ASSIGMENT ON
RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR MOVEMENTS IN INDIA
Topic :
Religious Movement in Mizoram – ‘The Third Spiritual Revival Movement
(1919 – 1923) in Mizoram’
Submitted by : FP Lalṭhathanga
Class : M.Div II, R/No. 1
Submitted to : Mr. Rampaukube Hekwet, Asst. Professor
Submitted on :
Introduction:
Christianity came into Mizoram in the year 1894 through the
Arthington Mission, London. The two pioneer missionaries were, Rev. James
Herbert Lorrain and Rev. Dr. Frederick William Savidge. However, both of them
left Mizoram for Arunachal Pradesh in the year 1897 after three years of
staying in Mizoram. But, they had zeal to serve God in Mizoram and they came
back in the year 1903 through the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS), London.
Right after their second coming, the mission works began to flame throughout
Mizoram.[1]
The growth of Christianity was extremely fast and rapid, it
reached and penetrated even to the very corner of the Mizoram border.[2]
There could be many reasons for the rapid growth and spreading of the gospel
and Christianity in Mizoram. Besides the works of missionaries along with the
local early converted people, there were some important factors which
contribute great impacts on Christianity to the Mizo society. Among those
factors, one of greatest and remarkable religious movement was ‘the third
spiritual revival movement’ which took place in the year between 1919 – 1923.
There were four great spiritual revival movements which affected Mizoram as a
whole. So in this paper we will briefly look on the history and the impact of
the third spiritual movement.
Beginning of the
Revival:[3]
Unlike the other two revival movements which took placed in
1906 and 1913, this revival has uniqueness that is, it began in three different
villages at the same time on July 26, 1919. The villages were Zotlang, Nisapui, and Thingsai which
are more than 100km away from each other. It was Sunday night, during their
church worship service, there was an amazing and strange feeling that they could
not stop singing and dancing. In Zotlang,
they sang a song whole night and when the Monday morning sunrise, they only
realized that they sang whole night without taking rest. In Nisapui, that night itself they visited
their neighbor village ‘Thingkhuang.’
And from there they moved on to ‘Durtlang’
and then reached Aizawl.
There was no written record on how
it actually works in Thingsai,
however the witnesses claimed that it was also not lesser than Zotlang and Nisapui. Thingsai is an
inhabitant of Pu (Mr.) Thangbawnga who worked for 18 years in spreading the
good news and brought 4,431 souls to God, the record claims that none of those
people was even backslide. What a great achievement it was.
Nature of the Movement:[4]
1.
Visiting:
The revival spread rapidly and very soon it covered the whole Mizoram. The main
factor for rapid spread was visiting. The have visited one another and one
village to the neighbor village. Because of this, the revival movement reached
even outside Mizoram; Burma, Tripura and Halflong. It reached as far as where the
Mizo people lived.
2.
Giving and
Offering: The revival influenced most and touched the young men and women
more than Old people and children. The took-off their jewelries and gave it for
an offering. The offering amount and kinds was also increased remarkably.
3.
Preaching:
Preaching the good news was one of the tasks they had. Even the young women
preached in the street.
4.
Singing
and Dancing: Another nature of the revival movement was singing and
dancing. Sometimes, they used to sing one song for four hours, but they never got
tired and bored of it.
5.
Fellowship:
They visited each other, there is no any kind of barrier among them. When they
met each other they do not need time to build a relationship. The have a love
for one another. One remarkable incident was, there was a conference in Lungrang (now Thiltlang) village. There
were only around 60 household. But, more than 800 delegates attended and
gathered in the conference. Some of them came from more than 200km away by
foot. Even before the programme was started, while they were waiting for the
delegates they began to sing and cried in praising God. What a wonderful
programme it would be.
A
great incident of this conference was; the service was started at 3pm. The
pioneer missionary Pu Buanga (Rev. J.H. Lorrain) was sitting in the Pulpit and
there he saw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ very clearly. And then he chose a
song ‘Thumak ka sawinin theihloh chu’ and
they sang that song and they could only stop by 10pm. Pu Buanga said that “I set my foot on the sand of the
mount of Calvary, it was the mount of Calvary but here in Lungrang.”
 |
| Mt. Lungrang (Thiltlang) the place where a remarkable conference was held |
Impacts of the
movement:[5]
1. Growth of Christian: The census report 1923 tells how much this revival
movement had a great impact for the growth of Christianity in Mizoram:
Year
|
No. of Christian
in Aizawl (which represents Northen side of Mizoram)
|
No. of Christian
in Serkawn (which represents Southern side of Mizoram)
|
1919
|
12,495
|
3,670
|
1923
|
31,692
|
8,106
|
The
total population of Mizoram in 1919 was 98,406 among them 27,702 were already
converted into Christian. And, in the year 1923, the total number of Christian
increased to 38,798 which were 146% within only four years. It is so remarkable
and a great achievement. Because of this reason itself, the third spiritual
revival movement was probably the most important one among the four great
revivals.
2. It decreased the fear of evil: The heart
of the people not only the Christian was changed into boldness; they started
developing faith on God and the power of the almighty over the evil works.
3. Unity and togetherness: The people in
Mizoram were brought into a better relationship and unity.
4. It ends the persecution to Christians: The
Tualte village king got bored of the
sounds of drums and dancing of the Christians. Then he demolished the church
building and destroyed their Khuang. When
the time of harvesting came, the rats ate up all the rice in their field, they
got nothing to harvest. The villagers needed to beg from other villages.
Therefore, many people regarded the incident was as a punishment from God for
their persecution to the Christians. From this incident, no one dare to
persecute the Christians and persecution was begun to stop in Mizoram.
5. Christmas feast was introduced in the entire
Mizoram: Christmas was first celebrated in 1899 but mostly by children
only. The adults joined the celebration only from 1912 by conducting some
entertainment programmes. However, after this revival movement, Christmas was
used to celebrate with feast in almost all the villages in Mizoram.
6. Solo has been introduced: The practice
of Solo (singing) was not practiced before this revival. This revival
introduced single singing in the worship service.
7. Hair cutting of men: Men started cutting
their hair which they did not want before. That was another great changed which
affect Mizoram as a whole.
8. Ending of the Zawlbuk Practice: According
to Rev. Liangkhaia, one of the most
important traditions and the practice of Zawlbuk
(a house where young men sleep together at night for the purpose of
security and any circumstances in the village. It is also an important social
institution for the children to learn the traditions and practices of the
society and their responsibilities under the guidance their seniors head by Val Upa) also come to end. The Deputy
Commissioner of Mizoram, Mr. Parry ordered to restart the Zawlbuk practice
again in 1926. However, that was not also successful and after 1938 it was
totally abandoned.
9.
Introducing
Khuang (drum): Another momentous affect was introducing Khuang (drum) in the circle of
Christian. Before this revival, they did not want to use Khuang in the circle of Christian because it was used only in the
drinking place. But, at the night of the beginning of the revival, the Nisapui church brought Khuang on their way to visit Durtlang
and Aizawl, that was the first time ever Khuang
was used in Christian programme. But now, the Khuang became one of the most significance instruments in worship.
10. Propagation of the Lushai language: As
the movement reached Burma, Tripura
and Halflong, it propagated and increased the popularity of the Lushai
language.
Conclusion:
The third spiritual revival
movement (1919 – 1923) was unarguably one of the greatest and the most significant
religious movements which the Mizoram have ever experienced throughout her
story so far. The impacts are so incredible and a life changing and turning
points for the entire tribes of Mizo. However, we need to reconsider how one of
its nature, Singing and dancing influenced
the Mizo people. We tend to think that this is the only way of the spiritual
revival, until and unless a person or a community or a Church was involve in
dancing, some people used to recognize that the spiritual movement is not yet
taken place. In the Mizo concept of revival, the first thing which always comes
into our mind is singing and dancing.
We really need to understand this concept in a better way.
We need to realize that the works
of the Holy Spirit should affect in every areas of our lives. Dancing in the
church meanwhile practicing corruption in the works and duties can never be the
real act of the Holy Spirit. It raises the question that, Can we consider maintaining
Honesty, Faithfulness, Holiness and other good characters as the spiritual
revival? I doubt that some people might not consider and satisfied on a person
who practices those characters but never dance in the church are a spiritual
person. In fact, the spiritual revival which the Mizoram needs today is not
only singing and dancing, rather a Christ likes live and a life with integrity.
And, we also have seen some
cultural changes through this movement. From the missiological point of view, it
creates a question that is it really necessary to alter our practices which do
not even affect our faith. Sometimes, the man-made rule also is considered as
much important as the scriptures. These kinds of practices very often raised an
unsolvable problems and discussion in the Christian community.
Finally, I really wish the
spiritual revival movement which could bring changes in our society towards a
better living would take place in our state. Without the Holy Spirit, we do not
recognized and considered ourselves as a sinful being. Until and unless we
recognize ourselves, changes in life in almost impossible. Therefore, we need
the Holy Spirit revival again to enlighten us to realize our reality so that we
will come back to God and get healed from our sinful nature and corrupted
practices.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lalhmuaka. Zoram Thim Ata Engah. Aizawl: Synod
Publication Board, 1988.
WEBLIOGRAPHY
Gangte, Priyadarshini M. “Impact
Of Christianity On Mizo Society,” https://zougam.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/impact-of-christianity-on-mizo-society/ (accessed on 25.9.2018)
[2] Priyadarshini M. Gangte, “Impact Of Christianity On Mizo Society,” https://zougam.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/impact-of-christianity-on-mizo-society/ (accessed on 25.9.2018)
[3] Lalhmuaka, Zoram Thim Ata Engah’ (Aizawl: Synod
Publication Board, 1988), 146-147.
[4] Lalhmuaka, Zoram Thim Ata Engah’ (Aizawl: Synod
Publication Board, 1988), 148-150.
[5] Lalhmuaka, Zoram Thim Ata Engah’ (Aizawl: Synod
Publication Board, 1988), 151-156.
