The ILUVWWZRRI%HEELQJWRQ¶VIRXUDVSHFWVRIHYDQJHOLFDOLVPDUHDFWLYLVPDQG conversionism, which both contribute to the identity of an evangelist. As an evangelist, the composer Lianrûma epitomised the activism of a newly converted Christian. Some of this is evident in the way he described those in heaven in the final verse of K11:
Lungduh chhandamte lênna hmun,
Thlen theih loh ka hlau mang e, Chhandamtu; Thisenin min sil la, Thlarauvin min hruai se, Lal lunghnêm ram mawi chu ka ngai mang e.
The place where our saved loved ones wander, Saviour, I fear I will not be able to reach it; Wash me in the blood, lead me by the Spirit,
+RZPXFK,ORQJIRUWKHFRPIRUWLQJ/RUG¶VEHDXWLIXOODQG
199 :ULWWHQµ/LHQUXP¶LQWKHRULJLQDO+PDU
7KH\DUHQRWMXVWKLVORYHGRQHVRUKLVUHODWLYHVDQGIULHQGVEXWWKHµVDYHG ones¶ It is clear that he EHOLHYHGLQDFFRUGDQFHZLWKHYDQJHOLFDOLVPWKDWRQO\WKRVHZKRKDYHEHHQµVDYHG¶would be reunited in heaven. Salvation, a result of conversion, was of crucial importance in his conception and hope of heaven. The hope of seeinJµVDYHG¶ FRQYHUWHG SHRSOHLQKHDYHQwas what motivated his activism as an evangelist.
Lianrûma first intended his song as an intimate communication between himself and God. He composed it when he was in his loneliest condition, rejected by a village chief and spending the night outside the village. However, it has come to be a well-known song sung by congregations, encouraging gathered Christians to share in his penetrating questions of the soul that will be discussed in section 4.2. In this way, it seems that it was disseminated like older Mizo songs as described in chapter three, when gathered people at the zaikhâwm or in the khawhar in regularly sang the individual laments of famous composers. This mode of dissemination also affected the transmission of the hymns first introduced by the missionaries.
Although the missionaries preached, initially from the zawlbuk \RXQJPHQ¶VGRUPLWRU\ , it is arguably through hymns that the Mizo population ultimately tended towards the new hope offered in their music aQGWH[WV/OR\GZURWHµWKHYHUVHVRI6FULSWXUHZKLFKWKH\NQHZE\KHDUWDQGWKHK\PQVZKLFKWKH\ NQHZHYHQEHWWHUIDVKLRQHGWKHLUWKHRORJ\¶ 7KHVWRU\LVRIWHQWROGRIWKH ZD\LQZKLFK µK\PQVSUHFHGHGPLVVLRQDULHVDQGRWKHUHYDQJHOLVWVWRPDQ\SODFHV¶ Ibid: 47).201 Not only were the hymns of an entirely different musical style, but the concept of singing congregationally in spiritual worship and in praise of God was also one that had not featured prominently before. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence that the hymns were welcomed in Mizoram as attractive and exotic new compositions. Lorrain wrote in 1904 that Christian songs were being sung equally by Christians and non-Christians (MGCC 1993: 12). As such, they found a place in the Mizo enjoyment of feasting and rest that the preaching could not achieve.
Evangelical hymns have therefore not just promoted activism in their words, but have played an important part in evangelical activities themselves. It is important to note that the missionaries to Mizoram had in part been inspired to activism through music. Most would have encountered the visits
201 7KHVSHFLILFDQHFGRWHJLYHQE\/OR\GLVRI5RZODQGV¶VXUSULVHDWKHDULQJKLVRZQsong, µAw Pathian,
nangman chanchin ܒKDPLQSH¶ (µ2K*RG\RXJDYHXVWKHJRVSHO¶ ZKHQDUULYLQJDWDYLOODJHIRUWKH first time.
to Britain of the American preacher D.L. Moody and his musician Ira Sankey in the second half of the nineteenth century. Sankey famously published collections of hymns that combined older British hymns of Watts and Wesley with more modern products inspired by revivals on both sides of the Atlantic. 6DQNH\¶VVW\OHDQGPXVLFSURIRXQGO\LPSUHVVHGPDQ\RIWKH%ULWLVKHVSHFLDOO\H[LVWLQJHYDQJHOLFDO Christians and those with an interest in missionary activities. Many missionaries from this era chose to take the Sankey hymn-books with them as they embarked on their voyages. Cecil Alexander, one of the prominent songwriters and singers at the latter end of the era, once told Sankey (Sankey 1907: 82):
As we have gone around the world, we have found that the best workers, as a general rule, are either workers (sic) or converts of the Moody and Sankey meetings. We have found them in India, in Tasmania, and everywhere we have gone.
The popularity of Sankey hymns for use by missionaries has been addressed in chapters by Charles McGuire and Mel Wilhoit in Music and Theology in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Clarke 2012: 79- 116).202 Mizoram was no exception to the early enthusiasm for Sankey hymns introduced by both the Baptist and Calvinist Methodist missionaries and they continue to dominate current editions of the KHB. Edwin Rowlands has been widely celebrated as the most talented translator of hymns into Mizo despite spending less than a decade in the region between 1898 and 1907.203 In addition to the Sankey hymns, he translated a large number of Welsh hymns, which had not even been translated into English. /DOWOXDQJOLDQD.KLDQJWHVD\VKHµEHVWJUDVSHGWKHJHQLXVRf the Mizo character from within¶ His hymns show that he used words, idioms and phrases with unequalled skill and precision (1993: 9). It is clear WKDW5RZODQGV¶XQLTXHDFKLHYHPHQWDVLVVWLOOUHFRJQLVHGE\0L]RVLQJHUVDQGZULWHUVZDVKLVDELOLW\ to identify with and express the poetic sentiment that previous chapters have referred to as lunglênna. Other missionaries busied themselves with musical activities in more conventional ways by teaching tonic solfa and training choirs204 and the Welsh missionaries in particular possessed an enthusiasm for music that became a significant aspect of their missionary activism.
202 Other studies include Wilkins (2010), Guilbault (1987), Wood and Wild-Wood (2004).
203 µ:KHQKHFRPHWK¶ and µ$OOKDLOWKHSRZHURI-HVXV¶QDPH¶were certainly taught in 1901 to a village by Rowlands (Lloyd 1986: 82). See C. Vanlallawma for a comprehensive account of his musical legacy which included both Christian and secular songs (Lalthangliana 1999: 1-20). He was admired by Lorrain, C.Z. Huala and J.F. Dailova, among others (Ibid: 11-12).
204 In 1907, Robert Evans took the place of the Welsh missionaries during their absence and he worked with the Khasi missionary (from Meghalaya) Sahon Roy to translate more songs and compile the first guide to tonic solfa (Lloyd 1986: 120). When the Frasers arrived soon afterwards, Mrs Fraser as a
FIGURE 3.1 Katie Hughes leading a singing class. Synod Archives.
In the earliest years, the translated hymns remained part of an oral tradition in Mizoram, but in 1899, a small book of just eighteen songs was published (See Thanmawia 1998: 66).205 The majority have endured as popular hymns even today. Most songs were evangelistic, focused on Jesus and often directed themselves at children. These are the songs that were used during the spiritual revivals that began in 1906.206 With the exception of Rowlands, the engagement with local Mizo music and poetry seems to have been limited, but the employment of music as an important tool in evangelical activism and conversionism does seem to have been a more effective mode of establishing authority and influence than the Baptist preoccupation with literary translation and education. Indeed, just as these hymns were subject to the same processes of dissemination as traditional Mizo songs, the later repertoire of khawhar zai followed in their wake.
One of the weaknesses of the missionary approach was that, apart from the emphasis on song transmission, it did not belong within the credible systems of imparting knowledge and truth. It did not
member of the Royal Academy of Music was qualified to award the Curwen certificate in tonic solfa and was also equipped with a harmonium (Ibid: 139). This work was continued by Katie Hughes in the ¶VZKRJDYHIXUWKHUWUDLQLQJLQWRQLFVROIDDQGHVWDEOLVKHGDYHU\VXFFHVVIXOFKRLUWUDGLWLRQWKDWVWLOO endures today (Ibid: 262-3). Most of the female missionaries were able to play the harmonium, and Hughes even introduced a piano to the church at Mission Veng.
205 Numerous Mizo texts have described this hymn-book, which is available in the British Library. Its contents need not be repeated here.
206 Several articles in Kristian Tlangau emphasised the importance of learning to sing well, often drawing from Sankey, Alexander and the Welsh missionaries for inspiration (May 1914, October 1914).
come from the respected elders but from strange foreigners. This soon gave rise to an emphasis on local evangelism. Lorrain mentioned in 1907 that Mizo Christians possessed a superior skill in preaching EHFDXVHWKH\XVHGµSDUables and illustrations drawn from domesWLFOLIHDQGIURPQDWXUH¶ 0*&& : 37). As well as speaking from a more conventional position of authority, they knew better how to impart wisdom through acceptable channels, within local knowledge systems.
FIGURE 3.2 Congregation leaving their converted zawlbuk church in Lunglei, 21 April 1905. Angus Archives.207
K. Thanzauva points out that the evangelist Liangkhaia,208 for example, remained faithful to the importance of meeting the needs of society as a Mizo elder, and describes this as tribal theology in SUDFWLFH µ,QVROLGDULW\ZLWKWKHSHRSOHKHVWD\HGZLWKWKHPDWHZLWKWKHPVXIIHUHGZLWKWKHPDQGVDQJ DQGGDQFHGZLWKWKHPDQGWKDWLVKRZKHOHDUQWDERXWWKHLUQHHGV¶ .KLDQJWHD 7KLVVHHPV to epitomise the Mizo approach to evangelical activism. Recognising their significant role, the Baptist
207 Held in Angus Archives, Oxford: IN/PS1/13/6.
208 Liangkhaia was one of the first converts to receive a theological education outside Mizoram. He went to the Welsh Mission School in Cherrapunji near Shillong where he received a thorough Calvinist education (Lalchungnunga in Khiangte 2013a: 101).
and Presbyterian Churches were both quick to appoint Mizo evangelists and pastors such as Lianrûma from among their new Christians.
FIGURE 3.3 Five Lushai evangelists, c.1907. Angus Archives.209
Liangkhaia maintained a traditional position of village eldership in his commitment to preaching the Christian message, and thus asserted his authority of knowledge through traditional means. In his book about the revivals, he offers a summary of what is hoped for after death using the terms in which he communicated it to the Mizo people (1972: 85):210
The Love and Sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us, unworthy people, the hope and the assurance that we will be in heaven (Vân Ram Jerusalem) one day. When we reach that place, there will be no need for us to work or do the kind of labour, eat, drink or clothe ourselves like we do in this world. However, one thing that is definitely going to continue isµ3UDLVLQJ*RG WKH)DWKHU«¶
209 Held in Angus Archives, Oxford: IN/5/18/34. 210 Translated from Mizo.
At this point, he cites one of his own hymns. Unlike his missionary patrons, he fully integrated music in his communication of Christianity, often singing from the pulpit as part of his sermons.211 However, it is his statement as a whole that reinforces the claims of this thesis so far, that the hope of heaven could best be understood in terms of the fundamental aspirations that already existed in Mizo society.
FIGURE 3.4 Liangkhaia. Hlakungpui Mual gallery.
However, the music of early evangelists such as Liangkhaia tends to predate the emergence of khawhar zai, and was usually in the style of the western hymns. Although Liangkhaia initially expressed a disliking for the new songs which did not conform to the missionary style (Pachuau 2002: 104), Lianrûma¶V H[DPSOH shows that this perception changed among evangelists, who realised the importance of harnessing the new style as part of their evangelism and also as their preferred response to their own struggles in life and faith. Another example from the present sample is K1 by Thangvungi
(1904-1978), and it demonstrates two ways in which khawhar zai played a role in Mizo evangelism. The first verse and chorus are given below:
A chatuan ro luah tumin i bei zêl ang, Lungngaihna a lo lên lai hian; Ka kiangah awm zêl ang che aw, Ka Chhandamtu duh tak.
Keep working for his eternal inheritance, When sorrows come;
Remain forever by my side, My dear and precious Saviour.
Aw, hlimna ram i pan ang u, Chawlh hlenna tûr; Aw, ka ngai e, ܒhente zawng Kimna tûr ram khi.
Oh, OHW¶VNHHSSUHVVLQJRQWRWKHODQGRIMR\, For the place of eternal rest;
Oh, how I miss all those who have gone The land up there where we will be together.
Thangvungi was one of the earliest women to gain prominence in church leadership, accompanying Liangkhaia in his ministry. As a product of her industrious study of the Bible and the hymn-book, she composed three songs between 1924 and 1928 (Lalrâwna 2011: 77). Her unusual emphasis on the importance of hard work on earth, reflecting her own work ethic, rather than the focus on future rest is HYLGHQWLQWKHILUVWOLQHZKLFKXVHVµbei¶ µWRZRUNKDUGWRZDUGV¶. It is the root of the term beiseina, for expectant hope. She also repeatedly uses the verb pan to express the act of pressing on towards that JRDOE\OLYLQJWKURXJKOLIH¶VVWUXJJOHV.212 The determination expressed reflects a more realistic hope, GUDZLQJIURPWKHYROLWLRQDODVSHFWRI0DFTXDUULH¶VIUDPHZRUNVRIKRSH Rather than dwell on µUHVW¶ she conforms to modern theological understandings of hope as demanding activity and social action. Her song therefore promotes the activism that she herself espoused as an evangelist, and was used to inspire others to follow the same example.
Khawhar zai was therefore both a tool for activism among composers and other Christians, but also a medium through which activism could be inspired towards a volitional hope as found in the words of Thangvungi. This expressly contradicts arguments that the songs distracted Mizo Christians from social
212 7KHVHWHUPVPD\KDYHEHHQGUDZQIURP3DXO¶VUHSHDWHGH[KRUWDWLRQVWRµSUHVVIRUZDUG¶WRWKHJRDO that lay before the early Christians (See Philippians 3), especially given her intimate knowledge of the Bible.
activity and service, VLQFH WKH\ DFWXDOO\ HQFRXUDJHG VLQJHUV WR µSUHVV IRUZDUG¶ WRZDUG WKH JRDO RI heaven.
Later in this chapter, conversionism in the Mizo context will be seen to have carried serious consequences since early Christians were required to live in D ZD\ WKDW ZDV µFDOOHG RXW¶ IURP WKH ordinary village life. They sacrificed their former security and role within the community in order to live according to their new faith. This led to incidents that have been described as persecution. However, this did not deter many new Christians from embracing the activism of evangelicalism and volunteering as evangelists to encourage others to convert to Christianity. Their use of music and local systems of knowledge and authority was often more effective than the missionary efforts. Indeed, music played a crucial role in the activism of these evangelists, employed by them but also promoting activism and hope amid persecution through their own texts.