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INTRODUCTION
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On December
1, 1963 Nagaland became the sixteenth fulfledged State in India.
Nagaland has, in the east a long international border with Burma. It
borders on the Manipur State in the South, Assam in the West and
North-West and Arunachal Pradest in the North-East. It has an area of
63,666 square miles, with a total population of 773,281 (1981 census).
In addition to the recent migrant groups from the other parts of India,
the State has 20 indigenous ethnic groups speaking 23 languages of which
21 belong to the Naga group of the Tibeto-Burman sub-family. These
ethnic/linguistic groups are: Angami (33766/43569), Sema (47439/65227),
Ao (55904/15816), Lotha (26565/36949), Rengma (5786/8678), Chakhesang,
Sangtam (15508/19998), Konyak (46653/72338), Chang (11329/15816), Phom
(13385/180017), Yimchunger (10187/13564), Khiamngan (12434/14414),
Zeliang, Kuki-chin (1175), Rongmei, Kachari, Makware (769), Tirkhir
(2486), Chin and Mao. Of these, barring Chakhesang, Zeliang and Kachiri,
each community has a language identical with its name. Chakhesang
consists of three linguistic groups, viz., Chokri (8339), Kheza (7295)
and Sangtam-Pochuri (2938). The Zeliang community consists of speakers
of Zemi (6472) and Liangmei (2988). The Kacharis in Nagaland originally
spoke Bodo-Kachari of the Tibeto-Burman sub-family and after conversion
to Vaishnavism, a Hindu sect, 100 per cent shift took place from their
ancestral language to Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language. They continue to
be Vaishnavites but had lost the original Assamese language and have
creolized the Naga Pidgin, the only community in Nagaland to creolize it
at social level. The State Government has recognized as Scheduled Tribes
of Nagaland the first fourteen communities in the same order as given
above. Makware and Tirkhir are considered as sub-groups of Yimchunger.
Rongmei and Mao are recognized as Scheduled tribes in the neighbouring
Manipur State.
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In addition to the languages mentioned above, Nagaland has another
important language named Nagamese, redesignated as Naga Pidgin by this
writer. The importance of Naga Pidgin arises owing to the fact that it
is the only language which has currency across the entire State. Though
English is the sole official language of the State, not even five
percent of thepopulation has any fluency in English for using it as a
vehicle of day to day communication. In the early days
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1The figures in the bracket show the census
figures for 1961/1971. In some instances only 1961 census figures are
given as 1971 figures are not available. The census figures for the
Kachari, Rongmei, Chin and Mao communities in Nagaland are not
available.
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only those
who went to the foothills at different points in Assam knew this
language. Though the origin of Naga Pidgin is totally unknown it is
evident from the accounts of Lt. Bigges (Tour diary 1841) that this
Pidgin was in vogue before the British soldiers set their feet in the
Naga Hills.
Dimapur is the only town in Nagaland that has a rail and road link
with the rest of India. According to the Imperial Gazetteer of India
(Vol.XII.346) ‘Dimapur is the site of an early capital of the Kachari
Kings which was sacked by the Ahoms in 1536 A.D.’ This implies that
the Nagas in the southwest had contact with the Kacharis (a Bodo-Naga
group) as well as with the ahoms, from the early 16th century, as
Dimapur is in the Southwestern past of Nagaland, bordering on Assam. As
early as Ahom days in the 13th century the Nagas from the North and
Northest visted Sibsagar, an important commercial town in Assam.
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The recored history of the area shows that Ahoms, a Tai group,
speaking a language of the Siamese-Chinese subfamily of the Brahmaputra
valley, (presently Assam) and established a Kingdom in 1228 A.D. They
wrote prose chronicles in their language but the Ahoms were gradually
absorbed into the conquered community resulting in the loss of their
language and religion. The mane Assam is derived from Ahom (cf.Encyclopaedia
britannica vol. 9.361). The Ahom chronicles clearly mention about their
contact with the Nagas, but the Ahoms did not rule over the Nagas.
While referring to the Naga-Ahom relations, Elwin (1961
: 18) states that ‘the history or Naga relations with
Ahoms is a blend of hostility and friendliness’. Gait
(1933 : 366) claims that ‘Nagas had never been subjugated
by the Ahoms and it was not part of British policy to
absorb it’.
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Though the post-Ahom history of Assam is not very clear, what is
clearly known is that the Assam rulers subjugated the entire group of
Nagas. There were reports of occasional warfare between the Assam rulers
and the Nagas, but they were never regular open ones but ambushes in the
nights by the Nagas and retaliatory expeditions by the Assamese. It was
the then British Government that brought the Naga Hills under the
Administrative control of Assam (cf. Alemchiba 1970). This gave an
opportunity to some of the elite amongst the Nagas to have formal
education in Assam including the learning of Assamese language. This
formal education in Assamese, however, did not have any impact on the
structure of Naga Pdgin.
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1Encyclopaedia Britannica (Vol. 9:360) mentions
Ahoms as Burmese, but the Burmese is a Tibeto-Burman language.
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