By H H Mohrmen
Articles published in the Shillong Times which have sparked so much debate were the series of two articles by Fabian Lyngdoh on the subject of the traditional religion of Niamtre/Niam Khasi in Meghalaya. Many of the writers have rightly said that ka Niamtre/Niam Khasi are religions at the clan level only. They seem to suggest that since they are religions based on clans they cannot be called organized religions and should remain so. The other proposition is that since the Khasi- Pnar religions are basically clan-based religions they do not fall in the category of religion. Fabian Lyngdoh also used the common definition that since there is no unity in God-head in the traditional religion they cannot be called religion because unlike other organized religions they have no mediator to mediate between the believers and God.
Lets us begin by looking at the most popular religion in the state and ask ourselves how Christianity began? Did the immediate followers of Jesus Christ have the same theology? Did they follow the same scripture or for that matter the same gospels? Students of the history of early Christian period know that the early Christian Churches were as varied as Christianity is now and they even used various gospels most of which were rejected when the scripture were finally canonized. The examples of these ancient gospels which escaped destruction were in the Dead Sea scroll discovered near Qumran and the Gnostic text which include the gospel according to Thomas at Nag Hammadi.
The New Testament canon developed, or evolved, over the course of the first 250-300 years of Christian history. Although the exact list of New Testament documents was confirmed at the third Synod of Carthage (397 CE/AD), and the 27 New Testament documents was agreed upon by most of the church, but before that, different churches used many different gospels which were rejected when the Book was canonized. And even after that the different Christian churches do not agree on the content of the holy scriptures, therefore the Bible sanctioned by the Catholic Church contains seven more Books than those used by other Christian denominations and the for that matter the Bible used by Christian Orthodox Church is different from the two.
Even if one only takes the creation of the Bible into consideration it is clear that Christianity was founded on the basis that Judaism is that which is old and Christianity is that which is new. In the making of the Bible the hidden message is that the holy scripture of the former predicted the arrival of the messiah of the latter. Therefore the Christian Bible purposely uses the Hebrew Bible as the first part of the church’s Holy Scripture and called it the Old Testament whereas the Christian scripture developed in the early Christian period or after the death of Jesus Christ is called the New Testament.
The Old Testament which is the first section of the two-part Christian Biblical canon includes the books of the Hebrew Bible and in various Christian denominations it also includes the deuteron-canonical books. Protestant Old Testament consists of the same books as the Hebrew Bible, but the order and division of the books are different. Protestants number the Old Testament books at 39, while Judaism numbers the same books as 24. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_the_Old_Testament_ canon)
It also took a long time for the Church to agree upon its doctrine and in fact it had to meet in seven councils starting from the council of Nicaea in 325 CE when the relation of the son and the father was debated. The council of Nicaea drew up a creed, the original Nicene Creed, which was almost unanimously supported. The Council’s description of “God’s only-begotten Son,” Jesus Christ, as of the same substance with God the Father became the foundation of Christian Trinitarianism. The Council was convened to address the issue raised by the Arians in which Emperor Constantine tried to reconcile Arius (the person after whom Arianism is named) with the Church. Arius’s main argument was the son is divine yet he is different from the father who begat and preceded the son. The controversy continued even after Arius died in 336, with various separate groups espousing Arian principle in one way or another. In 359, a double council of Eastern and Western bishops affirmed a formula stating that the Father and the Son were similar in accord with the scriptures, which was a victory for Arianism. But the opponents of Arianism rallied, and the First Council of Constantinople in 381 marked the final victory of Nicene orthodoxy within the Empire, though Arianism had by then spread to the Germanic tribes, among whom it gradually disappeared after the conversion of the Franks to Christianity in 496. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_seven_Ecumenical_Councils). It was only in 787 CE that the last council of the church also known as the second council of Nicaea was held in the city.
In one of the articles it was also said “the fundamental basis of all religions is the relationship between human beings and God through the intercession of immediate spirits with personal names.” It implied that since the Khasi and Pnar do not have an intermediary to intercede between man and God hence they do not fit in the definition of a religion. The author had even cited Jesus being the intermediary between the Christians and God as an example. But the gospel also recorded that Jesus too prayed during his time and the question arises as to who mediates between Jesus and God then? Or in other words what was the intermediary that Jesus used for his prayer to reach God? For argument’s sake we can say that since Jesus is also part of the holy trinity so he did not need any intermediaries, but questions arise as to how Jesus taught his followers to pray. In all the two version of the Lord’s prayer there is no mention of any intermediary. The Lord’s prayer is one example that the followers were taught to pray to God the father without any intermediary. The gospel writers also recorded that Jesus said that ‘he who worships God should worship Him in spirit and in truth.’
Not only Christianity evolves, even the holy book of the church was the outcome of the process that evolves with time, so why should Niam Khasi or Niam Tre not evolve and move on from the religion at the clan level to an organized religion? Who is to decide that they cannot organize themselves into Seng Khasi and Sein Raij respectively? It is said that ‘there is only one thing that is permanent in the world and that is change,’ I hope Seng Khasi and Sein Raij continue and also write and document the various aspects of their religion and share our story with the world. They should progress the way they want to and they are the best people to decide the way ahead for the Niamtre and Niam Khasi.
People may define religion by using certain yardsticks and try to fit Seng Khasi or Sein Raij into certain compartment – that is fine. But if the Seng Khasi or Sein Raij does not fit in the certain benchmarks people try to fit them, that in my opinion is not their problem. The Seng Khasi or Sein Raij should not bother about that because if the definition does not include their way of belief then it is the definition which is flawed. They worship U Blei Trai Kynrad or U Blai Tre Kirod without any intermediaries and they don’t have to invent an intermediary to fit in the definition because definitions are made to define religion and not otherwise. The members of Seng Khasi or Sein Raij have every right to continue to practice their religion as they understand it and should move on in the direction they wish to and no power on earth can stop them from deciding what they think is right and good for their community.
If we want an inclusive definition of religion we should go to the root of the word religion itself. The word religion originated from the Latin word ‘religare’ which means ‘that which binds together’ and the Seng Khasi and Sein Raij fit perfectly well in the original meaning of the word. What are Seng Khasi and Sein Raij but organizations that bind together the clan religion in Khasi and Jaintia hills into one entity. The adherents of the clan religion decided to establish a platform that will helps the followers of the religion to come together and decide their own future course of action and for them that is religion. Period.