A New Beginning

Their early discoverers called them the headhunters because they hunted heads for honour and as trophy for virility. It was then in the 19^th century. I read about their way of life written by British administrators and anthropologists. But that was not the only source from where I learnt who I was. I had listened to legends of great men and women who protected their people with wisdom and prowess and stories of the gods and my people’s relationship with them. Unlike written history, the tradition of orally passing down history, if we would call it that, has many hazards. But the legends and customs mesh into each other giving it the strength of a great worldview with wisdom and insights from nature intricately woven into it. Because of that power to hold a people together, their culture flourished. Their philosophy in their small and limited world was no less than those that built great civilizations of the world, until when they were thrust into the larger world by superior force. The turbulence created then has not abated. The process of embracing the new threatens to uproot all that was old, in the process putting a generation adrift and along  treacherous shores with little means to anchor, to halt and plan for the future.

Before time runs out, it has become necessary to protect the old stump that gives anchor to our people in a universe of competing identities and loyalties. It is now time to write down the legends of my people, their culture or way of life, beliefs and customs, and worldview in the manner I learnt from my elders. Now far away from those hills where I grew up, the attributes that have defined my people have been tested in a different setting. It is a new challenge, a new process of learning and earning one’s respect in a completely different world. So, now it is also time to weave a new story of their continued endeavour to engage with the outside world and carve a place for their own identity. 

This Blog is a continuation of the Naga tradition of passing down their legacies from one generation to the other, albeit in written form.