Head-Hunting

Head-hunting was a part and parcel of the socio-cultural landscape of the Nagas since time immemorial. Head-hunting, however, is not all-pervading a term to encompass all kinds of Naga war; for example, in a pitch battle chopping off of human heads and carrying them home as trophies is against the unwritten customary laws for conduct of war. A violation of this general understanding is viewed seriously, and the village guilty of it is jointly attacked by surrounding villages. The Nagas have clear-cut rules of war. In accordance with the nature of disputes and causes, war in Naga society is classified into three forms, namely, open confrontation, hostage-taking war, and guerrilla warfare. Of these, the guerilla warfare is the most prevalent form of war in Nagalim and, consequently, claims the maximum number of lives.

Most of the time the Nagas do not place their glory in attacking their enemies with open force; to surprise and destroy is the greatest merit of a leader, and the highest pride of his followers. Varieties of tricks and techniques are employed to acquire as many heads as possible from the enemy village.

Once an existence of a state of war between villages is declared, warriors from these villages try to acquire as many heads as possible from the opponent village either through ambushes on the roadside or attack the enemy village stealthily at an opportune time. Sometimes an intimation is served to the enemy village that from a certain time its members will be killed, whenever an opportunity is found.

Why do the Nagas go for heads? To answer the question as to why head-hunting is so prominent and essential in the Naga society, various reasons may be attributed to its large-scale practice.

A desire for reprisal for injuries, the vendetta or blood feud is a very common reason for going on the war-path and bringing home the appropriate trophies. This vindictive spirit prevails to such an extent that a Naga, eventhough the original causes of the enmity have frequently been completely forgotten, waits even up to two or three generations devising plans for decapitating members of a village who murdered one or more members of their clan; and when opportunity offers, they are sure to take advantage of it, regardless of the personal innocence of the men whom they select as victims of their fury.

In a society where head-takers are highly respected, warriors often go for heads for the sake of fame. Such heroes are given the right to adorn themselves with a series of ornaments and decorations on their bodies, namely, belts, boar tusks, cowries, earrings, feathers of the Great Hornbill, ivory bracelets, necklaces, pendants, shawls and tattoos on their bodies, which make their bravery visible to everyone.

Success in head-hunting is also believed by the Nagas to bestow many children and good hunting to the village. Heads are also required after renewing the door of the village gate, after making log-drums, after rebuilding dormitories and, as was the case with the Tangkhul Nagas,it was a must for the main post of a new house to stand on a buried human-head trophy. After performing the due rites, the acquired heads are deposited either at the village chief's head-shelves or the dormitory. The power, strength, and richness of the chief is known by the number of heads his village possesses.

There can be little doubt that one of the chief incentives to procure heads is to please women. Among most of the Naga communities it is indispensable for a young man to get a head before he could marry; for it was assumed that a man sufficiently brave and energetic to go head-hunting would promise well for his ability to protect a wife. A man was laughed at if he turned out at the village festivals without the decorations assigned to the successful warrior.

Head-hunting was intimately connected with agrarian rites too. The Nagas believed that heads were essential ingredients in agricultural fertility rites. Besides, it was presumed that if a work in a new spot for slash-and-brun cultivation was carried out without head sacrifice, the spirit of the field would destroy the crops by either causing drought, or sending hailstorms, wild animals, birds, etc.

Head-hunting was also closely associated with funerary and eschatological rites. Some Naga communities believed that the persons whose heads they took would become their slaves in the next world. This is the reason why there stood several stone monuments over the tombs of warriors representing the number of heads they took while alive.

It is clear from the above discussion that the head-hunting activities of the Nagas, even if they appear appalling at the face value, have tremendous significance in the traditional Naga society as a determinant of status in the social hierarchy as well as a means of legitimizing their authority. This highly institutionalized violence has also religious sanction, economic and political considerations and, most of all, social value and justice.