Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume III - South Asia - N pdf

186 Muslim. "people of the Book" (and thus, like Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, as eligible for the status of "protected unbeliev- ers"), Muslim rulers and teachers propounded nothing in India that would have seemed out of place to the Sunni faith- ful in the Near East. Peter Hardy has succinctly summarized the ten fundamentals of Islamic belief as introduced to India; 1. God is One, without partners. 2. He is utterly transcendent, possessing no form and es- caping all definition. 3. He is the Almighty Creator. 4. He knows and ordains everything that is. 5. God is all-powerful and in whatever he ordains, he cannot be unjust (that is, human concepts of justice and in- justice cannot be applied to him). 6. The Quran is eternal. 7. Obedience to God is binding upon man because he so decreed it through his prophets. 8. Belief in the Prophet's divine mission is obligatory upon all. 9. Belief in the Day of Judgment is obligatory as revealed by the Prophet. 10. Belief in the excellence of the Prophet's companions and the first four caliphs is required by authentic tradition. See also Mappila; Mogul; Sayyid; Sheikh Bibliography Ahmad, Aziz, ed. (1969). An Intellectual History of Islam in India. Islamic Surveys, no. 7. Edinburgh: University Press. Nagas ETHNONYMS: none Orientation Identification. The designation "Naga" is applied to the numerous Indo-Mongoloid tribes living in the hill country at the convergence of the borders of India and Myanmar (Burma). Of these tribes, the following have received cover- age in anthropological literature: the Kacha, the Angami, the Rengma, the Lhote, the Sema, the Ao, the Konyak, the Chang, the Sangtam, the Yachumi, the Tukomi, the Naked Rengma, the Tangkhul, and the Kalyo-kengyu or "slated- house men." The name "Naga" was first given to these tribal groups by the Ahoms in Assam and other neighboring peoples (e.g., early Indo-Aryans, Kamarupa and Bengali Mongo- loids, as well as the Assamese Ahoms) occupying the regions immediately adjacent to the districts in which the Naga are found. The derivation of the name 'Naga" is not known with any degree of certainty. According to John Henry Hutton, the most likely explanation is that it is the result of the European lengthening of the Assamese word naga, "naked" (Sanskrit nagna). Hutton also cites possibilities proposed by others for the meaning of the word, including "hill man" (from Hindu- stani nag, "mountain") and "people" (from nok, an Eastern Naga word of the same meaning). The Naga did not initially adopt this appellation; individual tribes preferred the use of their respective self-designations. It was not until nationalis- tic fervor grew with the decline of British imperial hegemony Ahmad, Imtiaz, ed. (1973). Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. 2nd ed. 1978. Ahmad, Imtiaz, ed. (1981). Ritual and Religion among Mus- lims in India. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. Basham, A. L. (1975). A Cultural History of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Eglar, Zekiye (1960). A Punjabi Village in Pakistan. New York and London: Columbia University Press. Hardy, Peter (1958). "Part Four: Islam in Medieval India." In Sources of Indian Tradition, edited by William de Bary et al., 367-528. New York and London: Columbia University Press. Qadir, Abdul (1937). "The Cultural Influences of Islam." In The Legacy of India, edited by G. T. Garratt, 287-304. Ox- ford: Clarendon Press. Titus, Murray T. (1959). Islam in India and Pakistan. Cal- cutta: YMCA Publishing House. Zaehner, R C. (1969). Hindu and Muslim Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books. PAUL HOCKINGS and the resultant advent of increased Indian authority over the Naga homeland that the name "Naga" gained widespread acceptance among the various tribes. Thus it was used in the names of the political organizations of the mid-twentieth century that championed the cause of Naga independence from India (i.e., the Naga National Council, which declared independence from India in 1947, and the Naga Peoples Conven- tion, whose efforts resulted in the formation of the state of Nagaland in 1963). In this summary, the focus is on the An- gami, with additional information provided selectively for other Naga tribes. Location. The locus of Naga culture is the hill country of northeast India between Assam's Brahmaputra Valley to the west and the Myanmar (Burma) border to the east. It is a steeply ridged and densely forested area bordered by the states of Arunachal Pradesh on the north and Manipur on the south. The approximate geographic coordinates of the region are 24° 00' to 270 30' N and 930 00' to 95° 00' E. Demography. The 1981 census of the state of Nagaland recorded a population of 774,930, three-quarters being Nagas. But Nagas live also in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Myanmar (Burma). In 1971 India had a total of 467,720 Nagas. Figures from 1982 record the following population estimates by tribe: 75,000 Ao Nagas, 18,000 Chang Nagas, 85,000 Konyak Nagas, 11,000 Maring Nagas, 21,000 Phom Nagas, 10,000 Rengma Nagas, 15,000 Rongmei Nagas, and 26,000 Zeme (Sema) Nagas. Linguistic Affiliation. The Naga are characterized by a linguistic diversity that directly parallels their tribal diversity. Nagas 187 There are about as many Naga dialects as there are Naga tribes. The lingua franca of the state of Nagaland is Naga Pidgin (also known as Nagamese, Kachari Bengali, or Bodo) and is particularly prevalent in Kohima District. There are some twenty-seven known Naga dialects, all part of the Tibeto-Burman Family, which is itself part of the Sino- Tibetan Phylum. These include Angami Naga, Ao Naga, Chang Naga, Chokri Naga, Kheza Naga, Khiamngan Naga, Khoirao Naga, Konyak Naga, and many others. History and Cultural Relations While folk traditions regarding the history of the various Naga tribes abound, scholarly consensus has not been reached concerning their origin. Generally speaking, very little is known of the origin of any of the Mongoloid groups whose southwesterly migration brought them ultimately to the sub-Himalayan region and northeastern India (e.g., the Bondos and the Garos). Their presence is attested in these areas as early as the tenth century B.C. What is known is that these tribes spoke Tibeto-Burman dialects and that it is prob- able that their original homeland was in the region between the Huang-Ho and Yangtze (Ch'ang) rivers in northwestern China. These peoples came in successive migratory waves for several centuries (after the invasions of the Aryans in western India). The geographic extent of these migrations was quite considerable; Aryan-Mongoloid contact took place in the centuries that followed. The Mongoloid tribes were not ho- mogeneous. Their languages, social structures, and cultures were diverse, and in the early centuries of the Common Era they began extensive expansion, from their initial settlements in the Irawadi and Chindwin river regions in northern Myanmar (Burma), throughout Assam, the Cachar Hills, and the Naga Hills. From the thirteenth century onward, the Ahoms-rulers of Assam from 1228 until the British annexation of the province in 1826-had extensive cultural contact with various Naga tribes. The nature of the relationship between these tribes and the Ahoms ranged from cooperative to antagonistic. Naga tribes living near the plains paid annual tribute to Ahom rulers as a sign of allegiance, for which the Nagas were given revenue-free lands and fisheries. These were granted with the understanding that the Naga would refrain from raids in the plains areas. Trade and commerce were also extensive, with the Nagas trading salt (a particularly important medium of exchange), cotton, medicinal herbs, ivory, bee's wax, mats, and daos (adzes) for Assamese rice, cloth, and beads. At times, northern Ahom raiders attacked Naga villages, taking booty and demanding tribute. However, these incursions did not establish lasting Assamese rule over the Naga Hills region. The Naga retained their independence until the British annexation in the early nineteenth century. The British added Assam to the East India Company's territories in 1820. In 1832 they attempted to annex Naga country but met with sustained and effective guerrilla resistance from Naga groups, particularly the Angami tribe. The British responded by sending approximately ten military expeditions into Naga territory between 1835 and 1851. Guerrilla activity continued unabated and British posts were subsequently established in the Angami region. This marked an important point in the process of Nagaland annexation. A unified An- gami response was mounted in 1878 with raids on British forces undertaken by villages and village clusters. The imperial response involved the burning of offending villages. An- gami resistance eventually met with failure and they eventually became an administered tribe under British rule. With the subjugation of this region, the extension of alien rule throughout Nagaland soon followed, further widening the cultural gap between the Naga and other hill peoples and the Indian inhabitants of the lowlands. British treatment of the Naga was favorable. They allowed no Indian to function as administrator of the hill districts and attempted to prevent exploitation of the hill peoples by plains folk. Christian mis- sionary activity soon followed British annexation, with Amer- ican Baptists assuming the lead. Rapid progress in conversion was made. Increased literacy and a growing sense of Naga solidarity-for which the official organ of expression was the Naga National Council (NNC)-resulted in the NNC's claim for regional independence in 1947. The departure of the British and the emergence of Indian self-rule made Naga political autonomy within a sovereign India a negotiable pos- sibility. Total independence for the Naga homeland, however, was an impossibility. Violence erupted in Nagaland in 1955 as Indian forces tried to quell Naga secession efforts, and in 1956 the NNC declared the existence of the Federal Government of Nagaland. Conflict continued in spite of efforts to satisfy the call for Naga political freedom by the granting of statehood (a cause championed by the Naga Peo- ples Convention). In 1963 the efforts of this organization and the segment of the Naga populace which it represented resulted in the formation of the state of Nagaland. In spite of this action, hostilities continued. Under the sponsorship of the Baptist Church, a peace commission was formed and a cease-fire declared between the Nagaland federal government and the government of India on 24 May 1964. The cease-fire lasted until 1 September 1972 when an attempt on the life of the chief minister of Nagaland resulted in the Indian govem- ment's termination of the cease-fire and banning of the NNC. Armed resistance by the NNC continued into the 1970s and was not suppressed until the Shillong Accord was signed by representatives of the Indian government and the Nagaland federal government in November 1975. Isolated pockets of resistance persisted into the late 1970s, but effective resistance to Indian hegemony has since ceased. One very small Naga underground antigovernment operation existed in exile in Burma in the 1980s, but its influence in Nagaland at that time was minuscule. Settlements Naga villages are autonomous units situated on hilltops. The average elevation of the villages is between 900 and 1,200 meters. Because of the mountainous terrain and the threat of in- vasion by neighboring tribes, these small villages were originally intended to be self-sufficient and secure. Consequently early explorers reported that Naga villages were heavily forti- fied. However, with the cessation of both intertribal conflict and outside interference (chiefly from British and Indian forces), the need for security and the degree of village fortif- cation has lessened considerably. Norms for construction varied somewhat within the constituent Naga tribes, yet a few general observations may be made. Villages have one or more entrances that were once guarded heavily and, at times, booby-trapped. Village fortifications included large wooden doors (latched from the inside of the village and hewn from a 188 Nagas single piece of wood), pitfalls, and ditches filled with panjis (sharply pointed bamboo stakes of varying lengths and widths). Stone walls (whose thickness may reach some 3 meters) surround Angami villages. Ao villages are surrounded by fences composed of wooden stakes and reinforced with panjis. Villages are approached by narrow paths overhung with thorny growth and are constructed so that they must be trav- ersed by walling single file. During time of war, roads leading to Angami villages would be studded with pegs (driven into the ground) to prevent attack. Paths leading to Ao villages were often paved with rough stones near the village gate. There are also roads leading from the village to the terraced fields and jhum land that the Naga use as farmland. Jhum is land cultivated by the clearing and burning of an area of jungle, which is then farmed for two years and subsequently allowed to return to jungle. An individual living in the village maintains a close attachment to the land of the village and to the family, clan, or village quarter (the khel). The khel (an Assamese word for an exogamous group that corresponds most closely to the Angami word thino and the Ao word murphy) is responsible for land cultivation, and each village is divided into several khels. The division of a village into khels is based largely on geography, but speakers of the same language, members of the same clan, or groups of immigrants (whose migration to the village may have taken place after the village's establishment) might occupy the same khel. Ma- terials used in house construction vary somewhat among the Naga tribes. Angami practices contain many of the norms found in other Naga tribes and serve as an appropriate control group. A typical Angami house is a one-story structure with leveled earth used as flooring. It is from 10 to 20 meters in length and from 6 to 12 meters in width. Material used in home roofing is determined by individual status in the village, and there are four such degrees. A first-degree house may be roofed with thatching grass, a second-degree house with bargeboards, a third-degree house with bargeboards and kika (house horns), and a fourth-degree house with wooden shin- gles and kika (which differ at times in shape and placement on the house). The interior of each house contains three compartments. The front room (kiloh) is half the length of the house. Paddy is stored here in baskets along one or both walls and the room is furnished with a bench (pikeh) for rice pounding. The second compartment (mipu-bu) is separated by a plank partition containing a doorway. It is here that the hearth is located (consisting of three stones embedded in the ground to form a stand for cooking containers). This room also serves as sleeping quarters, and beds (raised or 1 meter from the ground) are found here. The third compartment, 1 meter or so in depth and extending the entire width of the house, is the kinutse, where the liquor vat is located. This room also contains the rear entrance to the house. The house is usually home to no more than five persons. Houses are ir- regularly arranged in an Angami village, though there is a supposition that the Angami house should face east. Each house has an open space in front of it and houses are connected by irregular paths. Small gardens are frequently made near houses and may contain maize or mustard. Nearly every Angami village has an open space that serves as a meeting place and ceremonial locus for all of the village inhabitants. This area may also contain plinths for sitting made of stone masonry or wood. These stations (which often surmounted village walls or other high points in the village and could rise as high as 9 meters) may have originally been used as posts for watchers whose purpose was to warn of impending enemy attack. The morung (dormitory, which serves as guardhouse and clubhouse for single men) is an important part of most Naga villages. However, it does not assume a place of promi- nence in Angami villages, some of which have no morung in the traditional sense; the house so designated is occupied by a family while simultaneously being recognized as the village morung. Villages are given names based on peculiar features of the village site, the memory of an ancient settlement that once stood where the village now stands (and which its current occupants wish to commemorate), particular events in the history of the village, or the whim of those living there. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Lhotas, Semas, Aos, and other Naga tribes use jhum cultivation almost exclusively. The Angami have a diversified agricultural system that involves jhum cultivation and terracing (steep hillsides are arranged in terraces, or panikhets, which are flooded and used as rice fields). Terraces are fed by channels (bearing water from streams) and hollow bamboo irrigation pipes. Crops are grown for consumption and sale. Rice and millet are the main staples. Additional crops grown are Job's tears, maize, great millet (Sorghum vulgare), beans, oil seeds, gourds, cucumbers, chilies, spinach, mustard, and kachu (a taro, Colocasia antiquorum). Cotton and jute for clothing, thatching grass for house construction, wood for housing and fuel, and bamboo are also grown. Agricultural implements include the following: ax merere, spade or hoe (keju), mattock (sivu), rake (paro), hoe (saro), sickle (z.upfino), and the marking stake (kethi-thedi) used for the marking of jungle or thatch for cutting or to prevent crop misfortune resulting from complimentary remarks about their condition. Domes- tic animals include: gayals (for trade), cows (for meat and trade), gayal/cow hybrids, pigs, dogs (for meat and hunting), cats (in limited number for food and magicoreligious purposes), fowl, bees, and goats. Hunting for food and sport is known among the Angami, frequent targets including serows (mountain goats), wild dogs, and deer. The usual hunting implements are spears and guns. Fishing by the use of poison, while frequent among many Naga tribes, is limited in use among the Angami. Iron, conch shells, Assamese chabili (carving knives used by the Ao), and barter were used as cur- rency before the arrival of the British rupee. Industrial Arts. Angami industrial arts include the following: the manufacture of black, blue, scarlet, pale terra-cotta, and yellow cloth (made of cotton, a species of nettle called wuve, or a species of jute called gakeh); blacksmithing (particularly the making of iron spear heads, brass wire, and brass earrings); the making of clay pots (a specialty confined to certain villages); basketry; the fashioning of bamboo mats; carving and woodwork; work in hard substances (e.g., shells, ivory, bone, and horns); the manufacture of musical instru- ments; and the production of salt (now a rarity among the Angami, but one of the chief products of the Kacha, Sang- tams, Tangkhuls, and others). Trade. The Angami and other Naga tribes trade in beads and other manufactured items with other Naga tribes and Nagas 189 with their Assamese neighbors. The Ao trade pan, cotton, chilies, ginger, gourds, mats, and the gum of the iyang tree to obtain salt and dried fish from traders in the plains. These commodities are then traded to the Phoms and Changs in exchange for pigs and fowl. The Ao also trade in wild tea seed with plains dwellers. Certain Ao villages grow cotton, the sur- plus of which is traded in the plains for salt. The decrease in intertribal conflict and the general political stabilization of the hill country in the late 1970s brought increased oppor- tunities for trade. Division of Labor. Weaving and cooking are the exclusive province of women among the Angami and the Ao, while hunting and warfare are men's activities. Agriculture and trade are carried on by members of both sexes. Among the Tangkhul, women manage most domestic affairs including the raising of children, the weaving of cloth (and the teaching of this art to female offspring), the storage and preparation of food, the brewing of rice beer and rice wine (zam), the drying of tobacco, the feeding of pigs, fowl, and cattle, the carrying of water, and the pounding of rice. Women also participate in agricultural tasks (e.g., jhuming). Among the Konyak, a husband is recognized as head of the household and the owner of the family home (since it is constructed on a site that belongs to his lineage). He is responsible for the upkeep of the house, its granaries, and its furnishings. The purchase of metal and wooden implements and baskets are his duties. The preparation of food and the weaving of textiles not purchased from other villages are the responsibilities of Konyak wives. Men claim personal ownership of implements associated with their activities (weapons, tools, etc.) as do women (cooking uten- sils, looms, textiles, etc.). Men are responsible for rice cultivation and storage while women plant, harvest, and dry taro. Land Tenure. Among the Angami, individual ownership of terraced fields, wood plantations, gardens, building sites, and most jhum land is allowed. As such, its disposition is at the discretion of the owner. In the case of ancestral land, the seller retains a small parcel in nominal ownership to guard against death or misfortune. In several Angami villages, however, land on which thatching grass and cane (for bridge construction) is grown is the property of kindred, clan, or an entire village. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. Descent among the Angami and all other Naga tribes is patrilineal (although possible evidence exists of the survival of a matrilineal descent system in the village of Kohima). The most distinct social unit is the exogamous clan. Clan loyalties generally supersede loyalties to other social groupings including the khel. Frequently, clans will splinter and new clans form, an indication of their fluid nature. The Angami believe themselves to be descended from two brothers (or cousins) born of the earth. The elder was named Thevo; the younger was named Thekrono. The Kepe- zoma issued from the elder of the two; the Kepefuma are the offspring of the younger. It is believed that the divisions bearing these names were exogamous originally. After settling into their present country these two exogamous kelhu split, the result being the formation of the exogamous clans (or thino) making up Angami society. Originally exogamous, these thino have given way gradually to subdivisions called putsa or "kindred" divisions (a more unified body than the thino). The Angami hold the thino and then the putsa responsible for the offenses of individuals. Hence, the putsa is in the process of replacing the thino as the exogamous group in Angami society. Neither kelhu, thino, nor putsa is totemic. Kinship Terminology. Angami kin terms follow the Omaha terminological system. Marriage and Family Marriage. The Angami are monogamous. There are two forms of marriage-one ceremonial, the other nonceremonial. The ceremonial form is desired as a symbol of status and consists of an elaborate ritual involving the services of a marriage broker, the taking of omens, and the negotiation of a marriage-price (usually nominal). The nonceremonial form involves the taking of a woman to the house of a man where they remain kenna (forbidden) for one day. Divorce is allowed and is common. The wife gets one-third of the couple's joint property, exclusive of land. The divorced and widowed are permitted to remarry (though a widowed woman may not remarry into her deceased husband's house). Polygamy is not allowed and women are allowed freedom of choice in the selection of mates. By contrast, the Lhota are polygynous, a husband having as many as three wives. Young girls are preferred and bride-prices are high; they are paid in installments over ten years. Divorce among the Lhota is also common. Ar- ranged marriages are the norm with women having no freedom of choice in the selection of a spouse. A husband may also allow his brother or nearest relative on his father's side to have conjugal access to his wife when he is absent for any length of time. The Semas are also polygynous. A Sema husband may have as many as five to seven wives. Sema women have freedom of choice in mate selection. As is the case among the Lhota, marriage-prices are high. Marital residence practices seem to differ among the various Naga tribes. Part of the Angami marriage ceremony involves the giving of land to the new couple by the bridegroom's parents. The new couple work and eat on this land. This may be an indication of a patrilocal postmarital residence pattern. Part of the Ao be- trothal process involves the husband's construction ofa marital home (location not indicated) with materials gathered from the fields of his parents and the parents of his wife. Domestic Unit. The typical Angami household contains about five persons: a husband, a wife, two to three children, possibly an aged and widowed parent, and perhaps a younger unmarried brother. Inheritance. An Angami man cannot leave property to anyone outside of his clan or kindred without considerable complication. If no special provisions have been made, the next male heir within a kindred usually inherits a man's property (after the widow receives her third). The normal practice is for a man to divide his property during his lifetime. When sons marry, they receive their portions. When the father dies, the youngest son inherits all property including the father's house. At this time, the best field must be given to the eldest son in exchange for another field. This and all procedures governing inheritance may be modified by verbal agreement. The inheritance of adopted sons is determined at the time of adoption. Land may not be left permanently to daughters. It 190 Nagas may be left for the daughter to enjoy during her lifetime, but it returns to the male heirs after her death. Very few exceptions to this general rule are known. Socialization. After an elaborate postbirth ritual (part of which places the newborn in close relationship with the father's kindred), Angami children are suckled by their mothers for two to three years. Girls' ears are pierced six to twelve months following birth, while those of boys are pierced as soon as they are able to speak. At 4 to 6 years of age, an An- gami boy leaves his mother's side of the house (where he has slept up to this point) and moves to his father's side of the house to sleep. From this point on he is considered a member of the male community and no longer remains with women when sex separation takes place at gennas (magicoreligious rites and ceremonies). Mothers are responsible for the up- bringing of children and a nuclear family structure obtains. The Angami morung (young men's house), which functions as a guardhouse, clubhouse, and center of several communal activities in most Naga tribes (with the exception of the Sema), is of ceremonial importance only; it does not serve as an actual residence for young unmarried men (as it does among the Ao, for example). Girls' houses (found among the Ao, Memi, and other tribes) are also located in some Angami villages. Naga children generally share in all responsibilities assumed by their parents. The socialization of Naga girls includes instruction by their mothers in weaving, an industrial art belonging exclusively to women. Boys and girls are allowed a considerable amount of premarital sexual freedom in most Naga tribes. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. The basic Angami social unit is the exogamous patrilineal clan (thino), though the clan has been superseded by the kindred (putsa). Individual identity is bound chiefly to these groups. Clan and kindred are responsible for the behavior of constituent members. Social status is reflected in the roofing of houses. Prestige can be attained by the collection of trophies in war and in sponsorship of festivals. Status may also be based on a person's individual clan membership. Political Organization. A council of elders functions as the administrative authority in a village, and individuals with grievances may voice them at council meetings. Chiefs are also part of the political structure of the village, but the de- limitation of their powers varies among the several Naga tribes. The government appoints village officials today. In Angami villages these are called gaonburas and their authority and responsibilities are similar to those of the village chief- tains (pehumas) of the past. The office of the gaonbura is not hereditary. The same was true, in most cases, of that of the pehuma. The gaonbura's major administrative responsibility is the collection of the house tax, though he may also act on behalf of his villagers as a go-between with government officials. The pehuma exercised most influence in the conduct of war, the settlement of disputes within the village being dele- gated to the elders' council. Social Control. Conflicts are resolved within Angami villages by a council of elders who discuss matters of dispute among themselves, with the parties involved, and with the general public, until some resolution is reached. Issues cen- tering on tribal custom are usually referred to the older men of a clan. Factual questions are decided by oath, and the authority of the oath (particularly when one party swears by the lives of family and clan members) is rarely questioned. Conflict. Naga tribes maintained a high degree of isolation from neighboring peoples. Conflict between villages, tribes, and clans was frequent before annexation of the highland regions by the British, as were hostilities between the Naga and the Assamese living in the plains. Head taking was an important feature of warfare among the Naga generally, and weapons included spears, shields, and guns (acquired in large part after the coming of the British). Initial British incursions into Naga-held territories met with substantial resistance. The Angami in particular were actively involved in anti-British resistance, frequently conducting guerrilla raids on British out- posts. In time, the conduct of war was augmented by diplo- matic efforts to resolve issues of territorial sovereignty and independence. As a result, armed resistance seasoned with di- plomacy has been the Naga method of conflict resolution, first with the British colonial authorities and then with the Indian government. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. Christianity has taken root in some Naga tribes, but it has by no means eclipsed traditional religious beliefs. The Angami religious system features belief in a number of spirits and supernatural forces associated with the cycle of life. Animate and inanimate objects may be regarded as embodied spirits, and there is a distinction drawn between the gods and the souls of dead humans. Among the vast number of terhoma ("deities") the following should be noted: Kenopfu (the creator god); Rutzeh (the giver of sudden death); Maweno (god of fruitfulness); Telepfu (a mischie- vous god); Tsuko and Dzurawu (husband and wife dwarf gods presiding over wild animals); Metsimo (guardian of the gate leading to paradise); Tekhu-rho (god of tigers); and Ayepi (a god who lives in Angami houses and brings prosperity). Su- pernatural forces are believed to possess both benevolent and malicious qualities and, when occasion demands, Angami belief provides for prayer to be made to them and for their propi- tiation or challenge by humans. Religious Practitioners. Angami religious practitioners include the following: the kemovo (who directs public ceremonies and is the repository of historical traditions and gene- alogical information); the zhevo (who functions as integral part of the performance of personal gennas, and who also is called on in times of sickness to advise an appropriate ceremonial course of action to cure the disease); the tsakro (an old man who inaugurates the sowing of crops); and the lidepfu (an old woman who inaugurates the reaping of crops). All of these practitioners are public functionaries. Other religious specialists, whose realm of activity is confined to the private domain, are known as well. These include: the them- uma, whose knowledge may range from competence in particular kinds of divination to knowledge of poisons; the zhumma ("invulnerables"), who reportedly can be harmed neither by bullet nor spear; the kihupfuma (individuals gifted with powers to cause illness and bad fortune); and the terhope (women who dream in order to foretell the outcome of various endeav- Nagas 191 ors). A similar hierarchy of practitioners obtains in many other Naga tribes. Ceremonies. Angami religious life centers on a series of eleven gennas (magicoreligious ceremonies accompanied by behavioral restrictions binding upon community and/or individual) performed during the year. These are connected with agricultural events that affect the life of the community. Gennas of less frequent occurrence include those for war dancing, interclan visitation, and preparation of a new village door. Individual gennas (i.e., those associated with the normal cycle of events in a person's life) include those for birth, marriage, and death. Some seven social gennas may be performed in order to gain status. Miscellaneous gennas for illness, rainmaking, head taking, and hunting may also be performed. Angami religious life also includes the observance of certain restrictions on individual behavior (called kennas) and corporate behavior (called pennas). The ceremony accompanying the genna (called nanu) involves the offering of flesh (part of which is offered to the spirits), the wearing of ceremonial garments, singing, dancing, the pounding of dhan (unhusked grain of the rice plant), the ab- stention from work, and the prohibition of any contact with strangers. Similarity in the structure of rites and ceremonies obtains in other Naga tribes. Arts. Music and dancing are important components in Angami gennas. Oral literature includes numerous myths and legends (which are also accompanied by song). Images of spirits and gods are lacking in Angami visual art, but the representation of the human form in Angami woodwork is known. Wooden dolls of the human figure in miniature are made and dressed in traditional clothing. Originally these were produced for artistic purposes but their value was per- ceived by those who produced them, making them subject to sale. Life-size human figures are manufactured and placed over graves. The representation of the human head is a common feature of Angami wood carving (e.g., on village doors, house gables, and wooden bridges), as are the head of the gayal, the pig's head, and an image representing either a human breast or the top of a dhan basket. Proficiency in wood does not obtain among all Naga tribes. Medicine. Magicoreligious ceremonies are the major cure prescribed for ills among the Angami. In addition to these rites, a number of medicinal herbs are used for their curative properties. The brain of the khokhe fish, the bile of the toad, the casts of earthworms, a dog's eyes and hairs, raw eggs, and the marrow of the serow are among the animal parts and by- products used for medicinal purposes by the Angami. Among other Naga tribes (e.g., the Ao), magicoreligious means for the cure of illnesses are also preferred, but the use of plant and animal by-products for medicinal purposes also obtains. Death and Afterlife. Attitudes toward the burial of the dead vary among the various Naga tribes. The Angami place responsibility for the burial of the dead on the male relatives of the deceased. Burial usually takes place within the village. A grave is prepared either beside one of the village paths or in front of the deceased's house. The body of a man is interred in a coffin covered by a white cloth. With it are buried a fire stick, one or two spears, a dao, a young chicken (alive), and a gadzosi seed (placed between the teeth of the corpse). The gadzosi seed is provided so that the deceased's encounter with Metsimo in the afterlife will be a successful one. A woman is buried with a few beads, a new under-petticoat, a reaping hook, a young chicken (live), and the gadzosi seed. Once buried, the coffin is covered with flat stones. Onto the stones is poured the contents of the deceased's ceremonial kang ("carrying basket"): seed for wet rice, Job's tears, millet (and every other kind of edible grain), zu (rice beer), and the deceased's drinking cup. The grave is then covered with earth and leveled. Atop the grave are placed personal implements once belonging to the deceased. Angami eschatology distin- guishes between the fates in the afterlife of those who live good lives and those who do not. The former join the sky god Ukepenopfu, while the latter are condemned to pass through seven existences beneath the Earth. Life with the sky god is presumed to be an extension of earthly life with hunting, headhunting, drinking, and feasting. The major requirement for entry into this blessed state is that one have performed the zhatho genna and abstained from unclean meat thereafter. Angami males must struggle with Metsimo on the narrow passage that leads to the gate of the sky god's domain. Failure results in the deceased's being forced to wander between Heaven and Earth as a wandering spirit. Similarities between the Angami and other Naga tribes regarding eschatology do obtain. Belief in the narrow road leading to Paradise is virtu- ally universal among the Naga. Bibliography Anand, V. K. (1969). Nagaland in Transition. New Delhi: As- sociated Publishing House. Elwin, Verrier, ed. (1969). The Nagas in the Nineteenth Cen- tury. London: Oxford University Press. Fuchs, Stephen (1973). The Aboriginal Tribes of India. New York: St. Martin's Press. Fuirer-Haimendorf, Christoph von (1969). The Konyak Nagas: An Indian Frontier Tribe. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Fiurer-Haimendorf, Christoph von (1976). Return to the Naked Nagas. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. Ganguli, Milada (1984). A Pilgrimage to the Nagas. New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Horam, M. (1977). Social and Cultural Life of Nagas. New Delhi: B. R Publishing Corp. Hutton, John Henry (1921). The Sema Nagas. London: Macmillan. 2nd ed. 1968. London: Oxford University Press. Hutton, John Henry (1921). The Angami Nagas. London: Macmillan. 2nd ed. 1969. London: Oxford University Press. LeBar, Frank M. (1964). Ethnic Groups of Mainland South- east Asia. New Haven, Conn.: HRAF Press. Majumdar, D. N. (1944). Races and Cultures of India. Allaha- bad: Kitabistan. 4th ed. 1961. New York: Asia Publishing House. 192 Nagas Maloney, Clarence (1974). Peoples of South Asia. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Maxwell, Neville George Anthony (1973). India and the Nagas. Minority Rights Group Report no. 17. London. Rev. ed. 1980. India, The Nagas, and the North-East. Mills, James Philip (1922). The Lhota Nagas. London: Macmillan. Reprint. 1979. New York: AMS Press. Mills, James Philip (1926). The Ao Nagas. London: Macmillan. 2nd ed. 1973. London: Oxford University Press. Mills, James Philip (1937). The Rengma Nagas. London: Macmillan. Reprint. 1979. New York: AMS Press. HUGH R PAGE, JR Nambudiri Brahman ETHNONYMS: Bhattadiripad, Namboodiri Brahman, Nam- boodiripad Orientation The Nambudiri Brahmans are one of a number of caste groups living in Kerala State, India. Most of the description given in this article refers to Nambudiri society as it existed circa 1900. Traditionally, they were a wealthy aristocratic landed caste group of highest ritual and secular status, who maintained their position by the practice of primogeniture and a complex relationship with lower-ranking matrilineal castes including the Nayars. After the advent of the British toward the end of the eighteenth century they gradually lost their political power. They rejected Western education early on and, apart from those few who took to communism, became entrepreneurs in the second half of the twentieth century, or managed to get an advanced education, the majority in the 1990s are living in much-reduced circumstances. Traditionally the Nambudiri Brahmans have lived on the southwest coast of India, in what is now the state of Kerala. (For a description of the area see the article on Nayars.) The Nambudiri Brahmans today make up less than 1 percent of the Hindu population of Kerala, but their status as the former elite of the state makes them important to document. The Nambudiri Brahmans speak Malayalam, a language belonging to the Southern Branch of the Dravidian Family of languages. History and Cultural Relations The early history of Kerala is very complex and there are many problems remaining to be resolved by historians. The history of the Nambudiri community still presents a number of puz- zles. According to the legendary Keralolpatty (a traditional account of Kerala history, set down in writing in the eighteenth century), Brahmans were brought to the southwest coast of India by the sage-warrior Parasurama, and they settled in thirty-two grammam (from Sanskrit grama, "community") in the South Kanara District of Karnataka State and in thirty-two grammam in what is now Kerala. Those who settled in Kerala are said to be Nambudiri Brahmans. Each grammam had its own temple and its own set of authorities for religious and secular law and its enforcement. Most of the grammar were localized geographically with their illams (large manorial homes) located within a 16- to 40-kilometer radius of the temple. However, the territory of one grammam might overlap that of another, as they were not communities in the usual sense. There is considerable argument among historians as to when the Nayars became matrilineal, some stating that this started in the tenth century A&D. and others seeing it as being rooted either in an earlier tribal matrilineal system or perhaps in an earlier bilateral system such as is found in Sri Lanka. There is some evidence from their customs and from physical characteristics that the Nambudiris came from outside the area. The heyday of the Nambudiri system was between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries. The majority of modem historians hold that they came to Kerala between the first and fourth centuries A.D., though there are some-such as E. K. Pillai-who believe they came later. Prior to the British, in some parts of Trichur Taluk (subdistrict) of Cochin State, which had the densest Nambudiri concentration, the area was ruled by the heads of the Vadakunnathan and Peru- manam temple boards. Where they did not rule directly, or where their rule was weak, they would align themselves with different matrilineal rulers. When the Zamorin of Calicut was expanding his kingdom, he needed the allegiance of the heads of the two largest temple boards of Cochin to capture power. When the Maharaja of Cochin recaptured part of his kingdom, he had to break the power of the Nambudiri illams in Trichur. Apart from their direct political control, Nambudiris were often able to exercise considerable indirect power because of their status as the highest spiritual authorities in Kerala. Settlements (For general details see the article on Nayars.) The geographic distribution of Nambudiris in Kerala was never com- pletely uniform. Certain areas were noted for containing thick Nambudiri concentrations, particularly in parts of South Malabar and Cochin where they also had the most direct political control. This was the area where the greatest amount of land could be given over to rice cultivation. (With traditional tools and technology, control over paddy land was a major source of wealth.) Nambudiri Brahmans had the unique role of being considered above and beyond territorial concerns. They would go from one ruler to another and carry messages. They had an es- sential communication function for the preservation of the then-existing political system, and they were considered to be good diplomats. Economy (For general details on the area see the article on Nayars.) Traditionally, the vast majority of the Nambudiris derived Nambudiri Brahman 193 their subsistence from the income of their medium to large landed holdings. They were not expected to participate in the life-crisis ceremonies of castes lower than themselves, apart from the coronations in a few of the ruling houses. They all had at least a few servants in their homes. Some Nambudiris, slightly lower in rank, performed rituals at well-known temples (though many of these also had rituals performed by Em- brandiri Brahmans from South Kanara District of Karnataka State and by Pattar Brahmans from Tamil Nadu). Traditionally, the Nambudiri Brahmans lived off the income from their lands, although a few also worked in large temples. They spent considerable amounts of time learning and reciting Sanskrit slokas and many of them were famous scholars and teachers of the Vedas. They also participated in sacrifices. Under the traditional land tenure system, the Nambudiri Brahmans held land primarily as the rulers or as a direct grant from a ruler. They did not deal with that land directly, preferring to leave agricultural management to tenants and subten- ants. Their land was held as an impartible inheritance by the eldest son, though younger sons and unmarried daughters were eligible to be supported by the income from the property. The land tenure laws passed in the 1920s and 1930s made the Nambudiri property partible. The major land reform law measures passed in the early 1970s plus a series of Supreme court decisions that provided for permanency of tenure for their tenants and gave ownership rights to the low- est rung of tenants have had the effect of causing many of the Nambudiri Brahman households to be severely impoverished. Kinship The Nambudiri Brahmans were patrilineal and practiced primogeniture. They were divided into various status groups, the most significant one being the division between the Adhyans and the Asyans. The Adhyans (recognized by the suffix -pad at the end of their names) were the wealthiest and most pow. erful. There was a tendency for the eight most powerful of the Adhyans to be endogamous. The highest-ranking Asyans were the ones who had the right to recite the Vedas. Kinship terminology follows a modification of the Dra- vidian pattern. There is a striking absence of terms to refer to affines not actually living in one's illam, indicating that affin- ity was not a critical principle of the system. Once a girl was married she was totally amalgamated into her husband's family and used the same terms that he used. The only affines even given a term are the mother's brother and mother's brother's wife. The other significant difference from the rest of south India is the absence of a distinction between cross and parallel cousins. Among Nambudiris both are considered to be similar to one's own brothers and sisters and both are forbidden as marriage partners. Marriage and Family Only the eldest son was allowed to take a wife or wives from his own caste. The younger sons either remained celibate or else formed permanent or semipermanent liaisons with women from the somewhat lower matrilineal castes (see the article on Nayars). Although only the oldest son could marry, he was allowed up to three wives at a time. Girls tended to be married to households within a two- to three-days' walk from their native illam. Postpubertal marriage was most frequent. Dowries were quite high, and getting a girl married was considered a burden to her family. Sometimes a man might take a second wife in exchange in order to save on the dowry for his daughter. After marriage a girl had no rights in her natal home, and whether she was happy or miserable she simply had to bear it. Many Nambudiri women felt that being a Nambudiri woman was the worst fate any human being could have, and they sometimes prayed that no one should ever "be born a Nam- budiri woman." The size and composition of the domestic unit has varied over time. Traditionally it included a man and his wife or wives and their children, his unmarried brothers, and any unmarried sisters that might remain. It was often a three- generation unit with power and authority always vested in the oldest living male. When laws were passed permitting younger sons to marry, households sometimes came to include the wives and children of brothers, though by then these large households had begun to partition. Traditional inheritance was in the male line and property was kept intact through the rule of primogeniture and impar- tibility. This has greatly changed since the 1920s and 1930s. Sociopolitical Organization (See the article on Nayars for general background information.) When at the end of the eighteenth century the British took over direct political control in Malabar and came to play a major role as advisers in Cochin and Travancore too, the Nambudiris, deprived of their political role but still maintain- ing their status as religious authorities, withdrew to their es- tates. They remained aloof, preferring to reemphasize their spiritual sanctity and purity. In the first quarter of the twentieth century some of the Nambudiri youth became involved in the Nambudiri reform movement. Through this activity they became directly involved in politics, with many of the older sons aligning themselves with the Congress party but most of the younger sons and women joining the Communists. The head of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the past twenty-five years, E. M. S. Namboodiripad, came out of the earlier Nambudiri reform movement. Traditionally, social control was exercised through fear and shaming. Traditionally conflicts were handled by the caste elders. A special kind of court was held for females who were even suspected of committing adultery. These courts came to an abrupt end when one Nambudiri woman named sixty-four men (some quite well known) with whom she claimed to have committed adultery. Today, local conflicts are handled by the village panchayats and more serious and wide-reaching matters by the civil authorities. Religion and Expressive Culture The Nambudiris are Hindus. The higher-ranking Nambudiris perform pujas (individual worship rituals) and sacrifices in their own homes but do not work as ritual specialists for others. The main pujaris (temple priests) are Tamil Brahmans or Brahmans from South Kanara, though in a few temples there are also Nambudiri or Kerala Brahmans. Kerala has been in- novative in providing training and certification for well- trained lower-caste pujaris. The most important ceremonies celebrated in Kerala among Hindus are Vishu, Onam, and Thiruvathira. In addi- 194 Nambudiri Brahman tion, traditionally there were numerous temple festivals, and on occasion Nambudiris were involved in performing important large Vedic sacrifices (Agnicayana), which could take as long as ten days and required months of preparation. Tradi- tionally, no non-Brahmans were supposed to hear the words of the Veda or be present during a Vedic sacrifice. As among all Hindus, there is a strong belief in reincarnation. See also Nayar Bibliography Logan, William (1887). Manual of Malabar. Reprint. 1961. Malabar. 3 vols. Madras: Government Press. Mencher, Joan (1966). "Kerala and Madras: A Comparative Study of Ecology and Social Structure." Ethnology 5:135-171. Mencher, Joan (1966). "Namboodiri Brahmans: An Analysis of a Traditional Elite in Kerala." Journal of Asian and African Studies 1:7-20. Mencher, Joan (1966). "Namboodiri Brahmans of Kerala." Natural History Magazine, May, 15-21. Mencher, Joan, and Helen Goldberg (1967). "Kinship and Marriage Regulations among the Namboodiri Brahmans of Kerala." Man 2:87-106. Menon, Ramesh (1991). "The Namboodiris: Traumatic De- cline." India Today (15 July): 90-92. Pillai, Elamkulam P. N. Kujan (1970). Studies in Kerala His- tory. Trivandrum: Privately printed. JOAN P. MENCHER Nayaka ETHNONYMS: Jenu-Koyyo-Shola-Nayakas, Jenu Kurumba, Kattu Naikr, Kattu Nayaka, Naicken, Naiken, Naikr, Sola Nayaka Orientation Identification. The Nayaka are a tribal people. Their various names relate to the fact that they live in the forest and collect honey from wild bees' nests: kattu and sala mean "forest," while jenu means "honey." The names were given to them by outsiders. The name "Nayaka" probably originated in Malayalam. They refer to their own people by the phrase nama sonta, which roughly translates as "our family." Location. The Nayaka live in the Nilgiri Hills in south India, at 11° N and 750 E, on the western jungle slopes, from 1,000 to 300 meters above sea level. The area, called the Wynaad (or Wainad), is divided administratively between the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu and the adjoining Malappuram District of Kerala. The Nayaka are scattered there amid other populations in small communities between which there are vir- tually no ties of any kind. The monsoon is at its height during July, while February is the middle of the dry period. Demography. The Indian census of 1981 estimated their total number at 1,400. Local communities comprise three to thirty nuclear families each. The average number of children per family is probably about two. Linguistic Affiliation. The Nayaka language, which the Nayaka call nama baia, "our language," belongs to the Kannadoid Subgroup of the Nilgiri South Dravidian languages. It contains elements of Kannada, Tamil, and Malaya- lam, Kannada being predominant. There are linguistic differ- ences between the various Nayaka local communities, reflecting their contact with different neighbors, but not to the point of mutual unintelligibility. Most Nayaka speak in addition to their own language at least one of these three major South Dravidian languages. History and Cultural Relations In the past, scholars suggested that the food-gatherer groups of the Nilgiris were the descendants of the powerful Kuruma (Pallavas), who fled to the wild during the ascension of the Cholla dynasty, around the ninth century A.D. More recently scholars have regarded them as the indigenous inhabitants of the area. The Wynaad itself, as part of the Nilgiris, was in the eighteenth century a part of the kingdom of Mysore, ruled by Haidar Ali, and later by his son Tipu Sultan. In 1803, British troops of the East India Company led by the (later) Duke of Wellington won it over. Infected by malaria, the Wynaad was not popular with immigrants, most of whom crossed it and settled higher up the hills; these immigrants included the ag- riculturalist Badaga in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the British during the nineteenth century, and after them Indians of various castes and religions. In the 1830s ex- ploration for gold began in the Wynaad, building to a brief but devastating gold rush during the 1880s. In the 1860s some coffee, tea, and rubber plantations were opened; most remained marginal at these low elevations. The effects on the Nayaka varied from place to place. In some localities they took to wage labor as their main source of income. In other areas, they added casual wage labor to their traditional gathering in the forest, barter in forest produce, and labor for agricultural neighbors and forest contractors. Nayaka, while they do not maintain close contact with Nayaka of other localities, do have close contact with neighboring non-Nayaka populations. They seem to have been in contact with non-Nayaka populations for a long time. They barter forest produce for simple agricultural and manufactured goods, such as tobacco, grain, and metal knives. They occasionally provide labor to their neighbors. They maintain friendly relations with neighboring populations and each party attends the other's festivals. Settlements A Nayaka community averages about five clusters of huts. The clusters, which we will call "hamlets", here are located in the jungle, near water sources, at a distance of a few miles from each other. Occasionally there are additional small Na'vaka 195 hamlets at the fringes of the jungle near local Indian villages. The huts vary considerably. The most substantial have a framework constructed of wood on a mud platform. The walls are made of strips of split bamboo resting on a low mud base, leaving a small doorway. The hut has a roof of grass thatch. Occasionally several huts are joined to each other in a row. The more casual huts are simply lean-tos resting on a rock, or on another hut, with no walls.There is a little-used fireplace in each living space, and a few articles lie casually on the ground. Except during the rainy period, people mostly sleep, cook, and eat outside their huts. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The Nayaka know of many species of flora in the forest, whose various parts they utilize for culinary and medicinal purposes, as well as for barter and for fabricating their shelter, tools, and uten- sils. In the forest they gather roots (mainly of wild yams), nuts, berries, and fruit; they fish; they collect honey from wild bees' nests; occasionally they trap birds; and they sometimes hunt deer with their dogs. They collect forest produce such as soapnuts and spices to sell to their neighbors and to traders from the cities. Nayaka also take up a variety of casual em- ployment, which usually requires expertise acquired through a food-gathering way of life (e.g., clearing jungle paths and guiding hunting expeditions). The nature of these jobs changes in response to changes in the surrounding environ. ment. Viewing the forest as a generous provider of food and all other material requirements, Nayakas are flexible and op- portunistic in their choice of occupations, and they frequently shift from one to another. Each family operates inde- pendently, and a heterogeneous economy arises around the core of the traditional food gathering, which is highly valued. The Nayaka have no tradition of animal husbandry or cultivation. A few families every now and then acquire a few chickens, or even a cow, which they keep for only a short period. Similarly, every once in a while a few families cultivate small plots of paddy, which they barely maintain and subsequently abandon. Most Nayaka plant some fruit trees near their huts. They keep dogs that feed on leftovers. Their children occasionally adopt as pets young monitor lizards and parrots found in the forest. Industrial Arts. Nayaka manufacture various containers, baskets, and mats from bamboo and grass for their own use. Occasionally they make simple coconut spoons, wooden pots, and pestles and construct bamboo fences and huts for their non-Nayaka neighbors. Division of Labor. The Nayaka have little division of labor based on gender. Spouses pursue most subsistence activities together and also share domestic pursuits to a considerable degree. Families, even single adults, are generally self- sufficient. Land Tenure. Nayaka live and utilize resources wherever they wish to within the territory they occupy. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. All the Nayaka of a local community consider each other kin. In everyday conversation they refer to and address each other by kinship terms. On the whole, families do not cooperate in work, share productive equipment, or exchange gifts; but people are expected to be generally friendly and hospitable toward one another. The Nayaka, though warm and friendly, are highly autonomous. They rarely cooperate with other members of their hamlet, and every six to eighteen months they move to another hamlet. Life-cycle events are celebrated, if at all, by ad hoc aggre- gates of people within the locality who are invited by the cele- brants. The conjugal family is the only corporate and effective group among the Nayaka. Its members share possessions, work, and responsibility for each other. There are no descent groups. The Nayaka attach equal importance to matrilateral and patrilateral kin links. Kinship Terminology. Nayaka use kinship terms that reflect a Dravidian kinship terminology. In everyday applica- tion of kinship terms, they do not strictly maintain the dis- tinctions between affinal and consanguinal relations in the first ascending and first descending generations. Marriage and Family Marriage. Nayaka mostly find their spouses for themselves within the local community and sometimes among kin outside it. A courtship takes place, then the couple start sleeping together and establish their hearth, and then they increasingly share subsistence pursuits and domestic chores. There is no formal event to mark the marriage: it gradually emerges and is then publicly recognized. Some marriages, especially for long-standing single persons, are arranged. This is done by a maternal uncle or other relatives, and the spouse is usually from outside the local community. Such a union is sometimes celebrated by a meal that is offered to a small gathering of in- vitees and passersby. Nayaka express a preference for cross- cousin marriage (perhaps under the widespread Dravidian influence) and secondarily for spouses outside the close circle of relatives. Marriages are monogamous. A new conjugal family is independent and free to choose its place of residence. Some couples reside with the wife's parents during the initial period of marriage. Separation is common during the early years of marriage; it is effected by mutual agreement or by one of the parties leaving the other. A marriage that survives the early years is likely to endure. Domestic Unit. A man, a woman, and their young offspring constitute the domestic unit and usually sleep, cook, eat, and work together. Single persons, young or old, are tem- porarily attached to families. Strict separation is maintained between the living spaces of the conjugal family and those of their long- or short-term visitors. The former, especially, keep their separate hearths, near where they sleep, eat their share of the food on their own, and frequently cook it themselves. Nayaka value their independence highly. Inheritance. A Nayaka is frequently buried with the few possessions he or she used at the time of death. Children and other relatives sometimes take one or two of the deceased's possessions as remembrances. There is no individual ownership or inheritance of land. Socialization. Young children are greatly indulged. They are rarely scolded or punished. They spend most of their time with their parents, though occasionally they stay with grand- parents or older siblings. At about the age of 10, they start vis- iting other families in the local community, and later beyond it, for increasingly long periods. They become autonomous in [...]... Changes, and the Case of the Naiken of South India." In Rural South Asia: Linkages, Changes, and Development Collected Papers on South Asia, edited by Peter Robb, 5 7-8 9 London: Curzon Press for the-School of Oriental and African Studies, London Bird, Nurit (1987) "The Kurumbas of the Nilgiris: An Ethnographic Myth?" Modern Asian Studies 24:17 3-1 89 Bird-David, Nurit (1988) "An Introduction to the Naikens:... Southeast Asia, and it is dealt with at length in later volumes of this encyclopedia Yet on the South Asian subcontinent it has only been in the "fringe areas" of Sri Lanka in the far south, the mountain zones of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan in the far north, and some tribal portions of northeastern India that are close to Tibet or Myanmar (Burma) where a tradition of Buddhist worship has been kept alive down... Fisher, 33 9-3 57 The Hague: Mouton Publishers Levine, Nancy E (1987) "Belief and Explanation in Nyinba Women's Witchcraft." Man 22:25Q-74 Levine, Nancy E (1987) "Caste, State, and Ethnic Boundaries in Nepal." Journal of Asian Studies 46:7 1-8 8 Levine, Nancy E (1988) The Dynamics of Polyandry: Kinship, Domesticity, and Population on the Tibetan Border Chicago: University of Chicago Press NANCY E LEVINE ... "Caste among the Buddhists." In Caste among Non-Hindus in India, edited by Harjinder Singh, 9 1-1 06 Delhi: National Publishing House Nepali 201 Zelliot, Eleanor (1966) "Buddhism and Politics in Maharashtra." In South Asian Politics and Religion, edited by Donald E Smith, 19 1-2 12 Princeton: Princeton University Press PAUL HOCKINGS Nepali ETHNONYM: Nepalese Orientation Identification The term "Nepali"... Broadcasting, Publications Division Mathur, Kaushal Kumar (1967) Nicobar Islands New Delhi: National Book Trust NANCY E GRATrON Nyinba ETHNONYMS: Barthapalya (in Nepali), Bhotia, Bhutia, Tamang Orientation Identification The Nyinba are one of many small, largely endogamous groups positioned along the northern borderlands of Nepal that can be identified as ethnically Tibetan by their language, by the Tibetan... borders, and within a latitude of 270 and 300 N with India to the south and Tibet to the north The country covers an area of 145,954 square kilometers (slightly larger than Arkansas) Social change is occurring very rapidly in Nepal with the influx of tourists and imported goods, the opening of new roads, and an increasing interest and investment in education The country now has many doctors, engineers, and... country linguistic Affiliation There are more than twenty-six distinct languages spoken in Nepal that are related to IndoEuropean, Tibeto-Burman, and Austroasiatic language families Nepali, the lingua franca of the country and an Indo-Aryan language related to Hindi, came to Nepal with Khas settlers who migrated into the western Himalaya region of northern India approximately 1500 B.C The Nepali language... et religion chez les Niwar du Nepal Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique HIROSHI ISHII Nicobarese ETHNONYMS: none Orientation The Nicobarese are the majority ethnic and linguistic group living in the Nicobar Island group, a district of India's Nicobarese 209 Andaman and Nicobar Union Territory in the Bay of Bengal Located between 6°50' and 9010 'N and 92°10' and 93°55' E, the Nicobar group... ride on elephants or horses, and even then their use was primarily confined to processions Since Indian independence and especially since the formation of Kerala State, roads have been built linking all parts of the state and all villages by bus A railroad now links the southern city of Trivandrum to Mangalore in the South Kanara District of Karnataka (apart from links to Madras and the rest of India);... government, though largely discontinued, still account for the ownership of large tracts ofland and many landlord and tenant relationships Most Nepalis possess land under the raikar system, in which the utilization and transfer of land is recognized by the government as long as taxes are paid on it Kinship Kin Groups and Descent Almost all Nepalis belong to patrilineal descent systems which organize . 186 Muslim. "people of the Book" (and thus, like Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, as eligible for the status of "protected unbeliev- ers"), Muslim rulers and teachers propounded nothing in India that would have seemed out of place to the Sunni faith- ful in the Near East. Peter Hardy has succinctly summarized the ten fundamentals of Islamic belief as introduced to India; 1. God is One, without partners. 2. He is utterly transcendent, possessing no form and es- caping all definition. 3. He is the Almighty Creator. 4. He knows and ordains everything that is. 5. God is all-powerful and in whatever he ordains, he cannot be unjust (that is, human concepts of justice and in- justice cannot be applied to him). 6. The Quran is eternal. 7. Obedience to God is binding upon man because he so decreed it through his prophets. 8. Belief in the Prophet's divine mission is obligatory upon all. 9. Belief in the Day of Judgment is obligatory as revealed by the Prophet. 10. Belief in the excellence of the Prophet's companions and the first four caliphs is required by authentic tradition. See also Mappila; Mogul; Sayyid; Sheikh Bibliography Ahmad, Aziz, ed. (1969). An Intellectual History of Islam in India. Islamic Surveys, no. 7. Edinburgh: University Press. Nagas ETHNONYMS: none Orientation Identification. The designation "Naga" is applied to the numerous Indo-Mongoloid tribes living in the hill country at the convergence of the borders of India and Myanmar (Burma). Of these tribes, the following have received cover- age in anthropological literature: the Kacha, the Angami, the Rengma, the Lhote, the Sema, the Ao, the Konyak, the Chang, the Sangtam, the Yachumi, the Tukomi, the Naked Rengma, the Tangkhul, and the Kalyo-kengyu or "slated- house men." The name "Naga" was first given to these tribal groups by the Ahoms in Assam and other neighboring peoples (e.g., early Indo-Aryans, Kamarupa and Bengali Mongo- loids, as well as the Assamese Ahoms) occupying the regions immediately adjacent to the districts in which the Naga are found. The derivation of the name 'Naga" is not known with any degree of certainty. According to John Henry Hutton, the most likely explanation is that it is the result of the European lengthening of the Assamese word naga, "naked" (Sanskrit nagna). Hutton also cites possibilities proposed by others for the meaning of the word, including "hill man" (from Hindu- stani nag, "mountain") and "people" (from nok, an Eastern Naga word of the same meaning). The Naga did not initially adopt this appellation; individual tribes preferred the use of their respective self-designations. It was not until nationalis- tic fervor grew with the decline of British imperial hegemony Ahmad, Imtiaz, ed. (1973). Caste and Social Stratification among Muslims in India. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. 2nd ed. 1978. Ahmad, Imtiaz, ed. (1981). Ritual and Religion among Mus- lims in India. New Delhi: Manohar Publications. Basham, A. L. (1975). A Cultural History of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Eglar, Zekiye (1960). A Punjabi Village in Pakistan. New York and London: Columbia University Press. Hardy, Peter (1958). "Part Four: Islam in Medieval India." In Sources of Indian Tradition, edited by William de Bary et al., 36 7-5 28. New York and London: Columbia University Press. Qadir, Abdul (1937). "The Cultural Influences of Islam." In The Legacy of India, edited by G. T. Garratt, 28 7-3 04. Ox- ford: Clarendon Press. Titus, Murray T. (1959). Islam in India and Pakistan. Cal- cutta: YMCA Publishing House. Zaehner, R C. (1969). Hindu and Muslim Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books. PAUL HOCKINGS and the resultant advent of increased Indian authority over the Naga homeland that the name "Naga" gained widespread acceptance among the various tribes. Thus it was used in the names of the political organizations of the mid-twentieth century that championed the cause of Naga independence from India (i.e., the Naga National Council, which declared independence from India in 1947, and the Naga Peoples Conven- tion, whose efforts resulted in the formation of the state of Nagaland in 1963). In this summary, the focus is on the An- gami, with additional information provided selectively for other Naga tribes. Location. The locus of Naga culture is the hill country of northeast India between Assam's Brahmaputra Valley to the west and the Myanmar (Burma) border to the east. It is a steeply ridged and densely forested area bordered by the states of Arunachal Pradesh on the north and Manipur on the south. The approximate geographic coordinates of the region are 24° 00' to 270 30' N and 930 00' to 95° 00' E. Demography. The 1981 census of the state of Nagaland recorded a population of 774,930, three-quarters being Nagas. But Nagas live also in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Myanmar (Burma). In 1971 India had a total of 467,720 Nagas. Figures from 1982 record the following population estimates by tribe: 75,000 Ao Nagas, 18,000 Chang Nagas, 85,000 Konyak Nagas, 11,000 Maring Nagas, 21,000 Phom Nagas, 10,000 Rengma Nagas, 15,000 Rongmei Nagas, and 26,000 Zeme (Sema) Nagas. Linguistic Affiliation. The Naga are characterized by a linguistic diversity that directly parallels their tribal diversity. Nagas 187 There are about as many Naga dialects as there are Naga tribes. The lingua franca of the state of Nagaland is Naga Pidgin (also known as Nagamese, Kachari Bengali, or Bodo) and is particularly prevalent in Kohima District. There are some twenty-seven known Naga dialects, all part of the Tibeto-Burman Family, which is itself part of the Sino- Tibetan Phylum. These include Angami Naga, Ao Naga, Chang Naga, Chokri Naga, Kheza Naga, Khiamngan Naga, Khoirao Naga, Konyak Naga, and many others. History and Cultural Relations While folk traditions regarding the history of the various Naga tribes abound, scholarly consensus has not been reached concerning their origin. Generally speaking, very little is known of the origin of any of the Mongoloid groups whose southwesterly migration brought them ultimately to the sub-Himalayan region and northeastern India (e.g., the Bondos and the Garos). Their presence is attested in these areas as early as the tenth century B.C. What is known is that these tribes spoke Tibeto-Burman dialects and that it is prob- able that their original homeland was in the region between the Huang-Ho and Yangtze (Ch'ang) rivers in northwestern China. These peoples came in successive migratory waves for several centuries (after the invasions of the Aryans in western India). The geographic extent of these migrations was quite considerable; Aryan-Mongoloid contact took place in the centuries that followed. The Mongoloid tribes were not ho- mogeneous. Their languages, social structures, and cultures were diverse, and in the early centuries of the Common Era they began extensive expansion, from their initial settlements in the Irawadi and Chindwin river regions in northern Myanmar (Burma), throughout Assam, the Cachar Hills, and the Naga Hills. From the thirteenth century onward, the Ahoms-rulers of Assam from 1228 until the British annexation of the province in 1826-had extensive cultural contact with various Naga tribes. The nature of the relationship between these tribes and the Ahoms ranged from cooperative to antagonistic. Naga tribes living near the plains paid annual tribute to Ahom rulers as a sign of allegiance, for which the Nagas were given revenue-free lands and fisheries. These were granted with the understanding that the Naga would refrain from raids in the plains areas. Trade and commerce were also extensive, with the Nagas trading salt (a particularly important medium of exchange), cotton, medicinal herbs, ivory, bee's wax, mats, and daos (adzes) for Assamese rice, cloth, and beads. At times, northern Ahom raiders attacked Naga villages, taking booty and demanding tribute. However, these incursions did not establish lasting Assamese rule over the Naga Hills region. The Naga retained their independence until the British annexation in the early nineteenth century. The British added Assam to the East India Company's territories in 1820. In 1832 they attempted to annex Naga country but met with sustained and effective guerrilla resistance from Naga groups, particularly the Angami tribe. The British responded by sending approximately ten military expeditions into Naga territory between 1835 and 1851. Guerrilla activity continued unabated and British posts were subsequently established in the Angami region. This marked an important point in the process of Nagaland annexation. A unified An- gami response was mounted in 1878 with raids on British forces undertaken by villages and village clusters. The imperial response involved the burning of offending villages. An- gami resistance eventually met with failure and they eventually became an administered tribe under British rule. With the subjugation of this region, the extension of alien rule throughout Nagaland soon followed, further widening the cultural gap between the Naga and other hill peoples and the Indian inhabitants of the lowlands. British treatment of the Naga was favorable. They allowed no Indian to function as administrator of the hill districts and attempted to prevent exploitation of the hill peoples by plains folk. Christian mis- sionary activity soon followed British annexation, with Amer- ican Baptists assuming the lead. Rapid progress in conversion was made. Increased literacy and a growing sense of Naga solidarity-for which the official organ of expression was the Naga National Council (NNC)-resulted in the NNC's claim for regional independence in 1947. The departure of the British and the emergence of Indian self-rule made Naga political autonomy within a sovereign India a negotiable pos- sibility. Total independence for the Naga homeland, however, was an impossibility. Violence erupted in Nagaland in 1955 as Indian forces tried to quell Naga secession efforts, and in 1956 the NNC declared the existence of the Federal Government of Nagaland. Conflict continued in spite of efforts to satisfy the call for Naga political freedom by the granting of statehood (a cause championed by the Naga Peo- ples Convention). In 1963 the efforts of this organization and the segment of the Naga populace which it represented resulted in the formation of the state of Nagaland. In spite of this action, hostilities continued. Under the sponsorship of the Baptist Church, a peace commission was formed and a cease-fire declared between the Nagaland federal government and the government of India on 24 May 1964. The cease-fire lasted until 1 September 1972 when an attempt on the life of the chief minister of Nagaland resulted in the Indian govem- ment's termination of the cease-fire and banning of the NNC. Armed resistance by the NNC continued into the 1970s and was not suppressed until the Shillong Accord was signed by representatives of the Indian government and the Nagaland federal government in November 1975. Isolated pockets of resistance persisted into the late 1970s, but effective resistance to Indian hegemony has since ceased. One very small Naga underground antigovernment operation existed in exile in Burma in the 1980s, but its influence in Nagaland at that time was minuscule. Settlements Naga villages are autonomous units situated on hilltops. The average elevation of the villages is between 900 and 1,200 meters. Because of the mountainous terrain and the threat of in- vasion by neighboring tribes, these small villages were originally intended to be self-sufficient and secure. Consequently early explorers reported that Naga villages were heavily forti- fied. However, with the cessation of both intertribal conflict and outside interference (chiefly from British and Indian forces), the need for security and the degree of village fortif- cation has lessened considerably. Norms for construction varied somewhat within the constituent Naga tribes, yet a few general observations may be made. Villages have one or more entrances that were once guarded heavily and, at times, booby-trapped. Village fortifications included large wooden doors (latched from the inside of the village and hewn from a 188 Nagas single piece of wood), pitfalls, and ditches filled with panjis (sharply pointed bamboo stakes of varying lengths and widths). Stone walls (whose thickness may reach some 3 meters) surround Angami villages. Ao villages are surrounded by fences composed of wooden stakes and reinforced with panjis. Villages are approached by narrow paths overhung with thorny growth and are constructed so that they must be trav- ersed by walling single file. During time of war, roads leading to Angami villages would be studded with pegs (driven into the ground) to prevent attack. Paths leading to Ao villages were often paved with rough stones near the village gate. There are also roads leading from the village to the terraced fields and jhum land that the Naga use as farmland. Jhum is land cultivated by the clearing and burning of an area of jungle, which is then farmed for two years and subsequently allowed to return to jungle. An individual living in the village maintains a close attachment to the land of the village and to the family, clan, or village quarter (the khel). The khel (an Assamese word for an exogamous group that corresponds most closely to the Angami word thino and the Ao word murphy) is responsible for land cultivation, and each village is divided into several khels. The division of a village into khels is based largely on geography, but speakers of the same language, members of the same clan, or groups of immigrants (whose migration to the village may have taken place after the village's establishment) might occupy the same khel. Ma- terials used in house construction vary somewhat among the Naga tribes. Angami practices contain many of the norms found in other Naga tribes and serve as an appropriate control group. A typical Angami house is a one-story structure with leveled earth used as flooring. It is from 10 to 20 meters in length and from 6 to 12 meters in width. Material used in home roofing is determined by individual status in the village, and there are four such degrees. A first-degree house may be roofed with thatching grass, a second-degree house with bargeboards, a third-degree house with bargeboards and kika (house horns), and a fourth-degree house with wooden shin- gles and kika (which differ at times in shape and placement on the house). The interior of each house contains three compartments. The front room (kiloh) is half the length of the house. Paddy is stored here in baskets along one or both walls and the room is furnished with a bench (pikeh) for rice pounding. The second compartment (mipu-bu) is separated by a plank partition containing a doorway. It is here that the hearth is located (consisting of three stones embedded in the ground to form a stand for cooking containers). This room also serves as sleeping quarters, and beds (raised or 1 meter from the ground) are found here. The third compartment, 1 meter or so in depth and extending the entire width of the house, is the kinutse, where the liquor vat is located. This room also contains the rear entrance to the house. The house is usually home to no more than five persons. Houses are ir- regularly arranged in an Angami village, though there is a supposition that the Angami house should face east. Each house has an open space in front of it and houses are connected by irregular paths. Small gardens are frequently made near houses and may contain maize or mustard. Nearly every Angami village has an open space that serves as a meeting place and ceremonial locus for all of the village inhabitants. This area may also contain plinths for sitting made of stone masonry or wood. These stations (which often surmounted village walls or other high points in the village and could rise as high as 9 meters) may have originally been used as posts for watchers whose purpose was to warn of impending enemy attack. The morung (dormitory, which serves as guardhouse and clubhouse for single men) is an important part of most Naga villages. However, it does not assume a place of promi- nence in Angami villages, some of which have no morung in the traditional sense; the house so designated is occupied by a family while simultaneously being recognized as the village morung. Villages are given names based on peculiar features of the village site, the memory of an ancient settlement that once stood where the village now stands (and which its current occupants wish to commemorate), particular events in the history of the village, or the whim of those living there. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Lhotas, Semas, Aos, and other Naga tribes use jhum cultivation almost exclusively. The Angami have a diversified agricultural system that involves jhum cultivation and terracing (steep hillsides are arranged in terraces, or panikhets, which are flooded and used as rice fields). Terraces are fed by channels (bearing water from streams) and hollow bamboo irrigation pipes. Crops are grown for consumption and sale. Rice and millet are the main staples. Additional crops grown are Job's tears, maize, great millet (Sorghum vulgare), beans, oil seeds, gourds, cucumbers, chilies, spinach, mustard, and kachu (a taro, Colocasia antiquorum). Cotton and jute for clothing, thatching grass for house construction, wood for housing and fuel, and bamboo are also grown. Agricultural implements include the following: ax merere, spade or hoe (keju), mattock (sivu), rake (paro), hoe (saro), sickle (z.upfino), and the marking stake (kethi-thedi) used for the marking of jungle or thatch for cutting or to prevent crop misfortune resulting from complimentary remarks about their condition. Domes- tic animals include: gayals (for trade), cows (for meat and trade), gayal/cow hybrids, pigs, dogs (for meat and hunting), cats (in limited number for food and magicoreligious purposes), fowl, bees, and goats. Hunting for food and sport is known among the Angami, frequent targets including serows (mountain goats), wild dogs, and deer. The usual hunting implements are spears and guns. Fishing by the use of poison, while frequent among many Naga tribes, is limited in use among the Angami. Iron, conch shells, Assamese chabili (carving knives used by the Ao), and barter were used as cur- rency before the arrival of the British rupee. Industrial Arts. Angami industrial arts include the following: the manufacture of black, blue, scarlet, pale terra-cotta, and yellow cloth (made of cotton, a species of nettle called wuve, or a species of jute called gakeh); blacksmithing (particularly the making of iron spear heads, brass wire, and brass earrings); the making of clay pots (a specialty confined to certain villages); basketry; the fashioning of bamboo mats; carving and woodwork; work in hard substances (e.g., shells, ivory, bone, and horns); the manufacture of musical instru- ments; and the production of salt (now a rarity among the Angami, but one of the chief products of the Kacha, Sang- tams, Tangkhuls, and others). Trade. The Angami and other Naga tribes trade in beads and other manufactured items with other Naga tribes and Nagas 189 with their Assamese neighbors. The Ao trade pan, cotton, chilies, ginger, gourds, mats, and the gum of the iyang tree to obtain salt and dried fish from traders in the plains. These commodities are then traded to the Phoms and Changs in exchange for pigs and fowl. The Ao also trade in wild tea seed with plains dwellers. Certain Ao villages grow cotton, the sur- plus of which is traded in the plains for salt. The decrease in intertribal conflict and the general political stabilization of the hill country in the late 1970s brought increased oppor- tunities for trade. Division of Labor. Weaving and cooking are the exclusive province of women among the Angami and the Ao, while hunting and warfare are men's activities. Agriculture and trade are carried on by members of both sexes. Among the Tangkhul, women manage most domestic affairs including the raising of children, the weaving of cloth (and the teaching of this art to female offspring), the storage and preparation of food, the brewing of rice beer and rice wine (zam), the drying of tobacco, the feeding of pigs, fowl, and cattle, the carrying of water, and the pounding of rice. Women also participate in agricultural tasks (e.g., jhuming). Among the Konyak, a husband is recognized as head of the household and the owner of the family home (since it is constructed on a site that belongs to his lineage). He is responsible for the upkeep of the house, its granaries, and its furnishings. The purchase of metal and wooden implements and baskets are his duties. The preparation of food and the weaving of textiles not purchased from other villages are the responsibilities of Konyak wives. Men claim personal ownership of implements associated with their activities (weapons, tools, etc.) as do women (cooking uten- sils, looms, textiles, etc.). Men are responsible for rice cultivation and storage while women plant, harvest, and dry taro. Land Tenure. Among the Angami, individual ownership of terraced fields, wood plantations, gardens, building sites, and most jhum land is allowed. As such, its disposition is at the discretion of the owner. In the case of ancestral land, the seller retains a small parcel in nominal ownership to guard against death or misfortune. In several Angami villages, however, land on which thatching grass and cane (for bridge construction) is grown is the property of kindred, clan, or an entire village. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. Descent among the Angami and all other Naga tribes is patrilineal (although possible evidence exists of the survival of a matrilineal descent system in the village of Kohima). The most distinct social unit is the exogamous clan. Clan loyalties generally supersede loyalties to other social groupings including the khel. Frequently, clans will splinter and new clans form, an indication of their fluid nature. The. is said to be especially important for Nayar females, who have to take a bath in the family tank in the early morning before sunrise, sing a number of special songs, and perform a dance said to be especially beneficial as exercise for women. Arts. Nayar culture is closely associated with the Kathakali dance dramas that developed in the 16th century. They in- volve elaborate headdresses and makeup. It takes many years to master the intricate dance techniques (traditionally performed by males only, though today some females are involved in them). Other arts associated with Nayars include the famous Kalari pattu (Kalari or armed gymnasium play) and female Kaikuttikali (a kind of dance). All art forms traditionally were related to caste. Nayars were often patrons of art forms that they themselves did not practice. Medicine. The traditional medicine in Kerala is Ayurveda. It has been highly developed there, especially by the Variars, an Ambilavasi (temple servant) caste group that is also matrilineal and shares many traits with Nayars. Today they run Ayurvedic medicine factories, nursing homes, and dispensa- ries. In addition, Kerala has a well-developed scientific medi- cal system. Kerala doctors (including many Nayar doctors) and nurses may be found all over the world. There is no clash between Ayurvedic and modem or allopathic medicine, as they tend to be used to treat different diseases. Death and Afterlife. As among all Hindus there is a strong belief in reincarnation. The dead are usually cremated. See also Nambudiri Brahman Bibliography Fuller, Christopher J. (1976). The Nayars Today. New York: Cambridge University Press. Gough, E. Kathleen (1959). "The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage." Journal of American Folklore 71:2 3-3 4. Gough, E. Kathleen, and David M. Schneider (1961). Matri- lineal Kinship. Berkeley: University of California Press. Logan, William (1887). Manual of Malabar. 2 vols. Madras: Government Press. Reprint. 1961. Malabar. 3 vols. Mencher, Joan P. (1965). "The Nayars of South Malabar." In Comparative Family Systems, edited by M. F. Nimkoff, 16 3- 191. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Mencher, Joan P. (1966). "Kerala and Madras: A Compara- tive Study of Ecology and Social Structure." Ethnology 5:13 5-1 71. Mencher, Joan P. (1978). "Agrarian Relations in Two Rice Regions of Kerala." Economic and Political Weekly 13:34 9-3 66. JOAN P. MENCHER Neo Buddhist ETHNONYMS: none A central axiom of the religious history of South Asia is that Buddhism, which arose there in the sixth century B.c. and spread to become a world faith of inestimable influence, vir- tually died out in India, the land of its birth, many centuries ago. Buddhism is still one of the major religions of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and it is dealt with at length in later volumes of this encyclopedia. Yet on the South Asian subcontinent it has only been in the "fringe areas" of Sri Lanka in the far south, the mountain zones of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan in the far north, and some tribal portions of northeastern India that are close to Tibet or Myanmar (Burma) where a tradition of Buddhist worship has been kept alive down to the present. So although vast tracts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, even Kashmir and Afghanistan, were once Buddhist, they are now predominantly Hindu or Muslim. Quite unexpectedly, from the middle of the present century, large numbers of Untouchable Hindus, mostly Mahars and Jatavs (or Chamars), started converting to Buddhism. Their numbers grew rapidly; for example, in the decade 195 1- 1961 Indian Buddhists increased by 1,670.71 percent. By 1991 India had about six million Buddhists, the great majority of these being Neo-Buddhists living in or near Maharash- tra. In that state Neo-Buddhists are now more numerous than Muslims or Christian converts. The conversion of Untouchables to Buddhism was largely the work of one reformer, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (189 1- 1956), who was himself a Mahar. He saw this as an avenue to greater respectability, beyond the pale of Hinduism. He also viewed Buddhism as a more desirable pathway to an egalitarian society than communism. Thus far, however, the move to Neo-Buddhism has certainly improved the self-esteem of Jatavs and Mahars, but it has done little to attract other Un- touchable castes into the Neo-Buddhist ranks or to improve the status of this group in the eyes of higher-ranking Hindus. See also Jatav; Mahar Bibliography Fiske, Adele M. (1977). "Caste among the Buddhists." In Caste among Non-Hindus in India, edited by Harjinder Singh, 9 1-1 06. Delhi: National Publishing House. Nepali 201 Zelliot, Eleanor (1966). "Buddhism and Politics in Mahar- ashtra." In South Asian Politics and Religion, edited by Donald E. Smith, 19 1-2 12. Princeton: Princeton University Press. PAUL HOCKINGS Nepali ETHNONYM: Nepalese Orientation Identification. The term "Nepali" refers to any person born within the borders of the kingdom of Nepal or from a group considered historically or territorially indigenous to the kingdom. As an ethnonym, this term roughly encompasses but does not describe the particularities of the multiple ethnic and caste groups that make up Nepal and have their own distinct ethnic identities. Through the cultural dominance of the state of Nepal following its emergence in 1769 and through a long history of political, economic, and cultural in- teractions between the peoples of this region, many ethnic groups share elements of a common pool of sociocultural at- tributes. Nevertheless, these groups also exhibit great varia- tion in language, dress, and religion to the extent that certain groups on the northern and southern borders of Nepal are indistinguishable from the people of Tibet and north India, re- spectively. Nonetheless, there have been settlements in the foothills of the Himalayas since the fourth century B.C., and there is mention of ethnic groups in this region in the early Sanskrit epic literature. The name "Nepala," referring to a frontier Himalayan kingdom, appears on inscriptions in India from the fourth century AD. Nepal emerged as a unified nation-state in the eighteenth century with the conquests of the Shah dynasty, which ruled the Thakuri principality of Gorkha in west- central Nepal. In the early nineteenth century, following the confrontations with the British in India and the subsequent forced relinquishment of appropriated lands, the current borders of the country became established within a longitude of 800 and 880 E, with India on its eastern and western borders, and within a latitude of 270 and 300 N with India to the south and Tibet to the north. The country covers an area of 145,954 square kilometers (slightly larger than Arkansas). Social change is occurring very rapidly in Nepal with the influx of tourists and imported goods, the opening of new roads, and an increasing interest and investment in education. The country now has many doctors, engineers, and agronomists, a number of whom have been trained in the United States or Europe. Simultaneously, many old and elaborate social and cultural traditions are declining. The major political and social developments that Nepal is now undergo- ing are effecting many changes throughout the country. It is hoped that these developments will address the crucial problems of poverty and unemployment, soil degradation, and overpopulation that are currently troubling the country. Demography. The population of the country is estimated to be between 19 and 20 million people (1991). With the control of epidemics and an expanding population since the 1930s, the rate of population growth has reached 2.7 percent. At this rate, the population will double in twenty-seven years and further increase the already severe pressure on the arable land available for cultivation. This situation has led to an increasing migration from the middle hills and mountain regions of Nepal to the cities and to lower-altitude Terai in the south, which has been viable for settlement for the last thirty years following the eradication of malaria. Nevertheless, the majority of Nepalis (53 percent) continue to live in the middle hill region of the country. linguistic Affiliation. There are more than twenty-six distinct languages spoken in Nepal that are related to Indo- European, Tibeto-Burman, and Austroasiatic language families. Nepali, the lingua franca of the country and an Indo-Aryan language related to Hindi, came to Nepal with Khas settlers who migrated into the western Himalaya region of northern India approximately 1500 B.C. The Nepali language is also known historically and colloquially as Khas Khura and Gorkhali because of its association with the early settlers of western Nepal and with the Gorkha dynasty. It is the native tongue of well over half of the inhabitants of the country. Many more people speak Nepali as a second language in administrative, commercial, and educational con- texts. A number of important ethnic groups in the midland region of the country, including the Kathmandu Valley, speak Tibeto-Burman languages as their native tongues. Among this group are the first settlers and the architects of Nepal's cultural florescence in the Kathmandu Valley, the Newars. Other important ethnic groups such as the Tamang, Magar, Rai, and Limbu, who make up an important percentage of the population of the hills and mountain regions of Nepal, also speak Tibeto-Burman languages. There are a number of groups in the formerly malarial jungle valleys of the Siwalik and Mahabharat ranges in southern Nepal, such as the Tharu, Danuwar, and Darai, who speak languages that mix Austroasiatic linguistic elements with a number of words from North Indian and Tibeto-Burman languages. Along the southern plains of the Terai one also finds people whose languages (and customs) are indistinguishable from similar groups speaking Hindi, Bhojpuri, and Mithali in north India. Similarly, along the northern region of Nepal one finds various clusters of peoples (e.g., Sherpa, Manangi) whose language, religion, dress, and subsistence patterns closely resem- ble groups in Tibet, from which they had migrated during the last two millennia. History and Cultural Relations The geographic distribution and diversity of ethnic groups in Nepal reflect the migrations of groups displaced by or escap- ing adverse sociopolitical conditions in central, southern, and southeastern Asia. For instance, there is evidence that people from Southeast Asia moved into the Himalayan region in flight from the expanding Han dynasty during the first mil- lennium B.C. It is also well documented that groups from north India moved into Nepal during various waves of the 202 Nepali Muslim invasions during the fourteenth century. Further, the military and administrative consolidation of the Gorkha re- gime in the eighteenth century united the eighty or so ethnically varied principalities in the region and asserted an ortho- dox, Hindu sociopolitical and religious order. This led to the legislative designation of singular ethnic groups such as the Tamang, which often encompass diverse peoples. The formation of the nation-state of Nepal and its need for resources of grain and labor also forced the expanded settlement of the region and led to migrations of families to India to escape the demands of the state. Settlements Throughout much of the hills and habitable mountainous ranges, most settlements consist of loosely clustered households surrounded by agricultural land. Households usually group on a hilltop or hillside and near a river or spring. They are connected by footpaths that often converge around a large pipal or banyan tree, which is surrounded by a stone platform and seating structure (chautara) that serves as a resting place for travelers and a meeting place for informal or village-council social gatherings. Most hamlets consist of a few clans (thar) of a particular group (e.g., Magar, Gurung) and often one or more households of artisan castes (e.g., me- talworkers). There are also more densely compact settlements among the Brahmans and Chhetris, Sherpa, Newari, and others that may consist of over fifty households as well as small shops and schools. Throughout the hills there are a number of large towns consisting of several hundred or a few thou- sand people, especially where there is an important temple or monastery, a marketplace, a motorable road, or an administrative center. The Newari have typically lived in cities or large towns that each form a commercial, social, and ritual center surrounded by their terraced fields. Their settlements vary in size from large villages to the former city-states of Patan, Kathmandu, and Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Val- ley. However, the most common houses in the middle hills are two-story, mud-brick houses with thatch-or, recently, tin-roofs. The bottom of each house is painted in red-clay ocher and the top half is whitewashed. The floor is cleaned regularly with a newly applied mixture of wet cow dung and clay. The kitchen must be kept pure, so it is often located on the second floor of the house in order to avoid the pollution of stray animals that might wander into it. Most houses have a veranda and a courtyard where people socialize and work on weaving, corn husking, and other chores. In the northern, mountainous regions of Nepal, such as among the Sherpa or people of Dolpo, houses are made of stone and wood. In the southern, lowland region of the country houses are made of bamboo matting, plastered with mud and cow dung, and covered with a thatch roof. In Newari towns and cities, houses are more elaborate three-story dwellings of stone or baked brick with tin or slate roofs, and they may have carved win- dows and courtyards in the middle of the house. Simplified versions of these houses are being made of cement or brick throughout the Kathmandu Valley to accommodate its current population boom. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Most Nepalis depend on agriculture for their main subsistence and as a source. the 1860s some coffee, tea, and rubber plantations were opened; most remained marginal at these low elevations. The effects on the Nayaka varied from place to place. In some localities they took to wage labor as their main source of income. In other areas, they added casual wage labor to their traditional gathering in the forest, barter in forest produce, and labor for agricultural neighbors and forest contractors. Nayaka, while they do not maintain close contact with Nayaka of other localities, do have close contact with neighboring non-Nayaka populations. They seem to have been in contact with non-Nayaka populations for a long time. They barter forest produce for simple agricultural and manufactured goods, such as tobacco, grain, and metal knives. They occasionally provide labor to their neighbors. They maintain friendly relations with neighboring populations and each party attends the other's festivals. Settlements A Nayaka community averages about five clusters of huts. The clusters, which we will call "hamlets", here are located in the jungle, near water sources, at a distance of a few miles from each other. Occasionally there are additional small Na'vaka 195 hamlets at the fringes of the jungle near local Indian villages. The huts vary considerably. The most substantial have a framework constructed of wood on a mud platform. The walls are made of strips of split bamboo resting on a low mud base, leaving a small doorway. The hut has a roof of grass thatch. Occasionally several huts are joined to each other in a row. The more casual huts are simply lean-tos resting on a rock, or on another hut, with no walls.There is a little-used fireplace in each living space, and a few articles lie casually on the ground. Except during the rainy period, people mostly sleep, cook, and eat outside their huts. Economy Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The Nayaka know of many species of flora in the forest, whose various parts they utilize for culinary and medicinal purposes, as well as for barter and for fabricating their shelter, tools, and uten- sils. In the forest they gather roots (mainly of wild yams), nuts, berries, and fruit; they fish; they collect honey from wild bees' nests; occasionally they trap birds; and they sometimes hunt deer with their dogs. They collect forest produce such as soapnuts and spices to sell to their neighbors and to traders from the cities. Nayaka also take up a variety of casual em- ployment, which usually requires expertise acquired through a food-gathering way of life (e.g., clearing jungle paths and guiding hunting expeditions). The nature of these jobs changes in response to changes in the surrounding environ. ment. Viewing the forest as a generous provider of food and all other material requirements, Nayakas are flexible and op- portunistic in their choice of occupations, and they frequently shift from one to another. Each family operates inde- pendently, and a heterogeneous economy arises around the core of the traditional food gathering, which is highly valued. The Nayaka have no tradition of animal husbandry or cultivation. A few families every now and then acquire a few chickens, or even a cow, which they keep for only a short period. Similarly, every once in a while a few families cultivate small plots of paddy, which they barely maintain and subsequently abandon. Most Nayaka plant some fruit trees near their huts. They keep dogs that feed on leftovers. Their children occasionally adopt as pets young monitor lizards and parrots found in the forest. Industrial Arts. Nayaka manufacture various containers, baskets, and mats from bamboo and grass for their own use. Occasionally they make simple coconut spoons, wooden pots, and pestles and construct bamboo fences and huts for their non-Nayaka neighbors. Division of Labor. The Nayaka have little division of labor based on gender. Spouses pursue most subsistence activities together and also share domestic pursuits to a considerable degree. Families, even single adults, are generally self- sufficient. Land Tenure. Nayaka live and utilize resources wherever they wish to within the territory they occupy. Kinship Kin Groups and Descent. All the Nayaka of a local community consider each other kin. In everyday conversation they refer to and address each other by kinship terms. On the whole, families do not cooperate in work, share productive equipment, or exchange gifts; but people are expected to be generally friendly and hospitable toward one another. The Nayaka, though warm and friendly, are highly autonomous. They rarely cooperate with other members of their hamlet, and every six to eighteen months they move to another hamlet. Life-cycle events are celebrated, if at all, by ad hoc aggre- gates of people within the locality who are invited by the cele- brants. The conjugal family is the only corporate and effective group among the Nayaka. Its members share possessions, work, and responsibility for each other. There are no descent groups. The Nayaka attach equal importance to matrilateral and patrilateral kin links. Kinship Terminology. Nayaka use kinship terms that reflect a Dravidian kinship terminology. In everyday applica- tion of kinship terms, they do not strictly maintain the dis- tinctions between affinal and consanguinal relations in the first ascending and first descending generations. Marriage and Family Marriage. Nayaka mostly find their spouses for themselves within the local community and sometimes among kin outside it. A courtship takes place, then the couple start sleeping together and establish their hearth, and then they increasingly share subsistence pursuits and domestic chores. There is no formal event to mark the marriage: it gradually emerges and is then publicly recognized. Some marriages, especially for long-standing single persons, are arranged. This is done by a maternal uncle or other relatives, and the spouse is usually from outside the local community. Such a union is sometimes celebrated by a meal that is offered to a small gathering of in- vitees and passersby. Nayaka express a preference for cross- cousin marriage (perhaps under the widespread Dravidian influence) and secondarily for spouses outside the close circle of relatives. Marriages are monogamous. A new conjugal family is independent and free to choose its place of residence. Some couples reside with the wife's parents during the initial period of marriage. Separation is common during the early years of marriage; it is effected by mutual agreement or by one of the parties leaving the other. A marriage that survives the early years is likely to endure. Domestic Unit. A man, a woman, and their young offspring constitute the domestic unit and usually sleep, cook, eat, and work together. Single persons, young or old, are tem- porarily attached to families. Strict separation is maintained between the living spaces of the conjugal family and those of their long- or short-term visitors. The former, especially, keep their separate hearths, near where they sleep, eat their share of the food on their own, and frequently cook it themselves. Nayaka value their independence highly. Inheritance. A Nayaka is frequently buried with the few possessions he or she used at the time of death. Children and other relatives sometimes take one or two of the deceased's possessions as remembrances. There is no individual ownership or inheritance of land. Socialization. Young children are greatly indulged. They are rarely scolded or punished. They spend most of their time with their parents, though occasionally they stay with grand- parents or older siblings. At about the age of 10, they start vis- iting other families in the local community, and later beyond it, for increasingly long periods. They become autonomous in 196 Nayaka their late teens, and they establish their own conjugal part- nerships any time from then up to their mid-twenties. They acquire survival skills and knowledge through watching adults and by trial and error; there is no formal instruction. Sociopolitical Organization Social Organization. The Nayaka are highly egalitarian and individualistic. They have various leveling mechanisms to prevent the development of inequalities of wealth, power, and prestige. Very few persons maintain friendships, or other binding interpersonal ties, outside their own conjugal family. Cooperation and communication between the highly individ- uated conjugal families is facilitated by the still-single persons who move between the conjugal families. Conjugal families occasionally cooperate with such single persons in subsistence pursuits. The single persons are important channels of communication within the local community. Political Organization. The Nayaka have a band society, with no overarching administrative or political organization. Its constituent units are autonomous families and individu. als, who aggregate themselves voluntarily into ad hoc, fluid, and open-ended social groupings: the coresidents of a hamlet, for example, or the participants in a celebration. Neither Nayaka society itself, nor any of its local communities, consti- tutes a political community. There are no offices carrying authority or power. Today, there is external pressure on the Nayaka to organize themselves as a political unit or to ap- point representatives. Social Control. Valuing individual autonomy above all, Nayaka refrain from intervening in other people's affairs; even gossip is rare. When intervention is necessary, they ap- peal to outside agencies (neighbors or deities). Conflict. Nayaka prevent conflicts by avoiding cooperation and competition and by moving away from potential confrontation. The few conflicts that occur are mainly over women. Religion and Expressive Culture Religious Beliefs. The Nayaka believe in natural spirits that reside on hilltops, in water sources, in high trees, and on the ground. They have added Hindu deities and the deities of neighboring people to their pantheon. Religious Practitioners. There are a few individuals in each local community who are occasionally possessed by spirits and then mediate between humans and the spirit world. Most are men, but some are women. There are also diviners who can identify the supernatural causes of diseases. Ceremonies. With the exception of death, which is celebrated quite elaborately, Nayaka barely mark life-cycle events, if at all. A communal celebration is held annually, in several locations in the area. During the celebration offerings are made to the ancestral and natural spirits. Through possession a sort of collective contract is renewed, by which the living undertake to preserve cultural continuity, to keep the "ways of the forefathers," and the deities undertake to preserve physical continuity, safeguarding the living from mortal diseases. The souls of the people who died during the preceding year are joined during the celebration with the other spirits. Arts. A few individuals play the bamboo flute, or beat a drum, on their own. Only at the annual celebration is there any collective music making. Then dances are held, a band plays music, and a play is performed. Medicine. Illnesses are classified into those for which a natural cause is obvious and those for which it is not. The former are treated by medicinal plants, known to all; the latter by establishing supernatural causes through divination or possession, and then by making offerings. Death and Afterlife. A ritual is held in the place where the death occurred; the corpse is buried elsewhere. The spirit of the deceased, dangerous to meet, roams in the forest until it is brought back into the community of spirits during the next annual celebration. See also Kurumbas Bibliography Bird, Nurit (1983a). "Conjugal Units and Single Persons: An Analysis of the Social System of the Food-Gathering Naiken of South India." Ph.D. dissertation, Cambridge University. Bird, Nurit (1983b). "Wage-Gathering: Socioeconomic Changes, and the Case of the Naiken of South India." In Rural South Asia: Linkages, Changes, and Development. Col- lected Papers on South Asia, edited by Peter Robb, 5 7-8 9. London: Curzon Press for the-School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Bird, Nurit (1987). "The Kurumbas of the Nilgiris: An Eth- nographic Myth?" Modern Asian Studies 24:17 3-1 89. Bird-David, Nurit (1988). "An Introduction to the Naikens: The People and the Ethnographic Myth." In Blue Mountains: The Ethnography and Biogeography of a

Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume III - South Asia - N pdf

Thông tin tài liệu

Từ khóa liên quan

Tài liệu cùng người dùng

Tài liệu liên quan