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Konyak tribesmen find warmth from the hearth inside their morung at Naga Heritage village, Kisama on the second day of Hornbill Festival.[/caption]
Kohima, Dec. 2: For sixteen years since it was first held in 2000, Hornbill Festival, also known as the ‘festival of festivals’ has been conducted to encourage inter-tribal interaction and promote the cultural heritage of Nagaland.
With each of the sixteen major tribes displaying their distinctive heritage, the festival is a feast for visitors as they witness various dances, attires and jewelleries. It is also an occasion for the people of Nagaland to learn about their respective tribe’s history, and also that of others.
The second day of this year’s festival was an opportunity to interact with Dr Alok Kumar Kanungo, Assistant Research professor, at the Archaeological Sciences Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.
The anthropologist/archaeologist from Orissa has a vast knowledge about the unique and exotic Naga cultural materials. For years, he has been researching Naga’s cultural artefacts displayed at museums abroad.
Dr Kanungo has also handed over some valuable records to the department of Art and Culture, Nagaland State Archives. Those documents and records, he said, would help scholars, researchers and historians for future references.
Narrating in brief on how the artefacts landed at museums abroad, Dr Kanungo said it all started with the annexation of Naga territory by the British in the 19th century that coincided with the peak of museum movement in Europe, Britain and missionary activities in Asia.
That, he said, resulted in transporting, rather replacing the exotic cultural materials of the Nagas. He said there were 5000 objects from Nagaland in the Museum of Pitts Rivers Museum, University of Oxford in Oxford, England, and about 2 lakh objects across museums abroad.
He expressed deep pain at the haphazard display of the exotic artefacts of the Nagas at the museums, some of which, according to him were without any proper indication, information or label.
Starting from the 19th century, collection of objects for museums and documentation of Naga culture was done by three groups namely the American missionaries, the British administrators and the European (mostly the German speaking scholars) anthropologists.
And according to Dr Kanungo, the early collections of the German anthropologists were very important for the study of Naga culture since they were not only derived from Indian side of Naga area but also from Myanmar.
While the missionary writings and collections were selective in nature and the administrators’ writings too had pre-motives and force in collection, he said, the German anthropologists collected the entire web of culture and the cycle. Unfortunately, the latter group’s work did not penetrate the local texts and their collections were not studied holistically ever, he said.
According to him, the foremost requirement for understanding the history of any region or community was the study of its cultural material in context.
With no written language or written history or much cultural material made of inorganic resources, he suggested that the best possible way for the Nagas to trace their history was to carefully study the items that are the most valued component of the Naga culture. “It is your fundamental rights to know all about your culture.”
He suggested that the best possible way to write the history and archaeology of the Nagas was to carry out an ethno-archaeological investigation in the area and come to a hypothetical history and also undertake an intensive study on the cultural material collections from the Naga Hills before they were much exposed. Then, write the history of material culture and interpret contacts of respectable past, according to him.
For this, he said more Nagas need to get involved, and make a unified effort not only towards making a data base of the artefacts, but also to bring back the exotic artefacts to where it belongs.
Also noting some of the skeletal remains of our forefathers were being kept at museums without any respect, he said those should be brought back home by the Nagas and buried with all due respect.
He also suggested that the artefacts should be brought to the state of Nagaland for exhibition, so that the Naga people learn about its origin and their importance.
With thousands of cultural materials from Naga inhabitant areas in Museum, Dr Kanungo said it raises a series of questions like why were those objects there? Where exactly were they from? Who made them? And who used them? And what made Nagas to go for such specific materials? Such questions lead to the ultimate question: who are the Nagas?, he shared.
Through those artefacts in display, those countries generate huge revenues. It is ironic that such a wake-up call has come from a non-Naga, at an event meant to parade our cultural heritage to the world.