The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

book : 'Konyak Nagas' by Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, (1969)

caption: Chapter One. The Material Background
caption: Thenkoh and Thendu groups distinguished by face tattoos or lack of them
medium: books
ethnicgroup: Konyak
location: Tamlu Tanhai
production:
person: Furer-Haimendorf/ C.
date: 1969
refnum: with permission from Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York9:4
text: The bisection of the Konyak tribe into two groups distinguished by cultural and linguistic features was first recognized by J. H. Hutton and J. P. Mills. They described the two sections of the tribe as Thenkoh and Thendu, expressions which, like the word 'keniak,' occur in the language of Tamlu and Tanhai, and refer to the most conspicuous feature of the Thendu men, namely, their elaborate face tattoo, and the absence of such facial decoration among the Thenkoh people. The equivalent names in the language of Wakching are Sheangtu and Sheangshong, but in order to avoid confusion, the names introduced by Hutton and Mills will be retained throughout this book.