By - Reshma Rekhung
Introduction ‘Rangfraa’ literally means “God i.e. the supreme spirit of being, which is absolute, autonomous, self-effulgent, all-pervading and all-transcending in nature”. The name of God 'Rangfraa' itself is a combination of two words. i.e. 'Rang’ and ‘Fraa'. These two words represent the two different aspects of God. Rang is the divine power or the will that operates the whole universe, hence the objective aspect of God. And 'Fraa' is the subjective aspect which is the symbol of "love, compassion, wisdom, peace, tolerance, forgiveness, sacrifice, etc". According to the Holy textbook of Rangfraism “The Great Third Coming of Rangfraa”, Rangfraism is theistic but very different from other theistic religions due to the concept of 'Eternal Gap’; the gap between the known and the unknown, satisfaction and dissatisfaction, perfection and imperfection and ultimately Man and God. It may be viewed as the difference between potentialities or intensities. The religion is monistic as it holds the view that different things in this universe are the manifestations of the same reality in different modes and patterns and it has to retreat and dissolve into the same source from which it emanated i.e Rangfraa, which is imminent and autonomous in itself.
Rangfraism is one of the important indigenous religion which started its movement around the late 90’s in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. It plays an important role in Tangsa as well as the Tutsa community. Tangsa and Tutsa are the predominant communities residing in the Patkai hills in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Even though Rangfraism is widely practiced in other communities such as Tutsa, Nocte, Wancho, Mishmi, and some Tani groups of the state, the article specifically discusses the Rangfraism practiced in the Tangsa community. Tangsa people are an indigenous ethnic group of Arunachal Pradesh and consists of around 30 different sub-tribes. Few of the Tangsa population are scattered in neighboring areas especially in Margherita sub-division of Tinsukia in Assam and Sagaing region and parts of Kachin State in Myanmar. Thirty different sub-tribes are put into two groups namely Pangwa and Non-Pangwa based on their common ancestry. Pangwa group are those sub-tribes who sing a particular cycle of ritual and historical songs, called the “Wihu Song” or “Sahwi Song”. They trace their ancestry from one common parent. Non- Pangwa groups are those groups who do not sing this Sahwi song. Rangfraism is a dominant religion among Non-Pangwa such as Muklom, Longchang, Ponthai, Tikhak, and Havi sub-tribes of Tangsa while the majority of Pangwa sub-tribes are Christians now.
Rangfraism is not a newly founded religion but its origin is grounded in the indigenous and traditional faith of the land, their ancestors’ faith that was animistic and shamanistic, involving animal sacrifice. The idol of Rangfraa is designed based on the depiction given in the Tangsa Mythology and the source for this Rangfraa Mythology is the folklore of the tribe. In Muklom sub-tribe, the myth of Rangfraa is sung through Runhun song, especially during the Moh-Mol festival, celebrated annually in the month of April-May. The mythology of Rangfraa dates back to time immemorial. Generally, elders of the Tangsa community pass the myth orally to its younger generation through folksongs or folktales. Muklom referred to God as “Chengwa” in the Ruhun song rather than Rangfraa because the source from which the myth is derived is sung in old Tangsa language which is different from the present day Tangsa language.
Rangfraa as Chengwa in Tangsa Mythology
According to Tangsa’s mythology "Once in an unknown past, Rangfraa appeared on earth as 'Fraa' amidst those lost races, in the disguise of a guest, poor and a sick old man from the unknown origin for the safe-guard of the innocents and to annihilate the sinners". Some narration of the myth says that the old man who looked dirty, poor and sick, wore a bunch of paddy on his right ear and earthworms on his left ear, holding a one edged spear, wearing only a lungi, once came to earth to ask for fine (khotuk thang, a fine in the form of cash or kind imposed on a person by the bereaved family, when the person kills someone from their family) imposed on his son-in-law for he has murdered the old man’s daughter. He tried to climb every house in the village but was not allowed inside even by a single house giving different excuses. Some said the head of the family went to the paddy field, some said they had conducted a ritualistic offering (which prohibits people to enter the house for three days), and so on. Only the orphan siblings, who were extremely poor allowed him to enter their house. When the old man asked them whether they would allow him to enter their house or they were also observing some kind of rituals, they said “starvation and hunger” were the only things they would restrict to enter their house. Later, when the old man saw that the orphan siblings were extremely poor and did not have enough food to eat to fill their bellies he asked them to open a mat and there he poured out uncountable varieties of cereals from one ear and uncountable varieties of vegetable, seeds and tubers from the other. In this way, it is believed that all the food grains, vegetables, tubers, and any other edible plants were also his gifts. When he went to ask for his daughter's murder fine from his son-in-law, his son-in-law too was poor and could not pay him the money. So, he told his father-in-law to wait until he returns after collecting some amount from somebody. But in reality, he played a trick on his back. Instead, he collected piles of rubbish under the house and burned it due to which even the heaven went up very high (actually here heaven means the world of gods and divine beings) that was very near to the earth before this incident. Therefore, the old man got extremely angry and wanted to punish him for his mischief. Besides, he also observed that humanity was gone from the earth because people became hypocritical, greedy, and rude. There was no compassion in them for the poor, the old, the sick and they even did not want to welcome guests who instead should be served well. Only the orphan siblings were the one who was compassionate and caring towards the old, sick, poor, and the guests. Therefore, Chengwa told them that he will annihilate the sinners on the earth after a few days through an Apocalypse where no human will be left on the earth except the orphan siblings. So, he gave them a knife and two different types of birds (woshukchal, wokhit, and naabkhiyaak [wild banana leaf]) to use during the apocalypse. He advised the orphan siblings to dig a pit under the Bamboo plant where they will be hiding while an apocalypse will occur. After finishing digging the pit, he asked them to give him a signal by showing the opposite side of the wild banana leaf towards the sky (leaf has powdery white color on the opposite side). They dug the ground as asked by Chengwa continuously for a few days. The villagers saw them and bullied them, laughed, and made fun of the siblings while they were digging the ground. But the orphan siblings did not pay attention to any of their rude comments and continued digging and eventually completed it. They gave the signal by turning the banana leaf to the Chengwa. He came and told them that the bird (woshukchal) will sing before the apocalypse occurs. So, they should hurry and enter the pit on the ground with essential items and should not come out until the other bird (wokhit) sings. That evening, the woshukchal bird sang so they hurried quickly to the pit. The apocalypse started and continued throughout that night. The weather turned dark and gloomy. There was thunder and lightening along with storm. Heavy rainfall started along with hailstone. The hailstone was huge like a boulder and rocks fell on every human being on the earth and some of them were also killed by it. The mountains and hills, the plains and river, everything turned upside down which killed and annihilated every living creature on earth. This phenomenon continued until the next morning. The next morning, the other bird sang and then they came out. Later, they saw that everything including hills, mountains, rivers, trees, turned upside down, and not even a single human being was left on earth except them. In the later part of the myth, the story continued where it is told that they were the progenitor of all the human beings present on earth today. In this way, sinners were annihilated from the earth and humanity restored.
How the abstract idea of Rangfraa/Chengwa was concretized into Idolatry
So Rangfraa is the same old man who came to earth once in an unknown past known as Chengwa in Tangsas’ old language. But he was only in the minds of Tangsas and was worshipped only through an individual prayer made to him in times of adversity and diseases. Peoples' faith was not strong enough because of no proper prayer and worship system. A proper and systematic institutionalized religion was needed to intensify the faith of people. Also, not all but few traditional practices were based on superstition rather than logic and reasoning in Tangsa’s society which also added to the weakening of people's faith in the indigenous practices.
Shamanism and Superstition before Rangfraa Movement
Amidst cultural and traditional rituals which are performed for the interest of all living beings including both human beings as well as flora and fauna, the vast Tangsa traditional belief also included Shamanism. This included a sacrificial ritual called Tinghun to cure individual illnesses and diseases. It was performed by a Shaman called Tingwa/Tumsa/Samaal/Shamma, etc. by different sub-tribes of Tangsa. The Tingwa would himself perform the divination and recommend the patient about which Tinghun should be performed to cure the patient. Different types of Tinghun were meant for different types of diseases and it would also involve sacrificing different types of animals such as fowl, piglets/pig, cow, or buffaloes. The sacrifice was made to the evil spirit that they believed to be the one responsible for their illness and diseases. This chain of appeasement never ended after performing tinghun once or twice but was required to perform again and again. When the Tingwa was satisfied that he had performed the ritual properly then only some minor illness would be cured but in times when he felt some mistakes were made during the tinghun, the sick person would fall ill again after the tinghun also. Generally, light sickness such as stomach ache, headache, and body pain was cured by tinghun in certain cases rather than curing severe diseases like cancer, tumor, TB, leprosy, and so on. So, to some extend Tangsa's traditional faith was partially Shamanistic.
Besides Shamanism, Tangsa used to believe that some natural phenomenon are caused by either God or by evil spirits. Natural phenomena like striking of house, tree, paddy field, or any other animate or inanimate objects by lightning, the birth of twin babies, stillborn babies, death by accidents, fire, suicide, homicide, death during pregnancy and so on were seen as abnormal. So, when lightning strucks on any movable or immovable property, they used to abandon it thinking that God does not want the proprietor to own those properties. Likewise, Muklom believed the birth of twin babies to be inauspicious and bad omen for the parents of the twins or the whole family. Here also they thought that if human beings normally give birth to one child, how is it possible that two babies are born in rare cases. So, it was seen as abnormal and thought it to be the deeds of evil spirits or ghosts. Thus, they would not raise such babies. But some of the Pangwa group would raise twin babies. They too followed certain taboos in case of stillborn babies. Fear was strong enough in people's minds in case if a person dies an accidental death, death during delivery of a child or a pregnant lady, etc. Several taboos were observed during such type of untimely and unnatural death. They thought that such type of people's soul turns into an evil spirit called Souja, which causes illness, and sufferings in human life.
It is very rare in the history of mankind that any civilization must have existed without any superstitious practices. Superstitious beliefs and practices are an unavoidable part of a pre-scientific society. It is born out of ignorance, illiteracy, and lack of scientific knowledge. In a pre-scientific society, almost all the continents have been the homes of superstitions. Superstition is the imagination and belief sprung out from one's intuition of the unknown and the unseen.
A Chain of Proselytization
The traditional superstitious practices required substantial wealth along with manpower and besides, it did not cure people completely of their diseases. But still, it was the only hope for the people to seek cure as there was rarely any primary health care center or any dispensary. Therefore, people started looking for other alternative which would cure them in fewer expenses. Especially in the case of those who had undergone such problems. In such perfect timing Christian missionaries, those who came from outside acknowledged the situation of the community and started manipulating their minds. They told the simple-minded and innocent people that they were worshiping Satan and Satan will not allow these people to stop practicing ritualistic sacrifices and observing taboos until and unless they convert to the Christian religion as embracing Jesus Christ alone can save them from damnation. So, for the poor Tangsa man, who could not afford to go to a hospital in a neighboring state and who could not afford to perform such ritualistic offerings thought it reasonable to convert. But in fact, they were unknowingly doing this at the cost of their cultural identity, especially of their future generations. They also thought that conversion would save them from the evil spirits that they used to appease before. The other problem in Tangsa society is the problem of kin. When a person is in need and in time of difficulties the closest people who would support or help them will be his family members. The society also helps them when they are in dire need and grief but consanguine kin is the closest among all. Therefore, sometimes a person whose family members have already converted will automatically follow them.
Conversion will not be considered as immoral until and unless it becomes a cause for one’s cultural degradation. It cannot be considered wrong as long as it works for the integration and unity of the people. It should integrate people into their culture and tradition which is the root and soul of a person. But here in the case of Tangsa, the conversion is the root cause of the cultural degradation of society. In the case of Tangsa people, conversion means not only changing one’s religious practices, rather it is a divergence from one’s tradition and culture.
The converted masses do not think it essential to perform and observe various other cultural festivals and rites of passage which is deeply rooted in Tangsa philosophy of life. What is wrong when Tangsa celebrates the Moh-Mol festival which marks the beginning of the year in the Tangsa traditional calendar? What is the problem if they participate in the celebration of the Chamtuk festival which is a welcome festival for the Goddess of paddy (Goddess of wealth and prosperity)? In fact, their philosophy shows deep respect and honor to mother earth and the nature around us. The nature from where we obtain everything is deeply revered and understood by Tangsa which underlies their festivals and rituals. Tangsa has several rituals and customs which are solely performed and observed for the well-being of the whole creation. There are certain traditions which strengthen the unity of the society too. In times when a person’s house is gutted by a fire, all the villagers, both men, and women irrespective of their age, clan or social designation come together to that person’s house bringing with them various food items, clothes, utensils and whatever essentials required for that family. Each household brings bamboo, palm leaves, and any other raw material requirements for building a house. All the male members get together in that very moment and bring timbers from the forest. All the villagers together build a house for that family and will finish it on the same day. This is the power of unity maintained by Tangsa's traditional culture. Another good example can be seen from the rituals called Shah Khoh Khib and Worang Khoh Khib(the term slightly differs in pronunciation of all the sub-tribes) which was performed by Tangsa in the traditional culture. This ritual is the best example of Tangsa’s philosophy which shows their understanding and respect for even an animal. The ritual is performed when a tiger or a lion is accidentally killed or knowingly killed by anyone from the village. It pays homage to the soul of the lion killed by singing a ritual song and arranging a grand feast. Such philosophy which values the life of all living-being plays an important role in the ecological balance too. So, if a couple of rituals are giving trouble to any person or any other living being, it does not mean that the whole Tangsa traditional and cultural system is harming or disturbing others.
So, I believe instead of manipulating people to convert and completely abandon their valuable traditional culture, any respectable religious group or person should encourage them to eradicate all those evil practices and to continue with their age-old indigenous faith. Conversion is not a necessary medium instead reformation by being in the same traditional faith is a must. Because here in the case of Tangsa conversion means not only changing one’s religious denomination but those who are converted find it meaningless in this type of traditional rituals and festivals. Also, after a large number of people converted after the 90s, society was socially and morally divided into two groups. The spirit of unity was broken in society. Those who were converted started obeying every command given to them by their religious institution and rarely participated in collective activities. For them celebrating their religious festivals became paramount and traditional festivals are no longer celebrated. Recounting the stories of their forefathers with pride is a matter of shame now. Instead telling the stories of their religious book is a matter of pride. Tangsa of the Changlang is now 59 % Christians according to 2011 religious' data. The Christians among the Tangsa have abnormally risen from 29 % in 1991 to 59 % in 2011 who were in indigenous faith and other religious groups earlier. The share of other religious groups had declined in the 2011 census. Among the sub-tribes of Tangsa Mossang sub-tribe is 93 % Christians. According to the Centre for Policy Studies, "Tangsa is perhaps the only community of Arunachal Pradesh that has converted from the Hindu religion at such an extensive level.” (Here Hindu word can be taken as indigenous religion of Tangsa)
Traditions and customs that are in continuity for several centuries are not just a mere fancy but it is the accumulation of the social and cultural experiences of the people of the respective community. It is our identity and cultural symbol which reflects our understanding of nature around us like a mirror. People after changing their religion altogether forget their culture. It is another matter that these days the young and literate generation have started realizing this reality that a person's identity lies in his tradition and culture and therefore started performing cultural programs and festivals and also try to drape themselves proudly in traditional attire during festivals or any grand cultural programs. But only speaking Tangsa language and only wearing Tangsa attire and ornaments do not prove the identity that you belong to Tangsa tribe. Anybody coming from another tribe or caste can also do the same if he/she is staying or has stayed several years in the Tangsa community. The soul of a person’s culture lies in whatever rites of passage he performs and whatever rituals and customs he performs similarly as his community, what festivals he celebrates, what history and folklore he identifies with, etc.
Rangfraa Movement and its impact on Tangsa community
Therefore, during the early 90s, there was an emerging interest to promote and preserve the indigenous faith in the community. A group of educated elders and youth from different sub-tribes of Tangsa came together and started a religious reform movement in Changlang district called Rangfraism. This religious reform movement tried to eradicate all the blind and superstitious beliefs practiced in the old traditional faith and promoted other cultural activities such as rites of passage of individual, festivals, folklore, and many other aspects of culture. It gave a new outlook to the cultural and religious dimensions in society. It took several decades to eradicate the evils and superstition in the community. As eradication from the community means eradication from the minds of previous generations and for that, a huge vigor was required. Therefore, it is more of a social reform movement than a religious movement.
The preaching about the Rangfraa faith started in the 90s by the pioneers and founders of the faith but the exact date is not clear. The Mingkayechu Mingyong Tangha of Bubang 2 village recounts the year 1997when the present Secretary-General of Rangfraa Faith Promotion Society, Er L. Khimhun used to visit his house while going for preaching religious lessons to remote villages of Changlang district. He said it was the time when only an abstract idea was formed of the Rangfraa Movement in the minds of some literate Tangsas. The concrete form of Rangfraism took its shape only after preaching the people for several years. The pioneers of Rangfraism conducted an art competition where different artists from various parts of Arunachal Pradesh were invited to participate in the competition. The story was narrated to the artists in the competition and asked to create an image of Chengwa from their imagination based on the features depicted in the mythology. The best amongst all the images, made by Chamin Rajkumari was chosen for idolatry. The Mingkeychu Mingjong Tangha said that here sometimes people have doubt and up to the extent that some of them even said that the image was of Er. L. Khimhun (the present General Secretary of RFPS) but the question of bias should not come here because the artist herself belong to the other community .i.e. Nocte Community rather than from Tangsa community (L. Khimhun himself is Tangsa). Following this, they planned the architectural design and systems of the temple to be built for the worship and services of Rangfraa. Because they thought that a proper institution would help to intensify people’s faith the first Rangsomhum (temple) was built in New Chingsa village in the year 1998 followed by Ngaichang village. Slowly and steadily temples were built in different villages of Tangsa community. There are around 86 temples in total now including the Rangfraa temple of Kanubari in Tirap district. In the beginning, Rangfraites worshiped the image of the almighty Rangfraa but later changed to idol worship. The idol was completed and brought on 27th October 1998 from the sculptor but they decided to install it on the 4th of November 1998 as it was a full moon day which is believed to be an auspicious day by Tangsa. From that year onwards every year on the full moon day, in November, it is celebrated as Rangfraa day for consecutive 3 days with cultural programs like folk songs, dances, dramas and games, and sports. Rangfraites of different age groups both male and female participate in this celebration and on the last day a feast is organized. Sunday is fixed as the service day when people of the respective villages would come to their temple and worship and pray Rangfraa together. Every year, 4th November is recognized as the day of Rangfraa’s arrival to the society in the form of idol worship. Later in the year 2007, Wednesdays and Saturdays were added to the service of God when Kayechu-Samaals system was conceived in Rangfraism. For the service of Rangfraa in every temple, a team of Rangfraites was assigned to different types of duties. Caretaker/Bellwala, Tamwa (the Priest), Preacher (Kayechu), Secretary, President, Preaching Secretary, and Women Secretary are the designations for which the Rangfraites are chosen both by God himself through Kayechu-Samaals or sometimes by the team members of the Rangfraa temple.
To abolish the superstitious practices in the Tangsa community first of all it was necessary to make the people believe that whatever they were practicing was based on superstition and not on logic or reasoning. Therefore, awareness was created through debates, discussions, and lectures at various camps and even in Rangfraa temples also. Throughout this Rangfraa movement, the community analyzed the right and wrong practices of their faith. The pioneers of the movement study all these social practices deeply and made the people aware of such practices. Er. L. Khimhun during an interview said, "We conveyed the message that if Pangwa communities raised twin babies and they do not suffer any bad consequences due to this act then why would we?" "On the contrary", he said "Pangwa communities were made to understand that if the Muklom community does not observe any taboos when stillborn babies are born and do not suffer any bad consequences due to this, why would you? If Muklom does not suffer despite not observing taboos when a stillborn baby is born then similarly you too would not suffer any misfortune or adversities." Regarding thunderbolt, he said that people were made aware by telling them that when other religious groups such as Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist, etc. eat the food harvested from a field struck by a thunderbolt but do not suffer as a consequence then why should Rangfraites fear to accept those properties struck by a thunderbolt? He told me that thunderbolt and lightning are natural phenomena just like rain, sunlight, and storm. So why should we think and fear and treat thunderbolt as something very different? Therefore, we should see it in the same way as we see rain and storm. In this way, logic and reasoning were used as a tool to make them understand the superstitious practices they observed, and eventually after the Rangfraa movement neither do they fear all these phenomena nor do they observe any taboos or perform any kind of superstitious practices.
The Mingkayechu of Bubang 1 said that as a social reform movement it took time to abolish the superstitious practices. It was not abandoned immediately but was done gradually and slowly. It took time for the people to accept the change and the superstitious beliefs could only have been replaced by instilling religious thoughts in them. “Wherever the temples were built the Rangfraites stopped practicing superstitious practices including Tinghun at that village”, says the Caretaker/Bellwalla (Bell Ringer). He said that the conceiving of the Kayechu-Samaals system marks the utter eradication of superstitious practices. He says that ‘at present time the Kayechu-Samaals give medicines by the power acquired from Rangfraa to cure illness and diseases, so the temple must be kept pure and clean’. Purity in Rangfraism is measured by maintaining purity in both physical and mental levels. Physical purity means one should not eat any non-veg food, addictive drugs (opium, cocaine, heroin, etc.), intoxicants like alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, or any other tobacco-based chewing items or any other thing that harms the body. Whereas mental purity means one should not have any violence both in action as well as in thought, jealousy, and hatred against anyone. Having the attributes of both physical and mental purity is the state of absolute purity.
Regarding the eradication of Tinghun Khimhun argues that "the basic concept of Rangfraism is that God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. If God is omnipresent, then there is no space left for the evil spirits which mean there is no jungban (evil spirits), hakho (evil spirits of a particular area), souja/sowin(evil spirits of people who died in an accident). If there are no evil spirits then to whom are we offering food, rice, rice beer, and animal's blood, and why are we offering?" According to him in Rangfraism, illness and suffering are caused by people's grudges and curses, not by the evil spirits. He states that fasting and prayer (Romtam) is the only way to nullify the curse and grudge. He says that grudge and curse turn into sin and sin can only be nullified by prayer because prayer means seeking blessings from God.
Samaal Vs Kayechu-Samaal and Rang Samaal
Samaal in Tangsa language is the term equivalent to ‘Shaman’. Shamanism was also a predominant part of the indigenous faith of the Tangsa community before the religious reformation began. In the Muklom community, there were four different types of Shaman. The first category was the most powerful of all three as they used to act as a conduit between the worlds of supernatural beings like the spirits and divine beings and ordinary human beings. They used to heal people by performing a ritual; not necessarily involving animal sacrifice. They would even perform miraculous acts like taking out a stone, impurities, and hair, etc. from the body of an ill person. In times if they will not follow the commands of their tutelary spirits, they would have to atone for their mistakes which sometimes would lead to physical damage of self like turning blind, dumb, deaf or crippled, and in some cases will even lead to their death. They were called Rangtuun-Samaal; meaning God-possessed Shaman. The second type of Shaman was used to perform sacrificial rituals to heal people. They were called Tingwa/Tamwa/Talwa who performed Tinghun; a sacrificial ritual involving animal sacrifice. They too performed divinations by telling which spirits have been disturbed by the patient and how the spirits should be appeased. They would sometimes perform divination for the whole village during festivals or while going for hunting.They act both as haruspex as well as a healer. The third type was those whose souls would traverse into the world of death. This Shaman used to travel to the world of death i.e. called 'Balim/ Honglowlom’ while sleeping especially when a person dies and his/her funeral pyres are still in fumes. For entering the state of a trance, she should have to eat some food cooked in the deceased’s house; a tradition called Wal-Naam, otherwise she would not be able to enter the state of trance. Her soul is believed to travel to the world of the death along with the deceased soul. While the Shaman and the deceased souls are together in the Balim, the deceased soul through the Shaman’s body as she is in trance, would answer the questions asked by the bereaved family, where sometimes the dues and debt taken by the deceased when alive, is also revealed to the bereaved family. This type of shaman still exists today but most of them avoid to go to the trance state due to their old age because when their soul travels to Balim they get extremely exhausted when they return to their original state. They are called Limphysamaal. The last category was Topo Samal who could neither heal nor could perform divinations but can only tell if an incident is going to happen in a person's life or the village just by referring to his/her dreams. They were good interpreters of a dream.
Shamanism has vanished two decades ago after Rangfraism evolved with new religious systems of worship and prayer. Now Kayechu-Samaals and Rang-Samaals are somewhat similar to shamans (Samaal) of the old indigenous faith but this system is purely based on divine possession of the human body rather than involving any evil spirits or any other kind of forest, land, and river or mountain spirits. They give oracles and also heal the ill and the diseased. Divine or spirit possession of the human body leading to the ecstatic state to convey any important messages and render service to mankind in the form of cure to both physical and mental illness and diseases is not uncommon in various communities of the world. The unique thing about these Samaals is that they perform miracles and also while healing a patient takes out impurities in the form of a live-moving worm and small tiny pebbles and impurities. All these impurities are taken out by sucking through their mouth. During my field visit, one of the Rang-Samaal, Homnem Tangha took out a small size black pebble from the right side of my belly. She sucked and bit the skin of my belly which gave me a slight pain. After some seconds she spitted out the black tiny pebble. When the Rang-Samaals and Kayechu-Samaals are possessed by Rangfraa, there is a particular type of tremor in the whole body until God leaves the body. During the state of trance, they heal people and also give oracles. They also sometimes pluck medicinal herbs from the jungle which are used to cure the illness and disease of a patient who comes to them to seek cure for their illness. They identify the herbs by the power of Rangfraa and could see those plants clearly with closed eyes when they pray. Some of the critical illness Rangfraa cured through Rang-Samals and Keychu Samal are the case of HIV/AIDS of an Assamese couple from Mahadevpur, Changlang district, brain tumor of Shumpong Tangha of Saching village, Droopy eyelids due to suppression in the brain cells of Linnem Tangha of New Chingsa village, Cancer of three patients; one from Yungchim, another from Thamlom, and Telang’s grandfather from Bubang village, drying of brain cells of Swami Vishweshananda, Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission Hospital, Itanagar and Apatani lady who came from Lungbusung village as her son was employed at RFGC in Lungbusung, and so on. There are many more light illnesses those have been cured through Rang-Samaals and Kayechu Samaals by the power directly acquired from Rangfraa but all of them are not recorded by the workers of Rangfraa temple. For that when the patients themselves will come out and shared their experiences in every temple then only it would be possible to witness. I have personally met and conducted interview with two of these patients who were completely cured of their illness that was suggested by doctors to be operated. The first patient is Smt. Linnem Tangha who belongs to my village, New Chingsa. Last December I asked her whether it was true or a rumor that people talked about the cure of her illness after visiting Rang Samaals and Kayechu-Samaals. She said she was cured by the medicines and healings given by the Rang Samals of Bubang village. In the beginning when she was told by the doctors in Vellore that her drooping eyes were caused by some problems in her brain cells. Therefore, they have to operate her. This worried her and her family as they feared it may lead to paralysis in future if in case even any tiny brain cells is cut by mistake. So, as the brain surgery was sensitive, they were not willing to do this. Instead they thought of other means such as medicine or any other healing process. Eventually, they went to Bubang village Rangfraa temple and got the cure from the Rang Samaals. She said it took 9 months for her and her family to maintain purity at her house and the physical level. She told me that the patient has to completely avoid consuming addictive drugs and non-vegetarian food. He/she must regularly go to the Rangfraa temple on the service day. She went there to Bubang 2 village several times for healing and while healing her, Rangfraa through the Rangsamals took out the impurities by sucking on her eye and spit out impurities which look black and dirty. After continuous treatment and healing by Rang Samaals and maintaining purity by his family and herself for 9 months, along with fasting and regular temple visit for prayers, she is now completely cured of her drooping eyelids. She told me that “it was only due to Rangfraa's blessings; the endeavor of Rang Samaals and Kayechu Samaals and the support of my family members, that my illness was cured. Otherwise, one of my eyes was almost blinded by the droopy eyelids as I could not see anything with that eye.” Similarly, Shumpong Tangha, who is a resident of Saching village told me during my interview with him that there was no doubt that his brain tumor was cured by Rangfraa through Rang Samaals and Kayechu Samaals. He too went to a hospital in Vellore but he was told to return home as the doctors told him that his surgery would be possible only after six months. So, a poor village man couldn't wait for six months in such a big city and again traveling twice was also difficult. After his return, he went to the Rangfraa temple in Bubang to seek cure for his tumor although he was not new as a devotee. He was healed and given some medicines which were acquired from nowhere on an empty hand by one of the Rang Samaal, Homnem Tangha on different days within a couple of months. He said he was given holy water, tablets acquired from God himself, and other herbal-based medicines too. He said his tumor was not new but he used to feel heavy pain on his head since his teenage. He left his studies (1st year of Graduation) only because of his tumor as he used to feel extreme pain and could not concentrate in his studies. But after the healing and medicines given by the Rang Samaals, he is now no more in pain and his tumor is gone. Even when he went for a diagnosis after Rang Samaal treatment his tumor was not more.
In this way, Rangfraism is a boon to the Tangsa people who are still practicing their traditional and indigenous faith proudly even today. Due to this the Tangsa community had undergone several changes in their daily life. The reformation brought light and annihilated the darkness that were practiced in the form of blind superstitious practices. "Before we used to spend lots of money in buying piglets, cattle, fowls and making rice beer and in addition to give to the Tingwa (the priest/shaman who performs the ritual) to cure our illness, but now only 10-20 rupees is enough to buy a packet of incense stick. Only what we have to do is go to the temple on a service day and pray in front of the God Rangfraa and ask the devotees in the temple to pray together (Romtam) in the name of the sick person. If the sick person and his family have faith in Rangfraa and do not violate the guidelines which should be followed by a sick person, the sick person will be definitely cured by his blessings as said in two of the interviews- Rempak and Mandok.“After Rangfraism flourished in Tangsa Society, now people have become more united no matter to which sub-tribe or to which area they belonged to. Only the feeling that we are all children of Rangfraa has rendered the sense of oneness in Rangfraites”, says Mingjong Tangha. Even time to time, youth and religious conferences are usually organized specially to exchange ideas but in this way young generations interact with many people coming from different sub-tribes and different villages. There is also a time when a group of Rangfraites from one village go to another village when they are invited to that village for Romtam (praying for the cure and wellbeing of a person or a family).Another advantage of the Rangfraa movement is that many people old as well as young, those who were drugs and opium addicts, regular smokers, and alcoholics before the movement are free from addiction now because Rangfraa strictly prohibits the consumption of addictive drugs. Specially those who came into service of God Rangfraa and those who regularly go to Rangfraa temple for prayer. Not only this but it also works as a platform to bring different sub-tribes of Tangsamore united. The remarkable thing it has given to the Tangsa society is that people no longer abandon their traditional faith, rather as a spiritual awakening they are preserving, promoting, and strengthening their culture more than before.
Bibliography
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangsa_Naga
2. Khimhun, L. Life after Death. Changlang: Rangfraa Faith Promotion Society, 2010.
3. Khimhun, L. The Great Third Coming of Rangfraa. Changlang: Rangfraa Faith Promotion Society, 2006.
4. Rao, Narayan Singh. Tribal Culture Faith History and Literature. New Delhi: Mittal Publications, 2006.
5. Ruscheweyh, Meenaxi Barkataki. Dancing to the state. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2017.
6. Traditional systems of the Tangsa and the Tutsa. Guwahati: Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture, 2005.
Personal Interviews:
1. Er. L. Khimhun, interviewed by author, Miao, June 5, 2018.
2. Winphong Solthing andRempak Mandok, interviewed by author, Namchik Havi, August 31, 2019.
3. Ngatim Shungkho, interviewed by author, Old Khimjong, September21, 2019.
4. Linnem Tangha, interviewed by author New Chingsa, December 5, 2019.
5. Shumpong Tangha, interviewed by author, Old Saching, December 24, 2019.
6. Homnem Tangha, interviewed by author, Bubang II, December 25, 2019.
7. Mingjong Tangha, interviewed by author, Bubang II, December 25, 2019.
8. Hongam Rekhung, interviewed by author, Bubang II, December 25, 2019.
9. Teseng Tangha, interviewed by author, Bubang II, December 25, 2019.
10. Thungsam Tangha, interviewed by author, Bubang II, December 25, 2019
