1. Home
2. Education

1st December 1963: Nagaland became the 16th state of India

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 12/1/2020 11:51:43 AM

The beautiful north-eastern mountainous state of Nagaland came into being on December 1, 1963. A complicated (and at times contested) series of events over 150 years culminated in Nagaland becoming the 16th state of the Indian union. Much of the area that is currently Nagaland and Assam came under Burmese rule in 1816. Ten years later the British East India Company took over Assam and started steadily expanding its control over the Naga Hills. Since the Nagas, as the tribes of Nagaland are collectively known, had little recorded history, knowledge about them before the British era is limited. According to some accounts, the Nagas belong to the Indo-Mongoloid group, and migrated from the east. References to tribes that could possible include the Nagas appear in Vedic and other ancient texts such as the Yajurveda, hundreds of years before Christ, and the people are referred to as ‘Kiratas’. When the Ahoms (who would rule for six centuries and give Assam its name) arrived in the area in the 13th century, the Nagas were already masters of the hills. Traditionally, the Nagas are Animists. According to the belief systems of Naga Animism, while there is one supreme god who is on the side of humans, there are several evil spirits that bring bad luck and misfortune such as illnesses. The Naga tribes speak several languages and there are differences in their customs and attire as well. For a millennia they lived in relative isolation that ended partly with the coming of British missionaries. World War 2 would prove to be a dramatic time for the Nagas, with Japan bringing the war into the heart of what is now Nagaland. Fought in phases between April 4 and June 22, 1944, the Battle of Kohima started with Japanese attempts to capture Kohima ridge, followed by a counterattack by British and Indian forces. Though Japanese troops abandoned the ridge, they continued their siege of the Kohima–Imphal road, which finally ended on June 22. In 2013, the British victory over Japan at the Battle of Kohima was chosen as Britain’s greatest battle. After India became independent, the Naga areas continued to be a part of Assam province. Some Naga nationalist groups stepped up their demand for a political entity comprising several Naga-populated areas. The Naga National Council was at the forefront of such campaigns. With the situation turning violent, the central government decided to send in the Army in 1955. Eventually, talks between the central government and Naga tribes led to the formation of the Naga Hills Tuensang Area (NHTA), comprising the Naga Hills of Assam and the Tuensang frontier.