Religious Nationalism, Christianisation and Institutionalisation of Indigenous Faiths in Contemporary Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

The paper examines the interface of indigenous faiths with the twin forces of Hindu religious nationalism and Christianity, and the eventual institutionalisation of the former in Arunachal Pradesh, a federal state on India’s north-eastern frontier. To substantiate, the paper focuses on nyedar namlos, the newly introduced community prayer halls for Donyi-Polo, the indigenous faith of the Nyishi tribe. The paper argues that nyedar namlos need to be contextualised against the changing socio-political history of the state and its transformation from a socio-political periphery and colonial frontier to an active site of state-making and nation-building, as well as a military frontier, all of which shape the discourse on religion.