The Naga Society Comprising Of Various Tribes And Sub-Tribes Belonging To Indo-Mongoloid Race And Now Inhabited In The North-Eastern Region Of India. Isolated From The Civilized World, The Nagas Remained Confined To The Villages And Relied On Minimum Needs Of The Life Based On Tribal Customary Laws And Conventional Practice, Till The British Subjugated Them And Seized Their Territory. Every Thing Began To Change In The Naga Society With The Changes In Their Concepts When They Came Close To The Outside World. The March Of The Naga Society From Traditionality To Modernization, Need Through Investigation, Close Observation And Critical Interpretation. The Book Explores The Origin And Growth Of The Nagas And Analyses Various Critial Circumstances Through Which The Society Had Passed. The Book Would Be Of Immense Help To Those Who Have The Curiosity To Know The Nagas, Their History, Culture, Politics, Struggle For Peace And Development, Etc.

The Nagas Belong To Multi Ethnic Groups And Subgroups, But With Similarity In Physical Features And Affinity In Culture. Before The Advent Of The British To The Naga Hills, The Nagas Were In A State Of Confinement As They Followed The Traditions Of Their

Papers presented at a Seminar on "Modernization in Naga Society" organized by Thinkers Forum, Nagaland, on August 28-30, 1984.

Collection of various seminar papers presented by the author during the last fifteen years.

The term ’progress’ is a modern Western notion that life is always improving and advancing toward an ideal state. It is a vital modern concept which underlies geographic explorations and scientific and technological inventions as well as the desire to harness nature in order to increase human beings’ ease and comfort. With the advent of Western colonization and to the great detriment of the colonized, the notion of progress began to perniciously and pervasively permeate across cultures. This book details the impact of the notion of progress on the Nagas and their culture. The interaction between the Nagas and the West, beginning with British military conquest and followed by American missionary intrusion, has resulted in the gradual demise of Naga culture. It is almost a cliché to assert that since the colonial contact, the long evolved Naga traditional values are being replaced by Western values. Consequences are still being felt in the lack of sense of direction and confusion among the Nagas today. Just like other Indigenous Peoples, whose history is characterized by traumatic cultural turmoil because of colonial interference, the Nagas have long been engaged in self-shame, self-negation and self-sabotage.

This is a qualitative researched book about the Cultural Heritage of Sangtam Naga and the impact of Globalization in the Sangtam Society. Culture is the self identity of every individual in the society and each culture has its own beauty and charm. The Northeastern part of India is a land of tribal people having very rich cultural heritage that speaks the facet of the great culture of our country (India). However, very little is known about them by the rest of the world and even in India today. The study of tribal society and culture of the Northeastern states is therefore one of the interesting and challenging tasks. Through the study of any tribal society and culture like Nagas, one can learn many hidden lessons from them. Like many other tribal people of the world, the Naga culture is under threat from many circles because of which their society is now turning to a different phase of development. It is highly regrettable to note the fast disappearance of the beautiful Naga cultural heritage due to influence of the westernization. As its trend continues, there will be hardly anything of the traditional values system and it would be difficult even to remember the past cultural history in future unless they are properly recorded today. Any given culture is subject to change according to change of time. As a sum total of human's effort, they adjust themselves with different incoming socio-economic environment and improve their modes of living. As a group, dynamic culture is adopted, changed and learned. Every culture of the world has its own charms and the Sangtam Culture is one, which is enchanting with its multifarious hue, beauty and richness. However, there is no systematic documentation of the Sangtam Cultural Heritage till today. In addition, the degree of disappearance is found to be very high due to various reasons. All these are discussed in this book.During our forefather's time, the Sangtams maintained the communitarian values among the people in the community. The community shared love, peace, helping, equality, unity and co-operation etc. But with the coming of western education, modernization, science and technology which mould the society not only in educating but in western tradition, lifestyle, dress code, mass media, easy and comfort life. Which lead the community of Sangtam Naga to decline the communitarian values in the community. After the coming of Christianity, the Sangtam people could not hold both Christian Cultures along with their traditional values systems any longer. It is true, that the Naga traditional belief and practices could not hold the influences of Christianity. As a result, a total change was brought to their society due to impact of Christianity within a short period of time. The common origin, migration and settlement of the Sangtam Nagas, their history, society, culture and common way of life may attract any sincere researchers, writers and scholars. Their folk tales, folk songs, dance and ceremonies, arts, dress, ornaments, institutions etc, speak about the beautiful Sangtam society and culture. The traditional institutes like Murong (Roshengvi), Vil¬lage Khel, Village elders and use of Logdrum (Singkong) etc., and their philosophical meaning and usage are extremely valu-able. The Britishers and the American Missionaries were amazed to see all these kinds of Naga Culture and society when they entered into Naga territory. The main objective of writing and research about this book is to examine the features of the Sangtam society and culture from ancient to contemporary. For this purpose, the Sangtam culture, society and their value systems was selected as a case study.This beautiful hill people's culture is gradually disappearing. As a result, the youngsters are not concerned much about their own culture and customs. For this purpose, writing of such documentation was considered the need of the hour.