Conclusion
Human societies are governed by codes established professedly for ascertaining healthy living conditions for the citizens. However, one cannot deny the workings of power equations in determining the workings of the socio-religious, economic, and political structures within a society and the nature of folk beliefs upheld by the people.
The social and religious discourse of the Naga society prior to the advent of Christianity was rooted in the indigenous religious faiths and the people followed such beliefs by attributing truth value to them. However, the advent of Christianity changed the nature of such beliefs and the new religious discourse advocated that what the people believed to be truth earlier cannot be deemed to be of socio-religious utility anymore and only beliefs professed and advocated by the Christian faith have truth value. So, what was belief suddenly turned to superstition and certain new aspects got the recognition of being logical beliefs. There is a fine divide between ‘superstition’ and a rational ‘belief’. It is pertinent to trace where and how a belief becomes superstition. The change in individual/social perception regarding an incident, phenomenon, or object leads to such a transformation, but the creation of truth is dependent on the notions of knowledge and power which complement each other to create truth which is again strongly rooted in the existence of a strong social hierarchy. For Nagas, the Bible became the source of knowledge and church the agency for disseminating such knowledge in the society. The power shifted from the community to the church. This shows the working of power structures on determining the dynamics of the creation of truth. Foucault opines, as has been discussed, that the nature of power which functions in the contemporary societies is disciplinary power and it is the act of disciplining that leads to establishment of the dominant discourse as the centre and basis of folk beliefs and its acceptance at the cost of peripheral discourses. Easterine Kire is deeply conscious of the changes gradually seeping into the socio-cultural and religious lives of the people in the Naga Hills with the increase in interaction with plainsmen and the imperial powers alongside the spread of Christianity. Whereas the religious faith of the people gradually transformed so much so that Nagaland is a predominantly Christian state now, but the beliefs and cultural practices of the preChristian era continue to remain relevant among the people to the extent of determining the contours of Naga identity, might be with changes induced by political, economic, and socio-religious circumstances. The post-colonial concept of hybridity stresses that in the context of race and ethnicity the term “is used to describe the newly composed, mixed or contradictory identities” (Brooker 2017:143). In the Naga context it’s a new religious identity that the people got by identifying themselves with the new religion, but as things stand today considerable folk beliefs of the pre-Christian era exist along with the beliefs and practices that Christianity brought with it and this co-existence of the two worlds shape the contemporary Naga folk life and belief. Of course, the traditional beliefs and practices no more belong to religious worldview; rather they are socio-cultural aspects of life.Notes
1 Easterine Kire and Eaterine Iralu are the same person. Other than A Terrible Matriarchy (author name: Easterine Iralu) all the other works taken up for discussion have been published with Easterine Kire as the author name.
2 The focus in above paragraph is on functionality of oral tradition and its status in response to changing dynamics. The issue is theoretically explained following Malinowski’s functionalism with reference to myth and its limitations in changing situation in Doye (2018:90-92 & 210).
3 The battle of Khonoma, fought between the Nagas and the British forces ended 1880, is said to be the last major encounter between the two sides and the Nagas were greatly subdued after that as the Nagas were “besieged for about four months and starved out” (Chasie & Hazarika 2009:2).
4 Tenyimia is a grouping of ten fraternal Naga tribes which believe in a shared ancestry. The tribes are: Angami, Chakhesang, Rengma, Zeliangrong, Poumai, Inpui, Maram, Memei, Thangal and Pochury.
5 Genna is taboo associated with activities in the Naga society. It is believed that performing certain restricted activities during genna days brings bad luck.
6.5
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