Portrait of two men

B&W photographic print. 'They both wear white cloths, the man on the left a narrow one tied round the waist and then pulled up between the legs, his companion a short kilt. The cloths are normally made of silk. The man on the right wears deo moni beads and strips of cane bound below the knees....

Full description


Date(s) of creation: 6 March 1927
Level: Item
Format: Archive           
Main author: Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
URL: http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005181
URL Description: Digital version available online at SOAS Digital Collections

Summary: B&W photographic print. 'They both wear white cloths, the man on the left a narrow one tied round the waist and then pulled up between the legs, his companion a short kilt. The cloths are normally made of silk. The man on the right wears deo moni beads and strips of cane bound below the knees. The inhabitants of Semkhor are very different from the Zemi Nagas which surround them. They speak Kachari, dress like Kacharis and their houses are of the Kachari pattern, yet they are definitely not Kacharis, though Kacharis are the only people allowed to enter their houses, a right which is reciprocated. They are Hindus, like Kacharis. Mills considered that they could be descendants of the Konyak Nagas who used to form the bodyguard of the Kachari kings. This theory was borne out, in his opinion, by certain similarities with the Konyaks in burial customs and items of dress. There are the remains of a Kachari fort about three miles from the village. The people of Semkhor have never intermarried with Kacharis, and the reason why the village is the only one of its kind is that the Kachari kings strictly forbade the founding of any colony villages.'
Main author: Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
Extent: 1 photograph
Note: Ethnic group: Bodo Kachari
Ethnic group: Dimasa Kachari
Ethnic group: Kachari
The Dimasa Kachari are alternately known as the Semkhor and the Dwimasa
Access status: Open
Copyright: Copyright held by J.P. Mills
Language: No linguistic content
Scripts: Unwritten
Physical description: 9.5 x 7 cm
Format: Archive