Tracing the origin of Tangkhul Nagas through oral tradition/folksongs
- Part 3 -

Dr Ningreishim Kashung Shimray *

Asang Eina Aton, a Tangkhul folk play :: Pix - Enaomacha Salam

Ethnographers like J.H Hutton who is considered the authority of the Naga, in his article, 'The mixed culture of the Naga tribes', discussed in detail the varied patterns of the cultures of the Naga and concludes that people who shared a common culture at one time with the Naga probably spread over a wide area of south East Asia, it still survives on its fringes in Formosa, the hills of Assam and Burma perhaps and in the more accessible parts of the Indian archipelago."

Substantiating Hutton's argument Alemchiba stressed, "Tribes of such a culture have clearly penetrated from time to time into the Naga hills."16 Further, comparing the culture of the Nagas with South East Asia, he draws a close parallel of the Naga culture with those of Indonesia, Malay, Karen of Burma and Borneo.. W.C.Smith ( Ao Naga Tribes of Assam, London, 1925,),has given thirteen outstanding characteristics of the Naga which he attaches racially to Indonesia.

On the basis of language, G.A.Grierson assigns origin of the Naga to that of the Tibeto-Burmans who came with the second wave of migration from the north –western area of Hwangho-river.

In the pre-historic times, the Tibeto-Burman speakers inhabited the upper courses of the Yangtze and the Hwang-Ho River in China. Basing on this historical assumption, from China they migrated following the waters of the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin Rivers of upper Burma and they lived in the Hakwang valley, the present land of the Kachin before they moved into Manipur valley.

Naga or for that matter Tangkhul of Kabongram village are part of the hordes who came from China because their folksong clearly indicates their settlement at Hakwang valley in Burma. However it is difficult to establish their period of migration as no time is mention in their folksong except they migrated in the spring season. Though not much work had been done, archaeological excavation carried out so far at the cave site of the present Naga habitat discovered stone relics dating to palaeolithic, microlithic, hoabinhian and Neolithic periods.

However, one interesting fact is that stone relics resemble not those of India but the South East Asian region. O. Kumar Singh who made an extensive archaeological exploration of Manipur made a comprehensive analysis of the stone relics of Manipur with the rest of India and South East Asian region. Excepting a few finds from Garo hills, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra close comparison of other palaeoliths from Manipur cannot be made with the rest of Indian palaeolithic culture.

He finds the stone relics of Manipur to be closely related with south east Asian regions, especially those of Patjitaman and Sangiran culture of Java, Tampanian culture of Malaya and Choukoutein culture of China. especially those of Patjitaman and Sangiran culture of Java, Tampanian culture of Malaya and Choukoutein culture of China.

As discussed, the oral information though not concrete on the migrational route, points towards the south East Asian region especially Myanmar as the probable direction from which they migrated. The close affinity between the Naga and other south East Asian region in language, racial characteristics and archaeological stone relics corroborate the theory of south East Asian region as their probable places of origin.

The origin of the Tibeto Burman speaker which is traces to the upper course of Yangtse and Hwangho rivers in China and several references to Irrawady and Chindwin rivers in the folksong of the ethnos (who speak Tibeto Burman), undoubtly indicate the southern movement of the Tibeto Burman speakers from China to different parts of South east Asian region following the rivers as the probable migrational route in pre-historical times.

Commenting on the route of migration, JN Chowdhury said, "all evidence point to a westward migration of people from the direction of Burma and South East Asia generally to north eastern India and Assam. This stream of migration continued until comparatively recent times. The Ahoms, for instance followed the same route in the beginning of the 13th century A.D. The process of migration following the same route was continued by the Khamtis, Singpho, Chakma and Lisus.

Fitz Gerald comments "Chinese influence, Chinese culture and Chinese power have always moved southwards since the first age and continued throughout the centuries until modern times". According to him, expansion of China was directed towards the south because "no power arose in the south capable of challenging the rulers of China or even arresting for long the slow, steady spread of her southward drive, besides Indian civilization also attracted people to move southward.

Though the period and route of their movement cannot be established conclusively, parallel distribution of similar stone relics in Manipur as in China, Java, Malaya, Combodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Burma dating to palaeolithic, Haobinhian and Neolithic, suggest that Manipur has been home for the earliest stone age cultural people and these inhabitant had close cultural ties with South East Asian region since the earliest times.

Moving from China nearer to the north- eastern state of India, we find in the fifth century A.D, the Tibeto –Burman speakers had established their kingdom, Pyu, in central Burma with their capital at old Prome on the Irrawaddy. D.G.E Hall also mentions the establishment of Pyu kingdom with Srekshetra as its capital by the Tibeto-Burman speaking immigrants, who had made their way southward from central Asia, occupying the Irrawaddy valley from Shwebo in the north to Prome in the south.

From the theories and oral literature, we can conclude that the Tangkhul Naga, though devoid of written documents were conscious about their past/ origin as reflected in their oral tradition. Their oral information though meager and scanty and despite its inherent limitation gives enough indication about the direction of their origin or rather migrational route.

If more attention and extensive field work is carried out collecting all oral traditions without neglecting a single village a concrete conclusion regarding their origin and migration would not be impossible. As J.A. Fadisman argues, A myth, a childrens tale, a work song, each may contain its fragments of data, which if recognized and placed in relation to others may permit reconstruction of the past.

Thus the rich oral tradition of the Tangkhul Naga if studied systematically and scientifically may help building up the history of these people.

Concluded....