Nagaland State Women Commission chairperson Dr. Temsula Ao while speaking on the topic “cultural heritage of Nagaland” said that the topic carries an “awesome load of responsibility” for both experts in the field and lay persons as “Nagas are far removed from the cultures of our forefathers”.
She was delivering a keynote address during the two-day “National seminar on cultural heritage of Nagaland” organized by department of Anthropology Kohima Science College (KSC) in collaboration with Indra Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) at KSC conference hall, Tuesday.
Dr. Temsula said Nagas are grappling with the ever present influences of “our” cultural past with the ground realities of the 21st century and that in order to examine the implications one should first try to understand the meaning of “cultural heritage”.
She said with definition of culture as “our” basis the whole topic of “Cultural heritage of Nagaland” has to be examined. Dr. Temsula said the term seems to imply that Nagas have a single homogenous culture.
On heritage, she questioned whether all Nagas have inherited the tribal cultural legacy equally? Being a traditionally patriarchal society, have women also been endowed with this heritage? This being the ground reality of our context how are we to deal with our cultural heritage? Are we going to quantify to some borrowed ethnographic principles? Or are we going to delve deeper into the inner layers of our culture and look at the rationalization of involved in the artifacts and songs, tales and legends?
She said these questions were raised as in Naga context intangible arena is where one faces the most hurdles in documenting, analyzing and understanding the process called culture of the people as compared to tangible aspects of culture. She cautioned that as time passes many of these intangible aspects of “our” culture are on the verge of extinction.
Dr. Temsula then termed language as one of the hurdles as each Naga tribes speaks a distinct language unintelligible to others and that even with the language group each village has different dialectal variations.
As people without script of “our” own, Dr. Temsula said Nagas have to depend on the human memory for preservation of culture and the transmission of the same to the next generation.
Thus, she said emerged the oral traditions of the Nagas and despite question raised about its authenticity, reliability and relevance to the present day, Dr. Temsula said this tradition has kept Naga villages as neat, peaceful and self-governed units throughout the land.
She then said that today’s scholars have to try and establish the relevance of the tangible culture to the intangible by adopting a more humanistic approach to the findings and examinations of artifacts to the lifestyle of the people under study. Dr. Temsula added that just a routine and academic exercise would not be a fair assessment of the culture.
In regard to intangible heritage, in spite of linguistic hurdle, Dr. Temsula said as a people, the most valuable principle of “our” cultural past are embedded in “our” intangible heritage and that it continues to manifest its relevance even to the present lives of the people.
She was of the opinion that oral traditions of Nagas not only contain their history, myths, legends and tales but also other lores pertaining to indigenous knowledge about the land and its resources and the importance of maintaining the ecological balance between man and nature while at the same time endorsing ethical behaviour among people for peaceful existence in the villages.
Noting that there seems to be a growing ambiguity in the way Naga cultural heritage is being viewed by others as well as by “our” own people, Dr. Temsula differentiated the two as: tangible/material culture as a product and therefore finite whereas intangible culture as an evolving process however incomplete, convoluted or depleted by memory loss through time.
Asserting that both are integral to the concept called Naga culture, she said tangible culture becomes irrelevant without the lore of the oral traditions relating to them and the skill and artistry involved in their creation becomes lost without the specificity of their origin and the symbolism attached to it.
Dr. Temsula also cautioned on the emerging trend whereby Nagas are using “our” tangible culture as mere identity markers.
She then concluded her address with a comment on “dislocation of some artifacts of our tangible culture” which adores many museums in the west depriving the Nagas of a significant portion of their tangible cultural heritage.
Dr. Temsula concluded by saying “have any of us ever thought of demanding the return of our treasures from those countries which spirited them away as spoils of conquest?”
While delivering an introduction to the seminar, director IGRMS Bhopal, Prof. Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri informed that the national seminar is a series of seminar on cultural heritage of North East states. He said that the seminar was intended to create an awareness and critical thinking about the people of north east region.
Chaudhuri congratulated KSC for organizing the seminar and hoped to associate IGRMS with various activities of the North east states. Earlier, welcome speech was delivered by Principal KSC, Dr. I Anungla Aier. The inaugural session was followed by first session of the seminar, the speakers and the topics presented were- the German anthropologist on the Naga hills by Dr. Alok Kumar Kanungo, vibrant collections within sleepy walls of museums: a case study in Nagaland by Mepusangba, interaction between colonial agencies and Naga world view: a study of social change among the Ao Nagas 1870-1955 by Robin Temsu, creating cultural heritage awareness and potential as a source for socio economic development in Nagaland by Aokumla walling.
Speakers and topics on the third session were- Shifting Cultivation a bio-cultural heritage of Nagaland by Amba Jamir, Knowledge on traditional fermented foods of Nagaland University by Bendangnaro Jamir, Traditional knowledge and practices associated with carpenter worm: An indigenous food habit by Dr. Limatemjen, Ethno botanical approaches of traditional medicine, religious and supernatural beliefs of gingers among Naga tribes by Dr. Moa Kichu and Rice Terraces: Cultural Heritage of the Angami Nagas by Vilhousienuo Neli. The chairperson for second session was Vengota Nakro.
The first day of the seminar culminated with a cultural programme enthralling the gathering through traditional song, recital, music and dance.