Handmade in India

Detail of an artisan carving a saau, figuring, from wood in
the Crafts Centre in Khonsa.
Nocte chief`s house made from bamboo.
WOOD CARVING
Wood carving or
muwang cha,
practiced by the
Nocte and
Wancho tribes
living in
Arunachal
Pradesh and in
adjoining
Nagaland, is
related to ancient
practices of the
fertility cult and
the institution of
morung, the
backelors`
dormitory.
Heads of human beings, tigers, elephants,
hornbills, pythons and bisons are carved in high
relief on the morung`s pillars and its exterior.
The iconography is of a headhunter with victim,
mutiple heads in a row, a man standing with a
dao, gun or spear; eyes shown as slits or beads,
and mouth as a groove. Carved wooden heads
are worn as pendants and used to decorate
baskets. Cha-sa or tha-sa, wood carving done
by men of the Wancho tribe is also done as
symbolic decorations of morungs and funerary
images erected for warriors and important
persons. They give more attention to the head
while carving a human figure, and the
figurines have tattoos marks and are shown as wearing clothes, ornaments
and having hair tufts. The pillars and horizontal beams of the morungs are
vividly carved with human figures, animals, birds and snakes. The hornbill
motif is carved only in the chief`s house. A log drum sometimes 30 feet long
is carved from a singly tree and is used during festivities. Wanchos carve
effigies of their dead from a single pieces of wood. These effigies are
dressed, tattooed and equipped with accessories such as a hat, a bag and a
dao, a wide bladed knife. The wood carvers` skills are respected in the
village.
Inset : Relief carving of a mithun on a pillar inside a Nocte morung.
Production Clusters
Tirap district:
Khonsa
Kheti village
Wakka village
Products
Pillars
Beams
Log drum
Facades
Effigies
Ladder
Tools
Dao-wide bladed
knife
Small knife
Chisel
Handsaw
Adze
Axe
Wancho carved seated
figuring displayed at
Khonsa Museum.
Wancho carved figurine displayed at Khonsa Museum.
Figurine of raajam, a
tiger. These carved
figures are used to
decorate Wancho
morungs.
Wak, the pig figurine, used to decorate in
Wancho morung in Khonsa.
1. Detail of a relief
carving of
headhunters
done on a pillar
inside a morung.
Wakka village.
2. Detail of Nocte
wood carving of
tiger figures.
3. Interior of a
Nocte morung,
dormitory in the
centre of the
room. To its
right is placed a
very long log
drum.