Thepfulhouvi Solo
According to information this Writer gathered from reliable sources, Jadonang (Jaduanang) is from Pilon (Kambiron) Village of Manipur State and Gaidinliu (Rani Gaidinliu) is of Lungkao Village also from Manipur State, and except that they are from the same Rongmei community, -an Indigenous Naga Tribe of Manipur- the two are, unlike popular belief, no kith and kin, being of different Villages.
One of the hottest topics current these days in Kohima is the Government of India’s Glorification of supposed ‘Rani’ Gaidinliu, with the Government issuing commemorative Coins, Postage Stamps with her image, Films on her life screened in national Meetings, high level celebration of her centennial year of birth; proposing Roads, Universities, Airports, Colleges, Hospitals, Institutions, Jails in any conceivable sundry places in the name of the Rani and a proposal to raise a Memorial cum Library Building at the Secretariat in Kohima!
The Naga of Nagaland has nothing to covet the glorification of Gaidinliu in any manner the Government may think fit, if it is outside of Nagaland; but to raise monument to a surrendered and pardoned Tantric Witch, at the State Capital under the very Nose of Nagaland Secretariat, that too for one who has gruesomely spilled the blood of many Indigenous Nagaland Nationals, is an affront too much even for the naively foolish Naga to accept.
The Naga would never accept any Memorial to Gaidinliu in Nagaland except the Grave Stones of those many innocent Men of the State whose blood Gaidinliu so madly spilled. A Freedom Fighter, she might have been for the people of outside Nagaland, but nowhere near one to the Naga of Nagaland.
The Naga would not like to use even the Money or the Postage Stamp with the Figure of Rani Gaidinliu in them. She was nowhere near the undisputed Naga Aspiration, worst of all; she gruesomely eliminated Naga National Workers of Nagaland. People said she use to drink the blood of even her own followers sacrificed to the Spirit.
Regarding the title ‘RANI ‘ in the Naga Society; barring the Konyak and to a lesser degree in the Sümi; the Institution Kingship or Queenship is not found in any other Naga Tribes. Captain Butler, one of the earliest 19th Century colonial Survey Officers in the Naga Hills, described the Naga as:
“virtually every man does that which is right in his own eyes, and it’s a law unto himself, ‘a form of democracy’ which is difficult to conceive as existing for a single day and yet that it does exist here is an undeniable fact”.
R. Steward, another British Officer observed:
“They acknowledge no king among themselves, and deride the idea of such a personage among others. When questioned, they proudly plant their spears in the ground, and pointing at them, declare they have no other Rajah”.
The Naga taboos a person from worshiping another person. Mr. Nehru was mistaken if he had assumed the politically turbulent Naga would be pleased to hear an ordinary Naga country woman equated with a ‘Rani’. When Nehru heard of a Naga woman released from Jail for having caused social disturbances in the State of Manipur, then and there the novice Prime Minister of India spoke of Gaidinliu as a ‘Naga Rani’ to the great consternation of the Naga People. India still speaks of Gaidinliu as Rani, an affront to the Naga.
Her release from Jail after Indian Independence worried the last colonial Deputy Commissioner of Naga Hills Sir. CR. Pawsey ICS, who for fear she may create social turbulence again, stowed her away in a remote corner of then North East Frontier Agency of Tuensang Area in a small Chang Village of Yimrep.
She was in an exiled confinement in Yimrep for some 9 years during which time she became a Baptist Christian. She never learned Chang Language but the boy she took there learned to speak Chan enough to convince a nice Chang girl to agree to marry him and ultimately settled in the Chang Village.
Around the later part of nineteen fifties (‘56-57) Gaidinliu’s people came and took her to her own ancestral Village of Lungkao. Within a few years she started creating difficulties in the Society with her Magic and Sorcery, demanding blood for the spirits from her followers. She stated Children need no go to School, they can just put the book under their Pillow and all knowledge would get into their Head. She claimed she can raise many heads of Snake come out of the Barak River and make CGI Sheets appear over Mount Pawna Peak just by pointing at it, the highest in the District. The Villagers “expelled and excommunicated her from the Village for her Witchcraft and Sorcery”.
Around early 1960s, she escaped to adjoining Naga Hills from her Manipur Village and continued to practice her Cult of Blood among unlettered superstitious, credulous and uninformed Villagers. She is said to obtain mysterious power by taking human blood; credulous follower would even offer their children for her blood sacrifice. Things went against her ultimately and she hid in a steep mountain Cave in the Nagaland-Manipur Border.
The GB of Njouna Village, Irangleing and 2 others carried House Tax from the Village to the Administrative HQ at Peren to deposit them with Late Viliethie Metha, then Circle Officer of Peren. On their way back, the GB and his companions, 3 of them, were waylaid by -Gaidinliu’s armed Kampai followers, on Suspicion of being Informers of her secret hiding place to the Government.
A Naga National Council Leasi Meeting was held in the jungle near Benreu (Nakama) and 6 unarmed Officers from Benreu Village –i. Namkie Hingai, ii. Kegeim Longbe, iii. Peilungeing, iv. Pauheiditung and v. Kuheing were detailed to Ngaulong Village to accord Peace with Gaidinliu; 5 were found murdered and headless. They could not be specifically identified and were mass buried together in a Trench.
One Ipeulung alone could escape back to Benreu but died shortly after. In addition; half a dozen from other Villages including –Sakpe of Oklong, Keugumheing of Bakie both from Manipur and Namtungzeung of Old Jaluke were eliminated on 16/3/1961 at Ngaulong.
For quite some time Benreu did not hear about the 5 of their Villagers gone to Ngaulong for Peace. At last, one Member of Benreu Village, of Gaidinliu’s own Group, Helungai volunteered to go to Ngaulong to enquire of his Villagers.
Helungai of Benreu was never heard of again after he went to Ngaulong to enquire of his Villagers!??? HIERANGDING, the Brigadier of Gaidinliu’s Kampais, responsible for the eliminations of 12 people, ultimately converted to Christianity and died a natural death!!????
1. Why is Government of Nagaland idolizing Gaidinliu, a Frankenstein monster, against all good sense and Reality?
2. What has Gaidinliu done for Nagaland that the Government is unconscionably bent on honoring so highly an ignorant superstitious incoherent Woman who is an unlettered Village Witch, at best a Shaman?
3. The Manipur Government has vehemently stated Gaidinliu belongs to Manipur and not to Nagaland. She is a citizen of Manipur and not of Nagaland. How correct the Manipur claim is!
Why the State Government of Nagaland so enthusiastically projecting Gaidinliu memorial in Nagaland, is very simple to understand? The answer is as wonderfully simple as a short sentence. It is as simple and mysterious as: -Gaidinliu was married to Irangheung Pami of Nebulong Village of Manipur!!!!??
It is very simple: all Funds connected with ‘Rani Gaidinliu’ get direct attention in the Highest echelons of the Authority in Delhi and unlike other Projects the Fund comes down to Kohima by Rajdhani Express in Lakhs and Karores. Nagaland today is all for Money. It fits the personal Interest of fund-strapped waiting Politicians of Nagaland and their obedient Bureaucrats!
The other reason is: It fits compactly into the thinly camouflaged Agenda of the BJP Government to safronize the most obedient, most enthusiastic Rongmei followers of the Haraka Cult, very akin to Hinduism which accepts all impossible kinds of gods to its fold. Incidentally and very conveniently, into this combination, comes the very handy and reneged-Baptist Witch Rani of the Rongmei from Lungkao, Manipur! The BJP-RSS Leaders get a chance to enter the Naga Society through the Haraka Cult.
The third Reason is that: Today the many educated and highly qualified Rongmei feel happy that the Rani enjoys the support of powerful Authorities in the Hindu Society. It is not for nothing, they expertly and tactically claim Rani Gaidinliu is a Freedom Fighter than a Social Worker, knowing very well she is a Cultist devoid of any political Ideology.
It is also not for nothing that the RSS swallow lock, stock and barrel of whatever the Haraka Cult says as long as the RSS get the opportunity to enter the Naga community. The Rongmei Community gets the facilities and privileges for Education, Employment and Opportunities of Life because of belonging to community of the Rani. Who will be bothered with others when an obscure primitive Cult can usher so much Opportunities of life to arrive?
Mahatma Gandhi claimed he is a Dalit by Choice but the Mahatma was never a Dalit like Untouchable Bhimraj Ambedkar, the Author of Indian Constitution. Nobody can enter a Hindu Caste Class simply by a personal Choice; Membership in the Hindu Caste is not by choice; not even by Association; it is by birth only. Nobody can become a Brahmin accept by birth.
The Rongmei Haraka Members may find themselves in highly connected Circles today but in a few generations or a century, their children and grand children may find themselves what the Dalits in India are experiencing for the last 5000 years. Bhimraj Ambedkar, a Britain educated Authority on Law, the Author of Indian Constitution and a Minister in British India Province of Bombay Presidency was not accepted in the Hindu echelons and realized an Untouchable Dalit’s only way to Salvation is to come out of the Circle of Hindu Scheme of life. In one mass meeting lastly, Ambedkar took 4 Laks of his Dalits and embraced Buddhism!
The ultimate honorable Identity of the Rongmei is in the Casteless Free Society of the Naga with Christianity.
