Ancient traditions : A crucial identity determinant
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 20 , 2014 -

Ancestral traditions still alive at Andro :: Pix - TSE

The tradition of worshipping ancestors, legendary heroes and local guardian deities, though not a religion per se, is a common practice in many Asiatic societies and African communities.

These practices which are as old as the respective civilizations themselves have inseparable links with the people who live with these traditions. To those people who believe in ancestor worship, these traditions are perpetuated in the form of a religion.

Sometimes, these traditions are all pervasive, over-arching and more organised than universal religions and faiths.

So closely woven are these societies with the tradition of ancestor worship that it is still retained in the technology-driven 21st century.

The fundamental concept of ancestor worship lies in the belief that death is not the end of man's life.

This is often justified with the conviction that those who have departed from this world after death assumes supernatural character and form.

Another associated understanding is that the dead possess limitless potentialities, which they can exploit for the benefit or for the detriment of those who still live on Earth, depending on the moral behaviour of the people left behind. The underlying concept is that man perishes with death only physically, but the soul lives on perpetually.

In another word, the dead are the 'living dead'.

African scholar Mbiti described them as bilingual. They speak the language of men and women they lived with until death, and they speak the language of spirits and of god, to whom they are drawing nearer ontologically.

The concept of ancestor worship has socio-religious, spiritual, ethical as well as political aspects.

Morality and conduct of the would-be ancestor is another basic criterion to be venerated and revered by descendents later. The morality and conduct of the would-be ancestor must be ideal and par excellence.

There is another theory which says that the would-be ancestors are the ones who are fairly successful in upholding and safeguarding societal norms and ethical guidelines for the people they left behind. Another thesis runs like this.

An ancestor is a person who died a good death after having faithfully practised and transmitted to his descendents the societal norms left to him by his ancestors; who contributed to the continuity of the line by leaving many descendents; who as a peacemaker serves as a link that fostered communion between the living and the dead, through sacrifices and prayers, and who can maintain the generation a long genealogy.

Ancestor worshipping has its own traditions and practices.

The very culture of ancestor worshipping and the associated traditions constitute the core elements in shaping the collective or national identity of the particular societies.

The fact that the so called systematised, universal religions and faiths based on codified, 'sacred texts' and doctrines cannot subdue these primitive traditions testifies its practical relevancy to the lives of the indigenous people.

In fact, unlike adopted foreign faiths, these traditions by virtue of their sheer originality are not losing any of their practical relevancies even up to this so called cyber age. Ancestor worship, associated rites and rituals, and Lai Haraoba performed at the community or clan level is the bedrock of the indigenous culture, traditions and customs.

The distinctive identity of the Manipuri nation has its foundation in these traditions for no foreign element or practice is given any place in the whole rituals of ancestor worship or Lai Haraoba.

Both the hill people and plain people, although majority of them have adopted Christianity and Hinduism, are retaining the tradition of ancestor worship, and this speaks volumes about how deep rooted these traditions are to the lives of the indigenous people.

Kudos to the Chakpas, Kabuis, Marams, Maos, et al, for successfully preserving and upholding many of the ancient traditions and ethos.

Upholding one's own ancient traditions in this cyber age is not primitivism but far-sightedness and conscientiousness of one's identity.