More than 39 sets of Naga ancestral remains, taken from the region during the colonial period over a century ago and kept at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, will be placed on public display at Solidarity Park in Nagaland for two to three days before being laid to rest.
The arrangements are part of the homecoming and burial ceremonies being planned to mark the return of the ancestral remains to their homeland. A member of the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) said two separate programmes would be organised, beginning with a homecoming ceremony, followed by a burial ceremony.
Dr Visier Sanyü, an FNR member, said the remains would be kept at Solidarity Park for around two to three days, allowing members of the public to visit the site and pay their respects before the burial.
Speaking in Dimapur, Sanyü expressed gratitude to the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) and the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights for donating land to serve as the final resting place for the ancestral remains.
The Pitt Rivers Museum has formally handed over more than 39 sets of Naga ancestral remains to facilitate their repatriation to Nagaland. Their return follows sustained efforts by Naga organisations, community representatives and other stakeholders to bring the remains held in overseas institutions back to their homeland.
Dr Ellen Konyak Jamir, coordinator of Recover, Restore and Decolonise (RRaD), described the repatriation as an important step towards restoring the rights of the Naga people over their ancestral remains.
“Repatriation is asserting the Naga right to ancestral human remains. Remains that have been in others’ custody for more than 100 years, and now they are ours,” she said.
Jamir also highlighted the importance of the sustained engagement between the Naga community and the museum, saying the process had created an opportunity to address historical difficulties associated with the removal and collection of ancestral remains during the colonial period.
“Repatriation, as a process, has really opened up an opportunity for the museum as well as the Naga people to address our historical difficulties. It has been a sustained process of continuous dialogue,” she added.
The ancestral remains were taken from the Naga region more than 100 years ago during the colonial period and subsequently became part of the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.
