Photo Essay
G. Kanato Chophy
The Nagas, a congeries of tribes inhabiting the Indo-Myanmar upland, burst into the scene in the colonial history in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Deemed as ‘wild’ and ‘primitive’ race, the Naga tribes piqued the curiosity of the European audience due to their colourful attires, headhunting practices, magico-religious beliefs and incorrigible independent streak. In 1947, the British Raj relinquished its control of the Naga Hills of District of Assam, but left behind an indelible mark on the Nagas’ socio-political life in the post-independence period. The colonial writings of British military personnel and administrator-scholars played an important role in the portrayal of the Naga tribes in academia and popular imagination. With the redrawing of boundaries in the postcolonial period, the Nagas became divided in India’s north-east states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya, and Sagaing region in north-western Myanmar.
Courtesy DIPR.
Arguably, there is no region in the world as in the Naga Hills where Protestant missions have had such far-reaching effect on the ethnic and cultural identity of the inhabitants. In combination with British rule, the American Baptist mission fast-tracked modernization process among the Nagas, but this came at a cost of an intractable culture war in post-independence India, with diverse faiths and political beliefs. The Naga oral tradition and Baptist mission archives reveal that the missionaries had varying attitudes towards the Naga traditional culture; there were disagreements among the missionaries themselves on the matter of changing the cultural practices of the Naga converts. But as seen among the students of the Impur Mission School dressed in the clothes of plainsmen (c. 1898), the charges of destroying traditional culture would come to haunt the Naga Baptist mission long after the foreign missionaries were gone.
Courtesy ABAM.
Sumi Naga believers with Rev. Slander during an annual Baptist conference, c. 1953 (courtesy SBAK)
The Naga faithful, following the Baptist brand of Protestantism, never made patron saint out of the American missionaries, since this would tantamount to heresy in light of the Baptist doctrines. Nevertheless the admiration and reverence for the pioneering missionaries remains exceptional among the Naga Baptists. Personal faith in Jesus Christ became pivotal to the Naga world that no “highbrow” theories, critical of Christian missions, that emerged mostly from premier universities in the West, and which became pervasive in former colonies, could tear asunder.
Naga students in Kohima Government High School, c.1968 (courtesy DIPR)
Schools formed the vanguard of the American Baptist mission, imparting reading and writing skills to the Naga tribes while driving home religious ideas. In the early days of colonial contact the British considered the Nagas to be a quintessence of “primitive” race, but modern education kickstarted by the Baptist mission empowered the Nagas. Education became a powerful tool for the Nagas to articulate their political ideas and carve a space for themselves in modern India. Armed with modern education the Nagas outpaced fellow Indian tribes in other parts of the country in their struggle for rights and dignity.