Nagaland Shawls

Nagaland Shawls display rich color and design. Nagaland as a part of India display the great tradition of Indian textiles, especially that of weaving. Indian shawls are famed throughout the world. Similarly, Nagaland shawls with vivid colors and decorations are the hallmark of the Indian as well as Naga craftsmen. Earlier, Nagaland shawls were used to identify a person.

About Nagaland Nagaland—a tribal state- is blessed with meandering streams, great valleys, deep gorges, high mountains, a rich valley of flora and fauna, colorful festivals, rich culture and interesting attire. Nagaland is an animated and vivacious hill state nestled in the far northeastern part of India. The states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Myanmar and Manipur encircle it from all sides.

About Nagaland Shawls

The traditional occupation and art of Nagaland is weaving of clothes. Indeed, the most prominent item of Naga dressing is, the shawl. The exquisite design and pattern of weaving is revealed through different shawls weaved by them. Every major tribe of Nagaland has its own unique shawl pattern that depicts its unparalled design and color. With different tribes in Nagaland, there is vast variety of shawls too. Each tribal shawl is different from the other. Besides, there are varieties and sub-varieties of shawls in every group.

Nagaland—Warrior Shawl
The warrior shawl of Ao tribe is calle the Tsungkotepsu. This shawl generally contains the figures of tiger, elephant, mithun, human head, cock, Dao and spear. These pictures are awe-inspiring as well as beautiful. However, these forms do symbolize something, like mithun represents wealth of the wearer; the elephant and tiger denote prowess in hunting and the human head signifies success in taking heads. These patterns are painted in black on a white band, while the cloth itself is of dark blue colour. Yet another warrior shawl is the Sangtam Rongsu shawl of the Santam tribe. This particular shawl is restricted to men going for wars. Actually, it is not allowed to be worn by ordinary people. A black based cloth contains horizontal eight bands of grey—four at top and other four at bottom.

Other Nagaland Shawls
There is red and yellow colored shawl for Angamis called Lohe. Indeed, the yellow color has been replaced by green these days. The unmarried boys and girls of the Chang tribe wear the Kaksi nei, whereas the newly married couple boasts of the Silang nei. Another variety of Chang shawl is the Tobu nei, which has zig-zag patterns in alternate red and black on a blue band. The popular Yimchunger shawls are the Aneak khim which are black, and Mokhok khim which is white. Nagaland shawls are unique. Just draped round the body, these shawls are capable of revealing a person's identity. With different tribes in Nagaland, there are different kinds of Nagaland shawls too that look really beautiful and wonderful. So, if you want to don the look of a Naga, you can purchase these shawls from the market.