People of Nagaland

There are sixteen tribes in Nagaland, each occupying a distinct area. Each Naga tribe has its own legend to give some indication of the course from which its migration took place, though some Naga tribes, such as the Khiamungan, Pochury, Sangtam, and Chang regard themselves as original inhabitants of these hills. The Angami , Chakhesang, Lotha, Rengma and Sema  tribes have common traditions and myths of origin, and thereby they are said to have originated from a single stock but later on got separated and gradually required separate identities after occupying distinct hill ranges.

Gradually, after occupying separate eco-environmental zones, the smaller Naga tribes established permanent settlements. Some larger tribes, such as the Ao  and the Angami however kept on shifting their habitats during the initial stage by encroaching into the territories of smaller tribes. Later on economic compulsions forced them also to settle down in specific territories and to maintain solitary groups of Kins following the principles of patrilocal residence and patrilineal descent. The practice of village endogamy followed even today almost universally by all Naga tribes, big or small is a direct result of the reliance on descent principles (and prevalence of ‘local warfare’ in the Naga hills until the recent past).Under such circumstances almost each major village emerged as a “tribe”. It is indeed well known that until the beginning of the century there was no clear recognition of any multi-village interacting ethnic entity and there never existed a wider multi-village political system among the Nagas. Each localized Naga tribe and a vague idea about the maximal limits of its tribal boundary. Besides ‘self-name’, each tribe was differently identified by its neighboring tribes. Here we see the ethnicity process at work at international level.

always remains enveloped by clouds. The cloud in local dialect is called Phom. Thus these people came to be called as Phom. The Pochury who are the last group to be given recognition, form one of the smallest Naga tribes. Till 1987 they were the part of the Chakhesang Naga tribal category. The term Pochury is an acronym formed by amalgamation of letters derived from three place names- Sapo, Kechuri and Khury. The British described the Pochury as the eastern Sangtam or eastern Rengma interchangeably. The Pochury population is distributed in twentyfour villages. Unlike most of the Naga tribes the Pochury have some such clans, which have pantribal distribution. In the Meluri area the Pochury people had a monopoly over salt water, spinning, wooden work, leather work and stone work.

The Rengma are divided into two major territorial groups, Ntenye (northern) and Nzong (southern) groups. The Rengma occupy the spur of the ridge running from the Nidzukru hill to the Wokha hill. These two groups of the Rengma speak different dialects. The facts remains that one section of the Rengma, which had migrated to Mikir hills in Assam gradually, abandoned many aspects of the Naga culture and language. The Rengma in the past maintained certain institutionalized interrelationships at inter- village level mainly by arranging a special feast called gwa-tho. The Rengma depended on the Lotha, Angami and Sema for salt, but the former produced cotton in plenty and traded the same with the Angami. The Rengma have been famous as expert smiths and their spear heads daos were traded over the whole of the Naga Hills areas.

The Sangtam are also divided into two main territorial groups located in Chare circle and Kiphire subdivision of Tuensang District in eastern Nagaland, and speak two forms of same dialect. The Sema are one of the major and widely scattered Naga tribes of Nagaland. They are mainly concentrated in the Zunheboto District of Nagaland but their settlements may also be found in Kohima, Mokokchung and Tuensang districts, besides in neighbouring Assam. The Yimchunger Nagas form a small community with their population being 22,054.

This tribe is divided into three main sub tribes – the Tikir, Makware, and the Chirr speaking different dialects. Endogamy at sub-tribal level is maintained in respective territories. Unlike the term Zeliangrong now increasingly being used by the members of three tribes, the Zemi, Liangmei and Rongmei, to identify and project themselves as a single ethno-cultural entity, the term Zeliang is used and recognized at administrative level in Nagaland. Thus the Kabui or the Rongmei tribe in Nagaland is separately recognized at administrative level. The fact that the Zemi, Liangmei and the Rongmei tribesmen who live scattered in distant places in the past, had broken the genealogical base and the moiety system of the Zeliangrong people in the long run. The processes of tribalisation, detribalization and sanskritisation have affected the Zeliangrong people in different habitats, in the hills and the plains in different degree.

1925, by amalgamating the Zemi, Liangmei and the Rongmei. After his death, Rani Gaidinliu popularized this cult. Besides this cult the rituals like nga-ngai (and also chaga) provide a symbol and basis for tribal solidarity. Like Zeliangrong the word Chakhesang is also an acronym formed by letters derived from the names of three tribes. The Chakhru and the Khezha, who form the main ethnic segments within the Chakhesang, are linguistically and culturally close to the Angami proper or the Tengima (western Angami). These two tribes, located in Phek District, were called as the eastern Angami during the British period. The Chakhesang people do not form a single endogamous group. Endogamy continues to be maintained at the sub tribal level.

The three tribal segments (Chakhru, Khezha, and Sangtam) live in their respective territories, speak their own dialects, and variously practice and follow endogamy and other institutional principles of tribeship.But the Zeliangrong are clan exogamy by the customary law. Occupying a particular hill range the Zounuo-Keyhonuo was markedly conscious of their tribal identity even in the historical past in a number of ways. The tribe was regarded by the people as the largest unit of internal peace. Killing of a non-Zounuo-Keyhonuo Naga was not regarded as a crime. It was rather admired. Outside the Zounuo-Keyhonuo territory lived tribes such as the Chakhru, Kheza, Mao and others, occupying their own territories, and maintaining their distinct identities. Distributed in ten original tribal villages the Zounuo-Keyhonuo tribes’ men regard their tribal territory as their ancestral land. They believe that their villages were established by the descendants of their tribal ancestors Zounuo and Keyhonuo who themselves had established Kigwema and Viswema villages respectively this believe is buttressed by the existence of a tribal genealogical chart linking the founders of all the villages of the tribe with the tribal ancestors on the one hand and connecting through moieties the numerous clans/lineages of each village within the same genealogical/segmentary (pyramidal) structure, on the other. The persistence of tribe depended indeed as much upon the conviction of the Zunuo-Keyhonuo people on this genealogical connectedness at maximal tribal level, as on their possession of common kinship, ritual, dialectical and cultural traits and oral traditions, besides their territorial affiliations.