RITUALS, TRAINING AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: UNDERSTANDING THE FUNCTIONS OF THE RENGMA NAGA MORUNG
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v12.i12SE.2024.5897Keywords:
Institution, Traditional, Rensika, MorungAbstract [English]
In the olden days, the most important institution was the morung or bachelor’s dormitories. It is also called as “Rensika” by the Rengma Nagas. The morung served as a traditional institution which imparted various skills of art and warfare, transmitted the customs and laws from generation to generation and morung evolved to meet the needs and requirements of society. There are different names like men's club, men's hall, public school, youth house etc. Like most of the other Naga communities. The Rengma Naga morung acted as a key institution. Every village is divided into khel and each khel has its own morung, which occupies the central place. It has separate morung for both boys and girls. The objective of the study is to understand more deeply the significant role of morung in thesocial, economic and spiritual life of the people. It also aims to create awareness among the present generation on the roles and responsibilities of the youth in promoting value-based society as taught in the morung.
The nature of “Rensika” is to be understood more objectively to get a better understanding of society as a whole.Through ethnographic research and community engagement, this paper aims to preserve age old traditions fostering unity among the Rengma Naga people contributing to the resilience of the cultural heritage.
Downloads
References
Ariina, H. F. (2019). "Tribal Philosophy: An Epistemological Understanding on Tribal Worldview." Shifting Perspectives in Tribal Studies: From an Anthropological Approach to Interdisciplinarity and Consilience, 351-370. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8090-7_18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8090-7_18
Goswami, R. (2022). "Once There was a 'Morung'." International Journal for Transformative Research 9.1, 40-48. https://doi.org/10.2478/ijtr-2022-0005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijtr-2022-0005
Moitra, A. (2024). "The Morung Express: Naganess, Indigeneity and Religion.".
Odyuo, I. (2013). "The various aspects of Naga art." IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 9.4, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-0941322 DOI: https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-0941322
Punyü, V. (2022). "Cultural Values Embedded in the Morung." The Cultural Heritage of Nagaland. Routledge, 247-254. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003362807-17 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003362807-17
Umadevi, N., and Payel, D. C. (2023)."Ethics In Indigenous Knowledge System: A Study of the Changing Dynamics of Naga Philosophy of Life and Religious Practices." Journal of Dharma 48.1, 85-106.
Yanthan, E. C. (2023). "Gendered practice of naga customary laws: A critical analysis." Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science 36.8, 36-44. https://doi.org/10.9734/jesbs/2023/v36i81246 DOI: https://doi.org/10.9734/jesbs/2023/v36i81246
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Gwasole Tep
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute, and/or copy their contribution. The work must be properly attributed to its author.
It is not necessary to ask for further permission from the author or journal board.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
