Pieter Steyn - Zapuphizo : voice of the Nagas

ZAPUPHIZO

This is the first biography of Angami Zapuphizo, the great patriot leader of Nagaland in the northeastern hills of South Asia, who died in exile in England in 1990. A colourful, charismatic personality with an air of mystery about him, he was the force behind the Nagas; demand for sovereign independence in 1947, at the time that Britain transferred power to India and Pakistan. From then onwards he was a central figure in the turbulent ethnic tapestry of the region. Zapuphizos life was the stuff of which legends are made, and to the Naga people he will always be their hero.

The book focuses on Zapuphizos life, his realism and his collaboration with the Japanese in World War II, and with the years of India's military suppressions of the nationalist Naga army, giving fresh insight into Zapuphizos thoughts and actions as he strove to regain for his homeland the ultimate goal of sovereign independence.

Although Nagaland is today a state within the Union of India, the Naga peoples have never given up their wish to be free. In the years before Britain quit the Indian subcontinent, the Nagas of the far northeast were held to exemplify an exotic and quixotic society. Radically different in culture and beliefs from the better known Hindus and Muslims of the plains, they were renowned for their spirited independence and diversity. The book also gives a history of the Naga nation, and surveys its present condition and future prospects.

ZAPUPHIZO

VOICE OF THE NAGAS

PIETER STEYN

First published in 2002 by
Kegan Paul International

This edition first published in 2010 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Kegan Paul, 2002

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 10: 0-7103-0506-0 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-0506-0 (hbk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be
apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright
holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been
unable to trace.

List of Abbreviations

Chronology

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures

Maps

Map 1: Bay of Bengal

Map 2: Bangladesh, Northeastern India and Burma

Preface

Zapuphizo was one of those rare nonconformists which an essentially agrarian society occasionally throws up an intellectual who is prepared to fight, and if necessary die, for his people and his political beliefs. In his case it was not because he was the first modern-day Naga to challenge the right of the British, or anyone else, to rule Nagaland, it was the combination of his charismatic personality, complex background and the unfathomable mystery generally surrounding him. A passionate nationalist, he was to the Indian establishment and to many Western commentators exceedingly devious and frustratingly inflexible, though his detractors recognized his sincere attachment to Naga culture and the Naga stand on independence. It is difficult to present him in easy terms, but it cannot be gainsaid that to his countrymen, in spite of his failings, his steadfastness has assured him entry into legend as the progenitor of their nationalism. He will to time immemorial be their greatest hero.