Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/510

 COLLECTANEA.

Folk-Tales of the Angami Nagas of Assam.

Introduction.

The Naga tribes of Assam, which numbered at the census of 191 1 220,000, have been described by many observers. A useful account of their religion, sociology, manners and customs has been com- piled by Miss G. M. Godden.^ The branch of the tribe occupying the Native State of Manipur has been described by Mr. T. C. Hodson.- Of the Angami sub-tribe, among whom these tales were collected, Mr. A. W. Davis writes : "The Angamis are the largest of the Naga tribes of which we have any knowledge. . . . The name Angami, by which this tribe is known to us, is a corruption of Gnamei, the name by which the tribe is known to the Manipuris, through whom we first came in contact with them. The name by which they call themselves is Tengima, while they are known to the surrounding tribes of Kezhamas, Semas, and Lhotas as Tsoghami,Tsungumi, and Tsangho. The Angamis assert that their people originally came from the south, i.e. the direction of Manipur. They first occupied the spurs just under Japvo, and thence spread north-west and north-east. Their accounts of their origin are extremely vague and untrustworthy, as is to be expected in the case of a people who have no written language." They fall into three main divisions : the Chakroma, the Tengima proper, and the Chakrima. " The Angamis are distinguished from the other tribes within the district by their method of cultivation. While

'^Journal Anthropological Itisiittite, vols. xxvi. (1897), pp. 161 sqq., xxvii. <i898), pp. 2 sqq.

- The Naga Tribes of Manipur, London, 191 1.