The history of the Naga is mysterious. After millennia of wandering, a number of different ethnic groups ended up in the hills of the Eastern Himalayas. Strange coincidences of culture and language through the Pacific led some scholars to suggest that the Nagas were an offshoot of groups that had originally descended from the central Asian plateau. And their burial customs, ornamentation, agricultural practices and even games and crafts, linked them strongly to the tribal peoples of Borneo and the Philippines. Here was a culture that might provide clues to some of the great migrations in human history*. Ethnically the Naga are of Mongoloid stock and linguistically belong to the Tibeto-Burman family.

1. The Naga
The term Naga describes a loosely related, fiercely independent group of tribes, who for centuries have lived
in relative isolation in the hills and mountains of Northeast India and Northwest Myanmar (formerly Burma)
and who practiced headhunting well into the 20th
century.
The Naga are particularly famous for the institution of
Morungs (bachelor dormitories), the Feasts of Merit
celebrating the power and deeds of great men, the
practice of headhunting and their beliefs about death,
fertility and the human skull. The human head was
seen as the seat of wisdom, of fertility and of the
human soul: it was the repository and conductor of
power. He who owned another's head gained
prosperity in this world, the esteem of his fellows, and
a guaranteed happiness in the after-world. *
All of Naga life had a ritualistic aspect, as the spirits that controlled the realities of Naga life (disease,
human and crop fertility, rain) needed constant attention. The animistic beliefs and shamanist practices of
the Naga are reflected in their unique artwork, jewelry and costumes, as well as in their traditional
architecture and crafts.
Background
The history of the Naga is mysterious. After millennia of
wandering, a number of different ethnic groups ended up in the
hills of the Eastern Himalayas. Strange coincidences of culture
and language through the Pacific led some scholars to suggest
that the Nagas were an offshoot of groups that had originally
descended from the central Asian plateau. And their burial
customs, ornamentation, agricultural practices and even games
and crafts, linked them strongly to the tribal peoples of Borneo
and the Philippines. Here was a culture that might provide clues
to some of the great migrations in human history*. Ethnically the
Naga are of Mongoloid stock and linguistically belong to the
Tibeto-Burman family.
Geographically, the Naga
cultural area is confined by the
hills and mountains running in
a generally north-south
direction on the northeastern
border of India and the
northwestern border of
Myanmar. The Naga live in
four states of the Indian Union
-Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Assam- and in the hills of the
northwestern part of Myanmar's Administrative District of Sagaing.
The Naga depend mostly on slash-and-burn cultivation (jhum), cultivating
their staples of rice paddy, maize, millet and five varieties of Job's tears.
Like many tribal groups who practice the labor-efficient methods of slash and burn cultivation of rice, the
Naga had a great deal of leisure and large surpluses of grain. They used this to develop an elaborate and
beautiful world in the forest, a unique way of life that rarely separates the spiritual from the social.

2. The Naga tribes live in villages, usually occupying hilltops or the highest possible points along a hill slope;
this is largely the result of headhunting as inter-village feuds were
frequent and being able to see who was coming was crucial. The
villages are divided into Khels, meaning a ward or a quarter, which
are often inhabited by a particular clan who claim descent from a
common ancestor.
At the centre of each Khel is the Morung. This is most prominent
house in the village and shows the solidarity of clan members. It is
the Morungs on which the most embellishment and care was often
lavished, particularly in terms of size and woodcarving.
Apart from serving as guardhouses and as storage for all the
village's weapons, it was here that the males from around eight
years to marrying age lived. Here boys were educated by older
housemates in everything of importance for personal and
communal life in village society.
Often the Morung held the skulls of slain enemies, in which the
essential fertile power was thought to reside. In addition, the sacred
log drum, considered a magical instrument, was stored there.
Leisure activities include wrestling, a popular sport,
particularly among the Southern Naga groups. A
favorite drink is rice beer. Also opium cultivation for
personal consumption is still practiced. Traditionally
it was used as a medicine, mainly against
gastrointestinal diseases. The addiction rate, however,
is high.
In the 19th century, with the advent of British rule,
Christianity was introduced, and Baptist missionaries
became especially active in the region. As a result, the
population now is predominantly Christian.
Stirn & van Ham, 2003 p. 26, p. 33, p. 58
*Macfarlane in Saul, 2005 p. xi-xii
Headhunting and Fertility
As an agricultural community, the Naga linked sacrifice closely with agricultural growth and fertility. Their
sacrifices were meant to enlist the aid of benevolent spirits and appease
malevolent ones. Securing and increasing fertility, or life essence, and
handing it on to the community are central to Naga culture. And the
best way of enhancing personal fertility was by taking another person's
fertility. For the Naga, this fertile "potency" resides in a person's head,
which is why headhunting was practiced. By taking a head, that
person's fertile power becomes an accessible source that the victor can
direct at will.
Their life essence diffuses to the villagers, their crops and their livestock; their fertility can be channeled
successfully to the fields so that the crops may ripen well.

3. Headhunting for the Naga was the path to becoming entitled to wear certain status ornaments and to getting
married: if a man had not "touched meat" he was not nearly as likely to beget a child as there was no surplus
life around him. A headhunt was also necessary to inaugurate a new log drum, a magical instrument kept in
the Morung. The act of killing excited envy and admiration among other youths and increased a man's
reputation among the elders. Head hunting was also believed to be ritually essential for clan survival.
There were rules about who could be killed. Most important was that the victim did not belong to the same
clan or family, even if he or she lived in a different village. Certain Naga groups valued taking a long haired
woman's head more than a man's, because with it the female soul-substance would be acquired which had
the highest fertility value. Among certain groups the highest value was placed on a child's head, male or
female, because to obtain it the warrior had practically to enter the enemy's village. Infirm and insane people
were taboo.
(Stirn & van Ham, 2003 p. 106, p. 119, p. 122)
Feasts ofMerit
As one of the most conspicuous and most important features of Naga fertility rites, feasts of merit relate both
symbolically and practically to life and prosperity. By giving feasts of merit, a feast giver's status rises,
ensuring he will be remembered after death. Feasts of merit are performed in stages. Each successive stage
is more exacting then its predecessor in terms of the number
of mithun (a type of buffalo) sacrificed and the quantity of
food and drink to be served. Each completed stage entitles a
feast giver to show his status through certain ornaments,
clothes or house carvings.
Only with the completion of the final stage of feast-giving,
however, is a stone monument or wooden Y-shaped fertility
post erected for the feast-giver, the stones or post
symbolizing his wealth and the completed stages of feast
giving. Stones have ritual significance and are seen as
magical. Luck stones are believed to be animate and capable
of breeding. These stones are believed to bring the villagers
bountiful harvests, prosperity, success in hunting, children
and cattle in plenty.
After the final stage in the feast of merit, all
the men of the village erect one or more
stones or sink a new fertility post into the
earth, both symbols of the feast-giver's
fertility returning to the soil and so back to
the villagers. A feast-giver who reaches the
final stage of feast giving is seen as being a
carrier of great fertility. This final stage
transfers the feast giver's personal merit to
the entire community. Such feasts are so
expensive that they reduce a feast-giver's
wealth to the level of the rest of the villagers, reintegrating him into society. Poorer members of a clan or
village also benefit from the sharing of food.

4. (Stirn & van Ham, 2003, p102-3)
The Naga and Woodcarving
The Naga are amongst the best weavers and woodworkers in the world.
Woodcarving was done with an axe and primitive tools such as an adze and a chisel and working with such
limited tools resulted in the typically crude, strong style of Naga carvings. The large or even life size motifs
carved in high relief on Morung pillars, crossbeams and front panels of rich men's houses are extremely
varied. Of the many Naga art forms that exist, none is more striking or spectacular than their woodcarving
and even today the woodcarvers have retained their deep
sense of proportion.
Many local forest trees are used for wood, including the
Nahor palm wood -the ironwood of the Naga hills, and
oak. Carvings are done on the Morung and on feast-giver's
and chief's houses as well as on granary doors, village
gates, Y posts, certain furniture items and funeral statues.
Village gates were often carved with motifs symbolizing
an increase in population of the people and their mithun.
They also displayed a clan's valor and prowess by
depicting tigers, human heads and warriors and were thus
intended to instill respect in and protection from enemies.
At time heads are stylized into patterns of squares,
signifying successful headhunts.
Y posts, either supporting the cross beam in houses or
those erected for a feast of merit, have been said to
represent a simple genealogical tree, where the left branch
represents the maternal heritage and the right the paternal.
They often have a carved mithun head (which represents
the fertility needed for the growth of the family) and
carved depictions of enemy teeth. Other themes are gongs,
seats and guns, as well as breasts or genitals.
(Stirn & van Ham, 2003, p168-170)

5. Symbolism in carving
Carvings of full-size human figures usually represent house owners -one figure for each feast they have
given. Carvings of humans upside down indicate warriors who died bravely on the battlefields and whose
heads were taken. When shown with heads in hands it means they were able to decapitate enemies before
their own deaths.
Carved female breasts are a symbol of fertility and prosperity and peaceful, stable, harmonious
family/community life.
Erotic themes of couples engaged in intercourse were common on Konyak and Wancho Morungs. Often
they were a focal point for romantic ties between village adolescents. Similarly couples were also depicted
with exaggerated sexual organs, underlining once again the theme of fertility. It is also common to depict
children as smaller heads between or above a couple. In such cases the sexual organs are generally no longer
enlarged.
The meaning of carved rows of human figures varies. They may
represent a dance, e.g. a commemoration of the house-warming
ceremony. They can also signify community support for the chief, in
which case they are smaller than the main figure.
Rows of carved skulls on elevated crossbeams of houses indicate
high community esteem for the hero who has taken many heads.
Depicted lower down, they reflect the correspondingly lower esteem
in which the victorious community holds the defeated and
decapitated enemies. Skulls on circles signify the custom of keeping
enemy skulls on troughs.
Bunches of grass and thatch hung from the apex of the Morung
signify wealth, as do bamboo containers along the roof's ridge. Cane
balls hung from the eaves represent heads of slain enemies.
Many different forms of lunar and solar disks and stars are found on
Naga morungs. Often these carvings commemorate ritual
celebrations of an eclipse.

6. (Stirn & van Ham, 2003, p61, p177-183)
The Animal World
The Naga feel intimately related to the animal world around them. These
animals include tigers, leopards, Asian black bears, hoolock gibbons, wild
mithun buffaloes and gayals, wild boar and wild mountain goats, the great
Indian Hornbill and the pied Hornbill.
Among the Naga, many legends exist of relationships between humans and
animals and even plants, e.g. trees, indicating Naga animist beliefs.
Lycanthropy, the belief that humans can metamorphosis into an animal such
as a tiger or a mithun, is a curious Naga belief still alive today. The fact that
the tiger has five claws on each foot is said to indicate that it can receive a human soul. This metamorphosis
of soul is most likely to occur between old and new moons, coming at the bidding of spirits that cannot be
denied. The human soul usually enters the tiger during sleep, returning to the human body at daybreak. But
it may also remain in the animal for several days, during which time the human body is conscious but
lethargic.
Certain Naga clans identified their communities with certain animals. Such totem animals were perceived
either as group ancestors or as guardian spirits and clan members identified with the totem animal's
attributes. In northern Naga groups there exist lizard, tiger and frog clans.
All Naga groups seem to regard the ancestry of man and tiger (or leopard) as intimately related and man and
tiger are seen to be brothers with the same primal mother. After killing a tiger or leopard the Angami tribe

7. would wedge its mouth open with a stick and lay the head in running water, so that if the animal tried to tell
the spirits who killed it, nothing but the sound of water could be heard.
Even today the belief prevails that in killing an animal its qualities and powers pass on to the hunter. As a
consequence hunters adorn themselves and their houses with hunting trophies. Fate and the future can be
read from animals' intestines and animal sacrifice is practiced to appease the spirits and gods. The Naga
people's lust to hunt them is increased by the desire to display their feathers, beaks, horns, skulls, tusks and
fur as status symbols.
(Stirn & van Ham, 2003, p23, p72-80)
Symbolism related to animals
Mithun (pronounced"meetoon"), a semi domesticated type of buffalo, is the most prestigious animal
sacrifice, and has great spiritual power, because of the mithun's massive appearance, large horns and its
longstanding association with fertility.
Its horns, in particular, have symbolic fertility powers. Both on the
Morung and on the house posts and house fronts of wealthy men and
chiefs they symbolized fertility and wealth.
Nobility and royalty are attributed to the Hornbill -the king of birds-
by most Naga groups. For the Naga the hornbill's strength equals that
of the tiger because of its tiger- like call and the sound it makes
while flying. They also see the breeding habits and social behavior
of hornbills as resembling human behavior, which associates it
closely with humans. Carved hornbills on Morungs indicate fertility
and beauty and signify status when carved on furniture. According to
JD Saul, "a carving of hornbills signified that 'the enemies that came
were like hornbills'" (Saul, 2005, p. 146) and "hornbills were seen as
representing warfare and bravery" (idem p. 38).
Hornbill beaks signify beauty and are highly valued.
Traditionally, one tail feather of the Hornbill was
considered equal to a mithun head.
Real Hornbill feathers were reserved for successful
headhunters; acceptable substitutes are imitation feathers
made of paper.
Boar tusk collars or hat ornaments are the insignia of the
successful warrior who had taken an enemy head, speared a
victim or killed a tiger.
The horns of the Himalayan goat antelope, often used as ear
ornaments, have status because of the difficulty of
acquisition.
Monkey skulls generally symbolize beheaded enemies
amongst northern Naga groups, and are used to decorate
head-takers' baskets and hats. Monkey hands and tails are

8. also valued and are kept as trophies. Monkeys carved on Morungs symbolize smartness and cunning of the
men living within and their skill in warfare.
Carved tigers on Morungs indicate that inmates will become fierce and are also
a symbol of intelligence and strength. They are usually carved upside down,
showing the hunter's victory over the beast
A long row of tiger teeth on the chinstrap speaks for the bravery of its wearer.
The wearing of tiger ornaments such as claws and teeth is surrounded by
numerous taboos and regulations. Tiger, leopard and bear claws are worn in the
belief that the animal's strength will be imparted to the wearer. Most Naga
groups still swear oaths by tiger teeth.
Snakes are avoided by the Naga if possible, especially pythons and cobras. Fear of pythons has led to them
being depicted on front posts of Morungs. Carved snakes symbolize both beauty and danger. The carved
cobra symbolizes fierceness.
Bearskin is used to make a coronet headdress with hornbill feathers attached to the top. Bearskin is used for
leggings by the central Naga groups; these may only be worn by those who themselves have slain a bear. It
is believed that the wearer will be made into a strong runner.
The souls of the dead are said to enter insects such as beetles and butterflies. As a consequence, wing cases
are used to embody the souls of departed ancestors
(All taken from Stirn & van Ham, 2003, unless otherwise stated)
References:
The Hidden World Of The Naga, by Aglaja Stirn and Peter van Ham, 2003 Prestel/Timeless Books
The Naga of Burma -Their Festivals, Customs and Way of Life, J.D. Saul, 2005 Orchid Press
The Nagas - Hill Peoples of Northeast India, Julian Jacobs, 1990 Thames & Hudson