A historic milestone was reached on November 9, when custodianship of 39 Naga ancestral remains was transferred by the Oxford University Council to the Naga people. A solemn handover ceremony, hosted by the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) at the University of Oxford, was held to formalise the transfer. The remains were received through the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and the Naga Tribe Hoho. After more than a century in museum custody, the ancestors have now been returned to the care of Naga communities.
The ceremony was the culmination of a process that was begun in 2020, with the FNR serving as facilitator. Years of dialogue, patience and quiet persistence are reflected in the outcome. Moments like this are rarely produced by a single gesture. They are built over time, through trust that is carefully earned on both sides of the table.
To outsiders, the remains may be regarded as museum objects. Within Naga tradition, however, the dead are not considered to be departed from the community. Ancestors are held to be part of its moral and spiritual fabric, and the manner in which they are laid to rest is believed to matter deeply. Remains that were removed from their homeland during the colonial era, and kept for generations far from the soil and rites of their people, are therefore understood as a wound that was left unattended. The return is seen not as the recovery of artefacts, but as the restoration of dignity to those who were taken.
The role played by the Naga Tribe Hoho deserves particular mention. Naga society is made up of many tribes, each with its own language, customs and institutions, and common positions are not always easily reached. That the repatriation was pursued through a shared body, and the remains were received collectively, is regarded as a notable demonstration of what can be achieved when differences are set aside for a common cause. It is hoped that this example will be remembered when other questions of collective concern are faced.
The return is also situated within a wider global conversation. Across the world, institutions are being asked to reckon with the manner in which collections were assembled under colonial power, when consent was often absent and the voices of indigenous communities were seldom heard. Decolonisation is not to be reduced to a slogan or a political gesture. It is understood, in its truest sense, as the correction of imbalances in who is permitted to tell a people’s story, and who is entitled to keep what belongs to it. That Oxford’s governing body agreed to this transfer is acknowledged as a meaningful step, and it is expected to be regarded as a precedent by other institutions still holding similar material.
Perhaps the most striking dimension of the occasion is its tone. The process was carried forward under the banner of reconciliation, and no note of bitterness was permitted to define the day. Forgiveness is not to be confused with forgetting. The wrongs of the past are neither denied nor minimised by it. Instead, the burden of grievance is lifted from the present, and room is made for healing, both for communities that have carried a sense of loss across generations and for institutions that have been willing to confront an uncomfortable past. Few lessons are more needed in a region where old wounds are still felt.
Finally, the importance of understanding one’s heritage and roots is underscored by the event. For younger Nagas, much of ancestral history is experienced through stories, songs and the memory of elders, and these threads are at risk of being loosened by rapid change. The homecoming of the 39 ancestors offers an occasion for that heritage to be revisited, studied and passed on. A people who are well aware of where they have come from are better equipped to decide where they are going.
The handover, significant as it is, marks a beginning rather than an end. It is now expected that the remains will be cared for with the reverence that is owed to them, and that the rites and decisions which follow will be guided by consensus among the communities concerned. Transparency, humility and respect for tradition will be required at every stage. For now, a debt of gratitude is owed to all who laboured over the past six years, on both sides of the world, to make the day possible. The ancestors will be brought home, and the responsibility of honouring them will be placed, once again, where it belongs.
