Abstract
This chapter marks out a sense of history in synchronic tradition of Christian Chang Naga of Yangpi village of Nagaland with reference to village Morung. Though Morung is a pre-Christian sociocultural institution, it continues to exist in present time to celebrate the past whose relevance is lost or declined. It stands as an identity marker with a link to oral traditions and symbols of artistic creativity, which are preserved and which convey cultural meanings of pre-Christian Naga ideals. The chapter analyzes meanings attached to symbols, presents the multi-dimensional functions of the Morung in bygone days and thereby defines past ideals and identity. Essentially, the paper tries to posit the past with present ideals in order that the identity of Chang Naga is appreciated in totality over time.
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In Changki group of Ao Naga tribe, the Morung traditionally played the role of educating young boys. The data of Changki is based on firsthand experience; as one of the authors, Tiasunep is from the Changki group. Though there are more age groups beyond Achang charoba ori, members belonging to those age groups were normally married and therefore were not considered members in the Morung like those sleeping in it. Therefore, the duties of those age groups are not discussed here. For information about sleeping in dormitory of young women, refer to the article by K. Mann (1989) and Jamir and Lanuningsang (2005: 100–112).
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The word ‘khel’ is an Assamese word used to describe basis of divisions in Naga villages (Haimendorf 1938: 353). The divisions could be according to clans; however all the villages are not divided along clan or lineage. In case of Yangpi village, khel is territory based rather than clan or lineage based. The area where the first settlers made their village is known as Nokphu; the area below Nokphu towards the eastern direction is known as Mepongtang khel; Mepong means wind; Tang means direction. As the name suggests, this area is quite windy, and it was also observed during the fieldwork. The word Yase literally means new village.
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The data on Yangpi community and Yangpi Morung were collected during fieldwork in Yangpi village (i.e. 23 January to 1 February 2016).
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According to J.P. Mills, Ao Naga tribe can be divided into three linguistic groups: Chungli, Mongsen and Changki. Yangpi language resembles Changki and Mongsen. The inference to similarities between Yangpi and Ao Naga languages is based on firsthand observation.
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The Mepongtang khel has a folk song that depicts the sadness they felt when their original Morung was brought down to build the church. The Mepongtang khel had to shift their Morung to another site, since the site where their original Morung stood was chosen to build their village church.
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The route where head hunters from Ao Naga and Sangtam Naga areas could enter.
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It is clear from the khels (clans) of the Yangpi village that a clan/khel can be genealogical or not genealogical.
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The sleeping dormitory for young women in Yangpi is called Themibiri tsü: Themibiri, widow; tsü, house. Young women would gather at a widow’s house and sleep there together; the old widow would teach the young women. During the field work, we came across an elderly widow named Shongtola, 86 years old, who taught a folk song. Since she alone in the village knew that particular song, one of the authors (Tiasunep) inquired: Who taught you the song? She replied, ‘I learned at Themibiri tsü’. (She is from Mepongtang khel, Interview date, 29 January 2016; Time, 5:40 P.M.)
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Discouraging the new converts to sleep in Morung is not unique to Yangpi village as documented by Richard M. Eaton (1997: 254). Instead, the church maintained its own dormitory where the church leaders can teach the young men about the Bible and Christianity. The dormitory maintained by the church is no more in existence.
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This is so because among the three khels, Yase is smallest and therefore lesser in number of residents.
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Each Naga community has its own term for the practice which in English is translated as head hunting. The word trophy is nearest in meaning than the term head hunting given to name the practice.
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Using hornbill as symbol for beauty is common among the Nagas. Its feathers are used in traditional dress for beautification.
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The V-shaped tattoo on the chest as a symbol for head hunting is found among the other Naga tribes. When one of the authors (Tiasunep) visited Yachem village of Phom Naga tribe, there was an old person with such a tattoo in his chest. One reason for such similarity between Yachem and Yangpi may be because they lived very near to each other; Yangpi people lived in Longpoyotsü and Yachem people at Mongoya during their migration. However, it is to be noted that Ao Naga tribe also used similar symbol. Using of this pattern of tattoo is reviewed by Carl Schuster (1952).
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Annual worship of mountain and sacrifice of animals such as a pig and a rooster were in practice even among the Ao Nagas. Using rooster as sacrifice is common among the Ao Nagas and other Naga tribes as well.
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The word mithun is commonly used in Northeast India to denote a semi-domestic animal, believed to be the cross-breed of bison and yak; its scientific name is Bos frontalis.
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Giving away feast of merit by killing Mithun is considered prestigious among all Naga tribes.
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The Yangpi Student Union on learning that we came for research volunteered to serve as translators for our research team. Lemba was a member of this student union and in-charge of the union’s library. He was with the team as one of the translators. Upon seeing the animal skulls, he made the quoted remark on 28 January 2016.
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Garcinia pedunculata popularly known as bor thekera in Assamese is endemic to the southeastern regions of Asia such as parts of Myanmar and northeastern parts of India.
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Approximate dimension of each pieces = 5 inches × 7 inches.
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The Yangpi villagers practise jhum cultivation, which involves cutting down of forest and burning it. The night before the day they will burn their field, they will announce the villagers by voicing out loud from strategic places so that all the villagers can hear. When they announce they will say, ‘Tomorrow our village will attack village X and therefore shut the mouth of the dog’. The name of the village they will name depends on the direction of their jhum for that particular year. As for ‘shut the mouth of the dog’, it is meant for the men folk not to engage in sex but to maintain celibacy. This is still in practice, in relation to jhum cultivation.
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All the court cases listed here are from the book Christianity versus Ao Nagas by Tajen Ao.
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In a post-Khunian world, it will make no sense to say that their worldview had no influence on the way they studied the Morung. For a good discussion on how paradigm effect scientific observation, refer to the work of Thomas Kuhn (1962).
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Worldview here means ‘an intellectual understanding of the world, a way of thinking about the world and its workings, which is common among a particular group’ (Rapport and Overing 2010: 395–96).
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A monument is raised at Yase khel (where the first church was built) depicting this date as the day Christianity entered the village along with the names of the first converts.
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Tiasunep, Solo, N. (2020). Yangpi Morung: An Expression of Ideals and Identity. In: Behera, M. (eds) Tribal Studies in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9026-6_15
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