Thursday 26 May 2016

Naga's were known as Headhunter's in olden days

 Basically in the olden days, Naga's were known for headhunting. 
Source: www.kashgar.com.
Nagaland is a hill state located in the extreme north-east of India, bounded by Burma in the east; Assam in the west; Arunachal Pradesh and a part of Assam in the north; and Manipur in the south. In addition to the state of Nagaland, Naga tribes are found in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and the northwestern hill tracts of Burma

The Story of the headhunters told by our grandfathers.... 

The headhunters headhunt and collect it as a trophy, as for the person who has the most head becomes the most powerful person in the village. The village was guarded by such person for the enemy not to enter the land. 
Source: en.wikipedia.org

The village are guarded by the Chief to takes care of them. The villages wasn't a safe place for a foreigner to visit such places during the olden days... .. 


Source; nagalandjournal.wordpress.com

It is still a myth where people get scared of naga's because the forefather were. The new generation doesn't practice anymore, but the story continue on.... 
After the Christianity came to Nagaland in the early nineties, the headhunter stop headhunting people...
  
According to AK Rong Mjr, he said  “Living in a land where a head & feast of merit was their pride”. They strongly believe in what they believe, lived, life simply & worked hard. Those were the days when speaking was their only medium to exchange words, never a day did they failed to fallow their tradition & culture, bringing forth to generations. Truth was their daily bread. Amidst fear of being beheaded, they glorified peace & Brotherhood. Those were the days that are no more. Yet, time are changing, we have to catch up with time. changed,we are living now. The pride of head hunting & feast of merit is now but getting decreased. While doing so can we preserve & fallow our tradition & culture as them? Can we glorify peace & Brotherhood as them? Can we believe in what we believe? Can we speak in what they spoke? Toil as hard as they were? Is our daily bread-THE TRUTH?let us generate & not degenerate from the past values they have deservedly earned. If we failed to remember this, we cannot say "I AM A PROUD SON OF THIS SOIL".

History

The Naga tribes practised headhunting and preserved the heads of enemies as trophies through the 19th century and as late as 1969.Generally, the traditional customs of the Naga, as well as their lifestyle, are very similar to those of the Wa people further to the Southeast and the numerous parallels between the societies and traditions of the Naga and the Wa have been pointed out by anthropologists such as J.P. Mills and J.H. Hutton

Source: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140811-indias-last-surviving-headhunters

Some of the clips that remained in youtube for people to  watch... 
The documentary filmed by Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf in 1970. Broadcast by the BBC in the 1970's and based on fieldwork carried out in Nagaland and Arunchal Pradesh. The film is part of a large archive of footage shot by Haimendorf in the Himalayas. 



On my radio show, National Geographic Weekend, I talk about finally getting to visit Nagaland and meeting some of the last of the headhunters. One of the oldest headhunters gives me a personal demonstration of the tribal warfare techniques he used to take three heads in battle.


By Azhove Resu


2 comments:

Unknown said...

We have grown so much with civilization..........Sad.... Nagas are still commonly identified as decendents of 'Head Hunders'.....Sad but true......

Unknown said...

Well Nagas have become way more civilised like any other city or state . Naga have grown so much mentally.
I know it's not good to be proud of Forefathers act of headhunting but they also depict how strong we Naga are. And for more information only people with low Intelligence still believe or identified Naga as head Hunter