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traditions of origin of villages |
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The Konyaks of all villages had traditions regarding the origin and migrations of their forefathers, and many of these myths refer also to the circumstances of the foundation of their villages. Some of these mythical accounts are contradictory, but several main motives occur in the traditions of many villages. |
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According to one tradition, the ancestors of the majority of Konyaks came from a mountain called Yengyudang situated to the south of the present Konyak territory. Another and equally widespread tradition tells of a migration from the Brahmaputra valley along the Dikhu River and into the hills flanking that river. The tradition of the people of Wakching was more specific. They believed that their forefathers came from a mountain beyond the Brahmaputra known as "mountain beyond the great water." On their way from there they crossed the Brahmaputra valley and followed the Dikhu as far as the present village of Chongwe. Finding that the land there was not sufficiently fertile, they and the ancestors of the people of Wanching migrated to the ridge on which nowadays the villages of Wakching and Wanching are situated, but these early migrants were believed to have been only part of a tribe the other half of which had remained in the hills beyond the Brahmaputra. |
