For centuries, the tribal indigenous people in India's north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh relied on the spirits around them, practicing shamanistic traditions, offering prayers to the gods of nature. In a fight between two larger religions, ancient practices have been diluted and modified.
With India's independence in 1947 came the Christian and Hindu missionaries fighting for the soul of the state. Now, tribals in this state battle a dual attack on ancient beliefs to keep the influences of outside religions at bay but in the process becoming shaped by them. Many of the indigenous tribes have converted to different denominations of Christianity while abandoning many of the ancient rituals of animal sacrifice and consumption of locally-brewed traditional rice beer as it goes against the Good Book. Others who claim to protect the old ways find the tacit support of Hindu groups that seek to bring this ethnically diverse region of India to the Hindu mainstream fold.
