Decolonising feasts of merit: reasoning Marān Kasā from a Tangkhul Naga perspective

ABSTRACT Feasts of Merit is a cultural phenomenon practised by several communities specific to their customs, traditions, and culture in different parts of the world. Whether or not the terminology is a colonial construct and/or a misnomer remains contestable. In the Tangkhul Naga context, the translation or notion of marān kasā as mere Feasts of Merit is a misnomer. Feast (of Merit) is only constitutive of marān kasā; thus, a part of a whole cannot be said to be the whole. This paper attempts to emancipate marān kasā from the coloniality of Feasts of Merit by debunking the colonial metanarrative; through the enunciation of socio-religious significance and culturo-educational functions of marān kasā that are manifestations of a deeper Tangkhul Naga, thus Naga, philosophy.