The Biography of Yentin Ongbou Chang: Of a Priestly Clan

GRATITUDES

THE BIOGRAPHY OF YENTIN ONGBOU CHANG OF A PRIESTLY CLAN IS DEDICATED TO

CHONGKI MUNG CHANG, a beloved wife, mother and grandmother.

To our Lord Jesus Christ

To Michael, Andrew Sikumchu and Lucas O’shen Choba for the inspiration and encouragement.

To Andrew Sikumchu for sponsoring the production of this audiobook.

To Akumla Ongbou for the unwavering love and support.  

To the Children, grandchildren, son and daughter in-laws of Yentin Ongbou Chang.

To Wongto Chingmak, Author of Yentin Ongbou Chang, 2009

To Tuensang Village and Tuensang District.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1: Genealogy of Yentin Ongbou Chang

Chapter 2: Oral Tradition

Chapter 3: Origin of the Chang Naga Tribe

Chapter 4: A Priestly Clan

Chapter 5: Four Major Clans of the Chang Tribe

Chapter 6: Tuensang Village, Ancestral Home

Chapter 7: Meeting His Future Wife

Chapter 8: Marriage March, 1957

Chapter 9: Civil Servant, Government of Nagaland 1954-1991

Chapter 10: Tribalism and Clannism

Chapter 11: Turning Point

Chapter 12: Construction of the Commercial Property

(Tuensang landmarks: The First Bakery & The First Wholesale General Merchant 1963)

Chapter 13: Construction of the Family Home

Chapter 14: Responsibility of the First Born Son

Chapter 15: Open House

Chapter 16: Friendship

Chapter 17: Educated

Chapter 18: Head Hunter to Soul Hunter

Chapter 19: Wife, Mother and Grandmother

Chapter 20: First Daughter First Born

Chapter 21: Triumphs, Heartaches and Loss

Chapter 22: First Christmas with his American Family

Chapter 23: Till We Meet Again

Chapter 24: The Author’s Journey for the Final Goodbye

Chapter 25: From Dust to Dust

Chapter 26: Letters

INTRODUCTION

This biography of Yentin Ongbou Chang was born through grief and heartbreak in the author’s life. Yentin Ongbou passed away suddenly from a massive heart attack. His sudden passing left the author and the rest of the family in deep distress and pain. In order to help with the grief of losing her beloved father so suddenly, she started to journal. The journaling of her father’s life helped the author through healing from her grief. It took a long time for the author to come to terms and accept that her beloved father was gone forever. She tried to find her father in all the secret places in her heart. In her grief, she longed for her father to visit her in her dreams or just to talk to her. She fought hard not to let her father’s sudden passing bring her into depression, the dark place, that she did not want to visit. She kept her journal for five years. Whenever she was in a sad place, she found comfort writing in her journal.

In a culture where boys are given greater opportunities, priorities, and status than girls, for Yentin Ongbou, his three daughters were given the same opportunities. There was no hierarchy or superiority between the sons and daughters. Both the sons and daughters were treated the same and given the same opportunities. Often he challenged his daughters to achieve and perform the same as the boys. He believed that his daughters could always perform as well as the boys. 

He took great interest and was very involved in the lives of the children. After the author was married and started her own family far away, he was still her guiding light. He always let his daughter know that she was loved very much. In many letters that he sent, he let her know he missed enjoying the simple pleasures of life in her presence.

Yentin Ongbou was an excellent communicator. In the evenings, after dinner he would gather his children at his bedside. He would share with his children many life lessons, including the history and traditions of his people and family. He wanted to leave for his children and the generation to come after him things that are very dear to him and worth preserving. He had a property in a prime location in Tuensang, Nagaland. His vision was to build a museum on that property for the people of Tuensang. But he passed away suddenly without fulfilling his vision. During his lifetime, he left both the written and audio recordings of the family genealogy, history, tradition and life lessons for his children and his grandchildren.  

The biography of Yentin Ongbou Chang is also written to preserve the history, culture, and the tradition of the Chang Naga tribe of Northeast India. Only in recent years is the outside world getting to learn about the Chang Naga tribe of Nagaland. Even though Nagaland has been a part of India since 1961, even mainland Indians are often not aware of the Nagas. They are often mistaken for people from other East Asian countries. The geography and the people of northeast India were not taught at the schools in India. Only in recent years through social media, is the rest of India beginning to hear and learn of the people from northeast India. When the author was visiting museums and historical places in India, she was often asked to pay the entrance fees set for foreigners. Many visitors from Nagaland and other parts of Northeast India have the same struggles as the author. Through the biography of Yentin Ongbou Chang, we hope it will educate and inform outsiders who have not yet heard of the Chang tribe from Nagaland and the other tribes from Northeast India. India is such a diverse country. That diversity is also the greatest strength of India.

Chapter One: GENEALOGY

A people without history is a lost generation. - Yentin Ongbou Chang

According to the oral history, Yentin Ongbou is the 12th generation. A record of the genealogy of Yentin Ongbou Chang, the grandson of Yimlok Yanchu and the son of Chongshen Yangchang Sikumchu, of Tuensang Village of the Chang Naga tribe.  He is a descendant of Khoni Yimjong, the middle son of Thungpang Mongko.

Chongshen Ashemba was the first settler that settled in Changsang.

Chongshen Ashemba’s son was Thungpang Mongko.

Thungpang Mongko had three sons.

1. Ongbou Limchu  2. Khoni Yemjong (Yentin’s ancestor)  3. Thungpang Haiba.

4. Khoni Yemjong’s son was Thungti Mongko.

5. Thungti Mongko’s son was Thungpang Mongko.

6. Thungpang Mongko’s son was Yentin Mongko.

7. Yintin Mongko’s son was Thungpang Pangten.

8. Thungpang Pangten’s son was Chongshen Mongba.

9. Chongshen Mongba’s son was Yemlok Yanchu.

10. Yemlok Yanchu’s son was Chongshen Yangchang Sikumchu.

11. Chongshen Yangchang Sikumchu’s son was Yentin Ongbou.

12. Yentin Ongbou had five sons and four daughters

Yentin Ongbou’s sons are Thungpang Chingmak, Mongko Yanchu, Chungshen Sangba, Changsang Ashemba and Khoni Yemjong.

Yentin Ongbou’s Daughters are Thonti Naro, Mongsen Sonla, Yongching Kumla and Kebo Mansa.

Chapter 2: ORAL TRADITION

The origin, tradition , culture and history of the Chang tribe have been passed down from the elders orally for generations.  Yentin Ongbou was raised in an oral tradition. He learned orally from the elders how to be a man and a warrior at the Sochem, a dormitory for young boys and girls. When the boys and girls reached puberty, they stayed at the Sochem. At the Sochem, the young people learn at the feet of the elders about the origin, tradition, culture and the history of their people. Boys were also taught by the elders to be warriors and it was a head hunting culture. They were also taught crafts like basket making, wood carving, house building and other skills to help them succeed in life as a man. Girls were taught by the elders to weave, cook, and raise children and other skills needed to be a woman, wife, and mother. It is the community of elders that helped raise the future generation.

The oral tradition of the Chang tribe has survived for many centuries. Although today the Chang language can be written using Roman script, before the 1940s there were no written scripts of the Chang language. But the people of Chang tribe communicated with each other through Asemic writing. Various art forms are used to communicate with each other. The various drawings, patterns and the engravings were the only way the early inhabitants of the Chang tribe were able to communicate with each other. The engraving at the Haki, the sacred place, at the village gate and the front of the house interprets the status of the person and the village. The drawings on the Chang beer mugs, wooden leg plates, and other utensils also interpret the meaning of the village and the status of the person. The engraving on the rocks and the caves has various interpretations of its significance. There are various kinds of Chang shawls. The various pattern of the shawls can signify a rich man, a woman, a young boy, and a warrior. There is also mourning shawl. 

According to the western calendar, Yentin Ongbou was born in 1925. He was born during the sowing season, most probably in March or April of the western calendar. The Chang calendar only counts the year and the month, not the date. The year and month are marked by lunar patterns and seasons based on the cultivation of the fields as the main occupation of the Chang was agriculture.

Chapter 3: THE ORIGIN OF THE CHANG NAGA TRIBE

Since the Chang tribe have an oral tradition, no one knows exactly from where they originated. Through an oral tradition, the Chang tribe strictly confirms that Changsang is their birth place, the place where all Chang people originated.  Changsang is located between Tuensang village and Hakchang village in Tuensang province. Changsang means Chang village. Chang means people of the east.  Tuensang means village on the hill. Tuensang Village is the motherland of the Chang tribe. The main language of the Chang tribe is Chang. There are several other Chang dialects spoken by Noksen, Longra and Lithim villages. Various regions have their own accent when speaking the Chang language.

While writing this biography, the author, did her DNA test from Ancestry.com. Her DNA (human molecule inside cells that contain their genetic information) results came back as 90% East Asian, 9% Central Asia and 1% Melanesian.  There are a few books that have been written by early anthropologists from the west and mainland India about the Nagas. They believed that the Naga tribes are of Indo-Tibetan and Mongolian races. Even if the Chang tribe is of the Mongoloid race, they differ in many ways from the Mongolian and the Tibetan peoples. The Chang Nagas do not drink milk nor eat cheese. The Chang tribe diet mainly consists of barley, corn, rice, vegetables, herbs, beans, black-eyed peas and occasionally meat. Meat is not the main diet of the Chang tribe. In the early days, meat was consumed only during special occasion like festivals, marriages, and funerals. The traditional and ceremonial attires of the Chang tribe are also very different from those of the Mongolian and Tibetan people. Unlike the Mongolians and Tibetans, the Chang tribe are neither nomads nor herders. They are not familiar with raising yak for meat, milk, or clothing. They raise buffalo and Naga bison wild in the forest. The buffalo are for food consumption and not for milk.  The animals they mostly raise are chicken and pigs. The Chang tribe are not nomadic. They have lived hundreds of years in permanent villages. Chang villages are always on the top of the hill. The reason for having the village at the top of the hill was to be able to scan and to look out for enemies. A Chang village can be comprised of ten or more households. The main occupation of the Chang tribe is agriculture. The Chang tribe traditionally have practiced animism with some sort of