Christianity and Politics in Tribal India

G. Kanato Chophy

Description

Through an ethnohistorical study of the Nagas—a congeries of tribes inhabiting the Indo-Myanmar frontier—this book explores an unusually interesting region of India that is all too often seen as peripheral. G. Kanato Chophy provides a distinct vantage point for understanding the Nagas in relation to colonialism, missionary encounters, identity politics, and cultural change, all seamlessly woven around American Baptist mission history in this region. The book also analyses India's cacophonous postindependence democracy in order to delineate multifaith issues, multiculturalism, and ethnicity-based political movements.

Within the West, episodic memories of the "Great Awakening," a significant landmark in the history of Protestantism, have faded into archival records. But among the Nagas of the Indo-Myanmar highlands, Baptist Christianity persists as the dominant religion, influencing the daily lives of nearly three million people. Focusing variously on evangelical faith, missionary zeal, ethnic identities, political struggle, and complex culture wars, Christianity and Politics in Tribal India is an original and major study of how Protestant missions changed the history and destiny of a tribal community in one of the unlikeliest regions of South Asia.
Illustrations and Maps
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: One Faith, Many Ethnicities

1. The Empire and the Pearly Gates

2. The Baptist Highland

3. Heirs of the New Faith

4. Some Converts are More Equal than Others

5. Exotic Natives No More

6. Legends, Mystics, and Converts

7. The Baptist Intellectuals

8. Pragmatists and Idealists

9. Guns, the Bible, and the Little Red Book

Conclusion: Naga Baptists 2.0

Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christianity
• History of religions
• History of Asia

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438485836
• Langue: English

Extrait

CHRISTIANITY AND POLITICS IN TRIBAL INDIA
G. Kanato Chophy

Christianity and Politics in Tribal India

BAPTIST MISSIONARIES AND NAGA NATIONALISM
First published by Permanent Black D-28 Oxford Apts, 11 IP Extension, Delhi 110092 INDIA, for the territory of SOUTH ASIA. First SUNY Press edition 2021.
Not for sale in South Asia
Cover design by Anuradha Roy.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 G. Kanato Chophy
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chophy, G. Kanato, author
Title: Christianity and politics in tribal India : Baptist missionaries and naga nationalism
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021]
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: ISBN 9781438485812 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438485836 (e-book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021944201
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
to the memory of MILES BRONSON a maker of modern north-east India
Contents

Illustrations and Maps
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: One Faith, Many Ethnicities
1 The Empire and the Pearly Gates
2 The Baptist Highland
3 Heirs of the New Faith
4 Some Converts are More Equal than Others
5 Exotic Natives No More
6 Legends, Mystics, and Converts
7 The Baptist Intellectuals
8 Pragmatists and Idealists
9 Guns, the Bible, and the Little Red Book
Conclusion: Naga Baptists 2.0
Bibliography
Index
Illustrations and Maps

Illustrations
1 Baptist choir comprising women from various Naga communities performing during the NBCC Platinum Jubilee, April 2012. The Nagas’ love for music found new expression in the hymnal singing and choral tradition of the new faith. Courtesy DIPR .
2 Molungyimsen village, late 1870s. E.W. Clark, known as an “apostle to the head-hunters”, started the village for followers of the new faith in 1876. Courtesy ABAM .
3 The Naga Hills district headquarters, Kohima, during the British period. This sleepy little town would become a centre of American Baptist mission activity starting from 1881. Courtesy DIPR .
4 Rev. and Mrs S.W. Rivenburg. A successful medical missionary in Kohima, Rivenburg worked with Ronald Ross in Calcutta on Ross’ landmark research on malaria. Rivenburg was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind for his public service. Courtesy ABAM .
5 Sumi Naga believers and evangelists during the Baptist conference, c. 1942. Considered more warlike than the “warmongering” eastern Naga tribes in the British unadministered region, the Sumi Baptists became actively involved in evangelism after their conversion. Courtesy SBAK .
6 A play on headhunting being performed during the NBCC Platinum Jubilee celebrations, April 2012. Naga Baptists generally represent the pre- and post- Christian eras through the popular imagery of “darkness and light”. Courtesy DIPR .
7 Panshong morung (bachelor’s dormitory) in Wanching showing a wood carving of a modern man with a Bible alongside traditional motifs. Photo by the author .
8 A miniature morung with a painting of Jesus Christ stands next to an uninhabited traditional morung in Changway khel , Monyakshu village .
9 Rani Gaidinliu meeting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi, c. 1983. Courtesy DIPR .
10 Rev. J. Tanquist, a gifted translator (front, right), and Rev. G.W. Supplee, considered the most musically gifted missionary (back, left), with Angami evangelists and converts at the Kohima mission station, c. 1930. Courtesy NBCC .
11 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, president of India, arrives in Kohima in 1 December 1963 to inaugurate the state of Nagaland. He is flanked by Vishnu Sahay, first governor, and P. Shilu Ao, first chief minister of Nagaland. Courtesy DIPR .
12 T. Aliba Imti, the first NNC president, 1947–8. Courtesy DIPR .
13 A.Z. Phizo, the fourth NNC president, 1950–90. Courtesy DIPR .
14 T. Sakhrie, the first NNC secretary, 1946–55. Photo: Khilhu Sakhrie
15 J.B. Jasokie, chief minister of Nagaland, welcoming L.P. Singh, governor of the state. Jasokie, former information secretary of the NNC, parted ways with the Phizo-led NNC and went on to become chief minister. Courtesy DIPR .
16 The Naga political drama witnessed the involvement of some illustrious personalities, attempting a peaceful solution: (Left) Rev. Michael Scott, A. Kevichusa, and B.P. Chaliha; (Right) B.P. Chaliha, Rev. Michael Scott, and JP (Jayaprakash Narayan). Courtesy NBCC .
17 Rajiv Gandhi on a visit to Nagaland, October 1987. He inherited the vexing Naga political problem from his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru and mother Indira Gandhi. Courtesy DIPR .
18 Rano Shaiza, the first Naga woman to be elected Member of Parliament. Courtesy DIPR .
19 Khrieleno Theruja, a noted Baptist educationist and the first Naga woman to hold a bachelor’s degree in divinity. Courtesy NBCC .
20 Naga women taking out a peace procession in Kohima organised by the NBCC in February 1996, a year before the ceasefire agreement between the Naga political groups and the Government of India. Courtesy NBCC .
21 From left to right: Mowu Gwizan, Khodao Yanthan, Kaito Sukhai, Yongkong, Ursula Graham Betts, 1962. The four Naga leaders were detained at London airport and later released by the Home Office. Courtesy DIPR .
22 Rev. Yankey Patton, the first chaplain in the NNC-Federal government. Courtesy NBCC .
23 NSCN (IM) leaders Thuingaleng Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu. The two Chinese-trained Naga leaders gave a second lease of life to the Naga armed struggle from the Myanmar jungles in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Courtesy DIPR .
24 Kushe, an itinerant preacher and prophet whose son, Isak Chishi Swu, followed in his footsteps, mixing evangelism with ethnonationalism. Courtesy NBCC .
Maps
1 American Baptist Mission Stations by 1955
2 District-wise Location of Sixteen Tribes of Nagaland
3 Divisions of Assam Showing Important Places in American Baptist Mission History
4 American Baptist Mission Stations 1836–2000
Abbreviations

ABAM Ao Baptist Arogo Mundang (Ao Baptist churches’ association)
ABCC Angami Baptist Church Council
ABMU American Baptist Missionary Union
BJP Bharatiya Janata Party
CBCA Council of Baptist Churches of Assam
CBCC Chakhesang Baptist Church Council
CBLT Chang Baptist Lashong Thangyen (Chang Baptist churches’ association)
CNC Council of Nagalim Churches
CPB Communist Party of Burma
CRBC Council of Rengma Baptist Churches
CRC Christian Revival Church
DIPR Department of Information and Public Relations
FGN Federal Government of Nagaland
GPRN Government of the Peoples’ Republic of Nagalim
INC Indian National Congress
KBA Kuki Baptist Association
KBBB Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjum (Konyak Baptist churches’ association)
KBCA Khiamniungan Baptist Churches’ Association
KBES Kyong Baptist Ekhümkho Sanrhyutsü (Kyong Baptist churches’ association)
KCC Kuki Church Council
KLO Kamtapur Liberation Organisation
KSU Konyak Students’ Union
MBC Manipur Baptist Convention
NBCC Nagaland Baptist Church Council
NDFB National Democratic Front of Boroland
NEFA North-East Frontier Agency
NHDTC Naga Hills District Tribal Council
NHTA Naga Hills – Tuensang Area
NMA Naga Mothers’ Association
NMML Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
NNC Naga National Council
NSCN (IM) National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah)
NSCN (K) National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang)
NWF Naga Women’s Federation
PLA People’s Liberation Army
RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers’ Organisation)
SABAK Sumi Aphuyemi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu (Sumi ancestral villages Baptist churches’ association)
SBAK Sumi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu (Sumi Baptist churches’ association)
UNLFW United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia
ULFA United Liberation Front of Asom
USBLA United Sangtam Baptist Lithroti Ashimukhong (United Sangtam Baptist churches’ association)
VHP Vishva Hindu Parishad (Universal Hindu Council)
WSBAK Western Sumi Baptist Akukuhou Kuqhakulu (Western Sumi Baptist churches’ association)
YBBA Yimchunger Baptist Boru Amukhungta (Yimchunger Baptist churches’ association)
ZHA Zeliangrong Heraka Association
Acknowledgements

T HAT THIS BOOK is written in English speaks volumes of my Baptist mission heritage, which owes to the contributions of the Baptist fraternity around the world, past and present. A characteristic feature of the faithful – maintaining archives – has allowed a keen element of historicity to structure my narrative, despite arguments and ideas thematically organised that interrupt a broadly chronological flow.
My great debt is to all the Naga Baptist mission centres for rendering help and support. I owe an equally important debt to many Naga believers, some of whom I have kept anonymous, who have shared the stories and experiences which form one of the ethnographic foundations of this book.
From the commercial hub in Dimapur to remote villages across the international border, my Naga brethren have readily opened their homes to me. In particular, I am grateful to Niketu Iralu, Angh Keamang, Kethoser Kevichusa, Philip Imti, Avuli Chishi, Visakhonü Hibo, and Revds Atsi Dolie, Zelhou Keyho, Joshua Rochill, John Ovung, Tajung Jamir, Sangkap Chang, and Yamyap Konyak.
I owe a great debt to Ramachandra Guha, who patiently read my drafts and gave me invaluable ins