Abstract
Mizoram is one of the seven states of northeast India. It is flanked by Manipur, Assam and Tripura states of India and shares International border with Myanmar and Bangladesh. In pre-colonial times the various nomenclatures were used for the tribes inhabiting the area known as Mizoram today. They were variously known as ‘Kuki’, ‘Chin’ and ‘Lushai’. The British annexed this area in 1890. The Christian missionaries started coming to this land since 1894. All over the world, transforming indigenous cultures had been an agenda central to colonial domination. In ‘civilizing’ the tribes of Northeast India the agendas of both the colonialists as well the Christian missionaries synchronized. Traditional Feasts and Feasting Practices became the site of this civilizing mission. The feasts formed an important aspect of Mizo world. The missionaries as well as the colonial officials failed to comprehend why these societies had been wasting their resources through hosting lavish feasts. These feasts adversely affected revenues and were simply viewed as irrational wasteful behaviors. The missionaries condemned these practices since these interfered with their hegemonic agenda. The missionaries were successful in their attempt to ban these practices specifically among those who embraced new faith. This paper is an humble attempt to study this aspect of cultural history of Mizoram. The research is based both on archival as well as oral sources.
Presenters
Jagdish Lal DawarRetired Professor, History and Ethnography, Mizoram University, Haryana, India
