Mithun tied up for sacrifice (Image number K.028, J.P. Mills Photographic Collection)
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Material Information

Title:
Mithun tied up for sacrifice (Image number K.028, J.P. Mills Photographic Collection)
Series Title:
J.P. Mills Photographic Collection
Creator:
Mills, J. P. (James Philip), 1890-1960.
Hobson, Geraldine ( contributor )
Publication Date:
Materials:
B&W photographic print 9.5x7 cm ( medium )

Notes

Abstract:
Ungma village is a pure Chongli village. The mithun (Bos frontalis) is a very important sacrificial animal among the Nagas. Normally it is allowed to roam free in the jungle, being fed salt occasionally by its owner. The sacrificial animal in the photograph is tied to a post in the village by a collar made of creeper, the loop at the end being slipped round the post. Upon its neck is a basket containing a cock and decorated with two hornbill feathers. Tassels of bamboo fibre hang from its horns, The Mithun sacrifice is the culmination of the series of Feasts of Merit, the completion of which brings honour to a man, and an increase in the collective "aren" (a type of force) of the clan and the village. The sacrificer wins the right for himself and his family to wear certain cloths and ornaments and to decorate his house in a particular way. It is possible to deduce exactly what Feasts of Merit a person has given by looking at his house or his cloths and ornaments. ( en )
General Note:
Date of photograph: 1922 October, ©1926
General Note:
Copyright held by the Estate of J.P. Mills. The Estate is currently (2015) represented by Geraldine Hobson.
General Note:
This item may be used under license: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial (CC BY-NC)
General Note:
This photograph is part of album K. Many of the images of this album are published in "The Ao Nagas" 1926. Mongsen andChongli are two groups of the Ao, speaking their own dialect and following their own customs. At the time these photographs were taken some villages could contain khels of these separate groups, each khel knowing the other's language but speaking its own. This was often very inconvenient, so a village might decide to speak the same dialect, even though Mongsen or Chongli customs continued to be differentiated among the inhabitants. There were also, of course, villages which were purely Mongsen or Chongli.
General Note:
Originally collected in Album K of the "J.P. Mills Photographic Collection". (Held in the SOAS, University of London, Archives and Special Collections.)
General Note:
Mills, J. P. (James Philip), 1890-1960. The Ao Nagas. London : Macmillan & Co., 1926. (LCCN: 27013331)
General Note:
Jacobs, Julian. The Nagas : hill peoples of Northeast India : society, culture, and the colonial encounter. London : Thames and Hudson, 1990.
General Note:
VIAF ID: 2475026 (name authority) : Mills, J.P. (James Philip), 1890-1960
General Note:
VIAF ID: 24095368 (name authority) : Hobson, Geraldine
General Note:
Ethnologue reference: http://www.ethnologue.com/language/njo

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS, University of London
Holding Location:
Archives and Special Collections
Rights Management:
Image: © 1926, The Estate of J.P. Mills. Text: © 1996, Geraldine Hobson.
Resource Identifier:
PP MS 58/02/K/28 ( calm reference )