An Assignment

On
Tribal Eschatology
In partial fulfillment of the course: Tribal Theology
(Union Biblical Seminary, Pune. 29th Sept., 2017)

Submitted by: Billy, Chandan, Eloy, Johnson, Joyful, Reime, Sonu

Submitted to: Dr. Jangkholam Haokip
………………………………………………………………………………………......

Introduction
Human being, since time immemorial, has had a notion about life and life after death.
It has been the one question, which has become the driving force of human existence
throughout the history of human. “What or where will I be after I die?” is the question
that every human have asked and has tried to bring about various explanations or
answers about it. The tribals who are considered more primitive and backward than
the modern, civilized person have also had various explanations and believes about
the eschatology and the life after death. The paper shall be dealing with Tribal
Eschatology, giving light to the various believes of the selected tribes in the North
East of India, and also similarities and difference of the understanding of the
eschatology by tribals and Christian (systematic) theology.

1. Understanding the Terms and Concepts

1.1 Eschatology
Originating from the mid 19th century, the term “Eschatology,” is a combination of
the Greek words, Eskhatos meaning Last and the suffix Logia or Logy to denote a
study.
Oxford dictionary defines it as, “the part of theology concerned with death, judgment,
and the final destiny of the soul and of mankind.”1
There are lot of difficulties in the contemporary debate concerning eschatology,
especially because of the different understanding scholars have for this concept of
“eschatology.” The term was generally if not exclusively, relate d to future.2
‘Eschatology’ in the strict sense means a description of that is to happen to the world
and especially to men at the end of all things (at the eschaton). Traditionally this
involves the study of death, judgment, hell and heaven.3

1https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/eschatology accessed on 20th

September, 17. 9:00 p.m.
2 Muresan Mehai Andrei, Eschatology and Eschatological Paradox in the Fourth
Gospel, (Bolyai: Bolyai University press, 2010), 10.
3 Stephen S. Smalley, John: Evangelist and Interpreter…, 30.
 1.2 Christian (Systematic Theology) Concept of Eschatology
Christian eschatology is a major branch within Christian theology that deals with the
death, judgment, and revelations, prophesy and the events of the last days (the rapture,
the second coming of Christ, the tribulation, the millennial kingdom and the future
kingdoms).4
Stephen H Travis citing J Carmignac (Les dangers de I’eschatologie, 1970) states that
the term eschatology was first used in 1804 with reference to all that Jesus has to do
as Lord and judge of men, including everything which pertains to the destiny of man
from his death onwards. He further says etymologically the term should mean ‘the
doctrine or science of the last things,’ and should refer to such things as the Parousia,
the resurrection of the dead, heaven and hell.5

1.3 Tribal Concept of Eschatology

Eschatological belief is prominently found in all tribal culture. They believe in the
existence of the spirit and soul of the person, thereby leading to the belief that there is
life after death. The concept of heaven and hell is also seen in every tribal culture
though it slightly differs from one tribe to another.
As we examine Tribal eschatology in the later section of this paper we will realize
that though there are marked similarities it is also distinctive from the systematic
theology’s understanding of eschatology.

2. Select Tribal Understanding of Eschatology

As mentioned above, the concept of eschatology has its similarity and slight
difference from one tribe to another. In as such, the following are the pre-Christian
eschatological understandings of selected tribes from parts of the North East India and
also the Gonds from Baihar Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh.

2.1 Tangkhul-Naga6
The cosmos of the pre-Christian Tangkhul Nagas (so also other Nagas) consists of the
celestial realm of God and the ‘land of the dead’; and their world consists of the
‘world of the living’ and the ‘world of the dead’, i.e. the “land of the dead”. The land
of the dead of the pre-Christian Nagas was largely believed to be located beneath the
‘world of the living and spirits’, and thereby non-tangible, imaginary in nature and
inaccessible for the living, yet, it was also believed to be tangible, real and accessible.
Different villages or groups of villages identify different places with kazeiram or
‘passages’ and ‘transits’. A few landscapes are dealt with to throw lights in the pre-
Christian Tangkhul Naga concepts of eschatology. Kazeiram of Chamu located about

4https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-eschatology-700642 accessed on 20th

September, 17. 9:30 p.m.
5 Stephen H Travis, Christian Hope and the Future of Man, (Leicester: Inter-
Varsity, 1980), 13.
6 R. Vashum ed., Encountering Modernity: Situating the Tangkhul Nagas in

perspective, (New Delhi: Bibliophile South Asia, 2014) 64-81.

60km to the east of Ukhrul district, is believed to be where the dead live. Situated
there are four important features; Kazei Keirak (ladder of the dead), Kazei Rakhong
(well of the dead), Kazeinao Shimpam (settlement of the dead), and an upright stone
called Kazei Khairalung (whetstone for honing the knife of the dead), which are all
believed to be associated with the dead.
It was and is still believed that the souls of the dead walked down the Kazei Keirak on
their way to Kazeiram. This stairway acts as the last entry gate to the land of the dead
or the Kazeiram. Apart from these, the Tangkhul Nagas also believe in the existence
of landscapes as ‘exit gates’ of the dead. Makhorshet, a landscape in Phungcham
village, Ukhrul has a small depression in one corner, which was similar to a phak (a
mat made of bamboo or cane meant for drying paddy in the sun or over the hearth of
the house suspended from roof truss), and this place was meant for the dead to display
their shares of meat as they supposedly gathered there before they exited from the
village territory on the last day of Thisam (Soul expulsion feast) where they were sent
off to Kazeiram by killing animals depending on the economic capacities of the living
members of their respective families. There is a low hillock in Marem village, Ukhrul,
called the Wokre Shamphung, and like the Makhorshet, it functioned as an exit gate of
the village from the village to Kazeiram. Besides these, there are also places for final
disposal called the Kazeimei or ‘fire of the dead’, usually pine torches. The number of
such torches commemorate with the number of the dead in the village in a year. In the
Tangkhul Naga calendar, the last month of the year falls between the latter part of
December and the first part of January. During this month, the twelve day long
Thisam is celebrated. In both Phungcham and Marem, the places for final disposal of
the Kazeimei are located at vintage points, perhaps in the earlier days a few hundred
yards away from the village settlement areas. After the twelfth day of the Thisam,
after the disposal of the torches, the living would watch the dead leaving the village
and transiting the ‘exit gate’ tending their respective animals (killed in their honour by
their families at the Thisam) as they head towards the Kazeiram. The living, it is
recounted could see the dead in full view holding the torches with flickering fires
towards the land of the dead transiting the ‘exit gates’, and they yelled out the names
of some of the dead, the concerned would stop for them and listen to their cries and
words of farewell.
Associated with the concepts of the “Land of the dead”, ‘exit gates of the dead’ and
the ‘expulsion of the dead’ at the Thisam is certain landscapes which may best be
interpreted “transit” to the “Land of the Dead”. The landscape in question is the Shara
Peak of Longpi Kajui village in Ukhrul district. Surprisingly, the places for the
kazeimei kaphar, the ‘exit gates’ of the dead and the Shara Peak form almost straight
alignments. Similarly, in the case of Hungpung/Hunding too, the Kazei Ngalet, the
Kazei Lakhuwi and the site of the village chief’s house are located in a more or less
straight alignment.
 2.2 A.chik/Garo7
One of the distinctive characteristic features of A.chiks in their religion in connection
to sin is their belief in life after death. The A.chik songsarek believed in the existence
of spirit known as Janggi silchi or ‘soul’ in every person which after death goes to an
appointed place of death and stay there for a periods of time till reincarnation. They
strongly believed in rebirth of soul as a state of reward and punishment basing on
what kind of life they had lived previously on the earth. For the actions (whether good
or bad) in one’s life affect the form of reincarnation in the next. Those who were
morally weak or committed wrong action are punished by being incarnated in the
form if insects and plants which is the lowest rank. The next higher form is being and
animal or bird. The highest form is the human being reincarnation. However the
greatest reward for the virtuous life is being born again into the same motherhood as
in better life style and position, which can also be regarded as in better life style, and
position that also can be regarded by the fellow people during the lifetime.
On this conception, the A.chicks perform the special ceremony known as Mangona or
Mangroa or Chugan or post-funeral ceremony. The basic idea of this ceremony is to
forgive and forget whatever committed sins and the case may be suring a person;s life
time prays to the life-giver deity, that the person may be in the position of virtuous
life and to be free from all sort of punishments as they believed, in the time of
reincarnation.

2.3 Khasi8
The Khasi have a conception and a strong belief in life after death. Such existence of
belief is testified by their felt need to use afterlife terms and terminologies and also
practices of bone collection and careful preservation. There are several mentioned
terms and terminologies, which are as follows:

2.3.1 Terminologies with spatial sense:

Pyrthei shong basa - ‘earth of temporal exixtence’.
Bamkwai ha dwar u Blei - ‘eating betelnut in God’s yard.
Lei thung shriew sha shnong ka lawpaw – went to plant yam in the village of the
Ancestress.
Dujok – hell.
Khyndai pateng/niamra – nine structural strate/layers below.
Nurok ka ksew – Abode of the dog.
Myngkoi u Jom – the water tank of king hell.

7 Rinje N. Snagma, The Concept of Sin in the Traditional A.chik/Garo Religion in

Razouselie Lasetso ed., Gardening Tribal resources for doing Tribal Christian
Theology, (Jorhat: Barkataki & Co. Pvt. Ltd, 2008) 258.
8 Ladbasuk Lyngdoh, Life after Death in Khasi Religion and resurrection in the

Bible in Razouselie Lasetso ed., Gardening Tribal resources for doing Tribal
Christian Theology, (Jorhat: Barkataki & Co. Pvt. Ltd, 2008) 271-274.
 2.3.2 Terminologies with chronological sense:
Ankher ka sngi – the day of accepting the verdict.
The Khasi cremate their dead. After cremation, bones are collected to be carefully
kept in separate special place. The Khasi owe great respect to their deads. Foods are
annually offered accompanied with religious rites. In such occasion, the dead
ancestress and ancestors are invoked for their blessings upon the living. At their dead
anniversary, a special service is organized and simple feast is thrown to which close
relatives and friends from near and far are invited. Foods to their dead are not offered
but wreaths of flowers are kept in the tomb, which is carefully maintained. Many
remnant monoliths of different shapes and sizes are seen today all over Khasi and
Jaintia hills many of which are erected in remembrance to their dead.
From among the mentioned terms and terminologies, only two are commonly used
today. Bam kwai ha dwar u Blei, or ‘eating betelnut in God’s yard, and Dujok,
meaning ‘hell’.

3. Hmar9
The Hmar has a definite belief in life after death. The first place of the death differed
according to his virtue and achievement while on earth. These spirit worlds are called
Mithikhuo (Village of the dead), Pielral (beyond the river of death), and Vanram
(Heaven or sky kingdom).

3.1 Mithikhuo – Mithikhuo is the place where most of the dead regardless of their
deeds, except the Thangsuo (highest level of achievement), would go. They are
expected to work for their living. All the slaves they have captured in earthly life are
expected to become their servants in this spirit world. This Mithikhuo is believed to be
an underground abode, perhaps very much like the Hebrew Sheol. This is not the final
abode of the dead.

3.2 Pielral – Pielral lies somewhere beyond Mithikhuo. It is considered to be a

land of the happy home or abode of bliss. Direct entrance to Pielral is achieved by
Thangsuo. Thangsuo can be achieved not only by killing a hundred beasts but also by
cultivating a thousand bushels of rice in one single year. In this abode of bliss,
Thangsuos are expected to be fed with rice and fair maidens. The priviledge is
extended to the Thangsuo’s wife. The spirit of the departed Thangsuo is believed to
have power to bless, especially for his sons. Pielral is believed to be somewhere in
the sky.

3.3 Vanram – Vanram is the last spirit world. The Christians have adopted this as
a synonym with the Bible’s heaven today. This is the ultimate spirit home where all
the good and holy ones are expected to go and live forever. Every spirit spends a

9Rochunga Pudaite, The Education of the Hmar People: with historical sketch of
the Hmar Tribe of the Northeast India, (Calcutta: Navana Printing Works Pvt.
Lmt., 1963) 57.
considerable length of time in Mithikhuo and Pielral. Wicked spirits are believed to
simply hover over the firmament, restlessly, through endless years. All good spirits
live in enjoyment together in Vanram. Beyond this little is known or said of what
Vanram is like or what would happen there.

4. Gonds from Baihar Balaghat10

The Gonds share with many Central Indian tribes the belief that a child in the
mother's womb is lifeless, until a jiv or ‘life-force’ enters and animates the embryo.
Bhagavan, the supreme deity, to whom the Gonds refer usually as Sri Shambhu
Mahadeo, sends this jiv into the child. The arrival of the jiv results in the quickening
of the child, and if no jiv is sent into the embryo the child will be still born.
During a Gond’s lifetime little attention is paid to the jiv, which is unrelated to a
man’s consciousness or emotions. But when a Gond’s span of life draws to its end,
Bhagavan recalls the jiv, and thereby causes death. There is a story which relates how
Bhagavan once sent his messenger Yama to summon the jiv of a certain carpenter, and
how this clever carpenter outwitted and imprisoned Bhagavan’s messenger, thus
delaying the recall of his jiv and prolonging his life for many years. Ever since,
Bhagavan has sent fever and disease to weaken those whose jiv he intends to recall,
so that when his messenger arrives they can offer no resistance. When a jiv has
returned to Bhagavan it is added to the pool of jiv available for reincarnation, and it
would seem that the link between the personality of the deceased and his jiv comes to
an end as soon as the jiv reaches Bhagavan. It is generally held that a jiv returned to
Bhagavan’s pool of life-forces may be incarnated in any living creature, be it animal
or man. Nevertheless, there is a strong belief that a man’s jiv is likely to be
reincarnated in the son of one of his sons, and if a new-born child bears marks
reminiscent of a recently deceased grandparent, the reincarnation of the latter’s jiv in
the child is considered proven. Moreover, it is thought that a Gond’s jiv will be
reincarnated in a Gond, a Brahman’s in a Brahman and so on, a view which is clearly
contradictory to the orthodox Hindu belief that a person may be reincarnated in a
higher or lower caste according to the merit or demerit acquired in a previous life.
The personality of the deceased adheres after death not to the reincarnated jiv, but to
the snnal, which in Gondi means literally the ‘Departed, the Dead’. Nearly all the rites
and ceremonies of the funeral, the memorial feast and the subsequent cult of the
ancestors relate to the sanal, in whom the personality of the ‘Departed’ is perpetuated.
While the jiv departs to the realm of Bhagavan in the moment of death, the sanal is
believed to linger near the corpse and throughout the funeral rites the presence of the
sanal is very much in the minds of the mourners. From the house of death, the sanal
follows the bier-carriers to the grave or the burning-ground and hovers close by while
the mourners dispose of the corpse. Whether the corpse is buried or burnt,
immediately after its disposal the mourners go to a stream and put down a miniature

10N.L. Dongre, Tribal Concept of Life and Death (with reference of Gonds from
Baihar Balaghat) http://nldongre.com/Magzin/75.pdf accessed on 20th
September, 17. 10:00 p.m.
seat, a twig such as is used for cleaning the teeth, and a leaf-cup of water. They then
address the sanal and admonish him to sit on the seat and to rinse his mouth, in the
belief that the sanal, too, should purify himself from the pollution of death. This is
followed by the sacrifice of a chicken or goat, the cooked flesh of which is offered to
the sanal with the request to cat of it and to grant his favour to the living. Most of
such prayers end with the phrase: ‘You have died and become a god’, and this idea
that the ‘Departed’ assume a status similar to that of the gods is reflected in the entire
cult of the dead.
On the day after the funeral, the mourners gather outside the village and perform an
elaborate rite whereby the recently ‘Departed’ is joined with the company of the sanal
dwelling in field and forest. At that time food is offered to these sanal, who on such
occasions are believed to gather outside the village. Throughout these rites no thought
is given to the jiv, and it is quite clear that the personality of the ‘Departed’ is
believed to survive in the sanal long after the jiv has returned to Bhagavan and lost its
identity in a new incarnation. Only one phase in the funeral rites concerns the fate of
the jiv, and this one phase appears to be unconnected with all the other rites. On the
spot where death occurred a mound of rice is hidden under an upturned basket and
there it is left for a whole night. The following morning the basket is removed and the
flour scrutinized for traces and impressions which would indicate the shape in which
the deceased’s jiv has been reincarnated - in a man, a dog, or perhaps in a bird or a
snake. No great importance, however, is attached to this test and the jiv is neither
addressed with prayers nor propitiated with food-offerings. If no marks are discovered
in the flour, the relatives conclude that the jiv did not revisit the house of death; and
they perform the remaining funeral rites with no concern for the negative result of the
flour-test. The sanal, on the other hand, continues to see the object of various pious
observances. The mingling of the sanal with those previously departed on the
morning after the funeral is later followed by its formal introduction to the Persa Pen,
the clan-deity. This rite can be performed only at one time in the year, namely during
the feast in honour of the clan-deity in the lunar month of Pus, which corresponds to
December-January. On this occasion the deceased’s kinsmen must provide a goat,
which the clan-priest sacrifices to the clan-deity in order to secure the sanal’s
admittance to the company of the clan-deity and the ancestors.
Thus we are left in no doubt that all the care which the Gonds bestow on their
‘Departed’ is concerned with the fate of the sanal, and we may now ask what kind of
existence the dead are believed to lead in the world of the sanal. Unlike other Indian
tribes, the Gonds have no shamans who travel to the ‘Land of the Dead’ and inform
the living about the fate of their deceased friends and kinsmen, but nevertheless it is
generally believed that life after death is very much the same as life in the world of
the living. The sanal are divided into phratries and clans and every man and woman is
believed to live with his or her original marriage-partner. If a man predeceases his
wife he remains single until she joins him in the Land of the Sanal. There she is
believed to return to the man to whom she was first married even though that
marriage may never have been consummated and she subsequently spent a lifetime
 with a second or a third husband. For a woman can be married only once with full
wedding-rites and it is these rites which determine her status in the society of the
Departed.

Christian (Systematic) Theology’s Eschatology Vis-à-vis Tribal Eschatology

1. Varied views of Systematic Theology on Eschatology
There are broadly three schools of eschatology.
i) According to the first school, eschatology is exclusively present and achieved. For
John, the supreme eschatological event was the coming of Jesus into this world,
coming through which the future becomes present. All which was expected fulfilled
in the person of Jesus Christ.
ii) A school with few supporters is that which asserts that the eschatology is exclusively
a future one. Its partisans try to demonstrate that the assertion which imply a present
eschatology are, in fact, promises and, accordingly, they referred to the future as well.
iii) The third school holds on to the view that eschatology is both present and future.
Christian eschatology surrounds around the life and work and resurrection of Jesus. It
is Jesus’s Kingdom oriented. It also believes in the lived or experienced eschatology
here and now on earth, though it is believed that the full and final fulfillment and
thereby judgment and reward and consequent eternal condemnation or glorious life.

2. Tribal Eschatology
While systematic Christian theology has a well-developed and sophisticated as well as
varied views on eschatology, tribal eschatology is plain and clearly futuristic. It is
where the dead goes and continue living almost like the normal living human albeit
they are separated and governed by different cosmological force.
The similarity is that the tribal understanding of eschatology also have after life. It can
be said that is closely in line with the understanding of the underworld or the
purgatory of some Christian tradition’s understanding. But the concept of realized
eschatology, judgment or reward by the Supreme Being is not known per se.

Conclusion
From the brief deliberation above we can come to conclusion that though different
tribes understanding of eschatology seems diverse it is very similar in many ways.
Faced by the enigmatic of questions of life after death and due to lack of any
scientific explanation or otherwise their quest for the answer seems to rest on
imagination or the supposedly real observation and experience as mentioned.
Bibliography
Andrei, Muresan Mehai. Eschatology and Eschatological Paradox in the Fourth
Gospel. Bolyai: Bolyai University press, 2010.
Lyngdoh, Ladbasuk. Life after Death in Khasi Religion and resurrection in the Bible
in Razouselie Lasetso ed., Gardening Tribal resources for doing Tribal Christian
Theology. Jorhat: Barkataki & Co. Pvt. Ltd, 2008.
N.L. Dongre, Tribal Concept of Life and Death (with reference of Gonds from Baihar
Balaghat)

Rochunga Pudaite, The Education of the Hmar People: with historical sketch of the
Hmar Tribe of the Northeast India. Calcutta: Navana Printing Works Pvt. Lmt., 1963.
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Theology. Jorhat: Barkataki & Co. Pvt. Ltd, 2008.
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1
Vashum R. ed., Encountering Modernity: Situating the Tangkhul Nagas in
perspective. New Delhi: Bibliophile South Asia, 2014.
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Press,1978.
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