Religion in Mizoram

Some 85 percent of the population (including almost all ethnic Mizos) is Christian, mostly Presbyterian and Baptist. This Christian heritage is shared by a majority in the nearby states of Nagaland and Meghalaya, and by a large minority in neighbouring Manipur. The Chakma practice Theravada Buddhism, mixed with elements of Hinduism and Animism.

The Shinlung

In recent decades a number of ethnically Mongoloid tribespeople from Mizoram, Assam and Manipur have begun identifying as Jews. They are known collectively as Shinlung, and include Chin, Lusha, Kuki and Mizo. “Several hundred have formally converted to Orthodox Judaism, [while] thousands many thousands more quite openly practice an Orthodox type of Judaism”. The Shinlung do not see themselves as converts, but believe themselves to be ethnically Jewish, descendants of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel (see Bnei Menashe).

The self-identification of some Mizos and others with Judaism owes its origin to the activities of Christian Evangelical missionaries in the area, beginning in 1813 but not reaching its full intensity until the decades after 1870.

The missions were massively successful, and the 1981 Census recorded that 83% of the population of Mizoram (and 30% of Manipur) were Christian, by which time the original culture of the Mizo and other hilltribes had been almost totally destoyed. The religious ferment, the disappearance of traditional culture, plus the sudden and overwhelming impact of modern commerical relations and cultural values, produced in turn a reaction in some quarters against Christianity.