The Naga are the various peoples who inhabit the highland region near the Indian/Myanmar (Burma) border; they number approximately three million people in 2001. These peoples, comprising over separate 45 tribes (one source claims 77 tribes including sub-tribes), do not possess a common name; some of the main groups are Ao, Konyak, Sangtam, Lhota, Sema, Rengma, Chang, and Angami. They live by farming, hunting, and fishing. Their languages belong to the Sino-Tibetan family.
The Naga people were first encountered by the West in 1832 when a British military expedition attempting to find a route from Manipur to Assam encountered the Naga people. The Naga were hostile to the British, and fought them until 1939. When the British left the Nagas Hills after Indian Independence, the Nagas declared Nagaland (Nagalim) as an Independence Nation on the 14th of August 1947. But the Indian Government did not recognize the unilateral declaration of the Naga National Independence and the indigenous Naga people continue to struggle to get sovereignty from the Indian Government in 2009. Research Naga
In Hindu mythology (and Jainism and Buddhism) the naga is a serpent-geni figure. As water gods, nagas inhabit the bottoms of rivers, lakes, and seas, in splendid, jewel-studded palaces ever alive with dancing and song. In temple architecture, nagas stand guard at the portals of shrines. In South India nagakals, stones decorated with a single serpent or an entwined serpent-pair, are set up as votive offerings by women desiring offspring. Research Naga
Nagaland is a state in north east India. It was formed in 1962 from parts of Assam and the North- East Frontier Agency. It is inhabited chiefly by Naga tribes (Nagas) and consists of almost inaccessible forested hills and mountains (the Naga Hills). Research Nagaland
Abbreviations
Research Liangmai
