Around 10 kilometers from Burma
lies a village on the roof of the Shirui Kashong range in Manipur, lies a
village feared for their warriors where buffalo horns, monkey skulls
and hunted eagles still adorn the doorways and walls of the houses. In
the pre-Christian era, Sihai village was known for its headhunters,
taboos and rituals.
Many villages are till today cut off from the mainland culture and life revolves around their own little worlds. Electricity, water and roads are off limits here.
An elderly woman takes swift, quick steps to the rocky pathway leading to her home. Along her chin, her neck and shoulders, I can still see the symbols that almost a century ago, initiated her entry into womanhood.
Khanaola, literally meaning the ‘last daughter’ bears the mark of her clanswomen, a tribal tattoo from her chin down to her toe. This was the rumoured inked engraving believed to be a woman’s passageway to heaven. She is the last of the Tangkhul Naga women to still bear this tattoo, and along with her several beliefs, practices and taboos of the community are now fading away.
Three penetrated lines drawn from her chin extend all the way to her neck and chest. The sun, wind and dust from the hill ranges have carved lines on her skin that reveal all of her 96 years. Upon the scars of her century-old existence, the inked lines have only deepened the story of her endurance and survival.
Many villages are till today cut off from the mainland culture and life revolves around their own little worlds. Electricity, water and roads are off limits here.
An elderly woman takes swift, quick steps to the rocky pathway leading to her home. Along her chin, her neck and shoulders, I can still see the symbols that almost a century ago, initiated her entry into womanhood.
Khanaola, literally meaning the ‘last daughter’ bears the mark of her clanswomen, a tribal tattoo from her chin down to her toe. This was the rumoured inked engraving believed to be a woman’s passageway to heaven. She is the last of the Tangkhul Naga women to still bear this tattoo, and along with her several beliefs, practices and taboos of the community are now fading away.
Three penetrated lines drawn from her chin extend all the way to her neck and chest. The sun, wind and dust from the hill ranges have carved lines on her skin that reveal all of her 96 years. Upon the scars of her century-old existence, the inked lines have only deepened the story of her endurance and survival.
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