`Makamv Gwangdih` as Imagined by Haipou Jadonang.

Understanding Jadonang`s philosophy, political ideology and his contribution vis a vis Naga nationalism. CONCEPT NOTE: We cannot imagine a nation without a history of its own. This history must reflect the true image and processes of a nation building. This history must be truthful and instructive towards a better understanding of peoples’ aspiration for self-determination and collective identity. The contemporary National Movement of the Nagas is a conglomeration of multiple, and often parallel movements which could be either political or socio-religious in nature or both. There is a multitude of movements within this Movement and a failure to accept this multiplicity across time and territory will hinder the fruitful culmination into a larger framework of the Naga movement. Selective remembering and ill-informed interpretations of some of these local movements can also easily compromise their nationalistic agenda and therein lies the danger of allowing outsiders – both geographical and sentimental, to write and dictate our history. This is a call to develop our own narratives of nationhood in the ways Haipou Jadonang originally articulated the Naga Raj movement to be, in the beginning of the 20th century. Before memories fade, principal actors or witnesses to historical events pass away and before the grand political ideology ‘Makamv Gwangdih’ of Haipou Jadonang would soon be lost to posterity, it is our moral imperative to ensure that such political legacy stays alive and relevant in writing the history of the Naga nation. With too many dissenting voices and political harmony ever harder to achieve, there is no doubt that a nation must have a national history. If we could conceive of Nagas as a nation and provide a truthful and inclusive national history, perhaps a sense of national identity, unity and belongingness would follow. It is in the pursuit of this spirit that we need to extensively deliberate on Haipou Jadonang and his supreme contributions on the making of the early Naga consciousness. The locality or the regionality of his movement is of lesser significance at this juncture. DISCLAIMER: The content of the lecture represents the views and opinions of the Speaker.