Christianity in Assam

Last updated
The church at Tezpur Church at Tezpur.JPG
The church at Tezpur

Christianity is a third largest religion in Assam , a state of India in the north-eastern region. The population of Christians in Assam is 1,165,867 making up 3.74% of state population as of the 2011 census report, and it is also the second-fastest growing religion in Assam after Islam. The largest concentration of Christians in Assam can be found in Dima Hasao District where Christian population is about 30% and Karbi Anglong district where Christian population is about 16.5% as of the 2011 census report.

Contents

Two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries, Cabral and Cacella — the first Christian Missionaries to set foot in Assam — reached Hajo and Guwahati on September 26, 1626. They were en route to Tibet from Hooghly. There is no record of significant sharing of the gospel in Assam at this point.

The start of sustained missionary work in Assam seems to come with the arrival of Nathan Brown along with Oliver Cutter in 1836. They previously had been Christian missionaries in Burma. They carried a printing machine with them and first arrived in Sadiya, easternmost part of Assam. They started schools in Assamese and Khaamti languages and authored text books. They also started the translation of the New Testament into Assamese. But in 1839, due to Khamti rebellions, Brown along with Cutter left for Jaipur, India. They kept publishing in Assamese from there. The complete translation of the New Testament was first published in 1848 as 'Amaar Traankorta Jisu Christor Natun Niyom'. In 1854, he published 'Christor Biworon and Xhubho Bartaa'. He also translated a few prayers to Assamese. Brown started the translated of Bible he was finally completed in 1903 with other missionaries efforts.[ citation needed ]

Oliver Thomas Cutter was born in United States in 1811. He started his journey towards east in 1831 along with his wife Harriet Cutter. He first landed in Burma (Myanmar) and from there he crossed Patkai to reach Assam in 1836 along with Nathan Brown's family. He together with Browns started a printing press in Sadiya. They started to print books in Assamese, Khamti and Singfou language from there. They also started school and authored some text books for the schools. But due to Singfou[ clarification needed ] rebellions, they were forced to leave Assam and go back to Jaipur. But they kept on publishing books from Jaipur. After few years, Cutter's family came back to Assam and this time settled down in Sibsagar. Miles Bronson came to Assam with friend Jacob Thomas in 1836. He first started his works in Sadiya, Jaipur and Naamsang. He started interacting with Naga tribes and first compiled 'East Naga' Thesaurus. According to historian Mccangie, no European after or before Bronson could get so close to Nagas. But he soon felt ill working with Nagas, so he finally came down to Nagaon via Sibsagar. In Assam, Bronson started working in both Christianism and local education. During the period from 1848 to 1851 and 1867 to 1871, he took vacation from his works and went back to New York. Miles Bronson was the main leader of the movement against government enforcing Bengali language as the official language in courts, school in Assam. In 1867, using Jaduram baruah's scripting, he published the first Assamese and English dictionary. The dictionary contained around 14 thousands words and published from Baptist Missionary Press, Sibsagar. This dictionary was another strong step in support of Assamese language. Bronson also started the translation of Bible to Assamese. Nidhiram Keot, the first native convert of the whole Northeastern region of India from the indigenous Keot(Kaibarta) community (an aboriginal tribe Sanskritised to a low position in the caste hierarchy), was baptised by Bronson on June 13, 1841 and took up the name Nidhi Levi Farewell.[ citation needed ]

Khasi and Garo are notable ethnic groups with a large Christian population. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Himalayan States has an Assam diocese since 2003, which used to be the Assam Church. [1] Among the large Bengali population of Assam, there are few Christians. [2]

Population

Christians in Assam
YearNumberPercentage
2001 [3]
986,589
3.70
2011 [4]
1,165,867
3.74
Historical Christian Population in Assam [5]
YearPop.±%
1901 13,638—    
1911 22,817+67.3%
1921 41,686+82.7%
1931 79,025+89.6%
1941 37,599−52.4%
1951 160,438+326.7%
1961 263,134+64.0%
1971 381,010+44.8%
1981 534,572+40.3%
1991 744,367+39.2%
2001 986,589+32.5%
2011 1,165,867+18.2%
Source: census of India

Percentage of Christians in Assam by decades [6]

YearPercentIncrease
19010.41%-
19110.59%

+0.18%

19210.9%

+0.31%

19311.42%

+0.52

19410.56%

-0.86%

19512%

+1.44%

19612.43%+0.43%
19712.61%+0.18%
19812.96%+0.35%
19913.32%+0.36%
20013.7%+0.38%
20113.74%+0.04%

Population by district

Christian population in Assam (2011) [7]
#DistrictTotal populationChristian population %
1 Karbi Anglong 956,313157,78916.50%
2 Sonitpur 1,924,110138,1667.18%
3 Udalguri 831,668110,21513.25%
4 Kokrajhar 887,142101,09111.40%
5 Goalpara 1,008,18377,8627.72%
6 Tinsukia 1,327,92976,8775.79%
7 Dima Hasao 214,10263,31029.57%
8 Dibrugarh 1,326,33552,9683.99%
9 Golaghat 1,066,88850,5824.74%
10 Chirang 482,16249,74710.32%
11 Lakhimpur 1,042,13746,2174.43%
12 Cachar 1,736,61737,6352.17%
13 Kamrup 1,517,5423,32972.19%
14 Sivasagar 1,151,05033,1472.88%
15 Baksa 950,07527,0762.85%
16 Nagaon 2,823,76826,8440.95%
17 Jorhat 1,092,25621,0511.93%
18 Kamrup Metropolitan 1,253,93818,8101.50%
19 Karimganj 1,228,68611,9900.98%
20 Dhemaji 686,1338,7111.27%
21 Hailakandi 659,2968,4801.29%
22 Bongaigaon 738,8045,9240.80%
23 Dhubri 1,949,2584,1070.21%
24 Darrang 928,5001,6880.18%
25 Barpeta 1,693,6221,0200.06%
26 Morigaon 957,4238340.09%
27 Nalbari 771,6394290.06%
Assam (Total)31,205,5761,165,8673.74%

Population by Tribes

Christian population in Assam by Tribes (2011) [8]

TribesChristiansPercent
Garo1,54,35395.63%
Boro1,36,86910.05%
Karbi75,88317.63%
Kuki31,57394.53%
Naga19,92466.93%
Hmar15,55798.81%
Khasi13,95687.58%
Rabha9,8453.32%
Mising5,9840.88%
Lalung2,80815.38%
Sonowal1,4160.56%
Dimasa1,1441.11%

Of 11.66 lakh Christians in Assam as of 2011 census, only 4.95 lakh are from the Scheduled Tribes (ST), forming 42.5 percent of all Christians in Assam; while the remaining 57.5 percent of the Christian population are from the non-ST communities most particularly from the Tea-Garden community. [9]

List of denominations

Martin Luther Cathedral, Gossaigaon Martin Luther Cathedral, NELC Church.jpg
Martin Luther Cathedral, Gossaigaon

Sources [10] [11] [12] [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assam</span> State in northeastern India

Assam is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of 78,438 km2 (30,285 sq mi). The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur to the east; Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh to the south; and West Bengal to the west via the Siliguri Corridor, a 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide strip of land that connects the state to the rest of India. Assamese and Boro are the official languages of Assam, while Bengali is an additional official language in the Barak Valley.

The Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh has a total population of roughly 1.4 million on an area of 84,000 km2, amounting to a population density of about 17 pop./km2. The "indigenous groups" account for about two thirds of population, while immigrants, mostly of Bengali/Hindi belt origin, account for a third.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karbi Anglong district</span> District of Assam in India

Karbi Anglong district is one of the 34 administrative districts of Assam in India. Diphu is the administrative headquarter of the district. The district is administered by Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council according to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dima Hasao district</span> District of Assam in India

Dima Hasao district, earlier called North Cachar Hills district, is an administrative district in the state of Assam, India. As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Assam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diphu</span> Town in Assam, India

Diphu (Pron:ˈdɪfu:) is the headquarter of Karbi Anglong district in the state of Assam in India. This small town is a popular tourist hill station for people of nearby cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karbi people</span> Ethnic group in north-east India

The Karbis or Mikir are one of the major ethnic communities in Northeast India, mostly concentrated in the hill district of Karbi Anglong of Assam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karbi language</span> South Asian language

The Karbi language is spoken by the Karbi people of Northeastern India.

Miles Bronson (1812–1883), was one of the first American Baptist missionaries who worked in the state of Assam in northeastern India.

The Tiwa people, are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group primarily inhabiting the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, and some parts of neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar. They were known as Lalungs/Lalong/Laleng in the Assamese Buranjis and in Colonial literature and in the Constitution of India, though members of the group prefer to call themselves Tiwa. Some of their neighbours still call them Lalung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in Tripura</span>

Christianity is one of the religions in Tripura, a state in North East India. According to the Indian Census 2011, the population of Christians in Tripura is 159,882 or 4.35% of the total population. Christians are mostly found among the indigenous communities of the state such as the Tripuri, Lushai, Kuki, Darlong, Halam etc. Among the Scheduled Tribes of the state Christians share is 13.12% of the population.

The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India is a Baptist Christian denomination in North East India. It is a member of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation. It is also a member body of the North East India Christian Council, the regional council of the National Council of Churches in India. The Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India has six Baptist conventions, 1,431,417 members in 8,245 churches. Its presently led by Mr. Norbu Lama as President and Rev. Prof. Akheto Sema as General Secretary.

<i>Orunodoi</i> Assamese-language periodical

Orunodoi or Arunodoi was the first Assamese-language magazine published monthly from Sibsagar, Assam, in 1846. The magazine created a new era in the world of Assamese literature and gave birth to notable authors such as Anandaram Dhekial Phukan, Hemchandra Barua, Gunabhiram Barua, and Nidhi Levi Farwell. The magazine took the initiative of innovating the then Assamese dialect instead of borrowing words from other languages. The Assamese people got to know about the western world only through this magazine, which opened the gate to the modern literacy in Assam. It mainly included various news related to current affairs, Science, astrology, history and also trivia although Christianity was its main aim. The magazine's publishing ended when the printing press was sold in 1883.

Assamese is part of the easternmost group of the Indo-Aryan languages. History of Assamese literature can largely be classified into three periods, including: Early Assamese period, Middle Assamese period and, Modern Assamese.

The predominant religion of Nagaland is Christianity. The state's population is 1,978,502, as of 2011, out of which 87.93% are Christians. The 2011 census recorded the state's Christian population at 1,745,181, making it, with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram as the four Christian-majority states in India. The state has a very high church attendance rate in both urban and rural areas. Huge churches dominate the skylines of Kohima, Chümoukedima, Dimapur and Mokokchung.

According to the 2001 census, the Scheduled Tribes population as in percentage of the total population of Assam was 12.4 percent. The Assam Tribune reported in 2009 that the tribal communities of Assam now officially account for 15.64 percent of the total population.

North East India Christian Council (NEICC) is a Protestant ecumenical council of North East India, affiliated to the National Council of Churches in India as one of the regional councils in the year 1939.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karbi-Anglong Baptist Convention</span>

Karbi Anglong Baptist Convention (KABC) is a Baptist Christian denomination based in Assam, India. It is affiliated to the Council of Baptist Churches in Northeast India and the Baptist World Alliance. KABC has 37,515 baptised members in 338 churches.

Assam – 16th largest, 15th most populous and 26th most literate state of the 28 states of the democratic Republic of India. Assam is at 14th position in life expectancy and 8th in female-to-male sex ratio. Assam is the 21st most media exposed states in India. The Economy of Assam is largely agriculture based with 69% of the population engaged in it. Growth rate of Assam's income has not kept pace with that of India's during the Post-British Era; differences increased rapidly since the 1970s. While the Indian economy grew at 6 percent per annum over the period of 1981 to 2000, the same of Assam's grew only by 3.3 percent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Karbi Anglong district</span> District of Assam, India

The West Karbi Anglong district is a district formed out of the existing Donka circle of Karbi Anglong district of Assam in 2016. Hamren is the headquarter of the newly formed district. The district is part of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and administered according to the provisions of Sixth Scheduled of the Indian Constitution.

References

  1. ↑ Archived March 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ "Regional Updates - Gospel for Asia". Gfa.org. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  3. ↑ "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  5. ↑ http://www.cpsindia.org  › BlogsPDF Web results The Christianisation of the Northeast - Centre for Policy Studies
  6. ↑ http://www.cpsindia.org  › BlogsPDF Web results The Christianisation of the Northeast - Centre for Policy Studies
  7. ↑ Population by religious community: Assam. 2011 Census of India.
  8. ↑ blog.cpsindia.org/2016/09/religion-data-of-census-2011-xxix.html
  9. ↑ "Demography watch on Christianity among ST in Assam - Sentinelassam". 16 February 2023.
  10. ↑ World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., 2001 Volume 1, p. 368-371
  11. ↑ "EACI". Eacinet.org. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  12. ↑ Archived February 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "DevelopedNation.org Datacentre : FCRA NGOs in Cachar District". Archived from the original on 2014-01-04. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.