Critical-16

1.1.Human being

Maras believed in the existence of the body and soul. The soul must be inside the body that enables a person to be a complete being. The Maras believed that the soul of the human being was superior to those of animals. If the soul of a person was out of the body, there would be a physical ailment of some kind. Each human soul was believed to have a different guardian and guiding spirit who took total charge of all his or her well being. At death, the soul would leave behind the body and go to ‘athipa khi’ (the village of the death) or ‘peirah’ (heaven). The status of the soul after death was very much determined by the actions in this world. The status and destiny of the soul in this world was much better than athipa khi. Some folktales of the Maras tell that the soul of the dead after living a painful and depressing life for a certain period in athipa khi would escape in the form of dew that would evaporate and vanish away forever.

2.      The Role of Priest in Worship

Religious worship was family or clan worship of the spirit of a clan. It is a kind of family worship of the good spirits like Khazohpa and others. This was obligatory for every Mara. In the Mara religious worship the priests played very important roles, the functions and roles of the priest can be described as follows:

Hrosoh                     

According to Mara theologians there were two kinds of prophets in the pre-Christian Mara society. One was a real prophet and the other was an imitating prophet. There were a number of prophets in Maraland and these prophets visited villages and those who were sick and in difficulties approached and consulted them. Traditionally they were never considered as healers, but as the ones who could prescribe the right sacrifices to offer through the priest. The hrosoh have their own terminology and all the words uttered were mostly in poetical words. There was one assistant or helper who interpreted the word of the hrosoh to people.

3.      The Concept of Life After Death

The Maras had a strong traditional belief in the existence of life after death. Immediately after the death the spirit left the human body and went to hawly paka, a bed-post which has a hole to keep small articles) and after that it climbed up to the beam of the house, from there to the back door and finally deserted the house. The soul of the dead was supposed to wander around in the village for about three months before leaving this world for an eternal place. His/her usual place at the family meal was kept vacant and some food was set aside for the departed soul. The soul was then taken to the place called hawly paka which was located in near Lochei village, one of the Mara villages, Chin State in Myanmar. From there the soul proceeded to hill from where he could see his village. He turned so frequently in viewing his village that he could not make progress on his journey. He was then made to drink water called situated in that place. He then lost all his longing for home and desire to go back and his longing for family was also erased. He then swiftly proceeded to his eternal destination.

The early Mara society believed in the existence of two different abodes for the dead people. One was called ‘athih khih’ (village of the dead) and the other place was called ‘peihrah’ (paradise).

3.1.A place of dead people (Athih Khih)

According to V.L. Siama, a prominent Mizo historian, Mizos believed that the earth is eight layers thick and the athih khih is in the last layer.[1]  It was a dull shadowy place where everything was on a much lower scale than in the present world. Life in the athih khih was miserable compared to this world. It was also believed that the souls of the criminals and those who were anti-social would go to the athih khih and lived there eternally. They had no chance to escape from that place to another place. Athih khih was meant for those who did not perform series of sacrifices and good deeds called noeihpa sacrifices (strong deeds).

Peihrâh

The other place of abode for the departed soul was peihrâh (paradise). According to traditional belief, there were only a few people who were entitled to enter peihrâh. Those who performed noeihpa sacrifice ‘extraordinary distinguished’, the new born child who died in infancy and the virgin. Those spirits would go to peihrâh where there was no more work to be done. They would stay there forever enjoying all the good things and everything was provided there free of cost or works. There would be no more pain, misery and suffering and they attained eternal bliss.

Theologically, Mara religion therefore, was a religion for the rich people only because for the majority of the poor people there was no way of performing the series of the costly feasts or noeihpa sacrifices. Therefore, in the Mara traditional religion only the rich and well-to do were entitled to enjoy the bliss of peihrâh and the poor were destined to be at athih khih.

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[1] V.L. Siama, Mizo History, 8. See also C.G. Varghese & R.L. Thanzawna, A History of the Mizos, Vol. I (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1997), 326-327. Hereafter cited as ‘Varghese and Thanzawna, History of the Mizos’.