A high-level delegation of Naga leaders, tribal representatives, reconciliation advocates, and scholars from the Naga homelands in Bharat’s Northeast has arrived in the United Kingdom to demand the repatriation of the human remains of their ancestors taken by colonial authorities more than a century ago.
The visit marks the culmination of a five-year journey spearheaded by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR) and the Recover, Restore, and Decolonise (RRaD) initiative. The delegation’s mission is to reclaim the stolen dignity of their forefathers, many of whom were exhumed, transported, and displayed as anthropological curiosities in British museums during the era of the British Raj.
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, British colonial officers, ethnographers, missionaries, and military officials removed hundreds of human remains and sacred cultural artefacts from the Naga Hills—then part of the undivided Assam province of British India and parts of present-day Myanmar. These items, including trophy heads, bones, pipes, and ceremonial textiles, were sent to European institutions like the Pitt Rivers Museum (PRM) of the University of Oxford, where they were classified and displayed through the colonial gaze, stripped of context and sanctity.
Until 2020, the Pitt Rivers Museum displayed some of these remains, including shrunken human heads, Egyptian mummies, and bones from Indigenous peoples, including Nagas. In recent years, as public pressure mounted and ethical scrutiny intensified, the museum began removing these items from display—but the journey of actual repatriation had yet to begin.
That is, until now.
On June 14, inside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the Naga delegation issued a moving public declaration—the Naga Oxford Declaration on Repatriation—stating unequivocally their united desire to bring their ancestors home.
“We are sorry that it has taken us several decades, but we are here now to reclaim and return you to the homelands from where you were taken. We are committed to the process of your return from museums,” read the declaration.
It was read aloud by Thejao Vihienuo, President of the Angami Public Organisation, in front of museum authorities, scholars, and members of the British public. The audience also included officials from several British institutions known to hold Naga cultural material and human remains.
“As Nagas, we do so in a united voice, with mutual respect and consensus, and to offer you a dignified rest, establishing a Naga monument of healing and peace for all generations, symbolising the oneness of the Nagas,” the declaration added.
The declaration was formally presented to Dr Laura van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, who described the repatriation process as “a step toward reconciliation and healing.” In a rare and solemn gesture of acknowledgment, she said:
“Over a century ago, the first Naga ancestral human remain was donated by John Henry Hutton to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Many others followed later. These ancestral remains have been in our care since then… This week we will both feel grief and sadness when looking back at that past, and also hope as we work toward reconciliation and healing.”
The director’s remarks signified the seriousness of the museum’s intent, but the road ahead will require more than symbolic gestures. The delegation made it clear that they are seeking not only the return of bones and artefacts but also justice, healing, and recognition of the violence inherent in colonial anthropology.
Rev. Dr Ellen Konyak Jamir, a RRaD coordinator and FNR member, described the delegation’s visit as a “sacred journey” that began five years ago, shaped by pain, memory, and resistance. “We recognise and express our sincere appreciation for the PRM’s commitment to change and ethical stewardship,” she said. “May this journey appease our ancestors and our communities.”
During their weeklong visit, the Naga delegation held extensive meetings with curators and historians at some of Britain’s most prestigious institutions, including:
- British Museum: Dr Alexandra Green acknowledged the museum’s extensive holdings of cultural material from Assam and Myanmar, noting the likely relevance to Naga communities.
- Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: Dr Mark Elliot revealed the museum holds 725 Naga items, mostly from the Angami, Ao, Konyak, and Khiamniungan tribes. He admitted that most of these items are not on display and are being digitised for future access.
- Manchester Museum: The institution confirmed it holds 12 human remains, 11 of them from Konyak territories. These were acquired by colonial officer James P. Mills, and the museum removed them from public exhibition in 1994.
- Horniman Museum, London: Curators Navjot Mangat and Heba Abd El Gawad spoke of a shift in museum vocabulary—from calling Indigenous heritage “objects” to “belongings.” The museum retains over 400 Naga cultural items and two human remains, and expressed willingness to co-create ethical repatriation frameworks.
- Bristol Museum: Curator Lisa Graves shared that they have over 200 possible Naga items, including one trophy head, and acknowledged the frequent mislabelling of artefacts from the region, often conflated with Chin material from Myanmar.
The week was not just about academic meetings. It was a spiritual and cultural pilgrimage. It began with a moment of silence for the victims of the Ahmedabad air disaster, followed by traditional chants by Dr Visier Sanyu, invoking a return of the ancestors to the Creator.
In the emotional centerpiece of the week, Kumsang Bendangtoshi and Tongor Luden Ao Senden conducted a ritual dedication to ancestral spirits, transforming the lecture hall into a sacred space of memory and renewal.
Dr Aküm Longchari, a respected thought leader and editor, delivered a powerful speech questioning global institutions’ ability to engage in “justpeace,” and called on Oxford University to move from its colonial past to become a “place for healing and justice across cultures.”
“The pathways of truth-telling, forgiveness, and redemption need to occur within the process of mutual healing to reclaim our identities, histories, and destinies,” Longchari said. “Repatriation must be where decolonisation and humanisation meet.”
Wrapping up the week’s engagements, Professor Dolly Kikon, an anthropologist and Naga scholar, reflected on the seismic cultural and political significance of the visit.
“Who would have thought of a day when the descendants of ancestors strung on the walls of this museum would travel thousands of kilometres to talk about humanisation?” she asked. “Who would have thought, since the Pitt Rivers Museum was established in 1884, that the Naga people would arrive here to reclaim their ancestors?”
She concluded with a powerful call to global museums and institutions: Let repatriation be not just an act of restitution, but a beacon of liberation, care, healing, and inclusivity.
The delegation plans to establish a Naga Memorial of Healing and Peace back in the homeland—an inclusive site to house repatriated remains and preserve the memory of colonial trauma for future generations. It will be a symbol of unity across the diverse Naga tribes and a reminder that justice delayed must not be justice denied.
The Naga people have waited generations to see their ancestors return home. With this visit, the wheels of cultural justice have begun to turn. “We are here now,” the Naga delegation declared. “We will bring our ancestors home.”
