"Not every word that has the letters 'Ram' strung together has to be necessarily connected to Lord Ram. It shows the ignorance of many of our fellowmen who fail to grasp the local intricacies, and perhaps, are not aware of the fact – or conveniently ignore the reality – that the majority of the population in Mizoram is Christians. There is no question to a place having any connection to Lord Ram," Puii Chwangthu, a government servant and resident of Aizawl, told The Quint.
Chwangthu was reacting to an online post by India in Pixels, a digital project of IIT Kharagpur alumnus Ashris Choudhury, which mapped “every town in India that starts with the name of (Shri) Ram".
In this exhaustive list of 1,230 towns, Ramhlun in Mizoram has sparked widespread attention – with many from the state pointing out that Ram in Mizo has nothing to do with the Hindu deity.
"The Ram in Mizoram or Ramhlun does not refer to Ram... it has a different tonal pronunciation.... It just simply means "land"... the pre-Christian religion of the Mizo forbid conversion within tribes as other Mizo tribes have their own religion, creed, and practice," wrote one user on X.
"Ram in Mizo simply means 'land'; this has nothing to do with the Hindu religion. In fact, we have so many localities whose names start with Ram like Ramhlun, Ramthar, Ramrikawn, and so on," wrote another.
Ramhlun is a large locality in Aizawl whose residents include former chief minister Zoramthanga.
'Deliberate Attempt to Localise Mainstream Idea'
Robert Lalmangiahi, a resident of Thenzawl in the state's Serchhip district, told The Quint that the whole episode highlighted the "deliberate attempt to localise a mainstream idea."
"The content creator automatically assumed that the first syllable of ‘Ramhlun’ could not mean anything other than the name of the Hindu deity. Ram in the Duhlian language of the Mizo community means 'land' and has no religious connotation, and therefore, has no connection to Lord Ram. Had this assumption been coming from someone who is not educated or does not have the means and resources to dig up more info, it was understandable. But this is coming from someone who has the means and resources to access information. A simple search on Google gives more info about it," he added.
"What the creator has perhaps failed to realise is that such mainstream ideas do not really find ground in states like Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya because these have Christian-majority population."Robert Lalmangiahi, a resident of Thenzawl in Serchhip district, told The Quint
As per the 2011 Census, Christianity is the major religion in Mizoram. Christians constitute 87.16 percent of the entire population of the state. In all, Christians form the majority religion in eight out of the 11 districts of the state.
'Hinduism Was Never Really Made Inroads in This Part of India'
Professor Ayangbam Shyamkishor, head of department of political science at Mizoram University, explained to The Quint that even before Christianity made inroads into Mizoram when the British annexation of the region began, people followed animistic rituals.
"Hinduism never really made inroads here... People followed animistic rituals before the evangelisation of the population. And so, the traditional Hindutva concerns such as the Ram Temple, cow protection, the Uniform Civil Code, Sanskrit, and so on, have not found resonance with the local population. But, in recent times, there has been an attempt to localise these very mainstream ideas into the fabric of Christian-dominated societies which is largely still controlled by the Church."Professor Ayangbam Shyamkishor
As an example, professor Shyamkishor cited an advertisement that Netflix India released in 2022 ahead of Diwali. The ad, titled 'Cherrapunji Ki Diwali', begins with an elderly man from the Northeast narrating (in fluent Hindi) how it endlessly rains in Cherrapunji, a town in Meghalaya. It then shows the different ways the conventional Diwali celebrations are dampened due to the rain. However, the ad highlights how no matter how big an impediment, the town's weather does not stop people from finding ways to celebrate the festival.
The ad received some backlash, especially from people from the Northeast, for the sheer lack of research or nuance. Many people from the Khasi-dominated area pointed out that Sohra (which is the official name of the town – not Cherrapunji) is majorly inhabited by Christians, and so Diwali isn't widely celebrated. Netflix India had not responded to the outrage.
"This ad was a misrepresentation as it tried to imply that the town of Cherrapunji had a Hindu identity overall when it has an overwhelmingly Christian identity. It is dangerous as there are already many misconceptions about the Northeast. It is, therefore, important to understand the concepts and intricacies of things before making a post like the one Choudhury made," Shyamkishor said.
The Quint reached out to Choudhury multiple times. The article will be updated as and when he responds.
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