Darlong Khawrua

Short Account of Christianity in Tripura The religious history of Tripura all through the ages has been dominated by Hinduism, although different communities inhabiting the state had their own belief system. It is one of the eight states of North East India with only 10,491.69 sq. km. of area. It shared international bounders with Bangladesh on the north, west, south and southeast, and adjoins the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the north and east. It existed as a princely state ruled from approximately 1400 to 1948 by the Manikyas dynasty and was later merged to Indian Union on 15 th October 1949 as a group C-Category state. It eventually became a union territory on July 1, 1963 and a full-fledged state on 21 st January 1972. Hence, history alone has been a witness to the spread of different religious faith throughout the state. In one sense, the reason behind the sudden outcome of many new religious faith can be well attributed to the social upheaval as Hinduism became

Year            Book Language       Reading tribe 1920 The Book of Mark Hmar Hmar and other Kuki communities 1929 New Testament Lushai Mizo, Darlong and others   1946 New Testament Hmar Hmar   and other Kuki communities 1945 The Book of Mark Reang Kaubru speaking group   1959 Holy Bible Lushai Mizo, Darlong and others   1976 New Testament Kokborok Debbarma, Reang, Jamatia, and others   1966 New Testament Reang Kaubru speaking group 1968 Holy Bible Hmar Hmar and Darlong 1957 New Testament Vaiphei Vaphei 1984 The Book of Mark Darlong Darlong and few Hallam community 1987 New Test

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY IN DARLONG VILLAGES                With the foundation of North Eastern India General Mission in the year 1924, emissaries were sent to different villages starting from Darchawi which was and is the centre of Christian policy formulation. Apart from Sȃidȃra Village, there were many villages that strongly opposed Christianity yet succumbed to it. In the year 1923, a missionary, under the supervision of Jampui Presbytery landed in a village called Ṭlângte Khua also known as Tualsungi Lungdaw Ṭlȃng. During the time, the village was under the rule of Ngursailiana with forty families inclusive of few Christian converts who escaped from Sȃidȃra Village. However, the Christians could not settle at the village for a long period of time. Ngursailiana was a pro-Christian. Thus, the villagers who were deadly against the new belief parted with their chief resulting in the formation of new villages such as Bero Billage also known as Chuaithuama Village consistin

Appellation of the term Darlong                The Darlong tribesmen and women call themselves Hriâm which literally mean human. It is interesting to note that many tribal communities in Tripura identify themselves by different appellation. As such, Kokborok speaking communities called themselves Borok or Twiprasa , the Reang as Bru , the Garos as Achikmandi and others, all meaning human. The identification is a manifestation of ethnocentrism and a significant characteristic of all men on earth. The mental phenomena can be credited to the contentment of a tribe with its own culture and heritage that they comfortably used to reduce the other as non-human or semi-human and something other than themselves. The Darlong, in the process, used the term Miluk Milȃi , to refer the other tribal group having a slight connotation of despise in it.             The Darlong have not less than a dozen of interpretations on the origin of the appellation Darlong. One interpretation has the

The Kuki-Chin-Mizo and Darlong Relationsnhip              In literature, the term Kuki first appeared in the writings of Rawlins when he wrote about the tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. By the term Kuki , Rawlins meant to refer to a wild tribe comprising of numerous clans sharing a common past, customs and traditions. On the other hand, the origin of the term Chin was uncertain. However, the British administrators applied the compound term, Kuki-Chin-Mizo to classify groups of ethnic tribes sharing commonality in language and physical features. The close ethnicity is proved by the peculiarity that though variations in dialects exist, the Zo people unlike other tribes can conversed with one another in their respective dialects with comprehension. Secondly, the dress code, lifestyle, appearance, passion and other emotions can hardly be distinguished. Thirdly, the observance of harvest festival ( Kût ) celebrating the joyous spirit of oneness essential in bringing about bles