A GROUP OF NAGA HEAD-TAKERS' ORNAMENTS, PROBABLY KONYAK, NAGALAND, NORTH-EAST INDIA

Comprising:



A. A wooden hairpin, of elongated retangular plaque form carved with three heads in raised relief, a strand of dyed goat's hair tied to one corner through a single aperture
B. A wooden hairpin, of elongated plaque form with rounded ends and inlaid with a design of four standing figures, a plug of dyed goat's hair attached through an aperture below
C. A wooden hairpin, of elongated form carved at both ends with a ead in the round
D. Two wooden combs, the tines bound by woven cane
E. A rectangular wooden pendant, carved in deep relief with a design of two standing figures, suspended from a necklace strung with coral and beads

D: India, Art and Culture 1300-1900, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985

D: Welch 1985, p.83, no.39

The human heads on these ornaments symbolise the wearers status as a head-taker. Signifiers of this status varied from tribe to tribe with this form being favoured notably by the Konyak. Naga adornments are mostly imbued with meaning, though this meaning may vary according to the tribe or sex of the wearer. The wearing of adornments was subject to strict regulation, the wearer being obliged to achieve the status that the adornment denoted. The number of heads depicted on these ornaments indicates the number of heads taken by the wearer. This did not always mean the perpetrator of the violent act but, for some tribes or clans, the status could also be conferred on those associated with the act or even those who touched the head.

 

The taking of a head was a highly significant act for the Naga tribes. Not only was it a form of institutionalised violence and a major component of life of the tribe, it was a highly ritualised process. The importance of taking heads lies in the Naga belief that the head retained one of a man's spirits after death and that the possession of that spirit brought greater power (and fertility) to the taker and to the village that possessed the head. Therefore, taking of a head was not only a self-ennobling act but one intended for the benefit of the whole village (Jacobs 1990, p.121, and pp.214-5, for futher examples of Konyak hairpins).