The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

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

caption: Chapter Two. The Social Structure and its Units
caption: tragic idealization of brother and sister incest
medium: books
ethnicgroup: Konyak
location: Wakching
production:
person: Furer-Haimendorf/ C.
date: 1969
refnum: with permission from Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York51:1
text: Concrete instances of brother-sister incest had not occurred, or at least not come to light, for many generations. There was, however, a legend perpetuating the memory of the passionate love of a brother and a sister, and a song telling of their fate reflects a not altogether unsympathetic attitude to their tragic plight:
text: Yinglong and Liwang
Dearly loved each other,
Loving they lay together,
Red as the leaf of the ou-bou tree
flamed love and desire.
On the paths to the village,
The two lit fires,
Skywards, upwards curling,
The smoke of the fires united,
And mingled, never to part.
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