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The missionaries stressed that if the Mara Christian individuals observed the rules of the church, their souls would be saved. Observance of the rules was a means of salvation. The following elements were to be observed:

1) To observe the day of rest.

2) Not to eat things sacrificed to demons.

3) To practice Christian giving.

4) Not to drink sahma (rice-beer).

5) To start a Sunday school in every village where there are converts.

6) To give a tenth or more of all their crops to God year by year.[1]

This was very important in the history of the Mara Christianity as the initial step towards Christianity started to bring cultural changes in the Mara society. Traditional religion was now completely abandoned. Traditional songs and dances were strongly discouraged. Therefore, all the traditional festivals where singing and dancing were performed had completely disappeared.

1.1.1.      Traditional songs and poetical words

Mara may be one of the richest tribes in terms of poetical words. Spoken language and poetical language are completely different and prose is never regarded as a song or a poem or lyric. When the missionaries came, they did not realize that the Maras had both spoken language and poetical words to compose songs, solos and hymns. They translated or composed hymns or songs in terms of prose and taught the first generations Mara Christians to sing. But this for the Maras was not singing a song, it was singing prose. However, the Mara Christians thought that this was the way that Christian had to sing, wholly distinctive in tunes and compositions. The first generation Mara Christians had perceived that Christian songs had to be in prose. Any mixture of Mara poetical words was not tolerated because they had been proselytized to Christianity. The total fault lay not only with the missionaries, but also the Mara Christians themselves because they had the understanding that all the Mara poetical words were labeled as being of Satan consequently, they were disposed of and abandoned.

The missionaries insisted that Mara Christians should compose Christian hymns and songs with the Mara poetical words, but the Maras refused because their old religion and culture were thought to be of no use in their new religion.

In a postcolonial reading, rejecting one’s own traditional tune is a sign of total conversion which abandons the Mara traditional tune for the translated song of the missionary. Therefore, the Mara converts who cut themselves off from the Mara traditions and culture rejected the use of traditional tunes in worship and instead sang translated songs with western tunes and western music.

1.1.2.      Traditional dances

The Mara traditional dances were interwoven with the primal religion. As described earlier, all the activities done in the Mara community can be interpreted as having religious significances and cultural elements as well. However, the Missionaries saw the Mara traditional dances as anti-Christian elements rather than seeing them as hermeneutical tools for interpreting the Mara tradition from a new perspective. In this regard we cannot solely blame the missionaries, but the Mara converts who cut themselves from their own cultural dances. Ironically, they started criticizing their own cultural dances and other cultural elements as satanic and worldly without realizing how they themselves had been brought up within this very tradition and culture. This created a radical loss of Mara identity and the Maras were later pushed to find their own identities. However, dance is a survival of Mara culture and also points to a new way of experiencing Christianity. Dance makes a connection between Mara traditional and religious life with the Christian life. In dance, Maras are truly Christian and truly Mara at the same time.

1.1.3.      Traditional Drum (Khoh)

A Mara drum is a hollow cylindrical frame of dead wood with cow skins stretched on both ends, which when beaten produce sounds. Mara drums may be classed into three groups according to the sizes. A small-sized drum will normally measure less than 12 inches in diameter. A medium-sized drum measures approximately 12-16 inches in diameter. A large-sized drum measures anything more than the medium size. The early Mara Christians did not use the Mara drum because of its old association with their traditional religion and cultural entertainments, and the missionaries also did not give encouragement. However, the time passed by, the Mara did not consider using the drum as the old traditional religion and cultural entertainment; rather they use the drum in worship whenever necessary.

The Maras could not resist forever the use of drums in church. The drum was later adopted because the Mara cultural instinct asserted itself through the excitement of the revival. Since drum beating had never come into Christian worship in the early days, when it made its entry into the church, it was strictly through the back door, not readily accepted by the church leaders until the powerful force of singing and dancing during the revival made it an essential complement of the upheaval. Now the use of traditional drums has become so popular and

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[1] J.H. Lorrain, ‘Annual Gatherings of the Lushai Converts’ in Missionary Herald (London: BMS, April, 1904), 163.