Naga

Member of any of the various peoples who inhabit the highland region near the Indian-Myanmar (Burma) border; they number approximately 800,000. These peoples 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, with rice as the staple diet. Some peoples are egalitarian, others are stratified into aristocrats and commoners. Their languages belong to the Sino-Tibetan family.

The majority of these peoples live in the Indian state of Nagaland, created 1961, though some are found in Arunachal Pradesh and northern Cachar. Many highlanders practise shifting cultivation, though the Angami have developed a system of rice terraces. Among the Angami, merit is earned through organizing the erection of stone slabs and the giving of feasts, customs closely connected to traditional beliefs. Christian missionaries, especially US Baptists, have been active in Nagaland.

The forms of traditional political organization are very varied. The Konyak, for example, were ruled by hereditary leaders, whereas the Ao allowed particular age sets to exercise authority for a fixed period of years. Villages formed alliances between themselves, outside of which a man was considered a stranger and it was legitimate to decapitate him.