HEAD MEANT FOR MAN VS MAN MEANT FOR HEAD. PERCEPTIONS, CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES OF NAGA TRIBES (NORTH-EAST INDIA)

Abstract

The present case study dwells upon the vision of a human head in the popular mind of the Naga tribes living in the state of Nagaland, India, in whose perception a human head has direct association with the fertility of both man and land, which triggered the desire to possess more heads and, consequently, resulted in head hunting once widespread in the countries of South-East Asia, Burma, Indonesia, New Zealand. The paper is based on the material provided by the monographs of British anthropologists published in early twentieth century and the field work done by the author in Naga villages after 2012.