The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

manuscript notes on the Zemi Nagas by Ursula Graham Bower

caption: physical characteristics
caption: hair
medium: notes
production:
person: Graham Bower/ Ursula
date: 1939-1946
refnum: Betts papers, ring binder 1
acquirer:
person: Centre for South Asian Studies, Cambridge
text: Hair: always black, generally straight. Wavy hair is not uncommon and is admired, young men producing the effect artificially. Frizzy hair occurs but is not common. Eyebrows, not heavy, scanty in some. Moustaches - some hair is common on the upper lip in males. If scanty, it is cut short; if too plentiful to disguise, it is allowed to grow naturally, but there is rarely much of it. Beards - never more than a few straggling hairs on the chin in elderly men. Have seen one with a straggle thick enough to knot up under the chin. Armpit and pubic hair scanty. Other body hair nil, but legs usually slightly hairy between knee and ankle.