Naga Identity

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This study seeks to analyse the process of Naga Identity formation in the broader framework. Tracing origin and history of the Nagas, it discusses at length their migration, culture, social structure, ethnicity, religion, languages and village polity. Also, it deals with the politicization of the Naga identity. The role of the institution of Morung among the Nagas has been examined as well.

B.B. Kumar, M.Sc. (Chemistry), M.A. (Hindi) and M.Sc., Ph.D. (Anthropology), was formerly the Principal of Sao Chang Government College, Tuensang and Science College, Kohima. He was also member of the Executive Council, Academic Council, and University Court of the North-Eastern Hill University.

Dr. Kumar has written/edited/co- authored about 135 books and more than 100 papers. Also, he edited quarterly The Thinker for 13 years. Presently, he is Editor of the quarterly journals Dialogue and Chintan- Shrijan.

The Nagas lived in self-sufficient village republics. Most of their villages were located at the hill-tops or on the spurs of the hills. They were well protected against the enemy attack and in many cases, even the sections of the village (khels) had their separate defence arrangements. Different clans of a tribe inhabiting a village lived in different quarters (khels) of the village. The clan solidarity was the most pronounced phenomenon in the Naga society.

'Naga' is a generic term used for about thirty tribes inhabiting our North-Eastern fringe and across our border in Myanmar. Most of the tribes known as "Naga" today were not aware of the term before the establishment of the Naga Hills district. The Nagas of Tuensang started using the term only after the advent of the administration in that district in the early 1950s and especially after the formation of Naga Hills Tuensang Area. In this case, an interesting encounter with an elderly Chang is worth quoting. He said: "We were calling ourselves Chang. You people came and told us that we are Nagas and we started calling ourselves Nagas. We started learning Hindi, but you told us to learn English. And we started learning English." The Nagas used to call themselves by the respective names of the tribe concerned; but the more pronounced trend was to identify oneself with the village of one's inhabitation. Thus their identity used to be mostly village based.

There is considerable confusion about the Naga identity among the Nagas and the non-Nagas. The Naga identity, as exists today, is a recent construct. It continues to evolve and is a case of greater identity formation. The author attempts in this book to analyze Naga identity formation in the broader framework, taking into consideration their history and culture, origin, migration, ethnicity, social structure and village polity. It also deals with the politicization of the Naga identity. The book aims at removing perceptional haziness about the Naga identity.

Shri B.P. Singh, former Home Secretary, Government of India has kindly written the foreword of the book. The author expresses his grateful thanks for the same. The author is thankful to Shri J.N. Roy, IPS (Retd.), treasurer Astha Bharati, for encouragement for writing the book. He also thanks Shri Ashok Kumar Mittal of Concept Publishing Company, New Delhi for speedily undertaking the publication of the book.

I have great pleasure in putting forward my friend Braj Bihari Kumar's Book Naga Identity to the readers. Dr. Kumar is a dedicated scholar and teacher who has lived and worked in the north- east and has brought this book as a labour of love. This book is in the genre of the first account of the Nagas published in English languag authored by R.B. Pemberton in 1832 based on his personal experience followed by distinguished scholars and administrators like J.P. Mills, J.H. Hutton, T.C. Hodson, E.A. Gait, Verrier Elwin, S.K. Bhuyan, H.K. Barpujari, N.K. Das, Furer Haimendorf, and scholars and leaders hailing from Nagaland like C.L. Imchen and Hokishe Sema.

To students of history, sociology, politics, administration and religion, the Nagas have invariably invoked both awe and fascination. This feeling is a product of a large variety of imaginations and myths: of the Naga image of 'head-hunters'; of a group of people who would never harm children and women whatever may be the provocation or the need; of their phenomenal attachment to their villages; of their deep sense of humour. This feeling is also shared by all those who have come in contact with the Nagas; be they be Assamese gossains or Christian missionaries; civilian administrators or members of the armed forces; travelers or inquisitive visitors; small traders or migrant business houses; road builders or students from neighbourhood.

The Nagas have led a cloistered existence. The process of opening up commenced with the British annexation of Assam in a big way during the nineteenth century led and supported by Christian missionaries. The British encouraged Christian missionaries to play a major role in the entire north-eastern region including Nagaland. Accordingly, various missionary groups hailing from U.S.A., U.K., Germany and several other western countries moved into the region. The American Baptists came to Nagaland and set up their missions in 1867 to work among the Ao Nagas; in 1879 to work among the Lhota Nagas and in 1880 among the Angami Nagas. The Nagas were exposed to the outside world for the first time during the First World War, when 2000 of them served in France. In 1918, a Naga club was formed. In 1929, they submitted a petition to the Simon Commission, wherein they desired to be left out from the reform scheme for India. The relevant portion reads as follows:

"Before the British Government conquered our country in 1879-1880, we were living in a state of intermittent warfare with the Assamese of the Assam valley to the North and West of our country and Manipuris in the South. They never conquered us nor were we subjected to their rule. On the other hand, we were always a terror to these people. Our country within the administered area consists of more than eight Tribes, quite different from one another with quite different languages which cannot be understood by each other, and there are more Tribes outside the administered area which are not known at present. We have no Unity among us and it is really the British Government that is holding us together now." (Memorandum of the Naga Hills to Simon Commission on January 10, 1929)

The origins of the word 'naga' or 'nagas' is shrouded in mystery. But its popularization is certainly a nineteenth century phenomenon. For a very long time, the Assamese plains people have called them as 'noga'. The appellation 'nagas' has acquired a generic form that includes more than 30 tribes who live in Nagaland and neighbouring states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and the bordering nation-state of Myanmar. The tribes of north east India, however, find mention in the Indian epics i.e. the Ramayana and the Mahabharata as 'kiratas'. And this denotes the entire race of tribes and is more inclusive in nature than another generic term 'Bodos' which denoted a majority of plains tribes since the medieval period. The Ahoms who ruled over Assam and neighbouring hills for over six hundred years (during 1220-1826) have a separate identity of their own as a ruling elite but they married the girls from among the plains tribes as well as caste-Hindus predominantly of the Brahmaputra Valley and are now an Other Backward Classes (OBC).

**Contents and Sample Pages**