Traditional Religious Belief System And Practices of Monsang (Sirti) Nagas Of Manipur
| Authors |
| W. Somie Monsang & H. Suraj Singh |
| Date of Publication: December, 2024 |
| Volume: XXIII, No.- XXVI |
| Abstract |
| This paper attempts to explore the traditional religious beliefs and practices of lesser-known communities named Monsang (Sirti) Nagas. The Monsang (Sirti) Nagas is a minority tribe even among the Naga fold, and is designated as one of the endangered communities of Manipur. The earth and its natural inhabitants are considered part of the sacred world in Monsang cosmology and its social topography. Their close relationship with the natural environment occupies an important space in their traditional belief systems. Certain specific forests, mountains, hills, hillocks, streams, springs, rivers, lakes, and brooks, within the Monsang country/region were considered the abodes of spirits and deities. The appeal to such landscape-associated spirits and deities was central to the larger wellbeing of the traditional Monsang community. The traditional practices of burning forests for dry rice cultivation, harvest rites, belief in life-afterdeath, and the feast-of-death occupy important religious aspects of pre Christian Monsang Naga society. The traditional village priest/shaman known as ‘Etthim’ before conversion to Christianity holds important religious position. Due to the paucity of research on the community, the pre-Christian religious historicity of Monsang society has not been adequately studied from a secular or theological perspective. The Monsang community is arguably one of the least studied by scholars and academics by virtue of its small population. In a nutshell, this paper attempts to study the pre-Christian Monsang Naga society in relation to their cosmology, God, spirits, rites, rituals, and feasts, by using an ethno-historical research strategy. This research method involves correlating oral traditions with historical sources (colonial and post- colonial periods). The use of oral tradition as a tool to reconstruct the history of people without written accounts is also very pertinent in the context of Monsang Nagas. |
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