Naga people

Encounter with others

A photo of Naga taken in the 1870s

Apart from cultural contacts with the neighboring Ahoms, the ruler of Assam from 1228, the Naga had little or no contact with the outside world, including that of greater India, until British colonization and rule of the area in the nineteenth century.

In 1828, Britain annexed Assam following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.^[4] In the 1830s, the British sent expeditionary forces, and in 1845, the colonial power succeeded in concluding a non-aggression pact with Naga chiefs, who formerly had attacked bordering areas in Assam. But the Naga repeatedly violated the agreement, continuing to raid in Assam.^[5]

After the 1830s, British attempts to annex the region to India were met with sustained and effective guerrilla resistance from Naga groups, particularly the Angami Naga tribe. The British dispatched military expeditions and succeeded in building a military post in 1851 and establishing some bases in the region. In 1878 the Angamis mounted raids on British camps. The British responded with brutality, burning several Naga villages and killing Naga non-combatants to crush their resistance. Eventually, the region came under the occupation of the British.^[6]

Naga Tribesmen, c. 1905

During the First World War, two thousand Nagas contributed to the war effort on the European front. In the Second World War, their descendants remained loyal to the British and fought to halt the advance of Japanese forces. The Nagas contributed actively to peace in Europe and the world.^[7]

Christian missionaries

Protestant Christian missionaries from America in the nineteenth century were successful in converting many among the Naga tribes. It led to them dropping many tribal customs and traditions and, along with the spread of English education, was part of the arrival of modernity in the Naga hills. The first missionary in the Naga hills is believed to be Rev. Miles Bronson in 1839, who stayed for a short period in Namsang now Buranamsang under Longleng district. In the 1870s, Dr. & Mrs. E. W. Clark worked among the Ao people. With the help of a Mr. Godhula, an Assamese Christian, they established the first church, a Baptist one, in Molungkimong (Dekha Haimong Village) in 1872.^[8]

As the tribespeople adopted Christianity, they began to develop more of a "Naga" identity, a radical departure from their distinctions based on warring tribal villages. Today, more than 95% of Naga people identify as Christians, mostly Baptist. Naga society has changed markedly from what Europeans observed 100 years ago.

Resistance and struggle for identity

The Naga hills have been an area of continued resistance as they had long been isolated from outside cultures. The development of a spirit of nationalism and sense of a common identity are relatively new concepts among the Naga people. According to their traditions, each village is an independent republic; initially, they wanted to be free from all outside domination.

Modern education, together with Christian missions, contributed to the politicization of Naga ethnicity. In 1918, a group of educated Nagas formed Naga Club in 1918. The club wrote to the Simon Commission in 1929 demanding that "Nagas should not be included within the Reformed Scheme of India".^[9]

On 14 August 1947, the day before India gained independence from British rule, the Nagas were the first ethnic group from the northeast to declare their territory an independent state, not belonging to the new nation. Angami Zapu Phizo led the initial movement with the Naga National Council (NNC). In the last days of the British Raj, he held talks trying to achieve a sovereign Naga nation. In June 1947, a 9-point agreement was signed which promised to bring the Naga tribes under a single political administrative unit and recognised the Nagas' right to self-determination after 10 years. Disputes arose over the interpretation of the agreement, and many in the NNC opposed it.^[10]

Under Phizo, the NNC declared their independence from the British on 14 August 1947, a day before India. In May 1951, the NNC claimed that 99 per cent of the tribal people supported a referendum to secede from India, which was summarily rejected by the government in New Delhi. By 1952, the NNC, led a guerrilla movement. India responded by crushing it with their armed forces. Phizo escaped from the region through East Pakistan and went into exile to London. He continued to inspire the independence movement from there till his death in 1990.^[11]

Statehood, factions and ceasefires

The State of Nagaland was formally recognised 1 December 1963, as the 16th State of the Indian Union. The State consists of eleven Administrative Districts, inhabited by 16 major tribes along with other sub-tribes. Each tribe is distinct in character in terms of customs, language and dress.

This was followed by peace overtures. A major role was taken by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC). In its third Convention held at Wokha from 31 January – 2 February 1964 which was said to have been attended by 5,000 representatives from all tribes of Nagaland, the NBCC made a historic resolution welcoming the proposed "Peace-Talk" and to request the Government to make available the services of Jayaprakash Narayan, Bimala Prasad Chaliha and Rev. Michael Scott with the object of the restoration of peace.

With this, the Peace Mission was formed. The mission was led by Rev. Michael Scott, an Anglican Churchman; Jayaprakash Narayan, a Gandhian and Sarvodaya leader; and B.P. Chaliha, the Chief Minister of Assam.

The village

Villages were divided into a certain number of clan territories or khels.^[15] The Naga traditionally live in villages. The village is a well-defined entity with distinct land demarcation from neighbouring villages. Each has a dialect, which fosters a strong sense of social solidarity within the village. Almost every home rears pigs, as they provide meat with little care needed. The people of the village are held together by social, economic, political and ritual ties. The villages have their own identities, but not in isolation, as there are interdependent relationships with neighboring villages. Modernization is slowly eroding the centrality of villages as a social unit, as large commercial towns are rapidly developing in every region of the Naga hills. This has brought about dramatic changes in the values, lifestyle, and social setup of the people.

The family

The family is the basic unit of the Naga society. Marriages are usually monogamous and fidelity to the spouse is considered a high virtue. Marriage within the same clan is not permitted, as it is considered to be incest. Incestuous couples were previously ostracized from the villages. The family is the most important institution of social education and social control. There is deep respect for parents and elders in the Naga society. Material inheritance, such as land and cattle, is passed on to the male offspring, with the eldest son receiving the largest share. (indicating that the society was pseudo-egalitarian).

Status of women

A Yimchunger Naga woman

The traditional Naga society is a patriarchal society with a strong warrior tradition that valued the birth of boys. A Naga woman is traditionally expected to be obedient and humble. Her roles are complex and varied: wife, mother, child bearer and rearer, food producer and household manager. She supplements the household income by weaving and selling colorful shawls, an activity done exclusively by women. Women are traditionally not included in the decision-making process of the clan or the village.

However, in recent decades, women's organizations have influenced and effected major social and legal changes,^[16] most notably with the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989.

While for other purposes traditional culture is suitably compromised,^[17] increase in women's participation in politics is violently denied citing virtues of tribal culture.^[18] Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), spearheads the women’s movement in the state to improve upon opportunities of political participation for women of Nagaland.^[18]

Morung system

A Konyak Naga morung

Each khel had its own morung. The morung was a self-governing body aiming to protect the village and train men to channel fertility into their community. Under the umbrella of the village authority, this institution had its own leaders and rules.^[19] The morung, or youth dormitory, used to be an essential part of Naga life. from the family, a person's time living in the morung was the most important part of education and acculturation. The morungs were grand buildings, constructed at the village entrance or in a spot to be effectively guarded. Beginning at puberty, young boys and girls were admitted to their respective gender dormitories. Elders conveyed the Naga culture, customs, and traditions, transmitted from generation to generation through folk music and dance, folk tales and oral tradition, wood carving and weaving, to the young while they lived in the morungs.^[20] Announcements of meetings, the death of a villager, warnings of impending dangers, etc., were made from the morungs by the beating of log drums. Since adopting some modern practices, the Naga have abandoned the use of time in morungs for their youths.

Headhunting

Europeans were struck by the Naga practice of headhunting. Ursula Graham Bower described the Naga hills as the "paradise of headhunters."^[21] "Most villages had a skull house and each man in the village was expected to contribute to the collection. The taking of a head is symbolic of courage, and men who could not were dubbed as women or cows. There is nothing more glorious for a Naga than victory in battle by bringing home the severed head of an enemy."^[22] There was no indication of cannibalism among the Naga tribes. Headhunting has been eradicated.

Transformation and challenges

The continuing changes have challenged Naga society, as traditional relations between elders and the young have been upended, as well as systems of cultural transmission. The model of detached nuclear families, as distinguished from tribal villages, is becoming widespread among the Naga people as they have greater interaction with contemporary Indian society. The clan and the village have been eroded as agents of social control.

Art

The Naga tribes are expert craftsmen. Their dwellings are made of wood and straw and these are ornately carved and arranged. Each tribe has a unique way of constructing their huts. A common practice among all the tribes is decorating the entrances of their dwellings with the heads of buffaloes.

The Naga people love colour as is evident in the shawls designed and woven by women, and in the headgear that both sexes design. Clothing patterns are traditional to each tribe, and the cloth is woven by the women. They use beads with variety, profusion and complexity in their jewelry, along with a wide range of materials, including glass, shell, stone, teeth or tusk, claws, horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibre.^[23]

According to Dr. Verrier Elwin, these tribes made all the goods they used, as was once common in many traditional societies: "they have made their own cloth, their own hats and rain-coats; they have prepared their own medicines, their own cooking-vessels, their own substitutes for crockery.".^[24] Craftwork includes the making of baskets, weaving of cloth, wood carving, pottery, metalwork, jewellery-making and bead-work.

Weaving of colorful woolen and cotton shawls is a central activity for women of all Naga tribes. One of the common features of Naga shawls is that three pieces are woven separately and stitched together. Weaving is an intricate and time consuming work and each shawl takes at least a few days to complete. Designs for shawls and wraparound garments (commonly called mekhala) are different for men and women.

Ancestral Naga Tribal Beads, Courtesy Wovensouls Collection

Among many tribes the design of the shawl denotes the social status of the wearer. Some of the more known shawls include Tsungkotepsu and Rongsu of the Ao tribe; Sutam, Ethasu, Longpensu of the Lothas; Supong of the Sangtams, Rongkhim and Tsungrem Khim of the Yimchungers; and the Angami Lohe shawls with thick embroidered animal motifs.

Naga jewelry is an equally important part of identity, with the entire tribe wearing similar bead jewelry.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce has filed an application seeking registration of traditional Naga shawls made in Nagaland with the Geographical Registry of India for Geographical Indication.^[25]

Folk song and dances

Folk songs and dances are essential ingredients of the traditional Naga culture. The oral tradition is kept alive through the media of folk tales and songs. Naga folk songs are both romantic and historical, with songs narrating entire stories of famous ancestors and incidents. Seasonal songs describe activities done in a particular agricultural cycle. The early Western missionaries opposed the use of folk songs by Naga Christians as they were perceived to be associated with spirit worship, war and immorality. As a result, translated versions of Western hymns were introduced, leading to the slow disappearance of indigenous music from the Naga hills.^[26]

Folk dances of the tribes are mostly performed in groups in synchronized fashion, by both men and women, depending on the type of dance. Dances are usually performed at festivals and religious occasions. War dances are performed mostly by men and are athletic and martial in style. All dances are accompanied by songs and war cries by the dancers. Indigenous musical instruments made and used by the people are bamboo mouth organs, cup violins, bamboo flutes, trumpets, drums made of cattle skin, and log drums.^[27]

Festivals

The various Naga tribes have their own distinct festivals. To promote inter-tribe interaction, the Government of Nagaland has organized the annual Hornbill Festival since 2000. Another inter-tribe festival is Lui Ngai Ni. The tribe-specific festivals include:^[28]