Head stones of Deka Chang of Semkhor

B&W photographic print. 'On these stones outside the "deka chang" (bachelor's dormitory) enemy heads were placed after returning from a raid. They were kept there until the days of "genna" (ritual taboo time) were over and then thrown away, rather than kept, as Konyak Nagas would have done. Mill...

Full description

Archive & Special Collections PP MS 58/02/U/10 Open

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/LOAA005184
URL Description: Digital version available online at SOAS Digital Collections

collection SOAS Archive
id PP_MS_58.02.U.10
recordtype archive
scb_item_location Archive & Special Collections
item_location Archive & Special Collections
scb_loan_type Reference only
callnumber PP MS 58/02/U/10
callnumber_txt PP MS 58/02/U/10
callnumber-sort PP MS 58/02/U/10
prefix_number 10
title Head stones of Deka Chang of Semkhor
scb_date_creation 6 March 1927
scb_level Item
level_sort 8/Collection/Sub-Collection/Sub-Sub-Collection/Sub-Sub-Sub-Collection/Series/Sub-Series/Sub-Sub-Series/File/Item
scb_extent 1 photograph
author Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
author_facet Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
authorStr Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
author_letter Mills; James Philip (1890-1960); colonial administrator and anthropologist
format Archive
description B&W photographic print. 'On these stones outside the "deka chang" (bachelor's dormitory) enemy heads were placed after returning from a raid. They were kept there until the days of "genna" (ritual taboo time) were over and then thrown away, rather than kept, as Konyak Nagas would have done. Mills was told this was "because the Semkhor people are Hindus". Despite this, Mills considered that the customs associated with the deka chang and the head stones suggested affinities with the Konyaks. 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.Mills, with his vast experience of the hill tribes was'
scb_access_status Open
scb_copyright Copyright held by J.P. Mills
language No linguistic content
language_search No linguistic content
scb_scripts_material Unwritten
scb_physc_charac_tech_reqs 9.5 x 7 cm
scb_copies Digital version available online at SOAS Digital Collections
note Ethnic group: Bodo Kachari
Ethnic group: Dimasa Kachari
Ethnic group: Kachari
The Dimasa Kachari are alternately known as the Semkhor and the Dwimasa
scb_url http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005184
scb_url_description Digital version available online at SOAS Digital Collections
hierarchy_top_id_raw PP MS 58
hierarchy_sequence PP_MS_58.0002.00U.0010

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