The Naga peoples inhabit the southeastern foothills of the Himalayas between India and Burma. Living in virtual isolation from the outside world until about 150 years ago, they developed a highly particular material culture and oral tradition. With period maps dating from the 1500s to present day together with more than 270 color plates, this extensive study explores the culture of a people known for their architecture, sculpture, wood carving, bodily ornaments, drums, and textiles. Objects and artifacts shown come from the extensive collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford, Museum fur Volkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology) in Vienna, and Museum der Kulturen (Cultural Museum) in Basel.

The Naga tribes inhabit the southeastern foothills of the Himalayas in the border area between India and Burma. Feared as headhunters and avoided by the inhabitants of the plains until around a hundred years ago, they developed a highly particular material culture and oral tradition in isolation. British colonial rule and Baptist missionary activity brought about far-reaching changes in Naga culture around the middle of the 19th century. After 1947, the Naga hills were forcibly integrated in the new Indian state. The result was a bloody war that raged for more than fifty years, largely hidden from public opinion. Only recently has the region been reopened to foreign visitors. This volume is a collection of essays, interviews, and pictorial essays by Naga and western authors on the culture, history, and changing identity of these former headhunters.