Donyi-Polo

Donyi-Polo (or Donyi-Poloism) is the indigenous animistic and shamanic religion of the Tani (a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group of peoples which includes the Nyishi, Adi, Apatani, Galo, Tagin, and Mishing who share common beliefs, ancestry, and the Tani languages) and other Tibeto-Burman peoples of of the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Donyi-Polo, meaning Sun-Moon, was attatched to the belief system of this ethnic religion during a revitalisation and institutionalization begun in the 1970s intended to counter Christian influences and the possibility of it becoming absorbed by Hinduism. The religion has, since then, developed a congregational system with hymns composed in the Tani ritual language of shamans, a formal philosophy/theology, standardized iconography of the gods, and has established temples. The fountain god that created the universe is called Sedi by the Minyong and Padam and Jimi by the Galo. Donyi-Polo asserts that all things and all beings are a part of the body of Sedi. During creation, the hair of Sedi became the plants of the earth. His tears became rain and water. His bones became rocks and stones. His two eyes became Donyi (the Sun) and Polo (the Moon). After creating the universe, Sedi, in proper Deist fashion, absented himself from the day to day workings of his creation. Donyi (Mother Sun) is regarded as being female and Polo (Father Moon) is regarded as being a male, the inverse of most world ethnic belief systems, Sun and Moon interact in a manner similar to the yin and yang of Chinese culture. Phases and cycles of both Sun and Moon, Donyi-Polo, offer a glimpse into the nature of creator god Sedi; eternally veiling, unveiling and then again revealing himself in nature, providing harmony and balance to the universe in the form of alternations of light and darkness, heat and cool, or unity (ascribed to the singular Sun) and multiplicity (descriptive of the stars of the night sky, the inumerable consorts of the Moon). The Tani beleive that Donyi-Polo providently upholds the world, rewards the righteous, and punishes wrong-doers. The divine pair is revered as the highest holy entity which determines the fate of humanity.