Veswuzo Phesao stood out amid all the participants at the exhibition on the cultural heritage of Nagaland organised in Calcutta by the NGO Contact Base. Dressed in Edi kesemi na or the traditional warrior attire of his tribe Chakhesang, he seemed happy to oblige visitors keen to photograph him.
“These are chuzhumenapa earrings, these armbands are called thruthuha, this black mekhla-style skirt is chümena mene and underneath, my leg coverings are called phekhe,” he explained in response to a query. He also wore a Naga jacket woven with traditional motifs, and several neck pieces.
Just as he stood out at the event at the Asiatic Society, so does his house in his village, the Naga United village in Chumoukedima district. At least going by a photograph of it that was part of the display.
There was no missing an eye-popping element in the facade of the quaint wooden structure. “Yes, those are animal skulls,” Phesao said. Skulls area part of home decor for histribe that has a history of headhunting.
“Ten wild boars, 10 deer, five bears — (bhalu, he added in Hindi, for emphasis) — four monkeys and one elephant,” he rattled off in English. “I collected these animal skulls from my village to decorate my house,” he added.
Phesao’s house made of wooden logs is 10 kilometres away from Dimapur. It is an anachronism among the brick-and-mortar structures all around — a living museum that embodies the essence of Naga architecture.
“In the olden days, the tribes used to hunt,” said Phesao. “The one who killed an animal would display the head as a trophy and throw a feast for the village. It was taboo to sell the skull then but not anymore. So I could collect some,” he added.
But human heads were never to be displayed at home. They went to a spot in the jungle. “The warriors killed each other in a show of strength; there was no cannibalism. Also, strangers were not killed, only enemies,” he said. Still, headhunting made travelling unsafe. “You could not enter a village unless someone there knew you, because warriors guarded the gates.”
It was a patriarchal system. Women were free to work in the fields alongside the men but if any woman went out hunting, she had to hand over the skull to a man even if he was younger.
The crafts also had a gender division. “Women wove clothes of cotton yarn or barks of trees. Men made baskets of bamboo slices,” he added. He recalled his mother making a shawl for one member of their family of eight every year. “She did not have time for more after workingin the fields,”he said.
The British put a stop to headhunting once they defeated the Nagas. “After 1880, there was no more killing of each other.” The fencing around the villages existed in his childhood but came down with a rise in population.
Phesao comes from a farming family. “We used to worship Heaven as our father and Earth as our mother. We would also worship big stones, huge trees... Once a year the tiger and the fire were worshipped. There was no time for regular rituals.”
The missionaries entered the Northeast through Assam. In Nagaland, the Ao tribe was the first to embrace Jesus; then the Angami followed. In Phesao’s village, the first lot of conversions took place in 1895.
“Those who converted then were punished by the rest of the village. Gradually more joined the flock. We celebrated 125 years of the advent of Christianity in 2020,” he said, adding that the church committee had records of all conversions.
Phesao’s family was the last in the village to embrace Christianity — that was around 1974. One major consideration that delayed the decision was the condition to quit all intoxicants. The local culture involved drinking of liquor made from rice, maize and millet. “If you can’t control your life, you can’t step into the kingdom of God,” said the devout man, disapproving of those who flout the bar.
Phesao’s parents did not receive any education. His two older brothers studied up to Class VII and got jobs that supported his higher education. “I am the first in my family to matriculate,” he said.
His father wanted him to become a doctor. However, his interest in art made him set off for Bombay and join the Sir J.J. School of Art.
On his return, he joined the Northeastern Zonal Cultural Centre, from where he retired recently as the deputy director.
Veswuzo Phesao of the Naga Chakhesang tribe. Photo: Sudeshna Banerjee
Having spent his professional life nurturing heritage, he is pained that not a single old-fashioned house remains in his native village of Chozuba. “People choose to build the modern way. But it is my duty to preserve our ancestors’ culture. I purchased bamboo and wood to build my house.”
He has to renovate the house every 15 years. “Earlier, I could do the work myself. Now I am too old,” he sighed.
According to his school-leaving certificate, his age is 61 but he contests the figure. “I was born the year after our village was burnt down — in 1956. It was harvest time, my mother used to say. That makes me 68.”
He urges the government to preserve the house. “It is beyond my capacity now,” he said as he took the stage with the tati — a single-string instrument with a base of gourd. “My ancestors made the string of grass. I make it with wire. It sounds better,” he said and broke into a plaintive ditty in his mother tongue Chokri.
“The world is not our real home
Our real home is beyond the cloud
Before we leave this earthly home
Let us sing and dance and enjoy with each other...”