Luke Rimmo Mingkeng Lego –
When people speak of Tani’s identity and culture, it would often not be complete without mentioning the churches, particularly the catholic church. The Tani people are a Sinitic ethnic group, that traces their ancestry to the Sichuan River Basin, and this is the community that forms the majority in the Northeastern State of Arunachal Pradesh. Besides Arunachal, the Tanis also have a considerable population in Upper Assam, and in the erstwhile province of Sikang (Sisang in the Tani Language), in China.
Today, the Tanis are predominately Christian, particularly Catholic. There are also a few Tani Baptists in Assam, and a few communities on the Chinese side are also ardent followers of Christ. Besides Christianity, a few Tanis also practice animism (Donyi Polo) and Buddhism.
This article is, therefore, an attempt to look at the history of how Christianity came to touch the hearts of many Tanis, and the important role the church has maintained in ensuring that the language, customs and traditions of the great sons of Abotani, remain intact, despite the demographic shift witnessed in many north-eastern states post-independence, notably Tripura and Assam.
So firstly, let me introduce the frontiers of India: the Northeast. Before the British arrived, this region was mainly unchartered with only influence from the neighbouring Chinese and Southeast Asian kingdoms, if any. This region might as well be characterised and described as a melting pot of a wide array of cultures: be it the Sino-Tibetan tribes like the Tanis, Indo-Aryan groups of Assam, Austro Asiatics of Meghalaya, the Tais of Assam and Arunachal, the Tibeto Burman groups, or even mixed ethnicities. Compared to the rest of India, the Northeast would be the most diverse. So how did Christianity come to this unchartered territory? Well, we cannot go into the details about the whole northeast, but what we would try is to share the history of the Tanis, with you.
The first arrival of Christian missionaries was in 1627, with Italian priests arriving in Hajo in Guwahati. This was later followed by the works of Rev. Nathan Brown, the first American Baptist Missionary who reached Sadiya on March 23, 1836. They started their ministry, by opening the first institutionalised schools for the natives of Sadiya and neighbouring people from the hills which included the Tanis.
However, Christianity was still not prominent. By 1841 Rev. William Robinson, started his work to codify the Miri Language (one of the many dialects of the Tani People). Although by then, many Tanis knew English, the church at that point, always thought, that the word of God should be shared in the native language – so extensive effort was placed to understand the lexical structures that exist in Tani. This was further carried out by Father Nicholas Krick, who worked closely with the Bokar people (another Tani subethnicity).
Later, two missionaries Savide and Lorraine learned the Miri language, and later they published Isorke Doyinge (Stories from God) and Jisuke Doyinge (Stories from the Gospel), in 1902. In Tani history, we say that we had lost our script owing to countless conflicts with the invading Han and Tibetan empires – whereby Tanis finally had to leave Sichuan. For the first time, thanks to the church, Tanis had a chance to regain their lost linguistic prowess. Later, we would happen to see three more publications by the church: Keyum Kero in 1914, Rom Kiding Kela Korinthian Doying (Romans and Corinthians) in 1916, and Mathike Annam Bible in 1917.
Later in 1914, when Rev. L.W.B Jackman, established a school at Ebung (Dambuk) and Lupang (Meka) two people from the Tani community came to know of the word of the Lord and took baptism. These two were Dugyon Lego and Tamik Dabi. Here Lego, requested Jackman, to help him study his community – and by 1926, Lego’s name came to be widely known amongst Tani literary circles, and still today Dugyon Lego is the most celebrated writer in Arunachal. It was Dugyon Lego, who created the first script for the Tani people, carefully modifying Latin scripts to fit Tani, which was largely a tonal language. Dugyon also worked extensively as a mathematician and wrote countless books on mathematical principles, aiming to revive the lost glory that the Tanis once had.
Around the same time, a young Sensu Nar (Nyisi) had picked up a bible from a nearby office and reached out to the missionaries to finally be baptized. He received communion in 1920. While at this, Sensu worked with the missionaries in documenting the Tani way of life, and this was the first time, that an effort to document the community was placed forth. This documentation effort was further pursued by subsequent missionaries, and by 1944, Kosham Lego and Okep Lego, translated the entirety of the New Testament.
Later, thanks to the missionaries from the Catholic church in South India, who started coming into the state, by the 1970s – many schools and hospitals were successfully established. One of the first hospitals in Arunachal post-Independence was by the Catholic Church. As a result, many around Papum Pare and surrounding areas came to know of the Word of the Lord, and the Gospel started reaching even interior corners of the State.
While at this, Northeast India also saw changes with new states being carved out, and unfortunately as a tragic tale of history, the Tanis were finally also arbitrarily divided into two countries, a partition that no one talks about. Many communities and families were split apart, and in many cases, it so happened that the fields were in India but the houses in China.
At this important time, it was the little Christian community, that worked tirelessly to ensure that Tani culture was not threatened – they went from house to house, ensuring that they could offer solace during the troubled times. However, till then, there was no formal Catholic church that was established in the State of Arunachal. It was only after Mother Teressa’s visit in 1993, that one Catholic church was established in Borduria, a Naga-dominated region. It was through these catholic Nagas, that more disciples were made amongst the eastern Tanis.
So yes, when people say, that Tanis were falsely converted by the colonial British administration, it is factually incorrect. Most often, the then-colonial administration used to refuse churches access to work closely with the indigenous community – because they saw it as a threat to their administration.
Notably, many of the celebrated patriots from the Tani community, the ones who stood up against colonial atrocities were none other than Christian Tanis. It is to be noted that, all the works done to bring the Gospel to the Tanis, were done exclusively by the Tanis themselves, and not by the missionaries that came to Tanimoko (using Tanimoko since at that point, most of the Tani homeland wasn’t divided, and was considered one). The missionaries simply provided the Tanis with the platform and medium to do so themselves.
Today, Tani culture is alive thanks to the church, which did everything from teaching us to love our language to helping us preserve our traditions. To this day, the church of Arunachal continues to engage local communities encouraging them to wear their traditional attires every Sunday. Most masses are often held in both English as well as the native language. Even bishops, fathers and brothers who come to Arunachal, put immense effort into learning the language. This is how and why Christianity continues to touch the hearts of countless Tanis to this date.
Tani Language Foundation
Luke Rimmo Minkeng Lego is an aspiring linguist and biomedical engineering student whose intellectual pursuits lie at the crossroads of Biomimetics, Synthetic Biology, Neuroscience, Public Health, and Genetics (CRISPr). He is also one of the co-founders of NECHR, a non-profit that aims to promote research among high school students in the Northeast. He is also one of the Founding members of the Tani Language Foundation, which is working to preserve the Tani identity and culture in Assam and Arunachal. As an enthusiastic leaf collector, Luke has also gathered over 250 species of different plants in his personal herbarium. In his leisure time, he indulges in diverse hobbies such as reading, mountain biking, and playing badminton, all while fervently supporting Liverpool and Tottenham.