critical-40

view of Mara poetical words which had been totally rejected as anti-Christian elements and marginalized as godless but were then retrieved and used to compose the Mara indigenous hymns for praising God. Thirdly, the mission church strictly forbade the traditional and cultural dances, which were considered as pagan and worldly, but these dances came to the church in a modified form when the spiritual revival broke out. As a result these new forms of dance are no longer seen as sinful, unchristian and a manifestation of evil spirits, but as a spiritual manifestation of God through culture that gives the Mara Christian a distinctive identity. Fourthly, in the light of a postcolonial praxis model, Christianizing the Mara traditional drum is a radical paradigm shift because an element which was previously considered as anti-Christian was taken into the fold of Mara Christianity. Traditionally, the drum played a very important role in all the religious and cultural life of Mara society. But when they embraced Christianity, they abandoned the traditional drum and using the drum was seen as unchristian. But inspired by the revival movement when the traditional drum interacted with the new indigenous Christian hymns, the drum became more meaningful and brought a new type of singing. Therefore, using the drum in the church and in social gatherings is no longer seen as unchristian but rather as more spiritual and expressing Mara Christian identity. Fifthly, the Revival movement also helped the Maras to developed evangelism on the local level and foreign level. The Mara custom of apiepasaihna, that is helping others especially the needy one like the widows, the weak and the disabled in drawing water, fetching firewood, cutting and weeding the jhums and repairing houses were traditionally assigned to the thyutlia inmates. But now the revival enthusiasts irrespective of sex, age or status took upon themselves the responsibility of continuing the thyutlia functions, with Christian vigor rejuvenated by Christian conviction. The next chapter will deal with the mission and evangelistic work of the Mara evangelical Church of Myanmar and the Evangelical Church of Maraland of Mizoram, India.