IN FOCUS Land of Diversity
Nagaland
Between The
Lines 1
An international border doesn’t change life in this Naga village
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Text & Photographs By Neelima Vallangi
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n a bright Sunday afternoon, I found myself standing on a hilltop, one foot in India and the other in Burma. In front of me were the mountains of Burma, covered in a dense blanket of greenery. On a ridge to my left was Longwa, a Konyak village in Nagaland, where I was hoping to meet headhunters. The air was fresh and oblivious to the existence of borders. The Konyaks are the largest of Nagaland’s 16 tribes. They are spread across Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in India, and Burma. Severing heads was a common practice among the Konyaks until the 1940s; the last reported headhunting was in the 1970s. Capturing an
When the IndiaBurma border was drawn in 1970, the Konyak villages were split across the two countries. Four remained in India, while the rest fell in Burma. Villagers have dualcitizenship, though in fact, they need no papers to move across the border to neighbouring villages.
enemy’s head was the rite of passage for boys. It represented the capture of the enemy’s spirit. Only men who had successfully hunted a head were allowed to wear a prestigious facial tattoo. While I was very excited about the prospect of meeting headhunters, I had no idea what to expect in Mon district, which is considered one of the least-developed parts of Nagaland. Ironically, its isolation has also allowed it to remain one of the state’s most culturally rich districts. Mon town, the district headquarters and the gateway to north Nagaland, is situated on the slopes of a mountain and is surrounded by other mountain ranges. It is an interesting mix of
thatched huts, tin roofs, and concrete buildings—a place in flux, holding on to its past as it embraces change. As I waited for my host to open the guesthouse, I saw merry children rolling down the road on a threewheeled wooden cart. Close by, children were practicing cartwheeling on a heap of sand at a construction site. The market had insect grubs and burnt wild rats for sale. Clearly, the traditional way of life hadn’t been driven out of Mon. In fact, modern amenities hadn’t even fully arrived— for the previous two days, the town and the rest of north Nagaland had been without electricity as the recent rains had damaged power lines. The next day, I headed to Longwa. Situated atop a ridge, the village
october 2013 | national Geographic Traveller INDIA 73
urmimala nag (Map) Facing page: IP-Zero 03/indiapicture (necklaces)
1 A morung is the tribal community hall where all important meetings take place. Cultural artefacts from many decades ago still hang in these halls. 2 Villagers grow most of their own vegetables in kitchen gardens. 3 An elderly Konyak Naga with a tattoo on his face that indicates he was once a headhunter. As the tribe embraces change, those tales only live on through the fading tattoos and memories of the elders. 4 Traditional headhunters wore necklaces with brass faces that signified the number of heads hunted. Today, these necklaces are not earned, just inherited. 5 In 1970, the border between India and Burma was demarcated and pillar number 154 was erected just outside Longwa village. 6 Children gather around a bonfire on the grounds of the local church. Situated on a ridge surrounded by mountains, Longwa can get very cold even on summer evenings.