Religious and Economic Reform: The Gaidinliu Movement and the Heraka in the North Cachar Hills

The Heraka or Gaidinliu Movement among the Zeme Nagas of the North Cachar Hills, Assam, provides a case of millenarian activities based on agrarian reforms. The movement is associated with opposing British rule during the 1930s until India's Independence in 1947 under the guidance of Jadonang and later Gaidinliu. I examine the genesis of the movement which was based on agrarian reform by linking it with the influx of Kuki people and the effect of British land policy on Zeme agricultural practices which caused land shortages and famine. I argue that the Heraka Movement provided an alternative by abolishing certain rituals associated with the agricultural cycle and this in turn changed the social hierarchies and the worldview of the Zeme.