In the year 2006 I was serving as a teacher in a reputed government high school under Mokokchung district. During this time I observed that some of the students in class 10 of this school were very interested and also quite good in English essay writing. I also noticed that these class 10 students had a considerably good command and mastery over English grammar and vocabulary.
Having noticed this, I decided to have a close examination of their writing skills and also the command that they had over English grammar and vocabulary. To do this I thought that the best way would be to conduct an essay test. I wanted all the students to write well and therefore I informed them two-weeks in advance about the test and also on the topic on which they were to write.
As mentioned above, my primary motive in conducting the test was to examine their writing skills and the command they had over English grammar and vocabulary. However, intentionally I gave them a historical topic and told them that they can refer to any book for the test or that they can write anything they know even if they do not refer to any written material. The topic I gave them was ‘The History of the Nagas’. I told them to prepare to write anything they could write about the history of the Nagas.
On the day of the test, I took special permission from the school headmistress and took two consecutive class periods for the test to give sufficient time to the students to write. The test was conducted successfully with some of the students writing even five full pages on the given topic.
As mentioned above my primary motive in conducting the essay test was to examine the writing skills and the grammar and vocabulary of my students. But as I went through the test papers of the students, my observation and concern shifted from the literary aspect to the historical aspect. This was so because most of the students started their essays from either 1947 or 1963. When I noticed this I asked myself ‘Did the history of the Nagas start only in 1947 or 1963?’ This became a question for me which needed some serious ponder.
So, where does the fault lie if our high school students cannot write anything about the Nagas prior to Indian Independence (1947) or the birth of the puppet state of Nagaland (1963)? Does the fault lay with the students themselves, the teachers, the school textbooks, the syllabus, the overall curriculum or our own ignorance and uncaring attitude about our own past?
Here, the fact that the Nagas did not know about the art of writing prior to the coming of the Christian missionaries in the 1870’s is perhaps the biggest factor why much of our pasts is still shrouded and blurred in mystery and legend. Even with the coming of the missionaries to our land most of the literary activities initiated by the missionaries were concentrated only on translation activities and not on recording or trying to find out and write about our pasts.
During my high school years, one of my social science teachers mentioned that the Nagas must have lived near the sea at some point in history since our Naga forefathers were already familiar with objects like ships and seashells. And at a public meeting held recently here in Kohima village, one of our village leaders mentioned that it is most likely that Kohima as a place has been inhabited only for about 500 years.
In one of his articles, Kaka D. Iralu came out with some very interesting facts about the genesis of the Naga race, the migration of our forefathers through the centuries and how they finally came to settle in the present Naga hills which we call Nagaland today. Some of these facts mentioned by uncle Kaka in this said article are:
1) After the universal flood during Noah’s time which destroyed everything, the history of the Naga people started again with Shem, the eldest son of Noah. Kaka mentioned in this article that the Nagas and all other Mongolians like the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans etc are descendants of Shem.
2) From Mesopotamia (present Iraq), our Mongolian ancestors migrated through the Middle East across Central Asia and on to Mongolia and finally made Asia ‘the boundary of their habitation’.
3) Thirdly, in this said article it is also mentioned that according to legends the Nagas, Kachins and Karens were brothers and that these three brothers and their descendants went on to Tibet and China and finally settled down in Burma and Nagaland.
4) While the younger brothers – the Kachins and the Karens settled down in the then unoccupied mountains of present Burma, our Naga forefathers crossed the Chinwin river and made the Naga hills our country and our land.
5) Fifthly, the said writer also mentioned that these migrations from Mongolia to Tibet to China and on to the present settlements occurred from BC 2617 to 759 BC.
6) Unlike the Indian races who entered India through the Khyber Pass, our Naga ancestors’ entry points to our present lands were through the Burmese corridor and the Himalayan regions.
7) Many of our history in the form of written records are in the hands of the Meiteis who had learnt the art of writing even as early as the sixth century. In these royal chronicles, many mentions are made of the many wars that our forefathers fought with them. These chronicles cover events from the third century to the tenth century.
8) As for our written records from the 13th century to the 19th century, it is in the royal chronicles of the Ahom kings with whom our forefathers fought intermittent wars for over seven hundred years i.e., 1228 till the end of the 19th century. In these fights not a single Naga village was surrendered to the Ahom kings.
9) As per independent records like those of Claudius Ptolemy (AD 150), Hiuen Tsang (AD 645) and others, it is clear that our forefathers were already in our present lands when Jesus was preaching the gospel of salvation in Palestine around AD 30 - 40.
10) As for modern Naga history, our grandfathers fought against the mighty British imperial might for 115 years i.e. 1832 to 1947. Then in our own times, our grandfathers and even our fathers have been fighting the Indian and Burmese invaders of our land for the past sixty four years i.e., 1947-2011.
Some of these facts are quite remarkable and startling even for me especially point no. 1, 5, 8 and 9 mentioned above. However, I sincerely believe that a responsible writer like uncle Kaka must have done his thorough research works on the subject-at-hand and other relevant homework before coming out public with these facts.
Therefore, if these facts are true or at least believed to be nearest to the truth as far as our past is concerned and if these facts are not confronted by any other facts known to us, I see no reason why these facts should not be included in our school textbooks so that our young Naga students become aware about these very crucial facts about our past right from their school days.
If this is done, I am sure none of our Naga students will start from 1947 or 1963 when they are asked to write about the past histories of the Nagas or an essay on the subject ‘The History of the Nagas’.
Khrietuonyü Noudi
Kohima Village
Having noticed this, I decided to have a close examination of their writing skills and also the command that they had over English grammar and vocabulary. To do this I thought that the best way would be to conduct an essay test. I wanted all the students to write well and therefore I informed them two-weeks in advance about the test and also on the topic on which they were to write.
As mentioned above, my primary motive in conducting the test was to examine their writing skills and the command they had over English grammar and vocabulary. However, intentionally I gave them a historical topic and told them that they can refer to any book for the test or that they can write anything they know even if they do not refer to any written material. The topic I gave them was ‘The History of the Nagas’. I told them to prepare to write anything they could write about the history of the Nagas.
On the day of the test, I took special permission from the school headmistress and took two consecutive class periods for the test to give sufficient time to the students to write. The test was conducted successfully with some of the students writing even five full pages on the given topic.
As mentioned above my primary motive in conducting the essay test was to examine the writing skills and the grammar and vocabulary of my students. But as I went through the test papers of the students, my observation and concern shifted from the literary aspect to the historical aspect. This was so because most of the students started their essays from either 1947 or 1963. When I noticed this I asked myself ‘Did the history of the Nagas start only in 1947 or 1963?’ This became a question for me which needed some serious ponder.
So, where does the fault lie if our high school students cannot write anything about the Nagas prior to Indian Independence (1947) or the birth of the puppet state of Nagaland (1963)? Does the fault lay with the students themselves, the teachers, the school textbooks, the syllabus, the overall curriculum or our own ignorance and uncaring attitude about our own past?
Here, the fact that the Nagas did not know about the art of writing prior to the coming of the Christian missionaries in the 1870’s is perhaps the biggest factor why much of our pasts is still shrouded and blurred in mystery and legend. Even with the coming of the missionaries to our land most of the literary activities initiated by the missionaries were concentrated only on translation activities and not on recording or trying to find out and write about our pasts.
During my high school years, one of my social science teachers mentioned that the Nagas must have lived near the sea at some point in history since our Naga forefathers were already familiar with objects like ships and seashells. And at a public meeting held recently here in Kohima village, one of our village leaders mentioned that it is most likely that Kohima as a place has been inhabited only for about 500 years.
In one of his articles, Kaka D. Iralu came out with some very interesting facts about the genesis of the Naga race, the migration of our forefathers through the centuries and how they finally came to settle in the present Naga hills which we call Nagaland today. Some of these facts mentioned by uncle Kaka in this said article are:
1) After the universal flood during Noah’s time which destroyed everything, the history of the Naga people started again with Shem, the eldest son of Noah. Kaka mentioned in this article that the Nagas and all other Mongolians like the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans etc are descendants of Shem.
2) From Mesopotamia (present Iraq), our Mongolian ancestors migrated through the Middle East across Central Asia and on to Mongolia and finally made Asia ‘the boundary of their habitation’.
3) Thirdly, in this said article it is also mentioned that according to legends the Nagas, Kachins and Karens were brothers and that these three brothers and their descendants went on to Tibet and China and finally settled down in Burma and Nagaland.
4) While the younger brothers – the Kachins and the Karens settled down in the then unoccupied mountains of present Burma, our Naga forefathers crossed the Chinwin river and made the Naga hills our country and our land.
5) Fifthly, the said writer also mentioned that these migrations from Mongolia to Tibet to China and on to the present settlements occurred from BC 2617 to 759 BC.
6) Unlike the Indian races who entered India through the Khyber Pass, our Naga ancestors’ entry points to our present lands were through the Burmese corridor and the Himalayan regions.
7) Many of our history in the form of written records are in the hands of the Meiteis who had learnt the art of writing even as early as the sixth century. In these royal chronicles, many mentions are made of the many wars that our forefathers fought with them. These chronicles cover events from the third century to the tenth century.
8) As for our written records from the 13th century to the 19th century, it is in the royal chronicles of the Ahom kings with whom our forefathers fought intermittent wars for over seven hundred years i.e., 1228 till the end of the 19th century. In these fights not a single Naga village was surrendered to the Ahom kings.
9) As per independent records like those of Claudius Ptolemy (AD 150), Hiuen Tsang (AD 645) and others, it is clear that our forefathers were already in our present lands when Jesus was preaching the gospel of salvation in Palestine around AD 30 - 40.
10) As for modern Naga history, our grandfathers fought against the mighty British imperial might for 115 years i.e. 1832 to 1947. Then in our own times, our grandfathers and even our fathers have been fighting the Indian and Burmese invaders of our land for the past sixty four years i.e., 1947-2011.
Some of these facts are quite remarkable and startling even for me especially point no. 1, 5, 8 and 9 mentioned above. However, I sincerely believe that a responsible writer like uncle Kaka must have done his thorough research works on the subject-at-hand and other relevant homework before coming out public with these facts.
Therefore, if these facts are true or at least believed to be nearest to the truth as far as our past is concerned and if these facts are not confronted by any other facts known to us, I see no reason why these facts should not be included in our school textbooks so that our young Naga students become aware about these very crucial facts about our past right from their school days.
If this is done, I am sure none of our Naga students will start from 1947 or 1963 when they are asked to write about the past histories of the Nagas or an essay on the subject ‘The History of the Nagas’.
Khrietuonyü Noudi
Kohima Village
