The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

manuscript notes made by W.G. Archer between 1946 & 1948, and miscellaneous papers and letters

caption: Palang morung, Wakching
medium: notes
person: Palang morung
location: Wakching
production:
person: Archer/ W.G.
date: 1946-1948
refnum: 4:38
text: 3. Palang morung.
text: A. A swirling rhythm - a tall thin warrior with erect organ stands on the torso of another warrior who clasps the arms and shoulders of a third - guns held by heads with arms - finally near the peak two slim elongated figures - a man and woman with tumescent organs.
text: B. A flight of hornbills. Entrance to inner hall - a cross-board - a woman with a child flanked on either side by a soldier with a gun and a flight of hornbills (see Xoph. Man. article XXII A) - further in - at the entrance to the inner hall a pillar with a huge elephant, head downwards, 2 men flanking its tusks.
text: Back room - a cross-board - in the centre a squat girl with swollen organs and outstretched arms holding a hornbill by the head in each hand - flanked on either side by soldiers with guns - a wonderful flowing rhythm of forms.
text: A side pillar - a long slender elephant with squat legs is standing while a man is approaching it from the rear. The man has caught the left cheek of its rump with his left hand, pushing at the elephant. Morung says a man driving an elephant from the fields. Christoph's 'intercourse' was laughed out of court.