Epic As History- Diffusion of Ramakatha from Chin Hills to Lushai Hills (An Old and Rare Book)

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About the Book History helps people to know about their neighbors and thus helps them to find out affinities and differences, which not only satisfy the scholarly goals of knowledge production and education but also those of pragmatic understanding of values and attitudes for cultural exchange and survival of man as members of National and International Community. What is important about North East is that it is predominantly tribal in its population structure and cultural practices. The challenge before us is to historically determine the exact influence of Ram Katha Tradition on the culture of North East. It is a fact that the influences of the great epic have been carried to the North East through different routes. There are evidences that the Thai and the Mayanmarese (Burmese) versions of the Ramayana reached North East because of the migration of the Ahoms, who are believed to have migrated from Burma (Myanmar). Therefore the Ram Katha tradition in North East has diverse roots.

Ramayana has always been a great source of inspiration to the whole of humanity. The present volume is a study of the Ramayana tradition among the Chin tribe inhabiting the borders of Mizoram, Manipur and Myanmar. Although the Chin tribe has a lot of cultural and other similarities with many other tribes on both sides of the border, they also do have marked differences with the tribes living in the surrounding plains and valleys. This tribe has a fairly isolated existence for centuries and its language is unwritten.

Historically, it is extremely difficult to determine the exact period when the events of Ramayana got ingrained into Chin-Lushai culture. However, it may be traced to the Pan- Hindu influences and cultural contacts of early India with countries of South East Asia and Far East and from there the influences were carried to the Chin and Lushai Hills. The Hindu relies in Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia bear testimony to this influence. It is end that the volume will be useful to researcher’s scholars who are interested in the tribes of forth east and their cultures.

About the Author Dr. Sujit K. Ghosh is the Regional Director of the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Kolkata Regional Centre, He has more than two decades of research experience on the history of North-East India. He has published widely and attended Seminars and Workshops on history and culture in India and abroad. He visited Thailand and Indonesia and other South-East Asian countries in connection with his research work. His major UGC research project was on "Ram Katha Tradition in North-East India". This project is a pioneering work in the direction of using oral literature as resource for serious historical research. He has edited Ramayana in the North-East and Politics of Subversion: An Untold History of Sylhet. As a distant education administrator and researcher, he has also edited Consumer Rights & Consumer Protection and IGNOU's Community Colleges: An Innovative Approach to Inclusive Education in India. His edited works have been well received by academia and researchers in the field.

Preface There is a growing consciousness among the students of history to peep deeply into the history of Chin Hills (Myanmar) and Lushai Hills (Mizoram). The first and for most limitation in the study of the history of Mizos is the absence of historical information. Historical sources reveal, all belong to the post-Colonial period left by the Colonial rulers of pre-Independence days. During the closing years of British rule in India there raged a controversy about the policy to be adopted with regard to the tribes of the Northeast India. While anthropologically minded administrators advocated a policy of protection which in certain cases involved even a measure of seclusion. Indian politicians attacked the idea of segregation and seclusion on the grounds that it threatened to deepen and perpetuate divisions within the Indian nation, and delayed the integration of the tribes into the rest of the population. This also creates an immense problem in the study of the early history of Chino Hills region covering the Lushai Hills. Lack of conventional data is a great hindrance to the tracing of the early history of the people of Lushai Hills. Rāmkatha, over the centuries, has been rendered in different ways in order to highlight different aspects of our moral, social and cultural values. In E.V. Ram swami’s rendering of Ramakatha, one understands the politicization of the Aryan and the Dravidian cultural conflict. In his interpretation, Ravana is seen as a paragon of Dravidian values. Besides these renderings, Rāmkatha has been a part of popular culture and was represented through puppet dances of Kerala, Ramlilas of Varanasi and Balinese dance dramas.

Introduction Epic as History: Diffusion of Rämkatha from the Chin Hills to the Lushai Hills is an attempt to have an in-depth study of Chin society vis-a-vis Rāmāyaṇa tradition. The motivation for the study is derived from the fact that the Chin society is 'tribal' because it has a cultural tradition that is markedly distinct from that of the surrounding plains and valley civilizations. It is fairly isolated and is not normally included in the network of social and political institutions of the surrounding States, and it has no such institutions of its own. Its religion is mainly animistic, and language is unwritten. The Chin tribe lives primarily in the areas bordering the States of Mizoram and Manipur.

For many centuries, the story of Ramayana has been having a profound impact over many communities and societies through its journey from India to other places in South-East Asia. The Valmiki Rāmāyaṇa, as a literary work is known for its simplicity and sublimity. For the epic protagonist, it is a journey from innocence to experience and he grows wiser, for his experience in tiding over misfortunes dia Epic As History: Diffusion of Ramkatha from Chin makes him an exceptional individual. The exceptional qualities of the hero become a role model for others to emulate. As the epics present the story of extraordinary human accomplishment, they fascinate even the people of the countries other than their places of origin.

The Chin socio-cultural scenario must be understood in terms of a dual adaptation to local resources by means of a particular technology and as a response to Burmese civilization. The Chin society was largely molded in response to political and economic changes under different circumstances. The large Burmese society and the Burmese nation-state consider the Chin as a special category or as a sub-nuclear society. It is distinct from both peasant society and purely tribal society. To understand the Chin society we must look into the factors which helped in its formation such as its social structure, trade relations, religion and interaction with the larger Burmese society.

The Northeast India is a veritable ethnic and cultural mosaic. The Seven Sisters of the Northeast have a distinct cultural ethos although there are specific influences upon its culture which are distinct from that of the mainstream. In fact, Northeast India is as diverse as India itself. It may be considered as a geographical entity without having any homogeneity in its configuration, neither linguistically or ethnically nor culturally. There are numerous small and large ethnic groups apart from the so-called Aryan representation that are not intensely looked into but reflect an Indian perspective establishing areas of cultural linkages.

The tribes inhabiting the region belong to the Tibet Burman, the Mongolian and the Austric ethnic groups. What is important about Northeast is that it is predominantly tribal En its population structure and cultural practices.

**Contents and Sample Pages**