Head hunter stories

Alexander Himushin visited Cognac in Mountain India. In the first part of the story, he met a woman for the mayor and almost disappeared with a fried rat. In the second part, read about the hunter for human heads, the exhibition of skulls and a visit to the neighboring village.

Returning home, I found the owner dormant on the balcony. Nearby, as usual, there was a couple of empty bottles of beer and a clouded bucket, in which the old man flew endlessly to Bethel. For those who do not know, Bethel is a nut, whose chewing is common in some Asian countries, including Burma and India. It has a light narcotic effect. When chewing as a side effect is actively highlighted with a dark red saliva, which eventually stains all the teeth in red-brown.

The owner turned out to be a very interesting interlocutor. Here is the story he told me that day:

"I was born a long time ago. My Naga Naga clan, one of the militant tribes brandy, inhabited these mountains for centuries. These areas and today are very difficult to access, and before they were practically cut off from the rest of the world. British, previously owned India, never controlled these territories. After gaining independence from the British, the Indian authorities decided to master and consolidate this region. It was in the 1950s. At that time I was about twenty. Our tribe lived in hunting and collecting in these forests. We fought the village on the village, using spears and axes, lived in the huts from the leaves and went without clothes. Bring a chopped head of the enemy to the village was a great honor. Skulls were postponed to universal review in the elders hut. The more goals you brought, the higher it was respect for the tribesmen. I was twenty years old when I first saw a plane flying over the jungle. I remember, we were very frightened, seeing a huge iron bird.

Then the Indian power came to our edges and installed its orders. At the age of 21 I went to school, learn the alphabet and adsess. My perseverance in training and responsibility to my tribesmen helped me pass the life path from the savage to the minister. In connection with age, I have already moved away from. Looking at your life path, I am proud of the achieved ".

In the house on the shelves and the walls there was a huge number of regalia. The owner proudly showed me one necklace with the Tiger tooth – only the outstanding sons of the Fatherland are honored. According to the Son, it costs at least $ 10,000. But the most interesting was to know about the meaning of the necklace with bronze heads. It turns out that he received only a warrior, begging the enemy. Moreover, the number of bronze heads on the necklace corresponded to the number of heads, "mined" in battles. "So that you are beheaded six?"I asked, looking at the necklace. The owner somehow climbed. "Well, not six, only a couple of people shoved," he quarreled, not wanting to go into the details. – Well, what time was a son. "At that moment I thought that we sleep with this elderly head hunter, which" doesn’t like to drink at all ", in the neighboring rooms, and my also doesn’t even close 🙂 And what if the old man wants to replenish the collection on old memory? And not just a head of the tribesman, and a foreigner’s head with glasses, so to speak, elite trophy? 😉

Photo owner – in a citizen, so to speak.

In times of violent youth, he looked a little different.

Family photo with wife.

As you know, one of the well-known stories of removal methods of savages is a religion. Missionaries, as you can see, got to the naggolend. In Monte and some neighboring villages there are Baptist churches. As it turned out, the housewife at home also participated in the local church choir. And not just participated, but also provided his home for rehearsals in the evenings. In the evening, when I was already spreading with the owners and went to bed, I suddenly heard some singing in the living room. Radio? (TV in the house was not.) Curiosity for the sake of I slightly opened the door. My look appeared the following picture: when candles (electricity there is almost constantly no time) in the living room, who is on what a person sat, probably twenty women and several men. In their hands, they had books for which they hosted Psalms. And I must say, sang well. I turned on the camera record and quietly attached it to the door. Link to the resulting audioist I will lay out a little later in the comments.

In his free work and church business, the hostess was engaged in needlework.