the Baptist. These hymns were mostly translations from English and Welsh. The greatest contributor was Rev. Edwin Rowlands. He started a new trend in writing Mizo poetry. Mizo had definite type of poetry with plenty of specialized words. Early Christians gave up using these poetical forms and music. Early hymns translations were more or less prose composition written in poetical forms and sung to tunes but with less poetical quality. Edwin Rowland’s hymns became well-known and with the revival, latent poetical talents burst out and over a short period of time over 250 new compositions were collected and published. To sing western songs to the correct tunes takes a great deal of energy; so during the revival meetings the tunes, including the beats were ‘softened.’ The new hymns, with the softened type of tunes could be sung many times over without too much energy drain. These became very popular, perhaps because they express Mizo feelings and temperament better than the trans¬lated ones. It is not easy to put the tunes in musical notation and are handed from mouth to mouth. The chief theme during the revival was the Cross and the suffering of Christ and most of these hymns deal with that subject.
Mizo Church Born
It may be said the Mizo Church was offi¬cially born early in the fourth decade. It had been part of the Khasi Presbyterian Church Assembly. The Presbytery established in 1910 had managed all Church affairs and acted more or less as an independent body but did not have constitutional authority to ordain ministers. The Mizo Assembly, now known as Synod, was constituted in July 1924 at a meeting in Durtlang. Two year later, a constitution to cover all the Presbyterian Church within the Welsh Mission Fields was adopted with four Synods, each capable of acting independently but linked with each other on certain principles. This also made the Presbyterian Church in North East India a separate body from the Presbyterian Church of Wales. As the Churches were still very young and inexperienced the missionaries continued to play a vital role in the work of the church. The running and the maintenance of schools, hospitals and other institutions continued to remain in their hands but were gradually handed over. We continue to receive grants amounting to 3 lakhs rupees for the whole area. We begin to realise that if we refuse to receive these grants it would be more disastrous to the Welsh Church than to us. The fire of the spirit of giving has to be kept burning without which Christian lives would become stagnant.
Fourth Revival
One important event early in the third decade 1935 was a new wave of revival. There had been renewal movements – like being born again, consciousness of personal salvation and the like. When we speak of revival in Mizo Church context, it means a new enthusiasm in Church life finding expression not only in words and singing but accompanied by voluntary or involuntary movement of the body. This time it started from Biate, the largest village in Mizoram, 70 miles east of Aizawl. A group from the village came to Aizawl and visited other villages. The revival spread like wild fire throughout the country.
This time, the emphasis was on the Holy Spirit. The phenomenon known in other parts of the world as Charismatic Movement started spontaneously on a scale not known to this day. Some of the accounts we read of the movement in other countries are quite mild compared to the happenings here. Speaking in tongues and singing spiritual songs became everyday experience. Our lives must be wholly controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit. No one can deny this but when people claimed to be led by the Holy Spirit beyond what our conscience cannot approve, defying our sense of decency and traditional decorum, our natural reaction is to doubt if that can be the work of the spirit. Often we set limits to what the spirit should or should not do. Many revivalists plunged into realm beyond limits we usually set. When these acted out in real life, it was not easy to be patient with them. For example, nothing of us is hid from the Holy Spirit. True, some women felt compelled to stand on their heads naked to show this symboli¬cally. Many could not move by their own volition, some were led and forced to do things they would not normally do. Without knowing it they were often led to the homes of the sick to pray. Some experienced the second temptation of our Lord and jumped off cliffs with fatal results. If these prompting were not obeyed they suffered physically.
The first period when people came under the influence of the movement, their condition was called ‘Rui’ a term we use to describe drunken people. The rui phase may last a few weeks to several years during which they could not lead ordinary normal life. Some became ‘spiritual-babies’ and had to be looked after and fed just like babies by some other person presumably appointed by the spirit. They could not even talk or behave like adults. There are others who fell into what we might called ‘love nest’ called ‘Khurbing.’ Such a person had to be fed spiritually by some other person, usually of the opposite sex. They lived together, singing, talking and sleeping. Many reported that during such period they lost all sexual urge and power; but there were more instances where such was not apparently the case. They could not bear restrictions, rules or any form of discipline unless the urge came from the Holy Spirit. Some even claimed they no longer need the Bible. The Bible, after all, is the revelation of the Holy Spirit some two thousand years ago and the revelation they received now were the very largest.
The Church leaders, the elders and Pastors including the Missionaries, having no experience of this type of revival found it difficult to deal with it effectively. There were some elders and pastors who underwent spiritual experiences under the movement and maintained that in spite of many undesirable features; nevertheless the Holy Spirit was at work. ‘We have prayed for the Holy Spirit and we should not prescribe limits to its working.’ Others retorted, ‘We indeed prayed for the Holy Spirit but the Devil himself has taken its place.’ A consensus was, however, arrived at that some types of experiences and acts, types of voices heard, certain trends of thoughts and teaching could not possibly come from the Holy Spirit. Through experience they had learnt that these inevitably led to spiritual and moral break down. The Synod published a pamphlet listing these and prepared guidelines on how to deal with such cases.
This was vehemently attacked by the extremist section. They accused the Synod of trying to guide the Holy Spirit. They felt that there was no longer room for them or for the Holy Spirit in the Presbyterian Church. They approached the Assembly of God who immediately sent a commission to investigate. Their conclusion was that they could not help the movement better than the Mizo Synod. The United Pentecostal Church, however, decided to move in. Large numbers joined them. Today, the United Pentecostal Church is considered to be the third largest denomination in Mizoram estimated at 25,000 members. After sometime, many could not tolerate the UPC discipline and broke off relation and joined this or that denomination or started their own group. The majority of the population influenced by the movement, however, refused to break away from their mother Church. The Church, of course, had now more experience in looking after people in ‘rui’ stage. Recently a census was taken to find how many denominations or independent groups there are in the country. Nearly 60 different groups are recorded. We even have three people who claimed a share in the God-head, receiving regular tithes from their followers. Can you beat that?
The revival continued to progress. The earlier confusion began to resolve itself and become more meaningful. Many of the extremists came to their senses and could see things in their proper order. Some of the extremist groups, however continued to believe that there were led all the way by the Spirit. They cut themselves off from the main stream of Church and social lives refusing to listen to any attempt to reason with them.
Problems
The rapid growth in number created problems in Christian nurture and pastoral care. Each of the first four ordained Pastors had to look after nearly a hundred villages scattered over 1500 Sq miles. They had to march at least 1000 miles to visit even once all villages under them. By 1935 there were 25 ordained ministers to look after 63,000 Christians and rapidly increasing. Most Pastors could pay no more than two visits a year to the churches under their care. Each Church had to look after itself as best as it could. What the Pastors could do was not much more than dispensing the sacraments. They were also responsible for performing marriages and it was not uncommon for marriage parties to find their Pastor after two or three days’ journey. We now have a system whereby certain elders are authorised to officiate at marriage ceremonies. Lay leadership developed perforce and some of the more ambitious felt they could dispense with the services of Pastors.
When the first four evangelists were appointed, the few Christians committed themselves to their support. The fund they raised was named ‘Pathian Ram Zauna,’ ‘For Spreading the Kingdom of God.’ No new congregation ever thought of keeping back the fund for themselves, they were all sent to Aizawl. Centralisation of Fund at the Synod thus became a natural growth. The needs of village Churches were few. Decent chapels could be built with local material and labour. As for light, there were plenty of bamboos. Dry bamboos would be made into bundles of 8 inches diameter about 8 feet long sufficient to give light for one evening service. One man would volunteer to tend and trim it. It also served as a gentle reminder to the preachers not to preach too long. In time, the needs of village churches grew e.g., they liked to build their own chapel with reinforced concrete. For these they raised their own fund without adverse effect to their ‘Pathian Ram Zauna.’
The thirties and forties were the difficult years for the Mizo Church. The number of Christians grew steadily but financial support did not grow in proportion. The new Christians no longer felt the keen sense of responsibility the earlier Christians felt for their workers. A time came when recruitment of candidates to the ministry had to stop altogether. Many trained candidates could not be absorbed due to lack of Fund. The average pay of Pastors was Rs. 25/- and had to be cut into half. Trained candidates were employed as school teachers. The prices of essential commodities increased during the Second World War and some Pastors could not make both ends meet and left church service for better paid jobs.
Mizoram exports hardly anything. Over 80% of cash that flowed into the country came from Government treasury. Some cash crops, like oranges were grown. I remember in 1935, purchasing 760 choice oranges in Aizawl market for a rupee. After partition, markets in East Pakistan and Bengal closed, oranges fell to the ground to rot and the orange groves along the river valley had to be abandoned. The Golden Jubilee of the Church was celebrated in 1944 with due pomp and ceremonies. Special collection was raised for evangelical work. The amount was Rs.1299/-. The Church in Wales could do no better; the war had exhausted the national resources, their usual grants for maintenance of institutions decreased.
The war years brought changes. The Japanese were at the borders. To keep the Mizos loyal and content, the British paid every household Re 1/- to report on enemy movements. There were contractors and adventurers who become more prosperous. As the war years ended, giving began to increase and the Church started recovering from the crisis. Recruitment of candidates to the ministry started again and by 1960, we felt that the primary task of evangelization of our own people had been completed.
With independence political and administrative changes took place. National development fund began to dribble in. Eventually, with the creation of Mizoram as a Union Territory, Mizos themselves are now at the helm of affairs, Development Fund has begun to pour in. At present the government is spending about 137.8 crores of rupees, while only 2.9 crores is raised in the country. We have not yet built up a meaningful economy and we are still completely dependent on Central Government. However, the Church is now very much alive and aware of its duties and responsi¬bilities. We are marching forward with assurance that nothing like the thirties and forties would happen again.
The Church involvement in education and literature needs further comments. We have already mentioned that the Government entrusted the whole educational programme into the hands of Missionaries. The Government gave grants, the Mission contributed and the Church also shared in the contribution. The villages shared in erecting school buildings and contributing certain amount of paddy for the teachers. This had a profound effect on the whole picture and quality of education. Teachers were appointed for their Christian characters as one of the essential qualifications. In every village, where schools were opened, the teachers acted as church elders, even if they were not appointed or ordained as such. They would be looked up to for guidance. The school text books, syllabus prescribed and routines were all directed to help children to Christian life. The village churches also acted as unofficial watch-dogs over the character and performance of teachers. It was the ambition of every Christian to be able to read their Bible and hymn book. Sunday Schools acted as adult literacy classes with the willing help of teachers. Today our Church statistics show nearly 70% literacy among our church members. This might be higher, in many places; infants are included among the illiterates. School books and other literature were exclusively printed at the Synod Press and distributed from the Bookroom. For a full half century the Church had a monopoly control over education and production of reading materials. The Mission could have done better. Rev. J.M. Lloyd in his ‘History of Mizo Church’ regretfully writes, ‘It is probably also fair to say that those who controlled mission policy were strangely unaware of the power of the printed word.’
The Church handed over all Schools to the Government after independence, running only a Girl’s Middle School and a mixed High School at a cost of Rs. 4,75,900/-. In recent years more schools for non-Mizo tribals, known as Riangs, have been opened. They are mostly immigrants from Tripura and are nomadic in habit. Government efforts to settle them in permanent villages and giving them education have not met with great success. We now run 34 Primary Schools, one Middle School with a free-boarding hostel for 50 children.
Medical Services
There is hardly anything spectacular to mention about our medical work. The School of Nursing, the only one in the State for nearly fifty years, deserves mention. A new modern hospital building is now under construction at an estimated cost of four and a half million rupees. The Government is expected to contribute one third, the Church one third and donation from public one third. There is every reason to believe that these expectations would be fulfilled and the buildings completed soon.
The Church Missionary Outreach
One other thing that must be related is the Church Missionary enterprise with which its strength is inexplicably intertwined. Evangelistic concern for their own people had found expression in the appointment of four evangelists in its fourth year of existence. In 1913, one of the first elders and four others were sent to join the Mission work in Manipur Hills. In 1920, one of their theologically trained candidates was also sent to North Cachar Hills to help the Welsh missionary working there. At the inauguration of the Synod, two evangelists were appointed to work among the tribals on the foot-hills of Mizoram. A serious attempt was made in 1926 to send missionaries outside the country. The field chosen was Homlin in Burma, but due to lack of Fund, nothing could be done. In 1937 two Pastors were actually appointed to work in Arunachal but Government refused entry permit.
Gospel Mail and Mission to Burma
Japanese occupation of Chin Hills almost completely disrupted Christian enterprise in the area. No Christian literature was available. One young man, Robuanga from Champhai village decided to do what he could. He sold all his possessions and came to Aizawl to purchase Bibles and hymn books for free distribution. When his own resources were exhausted he appealed to the churches. The Young Mizo Association, more or less the social service wing of the church, took up the matter. The response was terrific. The problem was how to transport them to Burma border. The Mizos had a custom of carrying dead bodies from village to village, each village being responsible within its area. Even the poorest could avail of this customary practice to bring their dead relatives to their homes. The book gifts were packed, named ‘Gospel Mail’ and launched from Aizawl for its 140 miles journey over hills and valleys. The imagination of the whole country was aroused, over 100 loads were carried. At some stage people recalled the Israelites carrying the Ark and so they were carried with due solemnity and reverence. Various superstitious beliefs were attached to them. Some who touched them were healed; some who irreverently handled them were stricken sick. The Church had to step in and stop the whole thing. However, God chose to bless the spirit in which these humble, torn, old books were given and worked wonders among the recipients. A number of people were converted and revival followed. The Baptist Church in Chin Hills refused to look after those new Christians because they could not accept the trend the revival took. The Synod was compelled to send a Pastor. A strong and missionary minded Presbyterian church was born in Burma, even after the Pastor was deported back to India.
The Mizos felt incompetent to work among the more sophisticated people of India. They concentrated their energy first among the Riangs, already mentioned and some other tribals living in Southern Cachar. Now, they have extended their Mission field to Manipur, Mikir Hills, and to many other parts of India and Nepal in cooperation with other Churches and Missions. In Mikir hills for example, all converts through their efforts were handed over to the Baptist Church.
The big challenge came when the Welsh Mission left their work among the Bengalis of Cachar. The responsi¬bility was handed over to Mizo Synod. It was with a great searching of the heart and feeling of incompetence that they accepted to work among people with long years of civilisation behind them.
Perhaps it is God’s plan to bring the Bengalis of Cachar to himself through the Mizos whose ancestors had earned fame as headhunters among them. He now have 205 workers in these fields with an annual budget of Rs. 28,88,000/- for 1984.
What of the future? Perhaps the Mizos and other tribals in North East India will have important and significant roles to play in our caste-ridden Indian society. In spite of the best intentions and goodwill it appears as if no Indian can rid himself completely of this complex which the tribals do not have. Certainly there have been distinctive trends in Christian thought that need to be expressed. Perhaps you will hear some day people speaking of Mizos or tribal theology as they do of Buffalo and Liberation Theology. Just like the early Christians in Jerusalem, we have enjoyed our Christianity as no other people of the world ever did. Christianity is something to be joyful about and to be enjoyed. It is not a religion that must be carried on somehow with grim determination and solemnity. Let me quote, in conclusion, another passage from J.M. Lloyd’s History of Mizo Church yet unpublished how this happened.
‘Mizo life changed course as the Gospel changed lives. It seems true that its success was achieved largely because the revival influence penetrated the deeper levels of the mind. The new faith, by penetrating, not only the conscious mind but into the depths of the unconscious, enabled the Mizo men and women to make the traumatic change in thought and conduct necessary Christian challenge and to make it permanently.’
Background
Just a hundred years ago, the British made a decision to take over and administer Mizoram, then known as Lushai Hills. This was done chiefly on economic grounds – it was to contain the Mizos from attacking the spreading Tea-plantation on the foot-hills, on lands they considered their own. The earliest known home of the Mizo lies on the western plains of Burma near the Chin Hills. There were many kindred tribes, speaking closely allied language known today to the linguist as Tibeto-Burma. Each tribe lived in a sepa-rate village, speaking their own dialect and owing allegiance to no other tribes. Under the leadership of Lusei chiefs, a number of these tribes united, moved and settled in present Mizoram sometime early in the 17th Century. When the British took over, the language we now call Mizo was the lingua franca and missionaries, after they mastered Mizo, had no difficulty in communicating the Gospel message in any part of the country.
There were slight differences in their religious ceremonies. On the whole, their beliefs, ideas and mode of life were quite similar and fairly uniform. Their religion might be described in general as Animism. The Hindus and Muslims settled on their northern and western, borders, while Buddhism was widely accepted by people on the eastern and southern borders. It was a curious fact, however, that none of these great religious systems had any appreciable influence on their religious and cultural lives.
Missionaries
When the country was administered for sometime and the country considered sufficiently safe, permission was given to Rev. J.H. Lorrain and F.W. Savidge, two itinerant missionaries sponsored by millionaire Arthington, to work in Mizoram. They landed in Aizawl on 11th January 1894. Their first task was to learn the language through some Mizo boys who had acquired a certain knowledge of Bengali. The Govern¬ment had opened two Schools with Bengali as medium of instruction using Bengali script. Some Mizos boys attended, but could not make much progress. In a remarkably short time they picked up the language and decided to teach these boys in Mizo. They prepared now alphabets based on Roman script. This proved very successful. Mission managed Schools did well and the progress was so good that the Government decided later to entrust all educational matters into the hands of the missionaries. It was only after Independence that Government began to take over the responsibility.
The Missionaries confined themselves chiefly to teaching and opened a School. They started translation of Gospel portions, prepared catechism and some other Christian literature. They wrote some hymns and published one hymn book containing a dozen hymns before they left the country. They did not do extensive touring as the country was still considered unsettled. On Sundays they used to preach in nearby villages. What attracted the people most was to see two white men singing at the top of their voices with no alcoholic drinks served. It was the Mizo custom to sing only after some amount of ‘Zu’ (Rice beer) had been consumed. They also prepared a dictionary of Mizo language which shows the remark¬able grasp they had of the language.
Welsh Mission
Arthington’s policy was to send these mission¬aries elsewhere after two or three years. They were reluct¬ant to leave so promising a field, but, fortunately, the Presbyterian Church of Welsh, who had already been working in Khasi Hills from 1840, decided to send a missionary to the area, the man chosen was Rev. D.E. Jones, an unassuming sort of man, hard working, from a farmer family. He arrived at Aizawl in September 1897 and worked with the two missionaries for three months till they left for Arunachal. He continued to run the School and reported thirty boys and girls on roll when the new session opened in 1898. The Khasi Church provided him with one evangelist. Many Khasi masons and carpenters had been recruited to help in building up Aizawl town, some of them were Christians. With these as nucleus they started worship service, on Sundays. Soon, another Missionary, Edwin Rowlands joined him in December 1898. He was a man of remarkable character, hardworking, completely devoted to his work, born teacher and poet. D.E. Jones concentrated on preaching while he took up the teaching work. They could do extensive tours in 1899.
First Converts
The first two Mizo converts were baptised in June 1899 along with six Khasi converts. We give below some statistics to show the growth of Christianity
1899 12
1900 15
1901 24
1902 40
1903 36
1904 57
1905 90
1915 9,168
1925 24,893
1935 63,872
1945 83,858
1955 1,08,141
1965 1,44,516
1983 2,18,503
The first two missionaries returned to Mizoram under the Baptist Missionary Society and settled at Lunglei on the southern part of the country. When they arrived, there were already 15 Christian in the area. The above statistics gives figures only for the Presbyterian group.
Early Preaching
The Khasi Evangelist left the country in 1900 to work among his own people. The infant Church felt that they should do something about this. The first two converts used to accompany the missionaries on their tours. Sometimes they set out on their own. They were simple and their method was also simple. When they arrived at any village they sought out homes where they could get free board. If they failed to find shelter they would go to the Zawlbuk where all youngmen of the village were supposed to sleep. The men also used to come here to listen to news of the outside world and to gossip. All visitors to the village were also supposed to sleep here and were invariably challenged to bouts of friendly wrestling. In the evening and morning when the families were at home, they would invite them, open their door and said, ‘Please believe on Jesus.’ If they could not get free board they would borrow baskets and beg for food while people were having their meals and never lost the opportunity to say to them, ‘Believe also on the Lord Jesus.’ One of them, Khuma, said to have visited every Mizo home in this manner.
The Government had to introduce a system of impress labour to work on new roads, new buildings for Aizawl town and as porters for the officers. Every village was forced to contribute. In this way, there were regular batches of such men in Aizawl town. They were housed in the Zawlbuk special sheds built for the purpose. The missionaries and the early Christians took advantage of the situation and lost no opportunity to preach to these men. In the South, there was a man named Darphawka who had strange dreams and visions. He predicted that white men would come from across the ocean and preach to them a new religion. He urged his children to accept this new faith. The first converts from southern area were the descendants of this man. In this way, in a few years, the story of white men telling strange stories spread all over the country.
Mizo Evangelists
After the Khasi evangelist left the country, appeals were sent for other evangelist to the Khasi Church. For fear of Mizo magic, none came forward. It had been rumored that the evangelist they sent earlier had contracted an incurable disease. For this reason, the infant Church decided to appoint its own evangelists. It may be mentioned here that the missionaries with their deep knowledge of the language found it difficult to speak Mizo with correct intonation. Mizo is a tonal language; a change of tone can produce quite a different meaning to words. The first listeners confessed later they could not understand properly what the missionaries were saying. In 1903, a decision was made to employ four evangelists on a monthly salary of Rs. 3/-. The collection that year was recorded as Rs. 55.78/-. Each Christian family pledged to pay tithe regularly from their income. The first decade ended with a small number of Christians poised for action.
Relation with Baptists
The personal relationships between the Presbyterian and Baptist Missionaries were quite cordial. However, the denominational differences became soon apparent. The then Political Officer, Col. Shakespeare was also concerned that the same people should be divided into two rivaling Christian groups. It is said that he invited the missionaries to talk the matter over. Whatever might have been the immediate cause, the missionaries practiced inter-communion early and close cooperation was established in publication of Christian literature and school text books. A hymn book was jointly published for use in both churches. Members migrating from one area to another were received as full members in the host Church. There was, technically, a change of denomination, but no such questions were ever raised. There was mutual acceptance of ordained ministries. The situation was further clarified years later by leaders of the two Churches. A Presbyterian migrating to Baptist area may demand infant baptism and Baptists ministers are to perform it, and similarly Baptist may demand immersion.
The First Revival
The Welsh revival of 1904 spread to Khasi Hills through missionaries when they returned from their furlough. Khasi and Mizo Christians heard the news and started regular prayers both at Aizawl and at Lunglei that the revival might visit them also. In March 1906, the Assembly of the Khasi Presbyterian Church was convened at Mairang and the Raja of Mairang promised to give free board for four days to anyone who came to attend the Assembly. Mizo Christians decided to send delegates. Three men from the South and seven other people, three men and three women from the North, were sent. The delegation included one Khasi lady. They were greatly impressed by the Assembly meetings and enjoyed the fellowship in spite of the language barrier. They returned however, disappointed, nothing had happened to them. As they were approaching Aizawl town they decided to have a prayer on the roadside. Something did happen. The next day was Sunday, but nothing happened the whole day. On Monday morning the Baptist delegates had to proceed to their homes, another six days’ journey. They decided to hold a send¬-off prayer meeting at their meeting house. The last hymn they selected was –
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love.
The singing could not stop and continued for six hours. They started crying and waving their hands. Some were stamping their feet to the rhythm of the music. On hearing the noise, more people joined them. The revival they prayed for had come.
Effect of Revival
As the Christians were still very few, it did not spread wide nor lasted long. One School student, who had attended the farewell meeting, went back to his village the next day, three days journey from Aizawl. On the same night he arrived, the revival broke among the few Christians there. It had no appreciable effect on the non-Christians but what it did was to give the Christians confidence in their new faith. Most of the early Christians came from the poorer section. Their constant prayer was that some chiefs or some influential people would also become Christian. To their great joy one Chief, Vankhuma of Kolasib was converted at one of their meetings. The revival created confidence in themselves and gave them new boldness.
The four evangelists appointed two years earlier also became more confident in their work. Two of them, in particular, were aggressive by nature and had splendid physique. They could meet the challenges to wrestling bouts with credit. Their reputation and the esteem they received grew.
Persecutions
As the Christians became more aggressive, opposi¬tion also built up. The first Christians were strict in their observance of Sundays. They would not take part in community work if called on Sundays. They were fined and even dragged to prison for disobeying village autho¬rities. They themselves gave up drinking zu, rice beer, which formed part of their social life. They refrained from taking part in all public ceremonies and celebrations. Some chiefs realised the odd behaviour of Christians was bound to undermine their prestige and persecuted them. Many Christians were driven off from their village. These persecuted Christians settled at Zokhawsang a few miles east of Aizawl. At Aizawl, the missionaries had erected a building for use as meeting house and School. At Zokhawsang, the first chapel, exclusively for worship was erected by these people in 1907. This set a new trend for future. In every village where there were Christians, their first desire was to build a place where they can worship. There was no difficulty about land or building materials. With a few days labour, they could build chapels for themselves. Ever since, no group of Christians thought of seeking help from the Mission or from other villages in erecting their own chapel.
Persecution of the Christians was fairly widespread. They suffered beatings from their parents and village authorities but no loss of life had been recorded. There was no social ostracism as is understood elsewhere, but Christians were despised. Of course, there were discriminations, the Christians were forced to cultivate the poorest lands, and they were more frequently picked out to meet impress labour demand. However, they could take part in any of the social activities and village ceremonies and they were accepted back without any question asked. Just about this time a new song known as ‘Puma Zai’ was born. The tune was simple and light. Words could easily be fitted and lent itself well to community singing. In many villages, feasts were prepared to celebrate the song. Men and women, both young and old gave themselves to singing and dancing in abandon enjoyment. It was great temptation for the Christian to join in these and, alas, many succumbed and fell back to the old ways of life.
Sickness and Beginning of Medical Work
The Mizos ascribed all illness and misfortunes to evil spirits. Every family worship their family or clan god known as Sakhua. If they failed to worship him at regular intervals, the Sakhua would be displeased and withdraw his protection. The evil spirits took advantage of this and cause sickness. To placate these evil spirits, they had to offer no end of sacrifices. When people embrace Christianity it meant that they had denounced and abandoned their family god and he, on his part, was bound to withdraw his protection. The great question was, will the new God, Jesus, be powerful enough to protect them from the attack of evil spirits? Of course, there were deaths among the Christians but many strange and miraculous cures were related confirming their new faith and arousing wonder among the non-Christians. This is a phenomenon often observed among new Christians both in biblical times and to this day. It is quite possible their faith in god is much deeper than those of sophisticated Christians.
The early missionaries had no medical training and could do little to help. All they could do was to teach them elementary sanitation. However, a new missionary doctor was found who joined them in 1907. Dr. Fraser gave himself totally to his profession and at the same time distributed pamphlets to his patients he himself had printed in a hand-press he brought with him. Out of the estimated 90,000 population in the north, he treated 24,000 people during 1909. His services helped to dispel the fear of evil spirits raising the prestige of Jesus ever higher. He also tried to cure what he thought to be social evils. Among the Mizos, there existed some form of slavery known as ‘Bawih.’ A poor man or a criminal might seek the protection of a Chief. Subsequently he might get married and establish a separate family of his own. However, his descendants had to render some dues to the chief all their lives. People captured in wars and raids in the plains were also kept as ‘bawihs’ but they were so well-treated that they refused to go back even when opportunity came. This, no doubt, was a form of slavery. The chiefs and the British administrators were against the abolition. He strongly protested against it and was for that reason, expelled from the country. It was said the issue was brought to the British Parliament by his friends. Eventually orders were issued for abolition, but the Mission board refused to send him back as missionary. It appeared that he had not consulted his friends and the Mission board when he took the issue to higher authorities. They were afraid the Government would terminate their license to work in the country.
Organised Church
As the number of Christians increased it was found necessary to organise them into regular congregations with definite programmes of worship. Christians from Mission Vêng, the Headquarters of the Mission, took up the lead. What were practiced in Welsh and Khasi Hills were also adopted. In Welsh Churches, one evening of Wednesday in a month was devoted to transaction of Church business. In Mizoram, every Wednesday evening meetings were held to share spiritual experiences or recitation of biblical verses memorized during the week. Later, definite subjects were chosen and guide books prepared for the whole country. Saturday evenings were set aside for prayers. One feature of the prayer meeting was the community prayer. Everybody prayed aloud, starting at the same time and ending with the one who prayed the longest. As everybody had been working hard during the week, often people fall asleep and talked aloud in their sleep to the amusement of others. Sunday morning services were devoted to Bible study, now called Sunday school where both children and adults took part. It continues to be one of the most popular services to this day. Sunday afternoons and evenings were set aside for preaching.
Leaderships developed who did the work of elders and were acknowledged as such. But it was found necessary to make regular and constitutional appointment of elders with authority on behalf of the Church. A Presbytery under the Khasi Assembly was formed in 1910 with constitutional powers to organise churches, and to appoint and ordain elders. The first meeting was held in Aizawl, members from Aizawl Church dominating. Three elders were appointed and ordained. Village elders used to be appointed by Chiefs and had a respected place in the society. The new Church elders too, received due respect not only because of their office but because of their qualities.
People from villages had to visit Aizawl at least once every year to purchase their supply of salt. They would visit the missionaries or leaders of Mission Veng Church bringing problems. It was also a time to purchase new books that had been published. The Political Officer of Mizoram, Col. G.H. Loch donated a treadle machine with which the mission started publication of their own. A new magazine, known as ‘Kristian Tlângau’ was also published with one of the newly elected elders as the editor. This was widely read and people would come to Zawlbûks to listen to the reading.
The last year of the second decade, 1913, was a momentous one for the Mizo Church. The first Mizo Pastor was ordained. He was the son of a priest and had his theo-logical training at Cherra. D.E. Jones realised the impor¬tance of building future leadership and started a Theolo¬gical school. This was closed, opened again and closed. Finally it was reopened again and grew to our present Theological College teaching up to the BTh standard. The Christians of Aizawl were not content with their meeting house either. They decided to build a chapel of their own at a site used for offering sacrifices in the old days. The local Christians and missionaries con¬tributed. No grant was received from the Mission Board, but few gifts from friends were, however, received. The building was completed at a cost of Rs. 5,000/- with voluntary labour estimated at Rs. 1700/-. It was a magnificent building for those days. All future Church buildings followed its architectural design.
(With special reference to cultural background)
General Survey
North East India is a relatively new term referring to the areas covered by the recently created seven states, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal, Sikkim and the Darjeeling District of North Bengal belong to it geographically but are not normally included, though often associated with the North East India Christian Council. With the exception of the two princely states of Manipur and Tripura, the area was best known as Assam. It has an area of 299,095 Sq Km with an estimated population of 26.64 million. It is small in area and population, yet, out of the 84 translation projects now being undertaken by the Bible Society of India, 45 projects are located in this area, necessitating the creation of a separate translation centre at Shillong, Meghalaya. Of the 45 projects, 44 are in the tribal languages.
Assamese and Bengali are the two major languages. The former is prominent in the northern region of the Brahmaputra river valley and the latter in the southern region of Surma valley. Bengali literature has its centre in Bengal and the needs of Bengali speaking community supplied from there. Assamese is the state language of Assam, Indo-Aryan in character and is used as the lingua franca in the Brahmaputra valley and surrounding hills. Native speakers of Assamese and Bengali live chiefly in the plains of Brahmaputra and Surma valleys.
In these fertile valleys there live also numerous groups of people who can use Assamese or Bengali for their education and social contact but who stubbornly try to keep their separate identity intact throughout the ages, using their own languages or dialects in their homes and community. They gave up a great deal of their religious, cultural and social systems to the overwhelming Aryan civilisation but have not abandoned them altogether. They are known as Plains Tribal and usually classified as Hindus. The Manipuris and Tripuris are not normally classified as tribals. The Rajahs of Manipur and Tripura adopted Hinduism as their state religion some three centuries ago. They are classed as Hindus although their linguistic background is very similar to the other hill tribes. In Tripura, the original Tripuris are small in number, about 15 per cent only; the majorities are immigrants chiefly from Bengal who now dominate the political scene and social life.
The people in the hill regions are called ‘Hill Tribals’. Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya have majority tribal population; Manipur and Tripura also have high tribal population living in the hill regions. The Hill Tribals live more or less isolated and in fairly large groups and so develop their own religious, cultural and social systems, their surrounding civilisation having little or no impact. They did have contacts with the outside world by way of trade, political clashes and skirmishes. History could have taken a different turn had it not been for the practice of rigid caste distinction, particularly as practiced by the recent converts to Hinduism. Both the plain and hill Tribals occupy the lower social rung till independence and the legal abolition of the practice of caste system in India.
Tribal groups are small in number, some groups using a distinct language or dialect may not be more than a thousand strong, and the largest may not be larger than a million. They might have spoken the same language once but through centuries of separation, isolation and deference in environment, they can no longer under¬stand each other and communication between tribes who were once very close is now a real problem as is in the case of Nagaland and Arunachal. In these areas a form of Assamese known as Nagamese is used, hence the need of Bible translations into so many different languages. Men of the plain tribal groups are generally fluent in either Assamese or Bengali, but the women folks and children are not.
The Plain tribals, not being of the ruling or higher class, have hardly any standing in the society at large, in civil and admini¬strative set up. They were economically and educationally backward and less sophisticated. The hill tribals, having less contact with wider civilisation, were content with their own society and knew or had little ambition for economic situation other than their own hand to mouth existence. They had no written literature till the Christian missionaries introduced Roman script. Tribals both in the plains and the hills had to face the Twentieth Century with distinct disadvantage.
Break-up of Population
Unfortunately no census could be taken in Assam in 1981 due to political disturbance in the state. Only projected figures are available and so the figures given for the whole area can only be approximate but will give a good idea of the present position. Compiling the official projected figures for Assam with the census returns of the other six states, the following is the population breakup into religious group:-
Hindus 173.56 lakhs (a lakh is hundred thousand)
Muslim 30.71
Christians 30.99
Buddhists 1.67
Others 9.46
————————
Total 266.43
The Government of India has not yet released the figures for ethnic break up. Assam may have 15% tribal populations, Tripura 20%, Manipur 30%, while Arunachal, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram may be considered to have wholly tribal population. With this rough estimate, tribal population, both of the Hills and Plains in North East India is then about 6 millions, about 23 per cent.
Linguistic Classification
No one is certain how many tribes there are or how many languages or dialects are spoken in North East India. Over one hundred tribes have been identified and noted in the Constitution of India. A great many of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes are recent immigrants from other parts of India when the British introduced Tea cultivation in the area. Recent ‘foreigners’ issue in Assam is connected chiefly with immigrants from Bangladesh. No one can say who the original dwellers of this area were beyond the Fourth Century or so. This is the area where Aryan and Mongolian culture, met and fused. No linguistic analysis and survey has been significantly carried forward beyond Gierson’s ‘Linguistic Survey of India’ Volume II and III (1906-1909). Histo¬rians are not agreed as to how and when so many different groups of people came to settle. Linguistic analysis points to their probable origin. As we are concerned with Bible translation and as the need of other distinctly Gangetic origins are taken care of from the states they come from, it will be sufficient for our purpose to say that there are four large linguistic groups in which Bible translation has to be made. These are -
Group 1 – The Boro Group
They probably came from Tibet and Nepal side. They are Mongolians and were already in this area when the Ahoms came early in the Thirteenth Century perhaps they absorbed the non-Aryan original inhabitants. The chief representatives still surviving in significant numbers are The Kacharis (or Boros), Garos, Mikirs, Rabbas and Chutyas. Riangs and Tripuris of Tripura have recently been identified linguistically with this group. The Kachari Kingdom was destroyed by the Ahoms in the Fifteenth Century. Some remained in the north bank of Brahmaputra. The royal group moved south to Cachar Hills, Cachar and Tripura. They gave Cachar their name. This group is now known as Dimasa. After centuries of sepa¬ration the two groups find it difficult to understand each other, separate translation has to be made. Eight projects are going on in the languages of this group.
Group 2 – The Tai Group
Probably they came from the Yunan province of South China in the Thirteenth Century. They overthrew the Karachi Kingdom and other chieftains and absorbed many other smaller groups. The chief representatives are the Ahoms, Shans, Shingpo, and Khamtis. The last three in India are small in number. The Ahoms, now known as Assamese (Bengali enunciation of Ahom) now dominated the Assam State. Linguistic analysis of Assamese language now used, points its origin to Magadha Prakrit of Bihar from which Bengali and Oriya are also descended. It appeared that sometime in Fourth Century or so a vigorous, highly sophisticated Hindus from the above area came to settle in the Brahmaputra valley. They built up strong kingdoms but their history is obscure, archaeological finds when properly studied may yield more information about them. The Ahoms overran their kingdoms; and as happened in China, the conquerors who were less organised and more fluid in their culture and social system, were absorbed by the superior and stronger culture of the Gangetic valley. The original Ahom language is no longer considered living. Perhaps the Assamese Language Act of 1960 was enacted by the State assembly to give final burial to the original language. The Ahoms did have a script of their own which only few scholars can read. It has become extinct.
Bible translation had been done in Assamese, Khamtis and Shingpo in India, Shan in Burma. Assamese translation now serves the need of this group; the other three groups are small in number with hardly any Christians among them. As Christianity penetrates deeper into Assamese speaking people, it will not be surprising if a demand is made for translation into some of the language now considered dead.
Group 3 – The Monkhmer Group
They came from South-East Asia and the largest group settled in Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. The chief representatives of this group are the Khasis, Jaintia, Bhois etc. Bible translation had been done in Khasi of the Cherra dialect where the first Christians were located. This Khasi is univer¬sally accepted by people of this group and is now so far advanced as medium of education, literature and as vehicle for spread of Christianity; a separate version in any of the languages of this group is unlikely to be needed.
Group 4 – The Tibeto-Burman Group
This group came chiefly from Burma, and perhaps from Tibet side also, and are represented by the tribes living in Arunachal, Nagaland, Mizoram and the hill regions of Manipur, Tripura and South Assam. Population movements were going on when the British arrived on the scene early in the 19th Century.
Over 30 translation projects are going on in the languages of this group numbering most probably 3.5 millions. As this group has so many differences it would be well to go into more details.
Manipuri is included in this group and it alone has a script, all the others have no written literature. One great feature of this language group is its tonal character. For example, a word phonetically written as ‘ban’ can have seven or more different meanings with the change of tone. Roman script had been adopted, no tonal marks were introduced, but no serious difficulty had been experienced as they can be deciphered from their context. There are, however, certain occasion where their meanings cannot be made from the context, only the writer can tell their meaning. Attempts are now being made to introduce tonal marks where such ambiguity can arise. Translators have to be extra careful to select words that could possibly be misinterpreted on account of tone change.
It has been usual to divide the languages of this group and designate them by their geographical locations in to four main groups; namely Arunachal, Naga, Manipur and Kuki-Chin group.
Arunachal Group
Arunachal is in the extreme north of the area on the border of China, Tibet and Bhutan. Many of the tribes appear to be close to Boro group. Some of the languages are close to Tibet and Bhutan. Over twenty different languages or dialects are spoken and are named, but not properly analyzed and classified. The influence of Buddhism is apparent on their social system, culture and crafts, about 14% are Buddhists. For day to day communication Nagamese and simplified form of Hindi are used. One village has difficulty in understanding the next village, travel and inter-village contacts must have been very occasional. The medium of education now is in English with Hindi as second language. The state language is English, Hindi or Nagamese. Christian growth in the area had been checked by political and anthropological considerations, restrictions have been imposed to entry of Christian missions even during the British times. Evangelical work is now carried on with English, Hindi and Assamese Bible.
Translation had been attempted into the languages of this group as early as the beginning of this century. Restriction of entry, lack of suitable and competent translators held up the work. It was only in recent years that fresh attempts had been made. The people of the area are coming out to the outside world and some of them had been supported by different churches to give them theological education. The number of Christians, in spite of many difficulties, is increasing rapidly, the last census returns 4 per cent (27,206). Some Gospel portions had been published, work is going on for New Testament in Adi, Mishmi, Miri and Apatami.
Naga Group
Nagaland census return shows a population of 774,930 with 621,590 Christians, i.e. about 80%. There are several Naga tribes in Manipur and Cachar. There is no dominant or common language, a simplified form of Assamese called Nagamese has to be used for day to day communication and from village to village. Some of the larger tribes are having their primary education in their own dialect, but above primary it is conducted in English. The State language is also English and Nagamese.
The population of Nagaland has been divided into 16 tribes with certain amount of local autonomy in civil administration. Each tribe has a distinctive language and none of the tribe number over 70,000. A common version acceptable to two or more tribes is unlikely. Linguistic analysis indicates at least 19 versions are likely to be needed as Christianity spread to the now untouched Nagas. There are fairly large Naga groups in Burma as well. There are still another 3 or 4 Naga tribes in Manipur area whose language has not yet been studied.
Three Bibles have been produced in the languages of this group. Revision of the existing versions and new translations are going in 17 languages.
Manipuri
Like the Ahoms they were converted to Hinduism about three centuries ago, but unlike them, the Manipuris continue to speak their own language, tinged, of course with Sanskritic words. They had a script of their own, but Bengali script with some modification is now used. Some scholars are now working on the records in the old script but not much is yet known about these. While Christianity spread rapidly among the hill people of Manipur restriction was placed on Christian activity among the Manipuris or Meiteis. All the Meitei in Manipur and Cachar area may be as many as one million.
With independence restriction to Christian activities has been removed and within the last decade the number of Christians increased rapidly. In a state of 1,420,953 population, 421,702 are returned as Christians but this is composed mainly of the tribals. The actual Meithei who became Christians may not be more than 5,000. Translation in Manipuri was started as early as the 19th Century. The revised New Testament has been completed recently; work is going on the Old Testament. More educated and theologically trained personnel are now available.
Kuki-Chin Group
The people spread over the Chin and Arakan Hills in Burma, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura Hills, and also scattered in Nagaland, Cachar Hills, Meghalaya and Bangladesh are grouped linguistically as Kuki-Chin. The number of tribes and different languages or dialects spoken by this group is not known with certainty. But the language is so similar that it is thought that they must have a common ancestor some few centuries ago. The difference in dialect from village to village is not so great as it is in Nagaland. There is no common or dominant language perhaps inter-mingling of tribes, clans and villages had occurred more frequently than among the Naga group. They seemed to have travelled a great deal; communication from one group to the other did not pose too serious a problem. Common version in 10 or so of the major dialects is a distinct possibility if political winds blow in the right direction. Since not much is known of what is going in Burma or Bangladesh, it is quite possible that about 30 versions have been prepared. In India 17 percents are going in the languages of this group. Four Bible in Mizo, Hmar, Kuki and Mara had been produced.
Brief History of Bible Translation
As early as 1810 Bible translation in the languages of this area was attempted by the Serampore Mission. New Testament was published in Assamese in 1819. The Gospel of Matthew in Khasi was published using Bengali script in 1816; Manipuri New Testament in 1827, with Devnagiri script. At about this time the American Baptist Mission started work in the Brahmaputra valley and the Welsh Presbyterian Mission in Khasi Hills. The Welsh Mission took up translation in earnest and the Khasis have the distinction of having the first Bible in their own language in 1897. This was published in collaboration with the British and Foreign Bible Society.
The American Baptist Missionaries were also active in translation work but desired to translate the word baptise and it’s cognate into words to indicate immersion and so most of the earlier translations were published in their own press. Later they came into agreement with the Bible Society to transliterate the work. The first Bible in Assamese was published in 1903. Progress of Christian work among Hindu Assamese was rather slow and missionary works spread over to tribals. Before the beginning of the century, the following translations were published: – New Testament in Garo, 1894; Ao Naga portion, 1833; Angami portion 1890; Manipuri in Bengali script 1896 and Lushai Portion in 1898.
In 1810, the Calcutta Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society was opened which facilitated publication and distribution; but translation work was more or less the responsibility of the missionaries and the newly established churches. As the number of Christians increased the demand for Bible to meet the requirement of the new Christians became more insistent rather then the evangelistic demand which dominated the earlier period. The Bible Society had to frame certain guidelines and principles of translation and publication giving due consideration to the number of probable users. The Second World War marked the close of this period and Marrision, the linguistic consultant of the Bible Society writes, the total achievement up to 1939 was as follows:
Bibles: Assamese, Khasi, Garo.
NT: Ao Naga, Angami Naga, Tangkhul Naga, Boro, Mikir, Manipur, Lushai, Lakher.
Portions: Abor-Miri, Lotha Naga, Sema Naga, Zeme Naga, Hmar, Thado, Vaiphei, Rabba. Dimasa and Shingpho had been done earlier but remain inactive.
During the war, little progress was made but with the estab¬lishment of independent Bible Society of India in 1944 translation received new impetus. The Bible Society gradually took over organising and financing translation projects, of course with the co-operation of the Churches. Fewer missionaries were available and the native speakers took over the responsibility and the Bible Society also took over their training. Indian national movement also created what M.M. Thomas aptly described as ‘Tribal Awakening.’ After independence, the Constitution of India provides certain facilities, protections and reservations in Government services. Some tribes, hitherto unknown and neglected, or who were reluctant once to be classed as tribals or unrecognised as such, made great efforts for official recognition. Possession of a version of the Bible in their own language became very important. Evangelistic enthusiasm of the tribal Christian to the then unreached other tribals also created demand for new versions for evangelistic purposes. The Tripuris, for example, were the original inhabitants of Tripura. Till the last decade they had been using Bengalis as the medium of education which is a difficult language, even for those whose mother tongue is Bengali and this is more so for tribals. They can now have their primary education in their own language using Roman script. A New Testament has been published recently and is known as Kokborok. Other tribals are working among them; there will soon be a demand for the whole Bible. The latest project is perhaps the Chakma project. They were known before but as the great majority of them are in Bangladesh and can use Bengali, no serious attempt had been made for translation of the Bible in their own language. For various reasons, many of them had to come over to India. Those who settled in Mizoram find the use of Bengali limited only across the border in Bangladesh. The Churches in Mizoram built schools for them and school text books are now published in their own language in Roman script. Many of them have become Christians and while the older generation can use Bengali Bible, the younger generation can no longer use it. The evangelists working among them firmly believe that their work would bear much better fruit if they can read the Bible in their own tongue – hence the demand for translation into their language.
Translation Technique
Great progress has been made after the Second World War in the science of linguistics and translation technique. The Bible Society is also alive to these new findings. American Bible Society took the lead by publishing ‘Today’s English Version’ in 1964. The United Bible Society published the British usage edition of the whole Bible in 1974, popularly known as ‘Good News Bible.’ With the publication of Nida and Taber’s ‘Theory and practice of Translation’ in 1969, the new technique was adopted throughout the world and in India it is used as a basis for training translator. Series of seminars and workshops were held and steps were taken to retranslate or revise all earlier versions.
The earlier versions were chiefly based on King James or Revised Version of the English rather than the originals. Even if those missionaries responsible for the project were well versed in the original languages their products show their great depend¬ence on the English versions. The principle of translation they practiced is now known as ‘formal equivalent translation’ or ‘literal translation.’ Every attempt was made to consistently translate the same original word into the same word once used in the receptor language, although the word might have different meaning in another context. Every word whether it has significant meaning or not is translated and so there are lots of ands, beholds etc. Sentence construction and clause forms were often reproduced. Only half-hearted attempts were made to split the more involved sentences into simpler sentences, because a verb or some other word has to be repeated or introduced which were not in English. Great care was taken to indicate qualifying words that must be used in the receptor language but which was implicit in the original and printed in italics. Passive forms were introduced into tribal language where such forms are rare. Rhetorical questions were reproduced in the same form where a straight forward sentence form would be easier to understand.
The new principle of translation now adopted is called ‘Dynamic Equivalent Translation.’ It aims at transferring what the biblical writers intend to communicate to the original hearers into the natural idiom and expression of the receptor language; the intention is that modern hearers should receive as near as possible the total content of the message as the original hearers received. It also aim at making the Bible intelligible to all sections, both the young and the old, the learned and the barely literate and to the women folks who usually have less vocabulary. The same family language can be translated into a fairly literal form, but the tribal languages and their construction are so different that it is sometimes difficult to understand the literal translations. The new principle also aims at transferring cultural expressions into equivalent cultural forms without dropping or adding to the original content of the message.
Needs for Revision or New Translation
Naturally the earlier versions perpetuate the defects of the English versions from which they were made. They were formal rather than dynamic. Meticulous care was taken to translate every single word of the English versions. The Missionaries who did most of the work had a very good knowledge of the language on which they worked, but they sometimes were not equal to the subtle niceties. Their helpers did not have profound knowledge of English either. In languages where there had been no written literature, the helper tends to accept the language used by the missionaries as the proper form of what written literature should be. Assamese had been greatly influenced by Bengali version; Sanskritic religious words adopted in Bengali seem to have been simply taken over. These need re-assessment. Tribals of Boro group have varying degrees of cultural ties with Hinduism and use many Sanskrit words. These have to be examined carefully to see if their own language form of expression can make the message more intelligible. The Monkhmer groups were less influenced by the Hindu culture. The Jaintias had their capital in Surma Valley at one time and used Bengali as their court language and records, but the main stream of tribal culture has not been deeply touched. They have a distinct culture of their own, peculiar feature of their social system is that they are matrilineal. They have no difficulty in understanding the biblical injunction that a man should leave his parents and cling to his wife – that is exactly what they do. Some of the translations into the language of smaller tribes had been done from earlier version of larger tribe. This would be a third-hand translation. There are also translations done by people who had no theological training and who do not have a good grasp of English. This is inevitable in the case of new translations. Translation in the languages of Arunachal had been held up for lack of suitable and qualified men. There is no doubt that the earlier translations are unsatisfactory, but God blessed and used them to bring more people to his knowledge.
The British administration, independence and Christianity brought profound changes in the cultural and economic life of the people. The numbers of Christians from Hindu or Muslim background is still very small and their impact on the whole society is less appreciable. But with the exception of Arunachal group, Christianity had grown rapidly among the other tribals and over 70% of them are Christians. Their old traditional culture is dying rapidly giving place to a new style of life as developed according to the genius of each tribe. The tribals were the ‘ultra conservatives’ group and therefore were able to maintain their awn distinct identity against superior forces. They are now more open to new ideas. Independence further opened up new avenues and facilities for development in education and economic progress which they are quick to make use of. Even for higher Theological education Government scholarships are available. We now have well qualified peoples, trained theologically and in the new method of translation. The gap between the Catholics and the Protestant is also lessening and instead of producing separate versions common version may now be produced which has already been done in Garo.
Mizo Bible
Apart from the general remarks made above, the writer is not competent enough to make more comments on the earlier versions; but as one involved intimately with the Lushai (Mizo) translation in the old and new method it would be in order to make few further observations.
The users of Mizo Bible are perhaps the largest in number among the tribals of this area, estimated at about 6 lakhs. The Mizos in Mizoram number about 4 lakhs and those elsewhere about 2 lakhs. They spread over Manipur, Tripura, Cachar Hills, Cachar, Bangladesh and Burma. The Mizos in Mizoram among whom the old version was produced were least effected by the surrounding Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist civilisation. None of the religious concepts, expressions or vocabularies had a home in their thought form. Ramayana was known but told like any other mythical stories. There are, perhaps, not more than 30 borrowed words from Hindi or Bengali words; these are mostly confined to common daily articles of trade. About six of them have been used in the Bible – such words as those that relate to money names, paper and the like. The earlier translators had no help from other civilisation and had to find and pick up suitable words nearest in meaning to the biblical religious concepts. All tribals perhaps have the conception of a ‘Supreme God’ but their ideas were confusing when placed along side biblical monotheism. There were several words with which ‘God’ can be translated. Not knowing which word should be most suitable, the translator first used ‘Jehova’ the personal name of the Hebrew God. After sometime they chose the word to denote the being who had the least activities in the daily affairs of man, to whom final appeal was addressed in extreme distress. It may be said that no sacrifice was ever made to this ‘Supreme God’. Most of the sacrifices they had to perform were made to the numerous evil spirits who were supposed to be responsible for their illnesses. The chants used in the sacrifices to evils spirits were considered more magical rather than prayerful. In some case it sounds very much like exorcism. There were also several other types of sacrifices they had to perform irrespective of their health. These must be performed at set times and at some stages in life, like birth, puberty, marriage etc. In these cases, the sacrifices were definitely made to a god or being responsible for the welfare of the individual, the family and the whole village. The chants used were prayers – prayers for protection from all dangers, for continued good health and prosperity and finally for long life. There is nothing magical like the sacrifices to the evil spirits. These spirits or beings responsible for the well-being of man might have been considered to have separate existence. Whether they were lower beings, representative or messenger of the Supreme God was perhaps unresolved. One thing is clear, however that when people in extreme distresses address this Supreme God they did so not against or over these beings intimately connected with their daily lives.
They had their own code of conduct which may be called dharma. The guiding principle of their live is fear of divine retribution. Complex and elaborate lawful and unlawful systems had been built up for the education of the young. These were not formulated properly but handed down from generation to generation.
Many of the old religious vocabulary had to be used which certainly distort many biblical concept. Their conception of life after death is very similar to the Bible in many aspects, but the idea of their resurrection of the ‘body’ is something that Mizo mind cannot grasp. Biblical idea of man cannot be fitted snugly into their concepts. The Hebrew concept of soul (nephesh) cannot be translated into equivalent term. Like the Hebrew they have less abstract concepts, the verbal active sense is the normal expression. There has been a strong tendency among new Christians to think and try to express their spiritual experience in a language foreign to them, and perhaps this is more so among the so called evangelical groups. They have special expressions using biblical phrases without real understanding of such phrases. Ideas contained in the original languages are often needlessly expounded to simple folks instead of trying to say these in the normal forms of expression. This is laudable but it must be remembered and recognized that God also speak to the tribals in their own language, not necessarily in the thought or linguis¬tic form of Hebrew or Greek. So far, the theological tendency and the earlier translations have not encouraged indigenous expression and to express their unique communication they receive from God in their own normal thought forms.
In order to translate English into formally equivalent and consistent terms and words, new meaning has to be given or the original meaning extended or even changed. To hear these was certainly a strain to the early readers. In time they got used to them and once they embraced Christianity the translations were accepted, some of the stylistic crudeness being attributed to the original writers. Abstract nouns were used in definite patterns but the new book introduced lots of them, sometimes in forms not quite appropriate. Like King James Version in English, the new Bible set up new style of speech.
We must congratulate the earlier translators for their meticulous care and verbal completeness of their work. They did try to translate the Bible into intelligible forms. In conveying the idea of time it was customary to connect them with the daily chores, like the time to eat morning meal, time to go to cultivation, time to feed the baby, etc. These terms were used and did communicate fairly accurately the original writers intention. However, with modern rapid progress, even in the remotest corner watches are used and the old terms are forgotten, particularly in the towns. One other example of apt translation into the cultural form is the translation of the English, ‘girding the loins.’ It was rendered ‘wrapping the cloth round the waist.’ This was a very good expression for getting dressed for work etc., but most of the men now wear trousers and ‘wrapping the cloth round the waist’ means to relax. Cultural changes have to be watched. Some of the words used with new meanings have in time been accepted to form part of the daily vocabulary. Bridegroom was translated as ‘owner of the bride.’ It was not the husband-to-be who paid the marriage price, their parents were responsible for this. The new husband can never say ‘my bride,’ it was the parents who can say ‘our bride.’ This change of meaning at first was awkward but with constant use younger generations no longer remember the subtle distinction.
The new method of translation try to correct all these defects. In a rapid changing society and mode of living it would be well to do fairly wide revision every thirty years or so. It is hoped that readers will be helped to understand the word of God in their own thought form and thus also help in theological development and expression.
9th August 1987
Our relations with Indians round our country were never too cordial. To us, they were cheats to be dealt with suspicion. To them, we were uncouth jungle-men, and headhunters to boot, to be avoided as much as possible. We call them ‘Vai’ which probably means ‘miniature – lower type of humanity,’ unworthy of respect, stealing their property was no worse than stealing eggs from a bird’s nest. To them we were no better than monkeys – unfit for admission into their homes and eating with them could not even be contemplated. The advent of the British Raj did not improve our social relations, though hostile activities had been firmly suppressed.
The British brought various types of Indian – sepoys, policemen, babus, traders and contractors with their labour. These Vais practiced castism rigidly. After all, these dirty Mizos were tribals outside the pale of civilisation and so must be grouped and treated as the lowest outcastes. They would keep their homes closed to Mizos who might not even stand inside their verandah but might only take shelter under the eaves of the roof when it rained. They would not dream of hobnobbing and socializing with them, meticulously keeping their caste prejudice and refrained from entering into Mizo homes. No doubt, the Mizos were careless in keeping their bodies and homes clean as compared to these Vais.
The New Government selected Aizawl for administrative centre. Town plan was carefully drawn up and executed. We have areas allotted for Thana, Jail, market and lands for residence of the Babus and traders. Spacious land was reserved for administrative buildings and residence of higher ranking officers. A separate site on the peripheral town area was also allotted to fourth grade Mizo Government employees, imported labour and sanitary workers. The Assam Rifles were quartered at the centre of the town.
Within the proposed town area there used to be several Mizo settlements. These were evicted; only four small villages were allowed to remain segregated on the outskirt of the town area. The number of householders was strictly controlled; none of the chief of these villages might settle a new family without previous permission. To discourage Mizo settlement a Personal Residence Surcharge was levied per head on all male adult Mizos, non-Mizos were exempted. This amount appears small but in those days a labourer might earn the money in 12 days or more. Partly to maintain ecological balance and perhaps chiefly to create difficulties for Mizo settlers, an area of about 2 miles radius was declared ‘Forest Reserve.’ The Mizos built their houses with materials they could collect with their knives and axes from the forest. Now they had to go beyond two miles to get to their jhums and collect materials needed for their homes. Mizo settlers were also subjected to discrimination and other hardships. They were not allowed to draw water from the Town supply, collected rain water in a fairly large reservoir built at great cost to Mizo punitive labour. All villages in Mizoram had to contribute free labour for one month, the number depending on the size of the village. Each village was responsible for the upkeep of their contingent. While the non-Mizos could get their water on the doorstep, the Mizos had to depend on spring water below the town.
Christian Missionaries came. The Government had a vague idea of educating the Mizos in Bengali in schools they opened for children of the settlers. Bengali is a difficult language even for those whose mother tongue it is. Some Mizo boys were admitted who found it extremely difficult to master the script without knowing the language. The Missionaries prepared an alphabet with modified Roman script. These young men could read and write within a week or two. This encouraged the Missionaries; they open school where more Mizo Children were admitted. Their social activities and openness attracted the Mizos. They had no caste scruple; they were prepared to enter Mizo homes and accepted any food they offered. They would even sleep on the dirty floors and warm themselves in the kitchen fire of the hearth. The civil and military white officers did keep their distance in official matters, but loved to drink Zu (rice beer) in Mizo Homes with traditional cup of Bison horn. They were not averse to recruit the Mizos to do their domestic chores and even trained them as cooks. The Vais also would be agreeable to use them to carry fuel from the jungle, wash their pots and pan, but not their clothes. The Assam Rifle personnel were helpful to many ambitious young Mizos who came from distant villages to get their education. They were employed as kitchen boy; their duty was to smear the floor with fresh mud and cow dung, clean pots and pans. They were given free food from the mess for their service. This enable many boys to complete the courses offered in the schools. No Vais, however, would use them to carry water; the pots were invariably re-washed with clean water.
As the Missionaries intensified their social and religious activities, several Mizos became Christians. Many of them were expelled from their villages and had to settle somewhere, mostly in small villages where the Chiefs could not afford to persecute them. There were cases where the missionaries were compelled to interfere. They established a model village within their own land-lease area for these refugees, who, when they came here, were exempted from paying the Personal Residence Surcharge but were expected to offer their service when need arose.
To the best of our knowledge no Indian organisations have ever performed any social service – no Gandhi in Champaran, no free clinic, no project that might endear themselves to the Mizos. The 1935 Government of India Act excluded them from the operation of the Act, this was no fault of the Indians, but it did not bring them closer to us. No wonder the Mizos took more to these white foreigners.
The Mizos had organised themselves into city-states. Each village was a sovereign State. Under a good chief a number of people from different tribes, clans, etc., speaking different language or dialect would come together for shelter. No doubt they had common ancestor of not too far historical distance. By the time they settled in present day Mizoram, each clan or family had its own deity who was worshipped with the biggest castrated pig they have. The sacrificial meal that followed might only be shared by the nearest relatives within the clan. Each village was so planned to make it possible for one clan to live close together in one locality. Quarrels often arose between clans when the sacrificial pig-head displayed on a pole near the house was pelted by stones or deliberately treated with insulting gestures. It was the duty of the Chief to prevent such quarrels and administer the village with justice and impartiality. Each family might speak their own dialect in their homes but used a common language called Duhlian dialect in public. In this way a competent chief could mould his people to hum round his personality. Each citizen then would be eager to give his best for the survival of his family and the village.
Before the annexation of the country, there were over 500 villages, a sense of one nationhood had not developed. Each village was for itself. British administration checked inter village quarrels, one administration, one centre of administration, common roads built and maintained by one administration, opening of schools and hospitals etc., gradually helped them understand their common citizenship. They knew the Nagas, the Vais or the Khasis were different, they felt closer to their next neighbour, and after all they were descended from common ancestors. Yet the next village, by unexpected turn of events might become mortal enemy the next day. There were instances when several villages grouped together to fight another group of villages. They used to think their village alone was the centre of the universe. Now they have to view things in the context of the whole Mizoram. As Christianity spread, the cord that used to bind each clan together was broken – the Christians have abandoned their family deity and were no longer permitted to share the sacramental meal. The Christians formed new family and became separate community with distinct identity. Under unified administration and influence of Christian teaching integration of clans and villages rapidly came to definite shape.
The Second World War could be regarded as the take-off point for the Mizos into the wider world. About 2000 young men were recruited to the Labour Corps in the First Great World War. This made little impact. Now, a large number of Mizo youths were recruited to the armed forces – some to air force, navy and infantry; some to medical and paramedical units. Even the girls joined the Women Auxiliary Service. The few graduates and undergraduates were given King’s Commission and matriculates commissioned as junior officers. These men performed their task exceedingly well. When the war front moved to Mizoram border, more combatants and money poured in to prevent the enemy overrun North East India. Our people began to realise that they had to defend India from external aggression.
One must admit that India was never a one nation. China suffered several invasions, but the invaders were invariably absorbed into Chinese culture and finally became Chinese. India too suffered a series of invasions, but the invaders continue to keep their religion, language and culture – perhaps because India contained so many differing elements. We are likely to have about thirty States organised on ethnic and linguistic lines. 15 Major languages have already been listed in our Constitution. There may well be over 1000 language dialects. Our loyalty to our religion resulted in bifurcation of India, Pakistan was born. Our fight for independence forced us to cling together and we are determined to form a strong united one nation. In India Union communalism, based on ethnic and religious affliction, constantly raised its ugly head. For this reason our illustrious leaders had to organise ‘Integration Council’ to create an atmosphere where all communities may live in peace and harmony together. Absorption or domination can bring the unity and oneness we seek. Various sections of the people, instead of enlarging the gap that already existed between us, should try to see what is beautiful and noble in the life and culture of other communities.
Indian independence movement did not reach Mizoram – it was an excluded area. We contributed only one man to the long list of freedom fighters. He was a soldier in Singapore prison camp. He enlisted in the INA under Subhas Bose. We had hardly any reason to sympathize with the movement. The British administration was fair, just and benign. We had no forest, mineral or other wealth to exploit. A number of our senior citizens expressed their desire to remain under them as their crown colony. They had misgivings to jump into the uncertain ocean of Indian politics. When the day of independence dawned, it was received with mixed emotions. The Younger generation seemed to welcome it heartily while the older generation spent the day in prayer for God’s guidance and blessing. Independence was more or less thrust on us, we had no option.
However, soon after, we enjoyed a great deal of freedom never known before. We were given a certain amount of political autonomy. The hated imposed labour system was immediately done away with. Some unscrupulous chiefs had exploited their people and made their lives miserable under the backing of the authority. Chiefships and other connected orders to restrict freedom were abolished. Developments in various spheres began to take shape. Roads were built on voluntary basis with suitable grants from Government. One PWD Road Engineer told people of Lunglei, the capital of the Southern Sub-Division, to expect the second coming of Christ sooner than arrival of cars in their town. Within a few years, cars lined their streets.
It was true Mizoram had been politically excluded at one time, yet a number of enterprising Mizos made journeys to ‘India’- that was the term they used implying that they had been to foreign country. The Mizo Christians in particular, had to attend meetings and conferences with other Indian Christians. One surprising and distinct experience they had was – their Indian Christian friends, irrespective of their social status, opened their homes to them. They were welcomed and treated as equal. This was a novel experience. They felt at ease with their fellow Christians.
After nearly twenty years of Independence, a section of the people was so disappointed with the treatment they received from their ‘new master.’ They decided to launch a movement to wrest independence from India. The immediate cause was the arrogant behavior of Indian officers and men posted in Mizoram. Deep down in their heart, loom large the corruption practiced by the rank and file, including the politicians. Most writers, journalists and politicians ascribed economic neglect as the factor that led to insurgency in North East. This cannot be denied, but the theory is propounded by those who are not involved in the fray. It is rather corruption in all places that created frustration. When one sees the bounty intended for him being pocketed by the dealing agencies, it is not easy to refrain from resorting to violence.
Operation to contain insurgency had brought no end of trouble and hardships. People described themselves as a piece of iron between the hammer and the anvil. However, they rediscovered the meaning of their new faith. They learnt to lean and depend on God alone. They understood more clearly their new identity as Christian in their suffering. Many of the boys who went underground did so contentiously to protect their religion from being overwhelmed by the majority Hindus or Muslims. They too discovered that, that was not the way to defend their faith. The force of their sense of their new identity compelled them to be more aware of their obligations to those they thought were their enemies, the Mizos, on the whole, began to learn in their national and personal life the truth of Christ teaching – it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Personally I was fortunate to serve among our non-Christian friends in the predominantly Bengali area of Cachar. Two things are essential for integration in Mizo context -
1) India must accept us as we are and allow us to serve them.
2) We have two gifts to give which Indian needs desperately i.e.
a) Christ,
b) Our readiness to serve with our complete unconsciousness of caste prejudice.
We may say political integration had already taken place. To achieve deeper emotional integration we need to show that we do care. In service only can we achieve that sense of oneness with those we serve. Mizos seem to have a special call from above to preach and practice the teaching of Christ in our national context. If we are but prepared to humble ourselves as our master did, no one can resist the message we have. Kipling writes:
Oh! East is east and West is west
And never the twain shall meet.
Our Mizo poet sings:
Communal or ethnic difference disappears
On Calvary where the son of God shed his tears.
Is that not integration?
20th August 1999
To have a Church Union would be a blunder if some of us hold a superior denominational attitude to others as reflected in Mr. Goldsmith’s pamphlet. Those who laboured on the Basis of Union did so with a humble Christian spirit of give and take with the hope that Christians in North East India would receive the plan with the same spirit. Dr. Downs has shown most convincingly that doctrinal diff¬erences are not the greatest stumbling block to Church Union, but some other matters, though not serious, often stand in the way. Generally we tend to cling to our old practices and traditions simply because we dread to tread paths unfamiliar. What is likely to be quite new to some section of our Baptist friends is the proposed Church Order or organizational set up. Such a set up is doing a certain amount of violence to the Baptist doctrine of autonomy of individual Churches. In countries where the majority of the people are Christians, educated and economically fairly well-off this doctrine of autonomy can be practiced with great advantage. But in a country like ours, it appears to have helped the growth of the Church very little, not to speak of new ventures in evangelical efforts, exceptions being that of Nagaland. Our Baptists friends should seriously consider, apart from the question of Church Union, this organisational matter for promotion of evan¬gelical work among the non-Christians which is the primary rea¬son for the existence of the Church. After some years of expe¬rience I would say that Mr. Goldsmith’s fears, and perhaps the fears of certain other friends, are more imaginary than real on this particular issue.
It is not my intention to propose a new formula or rebut Mr. Goldsmith’s objections. His proposal to have a sort of Spiritual Union first seems to me rather utopian. Even in one denomination we differ in doctrine, beliefs, and in inter¬pretation of the Bible but that does not mean that we are different, rather we are one in Christ; we differ in our spiritual experiences yet we are one in serving the same Lord.
Mr. Goldsmith raised two important theological issues which need closer examination. Perhaps the Presbyterian views had not been presented to our Baptist friends dispassionately. I refer to the questions he raised about baptism and tradition.
The Baptist doctrine of Baptism is based on ‘He who believes and is baptised will be saved’ (Mark 16:16). It is often referred to as ‘Believer’s Baptism.’ Whether it is to be performed by immersion or otherwise is of secondary impor¬tance. Only he who believes and repents of his sin should be baptised. Infants having no capacity as yet to believe should not be baptised.
When we examine this doctrine carefully we land ourselves into certain ridiculous situations. For one thing this section of the Bible is not St. Mark’s original autograph. St. John writes, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.’ I believe we all agree that it is those who believe that will be saved and not necessarily those who are baptized. In fact, during the life-time of our Lord it appears that it was not obligatory to get baptised in order to be his followers, although to Nicodemus baptism appears to be deman¬ded (John 3:5). Jesus said to the thief on the cross who be¬lieved, ‘Thou shalt be with me in Paradise today.’ His insistence on baptism as sign of repentance seems also to me to carry on the tradition of John the Baptist to which Jesus sub-mitted to, not because he has something to repent of, but rather as a sign of his identification with the new movement.
During the time of our Lord, baptism was widely practiced among the Jewish sects. In the main stream of Judaism it was practiced as a ceremonial rite to be performed by proselytes. Circumcision, baptism or lustration and offering of sac¬rifices at the temple were obligatory for all proselytes. After the destruction of the temple baptismal rite took increasing importance particularly for female candidates. The evidence of Dead Sea scrolls shows increasing emphasis being laid on immersion rather than mere lustration or sprinkling of water. John’s Baptism was immersion type but he spiritualized it to symbolize an inner repentance. People flocked to him and then immersed themselves in water. John was following the general practice, the Baptizer stands on the bank as a sort of witness while those who are baptised immersed themselves. The very Greek word indicates this form of immersion.
We do not know whether Jesus himself baptised people, the evidence is conflicting, although his disciples did. What was the significance of the disciple’s baptism is also not known, one has to suppose they continued the tradition of John. After Pentecost baptism seemed to be a regular practice for acceptance into the new community. We must admit our ignorance of the formulae, if any, used by Jews, John or Jesus disciples before His death. On the day of Pentecost and sometime after it, baptism was performed in/into the name of Jesus (Christ). The records of baptism in Acts and other epistles do not mention the Trinitarian formulae. It was however clear that by the time the last chapter of Matthew was written Trinitarian formulae was the standard. We cannot simply say when Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ was dropped and Trinitarian formulae used or why the disciple did not use the formulae on the day of Pentecost if Jesus did make specific command to use the formulae. The probability is that baptism in the name of Jesus was considered at first sufficient for admission into the new community of ‘Christians’, and the Trinitarian formulae was finally agreed upon to embrace more fully the actual meaning of ‘Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ.’
Christian baptism was to be something different from John’s baptism in that it was to be a baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, baptism did not necessarily follow the gift of the Holy Spirit and we read from Acts that only when the disciples laid their hands that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit became visible. ‘They had been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, that and nothing more’ (Acts 8:16). In Acts 10:45, the gift of the Holy Spirit was bestowed on the Gentiles before they were baptised. In this instance, baptism was a rite for acceptance into the new community. John 3:5 seems to demand baptism as a sort of public declaration of faith as a condition of admission into the new kingdom. John’s Baptism in token of repentance was not accepted (Acts 19:4) and re-baptism in the name of Jesus was considered necessary.
We cannot go into details in this short article but it is clear that in the NT Church baptism was performed by immersion, self-administered in the presence of authorized witness. Baptism alone did not confer any special grace but often was followed by visible sign of the gift of Holy Spirit. It was absolutely considered necessary for admission into the new community.
Today the significance of Baptism seems to be manifold. The confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church states, ‘Baptism is the washing with water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and is a sign and seal of our union to Christ, of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, and of our giving ourselves to the Lord. It is to be administered to such who repent of their sins and profess faith in Christ as their Saviour and to their children.’ What is important is that baptism is a visible sign or symbol wherein one is incorporated into the body of Christ; which of course involve in believing Jesus Christ, repenting of sins and regeneration of life.
Jewish babies were circumcised and offering made on their behalf after which they become sharer of the covenant with God and thus became the family of Israel. At baptism Christians are incorporated into the body of the new Israel and thus shared in the new covenant. New Israel means the community of the saved, and thus baptism was closely associated with salvation. Even today there are certain groups who believe that unless baptised such will not be saved. In fact, the magical effect of Baptism in some section was thought to extend to those already in their graves and so in Corinthian church there were some who practiced baptism for the dead.
We maintain that infant baptism was the normal practice in the NT church and so there is no injunction at what age a chris¬tian child is to be baptised. Those who insist on be¬liever’s baptism insist that a child must attain a certain age when he is capable of belief. Physical and mental development differ in different individuals, and as far as I know most Bap¬tist friends fixed the age when a child is able to exercise his belief at about 13 years. This, we have to recognise is somewhat arbitrary and has no biblical sanction. If ‘belief’ is interpreted to mean intellectual asset, a seven year old can certainly believe.
In the NT we have records of whole family baptised at one time. Whole family includes children, servants and slaves. Whether the slaves also profess their belief in Christ was not specifically mentioned but the usual practice of those days was that the slaves also shared in the religious standing of their masters. We cannot say that only adults were baptised nor the children were also baptised but the probability is that the children were also baptised. We may say that children baptism with their parents was so natural and universally practiced during the NT period that it was thought unnecessary to mention it. Even in the Didache it was assumed that infants were baptised along with their parents. It was some of the 3rd or 4th Generation Christians who questioned the validity of infant baptism. We are inclined to believe that the church, on the whole, continued to accept and practise infant baptism in spite of these accessional protests. Our reason for believing this may be stated as follows:
a) From the time of Abraham, the Jews felt it a solemn religious obligation to claim for his son from early infancy the same cove¬nant relation with God as he himself stood in. One cannot imagine a Jew to abandon this deep rooted conviction and to consider himself separated from them when he embraced Christianity. It would indeed be very difficult for the disciples to explain to him why his children should not be baptised. It is much easier to suppose that the children were also accepted by baptism into the church and no question asked. Baptism and circumcision was closely associated in the mind of St. Paul when he wrote ‘In him also you were circumcised, not in physical sense, but by being diverted of the lower nature, this is Christ way or circumcision’ (Col 2). This implies that like Jewish practice of infant circum¬cision Christian practiced infant baptism. Again Paul assumes as a fact beyond dispute that the children of believers are ‘holy’ (I Cor 7:14). The members of the Church were invariably called ‘holy’ in Paul’s writing. This verse clearly indicates that the children of believers were also member of the Church, and ad¬mission into Church membership was through baptism. Paul goes further, and considers that a non-believer’s wife is also a Christian through her Christian husband. On the ground of her husband’s faith, she also shares in the new covenant.
b) Throughout the Roman Empire it was also inconceivable that the children should be separated from the father or head of the family in their religious rites and duties. If baptism of adults only was practiced it would mean that the children did not share in the new religious standing of their father. When the household of Lydia and the Jailer of Philippi were baptised it would be strange indeed if only adults were baptised. It is apparent that the servants and slaves were also admitted to the new status of their masters – it being assumed that their master’s religion is automatically theirs as well. They can hold different views but for all official purposes their master’s religion is theirs as well. Though the conquered nation may continue to hold their old religious beliefs and practices to a certain extent, this was the principle under which nations fought and conquered each other.
It seems certain to me that the NT Church practiced infant baptism and is of immersion type. The main question is – should we also necessarily practice what the NT Church practiced whether it is reasonable or not. Whatever inclination we may have, the chief consideration should be that a Christian baptism ought to be a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
c) This brings me to the second theological issue raised by Mr. Goldsmith when he querried ‘Whether we should lay more stress on Church tradition or even greater stress on the clear directions of the Bible’ implying he prefers the latter while other denominations prefer the former. All Protestants are firm in their acceptance of the Bible as the final authority for faith. It must, however, be stated that the present NT books were accepted in the Second and Third Century as canonical. The writers themselves were not aware that one day their books would be accepted as a Bible. They simply recorded some of the events among them. Whatever is recorded is received from the Apostles and elders and what they received is usually known as tradition. We may say that the NT is the record of tradition of the early church, church tradition created the Bible. It is clear that the ear¬ly church considered tradition much none binding on their faith and practices than some of the newly written books of the NT. The Bishop of Rome came into more and more prominence as a depository of traditions – and until reformation he was considered as the fi¬nal authority in all church matters. The Reformer, having rejec¬ted his authority had to find an alternative authority and thus raised the present day conception of the Bible’s inspiration and infallibility in all matters of faith. As every one knows there can be various contradictory interpretations of any directives in the Bible or the directives themselves may be contradictory. While accepting the final authority of the Bible what are we to do in such cases? The General Principle of Protestant theologians have followed is to prefer the NT to OT the words of Jesus to other writings in the NT. When all these evidences are incon¬clusive the writings of the Church Fathers and traditions of the Church were also taken into consideration and finally the church has to make final decision. While Congregationalists and our Baptist friends consider one single local church is capable of making such matters most other denominations leave this decision to a wider gathering of Christians from various local churches. We usually make decisions by a majority of votes on the theory, I suppose, the majority know the will of God better than a single person. It does seem ridiculous; however, that eternal truth can be decided by a majority vote of certain people who may be very worldly.
What we usually call ‘clear directives’ of the Bible, we must admit, is something which very often supports our own or in¬herited views, we uncharitably dubbed any other contrary view as ‘unbiblical’ or mere traditional. One very large section of chris¬tians, the Salvationists, do not practice baptism against what we consider a clear directives of our Lord in Mat 28:19. They understand by the words ‘Baptised into the name of etc.,’ to mean spiritual union and consider the visible water-baptism as superfluous. Water-baptism does not automatically give salvation that we can all accept. We have seen that God has blessed the Salvation Army movement and used it as his ins¬trument to save many souls. Other clear directive of the Bible are circumcision and Sabbath. No where in the NT these laws were revoked. We all prefer to observe the traditional practice of observing Sunday to the expressed injunction of the Bible on the ground that we are no longer obliged to follow the old Jewish customs. In this respect our Seventh Day Adventists are much more biblical in their faith and practices. To be quite frank, we still continue to create our own tradition which we accept as part of our religious duties having almost biblical authority. Our celebration of the Lord’s Supper today may have hardly any resemblance to the one celebrated by St. Paul at Troas. We have changed the biblical practicing of drinking wine to a sip of some fruit juice. These days the baptizer has to stand in waist-deep water to push the candidate’s head under water, some three times, others only once. We have sanctified our own traditions as to have almost biblical authority. Presbyterians and Baptists alike are wary of the Office of Bishops because of certain historical associations, yet such an office is very much ‘biblical.’ St. Paul writes, ‘Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter’ (II Thes 2:15 & 3:6).
Against keeping mechanically traditions or clear directives of the Bible was the one thing Jesus had to struggle in his own life time. Perhaps with the exceptions of few churches we no long¬er follow the clear directives of the Bible in respect of women serving in the church, nor do we uphold the institution of sla¬very – these clear directives of the Bible being against the spirit of Christ himself as interpreted through development of humanism in history and better understanding of God’s love.
I believe that we should not lay more stress on tradition than what we consider biblical. We should have great respect for both but we should also have the freedom to lay more stress on the spirit rather than the latter.
After all, our sacraments are symbols of spiritual thing. As a Presbyterian minister I have no objection to baptise by immersion if the candidates wish it specifically and would be happy to perform it, as the apostles did even if the weather is below freezing point. Christian life should be measured by Christ life and I find the baptist fare neither better nor infant baptists worse. The percentage of Baptists to be saved is likely to be the same as the other denominations. If one dins into the ears of a certain person that he is an ugly man ultimately he would consider himself ugly. What we need is Christian charity.
I do not think that even angels can produce a Basis of Union to the satisfaction of all. The present plan is not satisfactory to any section yet we cannot produce a better one. In the meantime our division continue to be the source of weakness in our witness for the Lord and ‘The king’s business required haste’ (I Sam 21:8)