Dreams and Tribals: Engaging the Oneiric among the Nagas of North-east India

Indigenous theology critically interrogates gaps in conventional theological discussions, particularly with regard to lived faith practices and embodied experiences of Indigenous communities. This paper examines the place of dreams among Naga tribal Christians in North-east India, tracing their significance across the pre-Christian and Christian contexts. The persistent attention given to dreams crystallises Naga Christians’ relation to their indigenous religiosity and cannot be completely detached from it. At the same time, the legitimisation of dreams through biblical resonances, especially narratives in which God communicates through dreams, reinforces and affirms dreams without severing them from their indigenous epistemological frameworks. Even negative dreams that are understood as disturbances from the evil ‘Other’ elicit theological responses of prayers at the individual and communal level, a widely common practice. The prominence of dreams is also seen within charismatic imagination. In these cases, the wide accessibility of dreams nurtures a dynamic continuity of indigenous epistemology and cosmology, enabling a critical engagement that allows for the coexistence of tribal and Christian elements. The interaction of dream culture and Christian faith offers the potential to theologically enrich Christian theological discourse on dreams, which has remained largely overlooked. Ultimately, this essay argues that rather than dismissal, dreams warrant careful theological attention.