Construction of the Idea of Evil in Indias North-East

The idea of evil as opposed to the idea of good limits the application of ethical, political and aesthetic judgments to the observance of unconditional or categorical moral laws. In the Indian epic context, the play of law and history that throws up a very interesting notion of dharma and adharma. Evil is identified with Adharma, which is a negation of the practice of the right. But the primary problem in distinguishing between the right and the wrong does not lie in moral agency, but in immutability of human nature or soul. Evil then turns out to be the mutability of human character or the being of human from its regulative moral laws, which is a phenomenal possibility in terms of evolution of consciousness. 

In modern Indian thought such as thoughts of Gandhi, Tagore and Aurobindo, the idea of evil gets categorized and complicated but in a little less than generalized fashion, one may take evil in the modern Indian sense as a value which is negative irrespective of the object and the context in which it can find a locus. But it has an origin that can be identified in introspection and it can be indemnified against a vast plural and properly constructed domain of law and moral principles. But over and above these philosophical approaches to the concept of evil in most societies remains a part of popular culture and common belief.

Some images of the evil are available in the literatures and folklores and traditions of Indias North-east. For example, Wiyus in Arunachal Pradesh among Abo-Tani group of tribes or the evil gods called Iigii-iirung attacking the human bodies with incurable diseases are named with a symbolic of spirit. Evil expressed in a symbolic manner is often is redeemed by way of ritual practices. The imagery of evil constructs a spirit world that ironically allows those things to happen almost by virtue of freewill of those spirit inhabitants. Many of the tribes in Indias North-east has something called a thread square symbol found in common from Indo-Austric to Tibeto-Burman group of people. Thread square symbolizes thwarting of evil spirit by ancestral spirits. Evil finds its imaginary representation in narrative construction of characters in folk tales. Chhura and Nahaia, the most popular characters of Mizo folk narrative in their manifold display of livelihood strategies and tricks that they play on others are talked of as devils in action. Another male character called Chemtatrawta, who emerges as the cause of a chain of events of attack, revenge and counter attack involving humans, fishes, animals, birds and other living creatures finally mislead angry public in identifying a prawn as the culprits for all the debacles, who was penalized. Such an indigenous imagination of how things happen in the animal world and how humans-animals and nature influence each others lives by their misdeeds is essential for formation of tribal belief and knowledge systems. Such misdeeds are often done deliberately and often to have pleasure at someone elses harm and pain. One can say that be it evil spirit or be it humans tricking others, the larger frame of morality subdues such spirits. Whenever the lives of peoples face some uncontrollable crisis, evil is attributed as a cause and then it is represented in symbolic and imaginary terms.

Among the peoples influenced by Indo-Gangetic cultures, myths of mother goddess as the primordial female principle led to institution of devi worship in Indias Northeast. Cult of mother goddess has direct relationship with resistance to evil power, often called a-sura. Further the gendered identity of the feminine principle as the progenitor of the creation is often found upon supplementing the incomplete singularity of the male, which otherwise would have turned into an evil force of nature. Narakasura turning into a worshipper of devi kamakhya brings peace in his kingdom, who otherwise has been portrayed as going astray in his desire to consort with the goddess. This is an example of how evil desire leads to degeneration of the human frame and consequent subsumption of such desire in the acts of worship can sublimate the force of the evil in human character.

In order to explore embedded character of evil in its many dimensions the conference proposes to bring together scholars, social activists and repository of traditional knowledge to discuss the ideas of evil. In order to do so, the Conference can be structures in the following sub-themes: