A Legacy Naga Lost to the West
- Dilemmas and Challenges -

By Tuisem Ngakang *

I would like to start with an old adage that education is something much wider and broader than schooling. I will say that by education it means the integral process of transmission of culture. Schooling is that somewhat restricted part of it which is professionally given by teacher to pupil, by professional educator to those who come under his tutelage in an organized institution of learning.

In every society, the child is born naked, untaught, bestowed only with his instinctive qualities of mind and body, and they have to be gradually acquire the skills and the ideas of his culture and to develop moral values, social attitudes and the beliefs.

In a tribal society like Nagas this whole process of education is carried on by the family and latter by the play/work group in the longshim (morung). In addition to the myriad functions of the longshim, it was one of the most important community institutions where age old culture and tradition of the society was imparted.

It is here that the foundations of each generation are laid, molded and built up. Longshim was the only place where the heroic deeds and valor of the earlier generations are taught, and thus it is the glory of the past that the seeds of the future have to sprout.

Through the longshim young people get acquainted with the history, culture, folklore, songs and dance of their village. M.Alemchiba Ao, writing on the functions of morung (longshim) wrote that, it was here that lives had been molded to fall in line with the Naga way of life. Here they learnt the advantage of cooperation and responsibility.

They became more self-reliant, with common sense, and better disciplined. It is here that their loyalty and sense of service to the community was developed.[Alemchiba Ao, 1986].

The indigenous Nagas educate their children through the on-going process of life in their traditional customs and values. Through their traditional tales and myths, the elders teach the children the moral ethical modes of behaviors and social organization. Through certain religious rituals and practices, communal attainments of spiritual ideals are established.

These spiritual ideal laid the foundation for the respect which the indigenous Nagas have for their political and social institutions, the love respect and obedience which the children must show to their parents and elders, the strong loyalty to oath and the restraints from the perpetuation of evil within the society. Through cultural participation, children acquire the techniques of communication.

Western education was formally introduced to Naga through the establishment of Christian mission schools, and that even up to the present it is still remain almost exclusively in missionaries' hands. For this Nagas must express a deep debt of gratitude.

Regardless of the arguable advantages of this introduction, it also initiated an ever-mounting threat to the survival of non-literate indigenous traditions and cultures. By the time Christian missionaries had colonized the Nagas psyche through western education and religious doctrines, cultural values, belief system had been completely shattered.

Indigenous belief systems had became "taboo" that "civilized" people or whom the missionaries called "God's people" must not associate any longer if they wanted to "get to heaven". To a large extend the introduction of Western education through the Christian mission schools marked the genesis of severe cultural denigration.

Since the prime agenda of the missionaries' education was conversion, most of the educational approaches forced upon the Nagas never take into consideration the basic cultural values of the people, nor even consider the positive and strong human qualities of the people. Formal western education process continues to function as instruments for deculturalizing the Nagas so as to blend them more towards the European socio-cultural value system.

The students were taught to emulate and admire Biblical heroes like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, who were great men and women of Jewish nation in ancient world. The writer himself as a Naga Christian grew up singing "Father Abraham has many sons, many sons has father Abraham, I am one of them, so are you, so let us praise the Lord"!!

It is ridiculous for a Naga boys and girls to teach in the schools to call Abraham or Jacob their father or look upon Jerusalem as their holy city. Naga history has been undermined and the indigenous traditional culture consequently began to lose its charms and its captivating appeal to the imagination of the Naga youth.

These early educated people from the mission schools are the first group of people who are drifted away not only from the traditional occupation like, agriculture but also are the first to contempt his own traditional culture. The missionaries make their best effort to avoid students from involving in communal ceremonies and other traditional and cultural activities.

From the beginning of their enrolment in the schools the Naga students began to estrange from its own community. He developed to contempt to his own traditional heritage and his community. Instead of teaching the student the meaning and the values of Nagas customs, ideas and institutions the missionaries taught the student to avoid from all indigenous culture.

The damages already done to the Naga culture by the missionaries has been reinforced by the influence of globalization. Under the influence of globalization many indigenous cultures are giving way to the dominance of western capitalist culture. Through the increasing advance in mass media associated with new information and communication technologies, people are trying to look more like the Americans or Europeans in their taste and behavior.

It is true that many children's' mind are now broadened through the acquisition of a globalized knowledge and imposed multiculturation encourages them to "pull off" their cultural identity. Today Naga youth steadily become self-alienated and lose touch with their indigenous roots as a result of global culture and the capitalist economy which severely tone down the existing indigenous social order. This reality is a serious threat to the continuity of indigenous culture of the Nagas.

I strongly feel that, we need the kind of education that nurture the understanding of the links between person and land, between local heritage and global civilization, students should learn to explore the meaning of rural life, and maintain their attachment to the community. Only strong roots with the community will only be possible for young people to contribute to the community development while achieving personal success.

The educated Naga must be taught in such a way that he will not be unmindful of his indigenous cultural traditions and heritage. He must be taught to understand the meaning, values and significance of the indigenous cultural traditions and customs such an educational process will help in instill in the Nagas a sense of the new cultural pattern that is fast becoming the vogue in our contemporary Naga.

Today the Nagas has two worlds, he belongs to neither of these fully and completely-that is after getting the western education, he partly alienated from pure tribal tradition but never completely adopted into European culture.

Culturally Nagas is standing at the border, turning their backs on indigenous and heading to the western culture. Their millennia-old way of life hangs in the balance. It might be tempting to dismiss the Nagas plight as a price of progress, but apart from the tragedy of losing yet another culture in a world of flourishing cultural diversity, the fading of the Naga is a harbinger an early warning of large-scale destruction.

Let me point out here few points which I feel necessary, in sustaining and continuing the rich cultural heritage of the Nagas. A state government like Manipur will be least bother about the preserving and promoting indigenous tribal culture, so it is in the hand of the indigenous people themselves to take the initiative in preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage. It is not enough to build and maintain cultural centers and clubs, where a few amateur entertainers entertaining audiences at political events, government VIPS and other visitors. Promotion of culture should goes beyond such superficial activities.

I would like to suggest that existing indigenous festivals that are rich in culture must be properly organized. It is true that in some pockets the necessary actions for the survival of traditional culture are being taken up. (For example in some village like Ringui, celebration of seed sowing festival Lui-ra phanit in a traditional style has now become an annual event). The NGOs or private individuals are required to make an input in the area of funding in order to insure the overall success of such festivals. Participants should be encouraged by rewarding in cash and in other forms by the able individuals.

Every school should take an initiative and facilitate periodic competitions based on the indigenous cultural tradition. These competitions could engage traditional story tellers, who are the expert in traditional customary laws, folk dancers and singers as well as experts in indigenous cuisine, pottery, cloth weaving, pottery and so on, for the purpose of enhancing skills, promoting a competitive spirit and creating general awareness of the rich heritage of the Nagas. The winners should be handsomely rewarded and celebrated.

The existing schools and institutions may also consider the organizing of "summer camp" inviting experts from different associations to teach school children the tradition of indigenous Naga cultures (like bamboo/cane craft, wood carving, cloth weaving, pottery, indigenous dance, drumming, storytelling etc.) which they are not likely to have learned within the confines of regular school education.

Similarly, there is a need for a general revision of the existing schools syllabi in order to accommodate the cultural heritage of the Nagas. The teaching of culture and tradition must begin at home and must continue into primary as well as secondary education. School curricula must be made to reflect the necessity of cultural values and national pride. Such curriculum must be capable of giving the Naga child a new and positive consciousness of self as a Naga.