Published Paper Details:

Agriculture forms the dominant economy of the Nagas since time immemorial. This paper brings to light about ideas of wealth and the nature of its utilization in the early Naga society. While highlighting the non-accumulative nature of wealth, the present work focus on the nature of surplus distribution as manifested in community feast given by rich men in the form of the Feasts of Merit. The paper also shows how the surplus distribution was also a means to gain recognition, a prestige and status in society. Generally, society and social structure is largely determined by how surplus is accumulated or distributed. For the emergence of a complex political structure or a dominant class of people in a society, it is determined by its control over surplus production. The paper brings to light a departure from the general trend where the idea appears to be more communal and non-accumulative in the nature. The present work also intends to shows how the prestige and status acquired carried no political implications. While attempting to project on the egalitarian nature of social formation, this very study also traces the development of some fundamental identity markers of the Naga cultural tradition associated with the Feasts of Merit.