Far East by North East of our minds

Posted on | May 23, 2008 | 4 Comments

It is rather difficult to define the geographical, political, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and economic parameters of the place we call North East- North East of What? Is it North East of geophysical India, Indian mindset or anything outside India?

One cannot challenge the geophysical map of India, which exhibit the North East in continuation of the landmass from West Bengal along the “chicken neck” to Asom (Assam) and the former kingdom of Manipur. We have on the map ethno-political entities called Mizoram (Lushai Hills), Meghalaya (Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills) and Arunachal Pradesh (NEFA).

These “outer” parts of India, except Asom, were special territories administered by the Brits under different political, administrative and military dispensations. The checkered history of these “outer Indian territories” is very complicated and scholars like Verrier Elwyn to B. G. Verghese to Sanjay Hazarika and your humble author cannot do justice in a single volume. In fact, Indian historians have not applied adequate attention to these “outer” areas and have not worked out a roadmap for total integration with the rest of the country. We have a geophysical and political map but there is no road map for emotional integration.

In Manipur outsiders are called ‘mayang’, in Asom ‘bahiragoto’, in Mizoram ‘bhai’ and even some years ago the general Nagas used the contemptuous term to identify the mainland Indians as ‘Indian dogs.’ The situation has not changed much since than. Mainland Indians are looked upon as imperial exploiters and they in turn still treat the people of these “outer areas” as “naked jungles.”

We forget that Asom is also known as ‘Pragjyotishpura’- a territory that existed from time immemorial. We have forgotten that a daughter of Manipur had defeated the Pandavas and she later married an Aryan Arjuna. We feign ignorance that Bhima the second Pandava had married the Kachari-Dima princes Hidimba. Who are to be blamed? Please try to locate the answer inside your mind frame.

If you are not acquainted with name places like Hidimbapura, Jatinga, Ghaspani and Nungkao etc, you are responsible for lack of knowledge about some interesting places in your own country.

Hidimbapura was the capital of Dima-Kachari kingdom, whose princes Hidimba was married to the second Pandava, Bhima. You must have visited Manali and been to the only Indian temple constructed in memory of the Kachari princes.

How? It is said that while on mahaprasthan yatra to the Himalayas, Bhima had fallen at Manali. Before dying he had constructed the temple in memory of his wife, the only woman he was married to besides Draupadi. Perhaps you can now link the cultural connectivity.

Present day Dimapur in Nagaland still have some stone relics of the Hidimba period rulers. The Christian state does not publicise linkages of Dimapur with Hidimba, whose son Ghatotkacka had saved vital wars for the Pandavas against the Kauravas.

Jatinga is a fascinating village, now jeepable, in the North Cachar Hills district (Karbi Anglong) of Asom. At the end of monsoon, on moonless foggy nights hundreds of birds like Pond Heron, Kingfisher, Little Egret etc take kamikaze type dives on the fields and are transported to the cooking pots of the villagers. Several foreign and indigenous researchers visited the village (your author too) to understand the mystery. Forget the contradictory theories. That Jatinga is the only place in the world to witness such avian harakiri does not attract Indian tourists to the enchanting NC Hills.

I would not request you to take a tour of the NC Hills now as the area is more ruled by armed rebel groups like Dima Halam Daogah, Karbi National Volunteer Force, Hmar People’s Convention, Karbi Peoples Front, ULFA and NSCN (I-M) than the constitutional governments at Diphu and Gwahati.

Before you hit Ghaspani I would like to lead you to a small village Nungkao, in Tamenglong district of Manipur, nearer to Peren areas of Nagaland. In this historic village was born a Hindu Naga dame, Rani Gaidinlieu to her Rongmei (a tribe) parents. She had revolted against proselytizing activities and territorial incursion of the British at the age of 13, was imprisoned in 1932 and finally freed in 1947.

She was honoured (?) with a Padma Award in 1993 after plenty of haggling with the “inner India” masters in Delhi. Her tribe is now mostly converted to Christianity, though a few hundred Rongmei and Zelaing Nagas still stick to Hindu practices. Most Hindu organizations were discouraged by Delhi and Kohima to venture into the area. The minorities had the rights to be converted to Christianity but had no access to mainland Hindu organizations to preserve their original religion and culture.

Ghaspani (grass and water) was endowed with the endearing name by the British to a foothills village in Naga Hills that connects railhead Dimapur to administrative centre at Kohima in Angami Naga tract.

The British marchers, the Assamese, Bengali and Naga guides and their ponies rested at Ghaspani, collected fodder, water and rations before taking the ardous climb along Zubza valley to Bara Basti Kohima. A garrison qasba, Ghaspani still gives the nostalgic feeling of marching of alien civilization to the heartland of the Naga peoples. You may like to spend a night at Dimapur, look up the relics of Hidimbapura and take a car to Ghaspani before entering the gates of Kohima.

I can accompany you to the lovely town, though there are chances that you would be stopped at a couple of places by army pickets and pickets manned by uniformed and armed soldiers of the NSCN (I-M), in spite of the uneasy ceasefire.

I do not intend to take you on an arduous tour of the misty Naga Hills, but would recommend climbing the snow laden Japfu peak in winters.

The famous Valley of Flower of the East “Dzukou Valley” is no less attractive than the Himalayan Valley of Flower in Uttarakhand. Well, the added charm is over 142 varieties of orchids in the state that can rival imported orchids from Thailand, if properly exploited and marketed. Naga orchids have not been exploited the way Sikkim has done it. However, at Dzukou you should encounter the multicoloured largest Indian Rhododendrons. I have not seen such lush growth of Rhododendrons in the Himalayan heights

Please accompany me to the rural areas to witness the Hornbill Dance and enchanting Naga dances like Serkrayi, Tulani, Tokhu Emong etc, which are as vigorous and enchanting as mainland Bhratnatyam, Kuchipudi and Katthak are. The villagers do not dance to order. You have to please and often tease the belles and lads to don the colourful gears and dance like vibrant animals prancing at Intaki sanctuary on Myanmar border and the Fakim sanctuary.

I would not advocate making advances to any Naga belle. Most of them are enchantingly beautiful. The urban women are globally oriented and the rural beauties are as mysterious as the mountain mists around them. I must confess a hidden dream. Had I not been married to my most beautiful wife and not expecting the second gem of a son to our family by the time we reached Nagaland, I would have preferred a scintillating Chakesang beauty as my life partner. Well, some dreams better remain in the realm of fantasy.

With no offence to other tribal belles, I noticed a mysterious Pacific touch in the Chakesang people. You have to believe me or accompany me to Pfutsero or nearby Chizami and Cheswezumi. I often wondered wherefrom the belles borrowed the natural rouge hue on their cheeks!

Since Nagaland is itself a vibrant paradise I would not stress on visiting any particular tribal area-the Angami, Chakesang, Ao, Sema etc territories. However, you must accompany me to Sampure on Myanmar border along the course of Dhansiri River and witness the mysteries of snow clad Saramati Hills. Bang on Myanmar border the beautiful peak invites many climbers. However, you would require special permission to visit the border areas as there are chances of your getting caught in crossfire-of the NSCN factions and Indian army.

Your visit to misty Naga Hills would remain incomplete if you do not visit the interiors of a traditional village home. Away from the concrete jungles of Kohima and Mokokchung I would like to lead you to Wakching village in Mon Naga territory. Don’t be afraid, there is a motorable road from Nagainimara in Asom to the dirt road-head leading to the hill-top village. Peculiar high profile frontage may greet you with bleached Mithun horns and human skulls. The Mons and Konyaks were little late in abandoning the headhunting practice. Some gaonburas (village elders) still take pride in showing their forefather’s collection of human skulls from neighbouring tribal villages.

The central fireplace (wood fired) keeps the entire house warm. You are welcome to the first chamber only, where you are cordially seated and served madhu and ruhi. The inner chambers are reserved for family use.

One advice; never finish your glass. Your hostess would keep on pouring slightly smelling intoxicants like the Japanese Geisha does as soon her guest finishes sipping his tea. Sip slowly and enjoy smoked dried meat and cocktail of vegetables and pork boiled in wild ginger. You would enjoy. The innocent grin on rural Naga faces would transcend you beyond the contorted stone buildings at Kohima and the inscrutable eyes of its people.

Do not be carried away by the cynic Indian remark that the Nagas eat everything that move in the air and on the earth. I have had the pleasure of testing roasted or fried bee-larva, raw grasshopper, and lizards and of course cat, dog, monkey (no offence to Lord Hanuman worshippers) and other animal meat. Do not shriek. You might have seen such fried and roasted winged and crawling animals hawked in the roadside vends in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries in South East Asia. After all, meat is meat, whether it is crab or cobra meat (with apology to vegetarians).

Oh yes. If you are an honoured guest the villagers might even slaughter a Mithun (Yak-Bull family) for you. Mithun was, once upon a time, like the Aryan Cow, a symbol of prosperity and authority.

I would not request you look into the diarchic rule headed by the elected government and grassroots level administration controlled by the machineries of the NSCN Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions. These are complicated issues that fox even the seasoned mandarins in Delhi and state politicians and officers who pay taxes both to the state exchequer and coffers of Isak, Muivah and Khaplang.

Your enchanting journey is fraught with certain palpable dangers. The Khaplang and Isak-Muivah factions of the NSCN rule the countryside from their fortified and deadly armed camps. The ceasefire agreement does not stop additional arms flow through Bangladesh and expanding of NSCN territorial influence in neighbouring Manipur, Assam and other tribal pockets in Nagaland.

The Naga tract is conveniently divided between the Indian Army, Underground armed insurgents and some semblance of state administration. Delhi suffers from perpetual amnesia and occasionally wakes up to resume peace talks and ceasefire. What else can you do with a part of “outer India?” Constitutionally, geophysically and geopolitically these are parts of India. But our minds have not met; our cultures and mutual feelings have not been exchanged. We live like isolated islands in a sea of undefined and vague constitutional oneness. This illusion is both real and unreal.

The dominant Isak-Muivah faction, like the ULFA of Asom is the father figure of all insurgent groups in the North East numbering about 114, including nearly a dozen Muslim rebel outfits. NSCN firepower is increasing by the day and their influence has started taking a Pan-Naga character. The dream of Nagalim- a greater Nagaland comprising Assam, Manipur Naga inhabited areas is considered as a fait accompli.

Behind the veil of the misty hills a severe fission process is in progress. Deft political handling with strict army vigil and corruption free administration is the keys to cooling down the fission process. A corruption free India is as illusory as the gates to heaven or hell, whichever you prefer to enter. Moreover, mainland Indians are required to take initiative in drawing these “remote peoples” nearer to their homes and hearts.

I would like to answer your editor:

The North East of India is not only in the northeast of India’s geophysical and geopolitical map. It is, in fact, in the remotest corner of East by North East of our national consciousness. Most us take it for granted that it exists, because the printed map says so.

In reality, it does not exist in our map of mind.

Category: Articles

Comments

4 Responses to “Far East by North East of our minds”

Sandeep M. Tamgadge
June 1st, 2008 @ 1:34 pm

Dear Sir,
A wonderful,very knowledgable and a article with great insight you have writtan. The minutest of observations especially for the nagas exactly portrays the nagas and their culture to the non nagas. Since i happened to be a officer of Nagaland cadre and having served as Distt. SP of Phek district, the land of Chakhesangs and Pochury’s for 3 years till last month, i totally agree with your remarks. The mystic and enigmatic personalities of the rural chakhesang folks,especially the damsels are quite alluring and enchanting.
These days with the division of the Underground Groups esp. after the emergence of the NSCN(Unification) on the tribal lines, the naga society seems to be getting fragmented, which personally to me is quite sad experience. Everything in naga life in nagaland seems to be getting divided on the tribal lines.So if you are a Tenyimei grp person(angami,Chakesang,Zeliang,Mao,Tangkhul etc),then you can gel together, similarly if you belong to eastern nagas comprising of Konyaks,changs,Yimchunger,Khiam,sangtam or phom ,then you are one group. The quest of controlling Commercial capital,Dimapur by NSCN-IM or NSCN(U) has already seen a number of Interfactional clashes resulting in largescale violence and killing of many people.
Though my association with nagaland is very short of 7 years, but its quite painful to see this beautiful land and its people suffering So much. I can only hope and pray,that the fatricidal hatred would reduce and the State normalises again.
Regards,
Sandeep M. Tamgadge.
maloy krishna dhar
June 1st, 2008 @ 4:29 pm

Dear Sandeep, We love nagaland. Our second son was born in Naga Hospital We enjoyed the terrain and people. I too feel extremely sad about what Indian money,Naga greed (post-1970) and foreign intervention. The Nagas are being misled by Isak and Muivah and Khaplang etc. They have a place of honour under Indian Sun.
Vince Delmonte
April 15th, 2009 @ 3:49 pm

I follow your blog for quite a long time and must tell you that your articles are always valuable to readers.
Kelly Brown
June 13th, 2009 @ 2:08 am

Hi, gr8 post thanks for posting. Information is useful!