Animism at Risk as a Religion in Arunachal Pradesh

May 14, 2005

Source: Yahoo! News

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050515/india_nm/india_202439

On May 14, 2005 Yahoo! News reported, "Tamo Mindo, a slight man with creased eyes, stares intently at the liver of a chicken he has just killed. Mindo, a 58-year-old shaman belonging to the animist Donyi Polo religion, is looking for clues to help him tell which spirit has possessed a woman he has been asked to cure. Mindo is among the few people trying to preserve his religion from the increasing influence of Hinduism and Christianity in the remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. Donyi Polo, one of a few surviving centuries-old animist religions in the hilly state home to about 20 major tribes, means sun and moon. The tribes believe the sun and moon are the eyes of god and nothing can ever be hidden from god. While Arunachal Pradesh, or land of the rising sun, is still largely animist unlike India's other northeastern states which have become heavily Christianised, the number of Christian converts has increased over the years."