ABSTRACT
The lived experience of religion is at the core of a comprehensive idea of religious materiality, which is both tangible and intangible. Drawing on this idea, this entry discusses the religious landscape in Northeast India. The region is heterogeneous not just in terms of its considerable ethnic, cultural, political, and geographical diversity. It also comprises communities drawn from the main world religions alongside indigenous religions which persist to varying extents. The entry delineates how the relationship between people and transcendental forces is expressed in spatial constructs of the sacred and its expression in ritual form. The expression of religious materiality is reflected in a number of ways: the demarcation and veneration of sacred groves; unusual natural landmarks; the construction of temples, monasteries, churches, and mosques and in the impact of religious reform movements and religious conversion among the indigenous groups.
