another and in some cases in close succession. The Tangkhuls came together with the Maos, Poumais, Marams and Thangals because all of them have references to their dispersal from Makhel (Makrefii) a Mao village in Senapati district. They had also erected megaliths at Makhel in memory of their having dispersed from there to various directions.
The Tangkhuls point out to the association of their forefathers with the seashore. Most of the ornaments of the Tangkhuls such as kongsang, huishon, etc. were made of sea shells, cowrie and conch shells a prominent feature of the people who live on the shore.
By the 2nd century AD Tangkhuls were living in Samshok (Thuangdut) in Myanmar . Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer and geographer of Alexandria in his Geography of Further India c. 140 AD referred to the Tangkhul Naga (Nangalogue) at Triglypton (Thuangdut). Tangkhuls began to disperse from Samshok after the invasion of Ko-lo-feng and his successor I-mau-shun the king of Nan-chao in the closing part of the 8th century AD and beginning of the 9th century. They were further driven towards the north west of Myanmar by the Shan people.
The Tangkhul as also other Naga tribes have travelled from China to Myanmar and from there they came to their present land traversing through innumerable snow covered landscapes, mountains and wild forests confronting wild beasts and tribes. Thus, the exodus of the Tangkhul from China to Myanmar and finally to India is indeed a story of heroism of human courage and endurance. In course of time every Tangkhul village became a small republic like the Greek city states. Every village had an unwritten constitution made up of age-old conventions and traditions. The Tangkhul villages were self-sufficient except for salt, and self-governing units ruled by hereditary or elected chief assisted by a Council of Elders. The chief was a judge, administrated and commander rolled into one.
The ancient Tangkhul history is hitherto an
