The Andamanese have no idea of heaven or hell or any idea
of a corporeal resurrection in the religious sense. They
have much active faith in dreams which sometimes control
subsequent conduct and in the utterances of wise men, dreamers
of prophetic dreams. These practice an embryonic magic and
witchcraft. There are no oaths, covenants or ordeals nor
any forms of appeal to supernatural powers.
Puluga who is fundamentally to be identified with some definiteness
with the storm (Wuluga) mixed up with ancestral chiefs has
many attributes of the deity that it is fair to translate
the term by God. He has a wife and a family of one son and
many daughters. He transmits his orders through his son
to his daughters who are his messengers. The two great harmful
spirits are Eremchauga of the forest and Juruwin of the
sea. Like Puluga, both have wives and families. The sun
is the wife of the moon and the stars are their children,
dwelling near Puluga. But there is no trace of sun-worship.
The people twang their bows and make fun of the moon during
an eclipse while a solar eclipse keeps them silent through
fear.
Persons of all faiths- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs
etc., and of all languages like Hindi,Bengali, Malayalam,
Tamil Telugu, Punjabi, Nicobari, etc., live together in
complete peace and harmony. Inter-religion and inter-regional
marriages are common. This amazing racial and cultural mix
is correctly described as "Mini India".
Impact of Christianity
French Jesuit missionaries made first attempt in the 16th
century to propagate Christianity but did not succeed. Danes
took over these islands in 1756 but they too failed to introduce
Christianity. However, only in 1869 after British took possession
of the island from Danes that Christianity saw its first
dawn on these islands and first church was made in Car Nicobar
in 1903. V. Solomon, Thumouswamy, a Tamil from Madras originally
a non-Christian was first apostle to the Nicobar Islands.
His disciple John Richardson Hacherka represented first
time Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Parliament of India.
First Church at Katchal was opened only on 8th January 1962.
Now there are many big beautiful churches besides many large
Hindu temples present on the islands. However, influences
of Christianity have affected indigenous traditions, worship
systems and belief. But the tribes in 'Ponda' and other
villages still follow their ancient worship system.
Muslim Settlement
First Muslims to settle down in Nicobar Islands were "Minicoyans"
from Laccadive Island in the Arabian Sea. R. Akoojee Jadwet,
a prominent Muslim from Surat , Gujarat , during British
period made some impact on these islands. Jadwet people
had financial agreement with British government and for
decades they had total economic trade monopoly on these
islands.
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