Rev Dr Phuveyi Dozo
Naga United Village
It is in response to a recent article published in The Morung Express on January 18 under ‘Ram Mandir Ayodhya aur Naga Samaj’ where the author mentioned that the Nagas had link with Bhartavar and that Naga damsels (Ulupi and Usha) were married to Arjun and the grandson of Lord Krishna respectively. The statement is absolutely and regrettably an assumption and does not hold any historical fact. It is a ridiculous and misleading statement and is unwelcomed by the people who know the truth since it is a mythological guess work. The names of the damsels he coined are not Naga names (strange names) from time immemorial. It is a cooked up fiction. Granted that the writer may be neither a Naga nor from biblical background, the unfounded statement furnished by him was a speculation with hypnotic and political intention; a religious contamination to Naga animistic sanctity in the pre-Gospel era.
Straddling between Hindu and Buddhist civilization of India and Myanmar, the Nagas intermittently migrated from Southwest China to their present homeland during the construction of the Great Wall of China passing through rivers and hill tracks of Myanmar. The Nagas inherited a pure monotheistic origin from Jewish association as their origin. Migrating through vast terrain via Mongolia and China, they kept the kernel of their faith alive amid animistic blending and syncretism en-route. The Naga ancestors had their allegiance in God, the God of Abraham. Evidently, the origin of the Nagas goes back to the reign of Xerxes of Persia and Queen Esther with conversion of many nations and tribes to Jewish faith (Esther 8:17) believably before their outbound migration. To authenticate this, Nagas practiced ritual systems which were the practices of the Jews recorded in the Bible (Torah). It is an authentic historicity against any mythologization.
Unarguably, it is monotheistic factor that led the Nagas to the fast receptivity of Christianity beginning from 1872. From their genesis, the Nagas were neither idol worshippers nor pantheists. The Nagas worshiped one God who created the universe. Each Naga tribe has a name having connotation of singularity or Creator-God. For example, Ukepenuopfu (Creator in Tenyidie), Nyepo-o (Owner in Chakhesang), Alhou (Sovereign God in Sema), Tsungrem (Creator in Ao), Varivara (Supreme God in Tangkhul) and so on. Idolatry is unknown in the history of Nagas. Nagaland is a land of biblical faith today amid nominal Christians with pre-gospel era as a monotheistic Animism followed by heritance of Christianity.
Based on the fact of Naga history, a baseless and falsified statement such as Naga association with Bhartavar and marriage of Naga damsels with Hindu mythological personalities, as published, is a historical mockery and injury, and a distortion to truth.
It is a bare fiction and if the author still wants to uphold his theory, scientifically proven historical fact must be provided to authenticate the statement. The ancestors of the Nagas originated from biblical background and no one should falsify and make a swap with historical fact. And such a theory of controversial hypothesis is unwanted and should not perturb the youth and upcoming generation. The need is promotion of the legacy of truth.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance” (Psalms 33:12).
God bless Nagaland!
