Tangkhul Naga

Tangkhul Naga girl in a modern adaption of the traditional dress Tangkhul Naga Elder

Tangkhul is a Naga tribe living in the Indo-Burma border

area occupying the Ukhrul district in Manipur, India and Tangkhuls such as kongsang, huishon, etc. were made of
the Somra Tangkhul hills (Somra tract) in Upper Burma. sea shells, cowrie and conch shells a prominent feature of
Despite this international border, many Tangkhul have the people who live on the shore.
continued to regard themselves as “one nation”.[1]
By 2nd century A.D. the Tangkhuls were living in
Samshok (Thuangdut) in Myanmar . Ptolemy, a Greek
astronomer and geographer of Alexandria in his Geogra-
1 History phy of Further India c. 140 A.D. referred to the Tangkhul
at Triglypton (Thuangdut). The Tangkhuls began dis-
The Tangkhuls, as with other tribes on the hills, came to perse from Samshok after the invasion of Ko-lo-feng and
Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh from his successor I-mau-shun the king of Nan-chao in the
China through Myanmar entering their present habitats in closing part of the 8th century A.D. and beginning of the
successive waves of immigration. The Tangkhuls came 9th century A.D. They were further driven towards the
together with the Maos, Poumeis, Marams and Thangals north west of Myanmar by the Shan people.
because all of them have references to their dispersal from Thus, the Tangkhuls as also other tribes who travelled
Makhel a Mao village in Senapati district. They had also from China to Myanmar and from there finally they came
erected megaliths at Makhel in memory of their having into their present land traversing through innumerable
dispersed from there to various directions. snow covered landscapes, mountains and wild forests
The Tangkhuls point to the association of their forefa- confronting wild beasts and wild tribes may be grouped
thers with the seashore. Most of the ornaments of the collectively as Naga on the basis of ethnicity. The exo-

1
2 4 CULTURE

dus of the Tangkhuls from China to Myanmar and finally Khunggoi, Kupome, Phadang, and Ukhrul. Ukhrul is the
to India is indeed a story of heroism of human courage principal dialect.
and endurance in the face of great famine in China dur- A slightly modified English alphabet is used. Tangkhul
ing those days. In course of time every Tangkhul village Language is included in the CBSE syllabus and is the first
became a small republic like the Greek city states. Every Tribal language from North East India to be included in
village had an unwritten constitution made up of age-old the CBSE syllabus.
conventions and traditions. The Tangkhul villages were
self-sufficient except for salt, and self-governing units
ruled by hereditary or elected chief assisted by a Coun-
cil of Elders. The chief was a judge, administrator and 3 Language development
commander rolled into one.
Hunphun was the headquarters of the Tangkhul Long 3.1 Literacy rate in first language
(Tangkhul Assembly), as well as the Tangkhul annual fair
locally known as “Leh Khangapha” used to be held at Because of the diversity in dialects and lack of a standard-
Somsai in Ukhrul. ized language, it is difficult to gauge the literacy level.
However—if the knowledge of Tangkhul is taken as an
The boundary of Manipur and Burma ( Myanmar ) was indicator—most young Tangkhuls are losing their grasp
laid down by an agreement signed between the British au- of the language, often preferring to use the English lan-
thorities (East India Company) and Burma on 9 January guage to describe more complex ideas. There are some
1834 on the river bank of Nighthee ( Chindwin). The Ar- important factors that contribute to the standardization
ticle No.4 (iii) of this agreement relates to the Tangkhul of English language as the primary medium of learning
country. “Fourth (iii) - On the north, the line of bound- and communication. Firstly, there are various concrete
ary will begin at the foot of the same hills at the northern and abstracts objects and ideas which cannot be termed
extremity of the Kabo Valley and pass due north up to the in Tangkhul language, simply because unlike the English
first range of hills, east of that upon which stand the vil- language it does not have e rich vocabulary. Secondly, the
lages of Chortor (Choithar), Noongbee (Nungbi), Nong- emergence of western education, which rapidly change
har (Nunghar), of the tribe called by the Munepooriis and uplift the live and standard of Tangkhuls led the peo-
(Manipuris) Loohooppa (Tangkhul), and by the Burmahs ple to neglect learning the language and hence became
Lagwensoung, now tributary of Manipoor.” As a result a secondary subject. Thirdly, the idea of globalization
of this boundary demarcation without the knowledge let capture the attention of the people to neglect their own
alone consent of the Tangkhuls, many Tangkhul village language and culture.
situated in Somrah hills are include under Burma. Later,
when India and Burma attained national independence,
the Tangkhuls found themselves belonging to two differ- 3.2 Literacy rate in other languages
ent countries.
English is taught in primary schools, and the number of
people able to read the Roman script is high. Almost all
young people can read and write the Roman script; older
people are less proficient. The literacy rate is 73%.[2]
There are English and bi-lingual publications, such as the
magazine The Legacy and the English newspaper The Aja
Daily. Aja is edited by Mrs Valley Rose Hungyo, the only
lady editor of the state. A new bi-lingual daily newspaper
The Shirui Lily Times was started in Ukhrul district head-
quarters from August 16, 2010. Owned and published by
Shimreingam A.Shatsang, The Shirui Lily Times is jointly
edited by the publisher himself and another dynamic ed-
itor Ngakuini A Shatsang. With this new edition-Ukhrul
Ukhrul Town now has two local dailies published in Tangkhul.[3]

2 Language 4 Culture
The culture of Tangkhul Naga are very unique; there
Main article: Tangkhul language are two type of culture in our society, they are 1) Tra-
ditional belief and custom exercises trans-passing from
The Tangkhul Naga tribe has more than a hundred di- one generation to another generation. And 2) Ancient
alects - each village has its own dialect including Khangoi, tools, materials, like: spears, swords,shields, bows, axes,

spades, many material make of woods and irons. Cultur-
ally, the Tangkhuls share close affinities with Meeteis of
the Imphal Valley. The Tangkhuls are fond of singing,
dancing and festivities. For every season, there is a fes-
tival that lasts almost a week. Luira phanit is a major
one among many festivals and some famous festivals like
Yamphat(kolkanshai) of Peh is no more celebrating. The
Tangkhuls’ artistic creativity is manifested in their hand-
icrafts and wood carvings. The Tangkhul culture influ-
ences to many younger, which is totally accepted egali-
tarian ethos, there was no caste or classes in the society.
Every person is equal in the society and the society fol-
lows patriarchal system.
The life and art of the Tangkhul are attractive and cap-
tivating. Their different costumes and wears, uten-
sils,architecture, monumental erections and memorial
set-ups depict their dexterity in art, which also speak of
their sense of beauty and finesse. Though there are com-
mon costumes and wears, both for male and female, there
are also some costumes and wears exclusively meant for
male and female. Some of the traditional clothes and
wears Clothes/Shawls Man’s Women’s 1.Haora(Man’s
mostly) 1. Malao 1.Phangyai 2.Chongkhom(Women’s
mostly) 2. Laokha 2. Kahang Kashan 3.Tangkang(for
man and woman) 3. Kahang Malao 3. Seichang Kashan
4. Luirim (man’s mostly) 4. Thangkang 4. Thangkang
Kashan 5. Raivat Kachon (Common) 5. Khuilang
Kashan 6. Khuilang Kachon (woman’s mostly) 6. Kon-
grah Kashan 7.Phingui Kchon (common) 7. Shanphaila
8. Phaphir (common) 8. Kuiying Muka (upper cover)
9. Phorei Kachon (man’s mostly) 9. Zingtai Kashan
10.Luingamla Kashan
5 Music and dance
Tangkhuls are music lovers and their songs are soft and
melodious. Apart from encoding into the music the var-
ied seasonal and cultural ideas and philosophies, music is
a medium wherein historical events are also related in the
lyrics. In as much as religious fervor is incorporated and
composed in the songs, the romantic nature of the people
also finds its expressions in the music. There are vari-
ous varieties of songs, some are mood special, some are
festival/seasonal specials. These folksongs and folklores
can be taught and sang by anybody, anytime, but there
are also some specific musical expressive melodies of ev-
ery region or area. There are some song that are allowed
people to sang only during those particular season not on
other occasion. For instance like the seed sowing festi-
val song were forbidden to sing during when the season
was over. In a year there are numerous festival but now
in modern after the christianity came some of the festival
has ceased.
These folksongs and folklores can be played or accompa-
nied by musical instruments. Some of the musical instru-
ments are: 1. Tingteila (Violin), 2. Tala (Trumpet), 3.
3
Pung (Drum), 4. Mazo (Woman’s mouth-piece), 5. Sipa
(Flute), 6. Kaha Ngashingkhon (Bamboo pipe) etc. Cor-
responding to the rhythmic composition of the songs, the
dances of the Tangkhuls are also rhythmic and these are
eventful and vigorous. Thrilling as they are, there are also
some special occasional dances, like the Kathi Mahon -
dance for the dead, Laa Khanganui - virgin dance during
Luira Festival, Rai Pheichak - war Dance etc. Rewben
Mashangva, a member of the Tangkhul community is in-
strumental in popularising the music of the community
to the world. Sadly, after the western culture and songs
influence the youth are gradually neglected to follow their
ancestor songs. The Tangkhul Naga were very found of
western song and instrument. Majority youth know how
to use Guitar and other music instrument. Even some of
the song of Tangkhul their lyric and tune were almost re-
semble with the western song.
6 History of Christianity in the
Tangkhul culture
Christianity is a large part of current Tangkhul Naga cul-
ture. Tangkhul Naga people are the first community in
Manipur to become a Christian. Christianity was first
brought to the Tangkhul people by Rev. William Petti-
grew in 1895. The story goes that the chief of the tribe,
Raihao, had stories about his great grandfather dream-
ing that a white missionary would come to Ukhrul. Be-
cause of this, when Rev. Pettigrew showed up, Raihao
allowed him to live among them and work as a mission-
ary. When the chief was converted, the whole tribe con-
verted as well, and Christianity has remained a prominent
religion among Tangkhul Nagas to this day.
7 See also
• Bible translations into the languages of Northeast In-
dia
7.1 Villages in Tangkhul
According to the latest research there are approximately
380 Tangkhul villages. The large villages in the west in-
clude Taloi, Teinam, Somdal, Hundung and Ukhrul; in
the north Chingjaroi and Longpi; on the North eastern
frontier Choithar (Ruithar); in the east Pushing and in the
south Riha.
8 Further reading
• Akhui, Z. A. S. (1973) A Short Account of Tangkhul
Naga Culture Imphal
4 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

• Arokianathan, S. (1987) Tangkhul Naga Grammar

Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, In-
dia, OCLC 19543897

• Horam, Mashangthei (1988) Naga Insurgency: The

Last Thirty Years Cosmo Publications, New Delhi,
OCLC 19452813
• Shimray, A. S. W. (2001) History of the Tangkhul
Nagas Akansha Pub. House, New Delhi, ISBN 81-
87606-04-5

• Shongzan, Mayaso (2013) “A Portrait of the

Tangkhul Nagas” the Exodus, Ukhrul

• Josiah Luithui, (2014) “Liberation Theology of the

Head-Hunters Tangkhul Naga”, TTA, Ukhrul.

9 References
[1] Khamrang, Khayaipam (2000) “The Tangkhul Naga
Tribe between Tradition and Modernity” pp. 37–71,
page 49, In Frei, Fritz (editor) (2000) Inkulturation zwis-
chen Tradition und Modernität: Kontext, Begriffe, Modelle
Freiberg University Press, Freiberg, Switzerland, ISBN 3-
7278-1292-3

[2] 2001 census in “Naga, Tangkhul”. Retrieved 3 May 2015.

[3] 'New daily launched in Ukhrul', Hueiyen Lanpao, Septem-

ber 2, 2010.

10 External links
• http://www.tangkhul.com

• http://www.ukhrul.nic.in
• http://www.tangkhulnet.tripod.com
 5

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

11.1 Text
• Tangkhul Naga Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangkhul_Naga?oldid=665742337 Contributors: Utcursch, JoJan, Kwamikagami,
Kappa, Bdebbarma, Grutness, Kelly Martin, Mr Tan, Bgwhite, Wavelength, Bruxism, SmackBot, Aelfthrytha, Chris the speller, Shivap,
Awor, Bejnar, Amartyabag, Khazar, JoeBot, Lavateraguy, Cydebot, Alaibot, Fabrictramp, Jim.henderson, CommonsDelinker, Johnpack-
lambert, Tonshaiza, KylieTastic, Pachooey, Dravecky, Nagainfo, Dthomsen8, Skarebo, MatthewVanitas, Chipems, Yobot, Cjwoleng,
Yarzaryeni, LilHelpa, Awungnao, Masi Yangyi, Gangpi, Macwhiz, Khangrah, Korrawit, Bstephens393, BG19bot, Tuisem Ngakang, Kapai-
won, Khazar2, Ashok Raingam, GhunwI', Thanreichan, Serious reader, Houruoha, Amortias, Kharingyo shimrah, Lstallanao, Yann-an-Od,
Ngayaising, Yarui wui vang, Wren raleng and Anonymous: 40

11.2 Images
• File:Partial_View_of_North-Eastern_Ukhrul_Town_01.JPG Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/
Partial_View_of_North-Eastern_Ukhrul_Town_01.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Ac apam
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
• File:Tangkhul_Chonchon.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Tangkhul_Chonchon.jpg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Thanreichan
• File:Tangkhul_Naga_elder.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Tangkhul_Naga_elder.jpg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Yarzaryeni

11.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0