The Nagas

Hill Peoples of Northeast India

Project Introduction The Naga Database

book : Return to the Naked Nagas (1939;1976)

caption: Chapter Eleven. Sacred Chiefs
caption: difficulties of marriage for girls of high rank
medium: books
ethnicgroup: Konyak
location: Oting
production:
person: Furer-Haimendorf
date: 6.1936-6.1937
text: Indeed, when high birth restricts the circle of possible mates, it is difficult even for Konyak girls to get married in time. Their rank obliges them to refrain from the amorous adventures with which their less noble friends fill the years before marriage, and amidst (96) the frivolity of the Oting girls such enforced chastity is certainly not enviable. Perhaps discontent born of boredom was the reason why both the Ang's daughters seemed to me serious and a little morose, or perhaps it was only natural shyness before a stranger of whose rank they were uncertain.