The Naga: Part I

The word Naga is a collective name of many tribes descended from a common ancestor. Their ancestral homeland- Nagalim- lies in the northwest corner of Southeast Asia landmass. It is bounded in the East by Burma, in the North by China and in the West and South by India. Made up of many hill ranges, this country is known for its rich bio-diversity.

The present population of 3.5 million Nagas are spread out in several thousand villages over a 120,000sq.Km area. A dozen of these villages have developed into towns/cities ranging from 5000 to 200,000 inhabitants. Thehistorical symbols left behind by their ancestors at Makhrai-Rabu-Khyafii[Makhel], a Mao Naga village in present day Manipur [India], are still treated as sacred symbols of their common root. Among the symbols are, a tall stone monolith called Tamratu, the stone of dispersal; three small monoliths called Linotu representing, Tiger, Man and Spirit- flora and fauna, human society and the spiritual world; and a pear tree, called, Chetebu, planted by their ancestors.

Nurtured and protected by rolling hills, for thousands of years Nagas lived under village council system, free from foreign aggression. In the eighteenth, however, with the coming of modern arms, outside forces began to threaten their freedom. At the closing of the nineteenth century, a bout a third of Nagalim was under British control.

NAGA PEOPLE AND THEIR LAND

Nagaland, or Nagalim, is a mountainous and forested swathe of land of about 125,000 square kilometres, which takes in areas of India, Burma and China. Nagalim refers to the Naga's homeland irrespective of the ärticial boundaries"of the three countries that politically divide it. The vast majority of Nagalim lies within India's borders. The fact that the Naga would prefer to ignore these borders is rooted in a traditional culture of communal ownership of land that remained free of the restrictions of modern states.

According popular belief the Naga peoples are descendants of the Qiang, a people that, during the 11th – 13th centuries BC,.lived in northwest China. The Qiang were forced to flee their homelands and seek refuge in Tibet because of the hostility of the Shang and, later, the Zhou dynasties. From Tibet, they migrated to northern Burma, and then to the Irrawaddy valley and further south along the Malay Peninsula. From there, groups turned northward before staying in their present homelands in the Patkai Range.

Before India invaded Nagalim in 1953, the Nagas were a tough and defiantly self-reliant people. They thrived on a selfsufficient agri ultural-based economy. The Nagas resemble the peoples of Southeast Asia in physical appearance, making them distinct from the Indian population. Although speaking a diverse set of languages, the four million Nagas share a common culture founded on the values of generosity, egalitarianism and independence.They are a people who value the virtues of bravery, honesty, self-reliance, simplicity, hospitality and hard work.

Traditionally, the Nagas are farmers, utilising both slash and burn – or jhooming – cultivation and the tilling of rice terraces. The Nagas built their villages at altitudes of between 1,000 and 2,000 metres, towns perched like fortresses on the highest peaks of the Naga Hills in the Oatkai Range, looking down on to the surrounding valleys. The choice of such strategic sites dates grom the days of warring fractions; when headhunting was common practice. Villages became isolated, and from this isolation developed unique cultures and dialects confined to small populations of Nagas.Such was the diversity of these languages that people living in neighbouring villages spole entirely different languages.

Today however the Naga peoples are proudt o be united through a common language, Nagamese, and in their common aspiration for an independent homeland.