| caption: |
Nagas outside the Hindu religious tradition |
| text: |
While most of the aboriginal tribes of peninsular India have to some extent been influenced by Hindu ideas and attitudes, the Nagas and many hill tribes on the northeast frontier have remained outside the sphere of Hindu ideology. Neither in ritual practices nor in the pantheon of divinities and spirits can we detect any affinities to Hindu concepts. This complete separateness in religious matters is quite remarkable, for a limited barter trade between some of the hill people and the Hindu peasantry of the plains of Assam must have gone on for many generations. |
