PEOPLE AND ORIGIN

The Great Naga Family

The name "NAGA" is derived from the Burmese word "NAKA" meaning "people with perforated ears. The Nagas, who pierced their ears to accommodate big wooden plugs and other ornaments, were given this name while they were passing through the Burmese territory during their migratory stages.

The Naga Nation, with a total population of about three-and-a-half million people, consists of many communities. Some of them are listed below:

1. Aimol
2. Anal
3. Ao
4. Angami
5. Chakhesang
6. Chang
7. Cheru
8. Chiru
9. Chothe
10. Kharam
11. Khianmungan
12. Koireng
13. Kom
14. Konyak
15. Lainung
16. Lamkang
17. Lotha
18. Makhori
19. Mao
20. Maram
21. Maring
22. Mayon
23. Monshang
24. Nocte
25. Pangmi
26. Phom
27. Pochuri
28. Poumai
29. Rengma
30. Sangtam
31. Sumi
32. Tangkhul
33. Tangsa
34. Tarao
35. Thangal
36. Tikhir
37. Wancho
38. Yimchunger
39. Zeliangrong (Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Puimei)

LAND

Nagaland (Nagalim) has always been a sovereign nation occupying a compact area of 120,000 sq. km of the Patkai Range in between the longitude 93º E and 97º E and the latitude 23.5º N and 28.3º N. It lies at the tri-junction of China, India and Burma. Nagalim, without the knowledge and consent of the Naga people, was apportioned between India and Burma after their respective declaration of independence. The part which India illegally claims is subdivided and placed under four different administrative units, viz., Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland states. The eastern part which Burma unlawfully claims is placed under two administrative units, viz., Kachin State and Sagaing Division (formerly known as the Naga Hills). Nagalim, however, transcends all these arbitrary demarcations of boundary (a sketch map of Nagalim is being attached for kind reference). Mr. Mills defines the land of the Naga people thus: "The area inhabited by the Naga tribes is bounded by the Hukawng Valley in the northeast, the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley in the northwest, Cachar in the southwest and the Chindwin River in the east. In the south, the Manipur Valley roughly marks the point of contact between the Naga tribes and the very much more closely interrelated group of Kuki tribes" (vide p. XVI of the "Introduction", The Lotha Naga).

The Nagas live in different micro-environments from foot hills to high hills. They built their villages at altitudes of between 1,000 and 2,000 meter, perched like fortresses on the highest points of hill-ranges and spurs from which the land drops down into the surrounding valleys. The choice of such strategically advantageous sites dates from the days of head-hunting, when settlements had to be easily defensible against raiders. Their farming activities are divided between slash-and-burn cultivation and the tillage of irrigated rice terraces. One finds thousands of menhirs/megaliths and forked wooden posts inside these rice fields and in the villages as reminiscent of those happy days when the rich threw "Feasts of Merit" in order to enhance their social status as well as for acquiring blissful life in the next world (cf. A GLIMPSE OF NAGA CULTURE. 1998. GPRN Publication).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Like the ancient Geek city-states, the Nagas traditionally lived in village-states, independent and self-contained, with a democratically constituted village council headed by a Chief. In other words, the Naga Nation remained unconquered and unadministered by any alien power, and it thus existed independently since time immemorial.

Only a small portion of its territory in the southwest entered the recorded history of the British imperialism in 1863 when some villages were invaded and occupied by the British forces. The year also marked the beginning of the Naga War of Resistance against alien political campaign and military occupation, division and destruction of their land and traditional institutions. Mr. Haipou Jadonang, one of the Naga revolutionary pioneers, was jailed and finally hanged at Imphal on 29 August 1931 by the British. His successor, Ms. Gaidinliu, was also imprisoned for fourteen years.

The memorandum submitted by the NAGA CLUB, the only all-Naga political organization existing then, to the Simon Commission on 10 January 1929, that "the Nagas should be left alone," clearly represented the burning desire of the Naga people to preserve the sovereignty of Nagalim.

A period following the World War II saw the Naga people determinedly engaged in hectic political activities. The Naga Club was reorganized into the Naga National Council (NNC) in 1947, which was subsequently changed into the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980, inasmuch as the NNC signed the treasonous Shillong Accord with the Indian Government and forfeited its responsibility to lead the Naga Nation in its struggle for self-determination.

"At a time when the British Government was aiming to grant independence to India, a plan was afoot to keep Nagalim as a ‘Crown Colony’. This operation, however, did not materialize owing to the vehement objection raised by the Nagas who insisted on complete independence of their nation from Great Britain as well as Hindustan. It thus came to pass that the Britisher just left the western Nagas to their free will" (A.Z. Jami Lotha. 1997. CRY FOR JUSTICE. Oking: MIP, GPRN, p. 261). At the withdrawal of the British forces from their territory, the Nagas in the British-occupied territory promptly declared their independence on 14 August 1947 and formally merged themselves with the unconquered and unadministered "Free Nagalim". The Government of India and the United Nations Organization were informed of it by cable to which the later was kind enough to send an acknowledgement. This declaration w! as reaffirmed by the astounding result of the 1951 Plebiscite where 99.9 per cent of the Naga population voted in favor of sovereign independent Nagalim.

When the Naga delegates approached Mahatma Gandhi at Bhangi Colony in New Delhi on 19 July 1947, he unequivocally told them: "Nagas have every right to be independent. We did not want to live under the domination of the British and now they are leaving us....If you do not wish to join the Union of India, nobody will force you to do that. The Congress government will not do that." In November 1949, when another Naga delegation met His Excellency, Mr. C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor General of Free India, he reconfirmed the statement of Mahatma Gandhi thus: "India does not want to deprive the Nagas of their land. Nagas are at full liberty to do as they like, either to become part of India or be separated if it would be best for their interest to be isolated.

But, despite these assurances from the Indian leaders to honor the national aspiration of the Naga people, India started pouring her armed forces into Nagalim in 1954 to conduct an unprecedented war of genocide. This became the crux of the problem.