Rani Gaidinliu: The Iconic Woman of Northeast India

Abstract

This article attempts to analyse why Rani Gaidinliu, who was a freedom fighter and social and religious reformer, was keen to preserve the identity and culture of her cognate tribe¹—the Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmai/Kabui and Npui. Does Heraka—a socio-religious movement started by Haipou Jadonang and later developed by the Rani—become a tool of ‘cultural revivalism’ and act as a means to unite cognate tribes? Why do we juxtapose Heraka with the Hindutva ideologues such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that position Rani Gaidinliu in a new spirit of nationalism and identity as the lone woman spiritual and political protagonist of Northeast India? She used Heraka with politics to fulfil her goals in fighting the British. Using the interview method, I spoke to selected respondents, particularly elders and community leaders, about Rani Gaidinliu. Her story illustrates a rationality that could encourage marginalised and invisible women to become sociopolitical and spiritual leaders, questioning patriarchy and bringing about empowerment and social inclusion.

Full text

Focus on North East India
Rani Gaidinliu:
The Iconic Woman
of Northeast India
Ajailiu Niumai1
Abstract
This article attempts to analyse why Rani Gaidinliu, who was a freedom
fighter and social and religious reformer, was keen to preserve the
identity and culture of her cognate tribe1—the Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmai/
Kabui and Npui. Does Heraka—a socio-religious movement started by
Haipou Jadonang and later developed by the Rani—become a tool of
‘cultural revivalism’ and act as a means to unite cognate tribes? Why do
we juxtapose Heraka with the Hindutva ideologues such as the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that
position Rani Gaidinliu in a new spirit of nationalism and identity as the
lone woman spiritual and political protagonist of Northeast India? She
used Heraka with politics to fulfil her goals in fighting the British. Using
the interview method, I spoke to selected respondents, particularly
elders and community leaders, about Rani Gaidinliu. Her story illustrates
a rationality that could encourage marginalised and invisible women to
become sociopolitical and spiritual leaders, questioning patriarchy and
bringing about empowerment and social inclusion.
Keywords
Identity, culture, community, cognate tribes, religion, Heraka
Indian Journal of Gender Studies
25(3) 351–367
© 2018 CWDS
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0971521518785666
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/ijg
1 Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP), University of Hyderabad,
Hyderabad, Telangana, India.
Corresponding author:
Ajailiu Niumai, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP),
University of Hyderabad, Gachibowli, Hyderabad—50 0046, Telangana, India.
E-mail: ajainiumai@gmail.com

352 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
Introduction
During the 1980s, Rani Gaidinliu,2 adorned in her traditional attire and
trademark dark sunglasses, stepped down from a jeep helped by two
young Rongmei Naga girls. She was visiting my hometown Tamei in
Manipur’s Tamenglong district. As a little girl, I vividly remember having
mixed feelings of awe and mystification. While growing up, we often
heard stories of her bravery—but were sceptical of her socio-religious
movement known as Heraka, meaning the pure, immured from other
impurities (Longkumer, 2011) propounded by her cousin, the spiritual
leader Haipou Jadonang (Kamei, 2004a).
Rani Gaidinliu was born on 26 January 1915 to parents who were
from the Rongmei/Kabui tribe in Nungkoa village, Tousem subdivision
of Tamenglong district, Manipur (Kamei, 2014). Her staunch opponents
labelled her as a magician, mystic, witch, demon-possessed, sorcerer
(J. P. Mills, 1932, in Longkumer, 2018) and even a cannibal. While
Arkatong Longkumer (ibid.) considered her as a prophetess, Kamei
Gangmumei (ibid.) wrote that, in the 1920s, the British political agent
to Manipur J. C. Higgins labelled Rani Gaidinliu as a Maibi (priestess).
Kamei claims that she was much more than a Maibi in the sense that
since childhood, she grew up as a liberated, courageous and determined
girl with mystic power. In a phone interview of 30 December 2017,
D. P. Panmei, a personal assistant to Rani Gaidinliu from 1973 to 1975
and chairman of Rani Gaidinliu Memorial Foundation, narrated that
when she was born, the umbilical cord surrounded her neck. The Maibas
(priest) and Maibis (priestess) predicted that she would grow up as an
extraordinary girl if she did not die. We have oral narratives that are best
suited to explain such events in a culture that was adopting large scale
literacy. Legend has it that Gaidinliu’s life changed at the age of 12 years
after she and her elder sister Kiuliamliu met a goddess who resembled
her in the paddy field while they were picking chillies. The goddess
asked them, ‘Are you two alone’? ‘What are you doing’? When they
replied affirmatively to the first question, she offered to help them in
plucking the chillies. Sitting in a hut in the paddy field, the three of them
poured the chillies on the ground from their baskets. When the sun set,
they collected the chillies and the sisters proceeded towards their home.
Just before reaching their village gate, they stopped for a rest. The
goddess took out her chillies and distributed it between the sisters. After
that, as she disappeared unexpectedly, both the sisters were spellbound
and afraid. They decided not to inform anybody about their encounter
with the goddess but they were restless and could not sleep that night.

Niumai 353
Next day, they went about their usual chores as if nothing had happened.
Sometimes, the goddess would appear to Gaidinliu and help her in
domestic chores when her parents were away at the paddy field. She main-
tained a close relationship with the goddess. One day, she was asked to
go to the Bhubon cave3 in Assam. She went to the cave with some village
elders where she was given some cups of healing water from the cave.
She healed many people by using it and the water was sold to other Naga
tribes. Gaidinliu was not only a freedom fighter and socio-religious
reformer but also a physician and Maibi.
There are many such ‘important’ events in Rani Gaidinliu’s life, and
these have become a part of the storytelling tradition of Naga tribes,
passed down through generations. In this process, there must have been
elements of interpolation, and the primary orality of the period when these
respondents listened to the same is mutated now. It is also because of the
elapse of time and the differential needs of the contexts that primary and
secondary orality differ. The fact that these narratives are privileged in the
indigenous understanding shows the vitality of the culture and of oral
transmission.
The central purpose of this article is to examine how Rani Gaidinliu
attempted to preserve the identity and culture of her people, namely,
Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Inpui Naga tribes spread across Assam,
Manipur and Nagaland. Traditional beliefs stated that these cognate
tribes are the progenies of three brothers, namely, Magangtubou,
Kadingbou and Renbangbou, who were descendants of Munhu-Nguiba
from Makuilongdi village, Senapati district in Manipur. The tribe of
the first son who moved to the North is known as Zeme and that of the
second son who stayed in Makuilongdi village is the Liangmai tribe,
while the third son who went to the South founded the Rongmei/Kabui
tribe (Miri, 1991). Their leaders held a meeting and formed a common
nomenclature for these cognate tribes as Zeliangrong, which is a prefix
of the Zeme, Liangmai and Rongmei/Kabui tribes. The term Zeliangrong
is not recognised as that of a tribe, but rather it is perceived as a social
organisation and union of these tribes. In December 2017, when I inter-
viewed Athuibou, an ex-MLA of Manipur Legislative Assembly and
elder of the community, recounts:
The Npui tribe also attended the meeting in 1947 but their prex or sufx
was excluded in the term Zeliangrong. Npui leaders raised their concern but
majority of the leaders ignored their objection. There was persistent pressure
to include them for many years but in vain. Eventually, they detached from
the Zeliangrong in 1995 after their efforts did not yield any result.

354 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
Earlier, the Zeme and Liangmai were recognised as Zeliang in Nagaland
and Kacha Naga (Elwin, 1969; Grierson, 1903) in Manipur. The Rongmei/
Kabui (Hodson, 1911; Watt, 1887) is a recognised Scheduled Tribe in
Manipur. The Government of Nagaland recognised Rongmei as a Naga
tribe on 4 August 2012 but withdrew the recognition on 3 June 2017
(Morung Express, 2017). The Npui Naga tribe suffers from an identity
crisis since they are identified as Rongmei/Kabui Naga tribe due to their
assimilation with the latter tribe. The councils of these cognate tribes
petitioned the Government of India for their separate recognition and
were ultimately recognised as the Zeme, Liangmai, Rongmei and Npui
Scheduled Tribes with the passing of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes)
Order (Amendment) Act, 2011, in the Parliament in December 2011
(The Gazette of India, 2012).
Methodology
In this study, the qualitative method was employed through the interview
method. The elders and community leaders who knew the two legendary
figures, Rani Gaindiliu and Haipou Jadonang, were purposively selected
for this study. Some respondents hail from Tamenglong, Tamei, Imphal
and Kohima. Individual interviews were held between 2015 and 2017,
mostly at the residence of the selected respondents, and a few others
were interviewed online. Thus, the recollection was mediated by many
years having passed in the history of Naga societies, leaving room for
newer counter-memories. Secondary sources consulted include journals,
newspapers, documents, websites and books pertaining to Rani Gaidinliu,
Haipou Jadonang and the cognate Naga tribes. Since the exercise involved
interviews about incidents that have taken place many decades ago,
memory studies4 was one of the aspects that were taken into account as a
method. The difference between primary and secondary orality was the
distinguishing factor.
Rise of Rani Gaidinliu as a Political Protagonist
British political agents first came to the area in 1832 where many
cognate tribes lived in a political expedition assisted by the Maharaja of
Manipur, which resulted in the suppression cognate tribes as Kabui and

Niumai 355
Kacha Naga (Johnstone, 1896). Haipou Jadonang was born in 1905, at
Puiluan (Kambiron) village on the old Cachar road. He witnessed the
repression by British officers who used the local people as porters or
Pothang Bekahri/Pothang Senkhai—equivalent to forced labour and
coerced every household to pay revenue tax of `3 per annum (Kamei,
ibid). Jadonang introduced Heraka, a synthesis of Christian monotheism
and Hindu temple culture. He discovered the ancient holy cave of Lord
Bishnu in the Bhubon hills cave and worshipped him and one supreme
God—Ragwang (Kamei, 2004b) or Tingwang. Heraka is a reformed
indigenous religion that worships Tingwang through prayers, singing of
hymns and songs. Jadonang abolished several taboos and gennas and
spearheaded the construction of temples (Kalumki or Kahumki) with a
shrine, pulpit and aisles of bamboo. Heraka attempts ‘to overcome evil
spirits and to erase the memory of sacrifices and evil spirits’ (Longkumer,
2011, p. 213). They used an earring as a symbol of Heraka believer.
Although Jadonang began his movement as a socio-religious reform
movement, he focused on the freedom of his people and challenged the
oppressive British regime (Yonuo, 1982). He met S. C. Booth, the Sub-
divisional Officer, but refused to salute the British officer and in 1926,
it landed him in Tamenglong jail for a week. He slowly organised and
trained a youth armed force called Riphen with a strength of about
500 men to fight the British (Kamei, 1997). His followers showed alle-
giance to his movement by contributing cows or bulls and cash. From
1926 to the early 1930s, Jadonang attempted to preserve the distinct
identity and culture of his community and he dreamt of his people living
together in one geographical state. Through their widespread intelligence
network, the British became alarmed about Jadonang’s movement and
looked for ways to eliminate him.
Rani Gaidinliu came to know of Jadonang through dreams that lead
her to visit him at Kambiron, Assam. They were related through the
Pamei exogamous clan. Their relationship as the master and disciple
cemented between 1926 and 1927 and she became his trusted lieutenant.
Jadonang and Rani Gaidinliu eulogised Mahatma Gandhi for his principle
of non-violence (ahimsa). Jadonang even composed a song in honour of
Gandhi. In his letter on insurgency in the Naga Hills of Manipur to the
Governor of Assam, J. C. Higgins the political agent of Manipur termed
the cause for the Zeliangrong people as Naga Raj (Kingdom). Higgins
used the term Naga Raj pejoratively to prove that these tribes have
low acumen and were antagonistic but dared to challenge the British
and therefore, the British government should supply military forces and

356 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
resources to tackle them (Kamei, 2004a). This pejorative dimension was
countered by Jadonang and Gaidinliu use of cultural resources such as
language of dreams and mysticism, neither of which was alien or strange
to the indigenous discourse—even though it was rejected by ‘others’.
Asoso Yonuo (1982) asserts that Rani Gaidinliu rose as a spiritual and
political leader after the British hanged Jadonang on 29 August 1931 at
Imphal, Manipur on charges of treason against four Meitei (Manipuri)
traders who were killed in Longkao (Nungkao) for violation of an impor-
tant social taboo in which he had no role. This taboo and genna were
observed by the villagers where people were prohibited from lighting
a fire or cooking food inside or outside the village on certain days.
However, these four Meitei traders violated the prohibition. Jadonang
was framed as the culprit after a farcical trial and the British hanged him
as a pre-emptive measure. Jadonang was given little chance to prove his
innocence. His trial for the alleged murder was politically motivated as
the prosecutor, judge and the police was all rolled into one man namely
J. C. Higgins (Kamei, ibid.). The British intimidated some followers
of Jadonang to testify that their leader was the one who ordered the
murders of Meitei traders revealing thereby that the trial was orches-
trated to create communal disharmony between the Meiteis and Jadonang’s
community. According to some community leaders, the British also attemp-
ted to send across the message to Jadonang’s followers that they would
meet the same fate if they continue to revolt against them.
Yonuo also notes that Jadonang invented his own script—though this
was considered as too crude and unintelligible to be used for preserving
Naga language and culture. He wrote his ideas and songs in this script in a
book, which was taught, to his followers. In order to let the British authori-
ties know about his invention, he wrote a letter to the Sub-divisional
Officer, S. C. Booth, at Tamenglong Headquarters who tore it in up in
disgust, considering it an illiterate young man’s ideas and script. Others
may not understand what Jadonang wrote in a book, but his writing was a
form of protest against the British rulers. His intention was to show that he
was at par with the British in writing and his community was not lesser
than any civilised people.
During her childhood, Rani Gaidinliu did not attend any formal
school like other girls since there was no school in her village or area.
However, she was keen to write although the British rulers later ques-
tioned her skill of writing. Her inspiration to write a script came from her
master Jadonang. Arkatong Longkumer (2018) cited J. P. Mills who kept
Rani Gaidinliu’s 12 notebooks and unflatteringly described them as:

Niumai 357
magic books of the sorceress Gaidinliu [sic] captured with her other property
in March 1932. The writing is apparently nothing but meaningless scrib-
bling. She is a Kabui girl of no education at all and taught herself to scribble.
Her literary power gave her immense prestige and she used to send written
messages to her adherents—with verbal messages to say what they meant
(JPM 5/18/32).
Longkumer has pointed out that most of these notebooks found at Pitts
Rivers Museum (PRM) at the University of Oxford have English names
and some have Bengali writing in them. He mentions that two of the
notebooks have a photo of Mahatma Gandhi on their cover that suggest
that Rani Gaidinliu either procured the exercise books from local
bookshops or borrowed them from friends or that she herself attended
one of the government and Christian mission schools in the region. From
a young age, Rani Gaidinliu was gifted with natural leadership and good
communication skills; the environment had motivated her to fight against
the British rulers (Yonuo, 1982).
When I interviewed D.P. Panmei, he recounted:
She [Rani Gaidinliu] was aware of the impending plan of Jadonang and she
was determined to strive for it by even risking her life. The British ordered
security operations and deployed the Assam ries in the most affected
areas in Manipur hills, North Cachar [N.C.] hills and Naga hill districts.
On 16th March 1932, the followers of Rani Gaidinliu led by Mr Heungchang
attacked the Assam ries outpost at Hangrum, N.C. hills. To avenge them,
the British carried out intensive military operation and Rani Gaidinliu was
arrested on October 17, 1932 from Pulwa village, Peren district, Nagaland.
She was put to trial and sentenced to life imprisonment on 7th March 1933.
Till 1940, her followers continued the movement. The British burnt and
destroyed properties of her followers and some of them were tortured
and killed. For almost 15 years, she spent her youthful life in jail, tortured and
harassed by the British rulers. The Governor of Assam rejected her petition
for mercy. Jawaharlal Nehru was shocked; he was very impressed when he
met her in 1937 in Tura jail and Nehru gave her the title ‘Rani’. He attempted
to release her through British MP, Lady Nancy Astor. But, the Secretary of
State refused to release her, as she would pose a danger to the British. Finally,
she was released in 1947 after India’s independence.
Panmei said that Jawaharlal Nehru wrote a piece in the Hindustan Times
in 1937 about Gaindiliu’s story and her bravery,5 and she gradually
gained recognition among her people as Rani Gaidinliu. She understood
the power of confrontation and successfully mobilised people (including
girls and women) to join her army. She fought the oppressive British

358 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
rulers that used even girls and women from her community as forced
labour without payment.
The cognate tribes launched a Zeliangrong movement under the
banner of Zeliangrong People Convention (ZPC) after Rani Gaidinliu
was released from the jail. However, the Zeliangrong movement was
not integrated with the Naga movement and its demand for Naga sover-
eignty as envisioned by A. Z. Phizo. The cognate tribes were neither
a signatory to the memorandum submitted by the Naga Club to the
Simon Commission nor took part in A. Z. Phizo’s plebiscite in 1951 for
independence of the Naga people. They were not included in the pro-
posed idea of ‘unified Nagaland’ as demanded by the Naga Peoples’
Convention (NPC) in 1957. The leaders of NPC only demanded unifica-
tion of the Tuensang division of North Eastern Frontier Agency and not
any Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur (Nag, 2002). Rani Gaidinliu even
went underground to organise her community to fight against the Naga
National Council (NNC; later National Socialist Council of Nagaland).
Under her leadership, nationalism based on traditional culture emerged
as an alternative force to the NNC-dominated Naga nationalism based
on Christianity and Western culture (Stracey, 1968). Her nationalistic
ideas were in direct conflict with NNC-inspired Naga nationalism. This
rivalry between the two views of Naga nationalism, however, gradually
died down following the surrender of Gaidinliu and her followers
in 1966 (Singh, 1995). Being an opponent of NNC, she managed to por-
tray herself as a true Indian nationalist. Paochunbou an NGO activist
and elder of the community said, ‘she was provided a bungalow, security
guard, and VIP status but to be confined to Kohima, Nagaland with a
pension of `15 per month’. Gradually, she built a relationship with
Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi. Rani Gaidinliu also
built a rapport with the BJP and its allies Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to enhance her political goal
of achieving a homeland for her community. Unfortunately, the policy of
isolation, exploitation and exclusion of these tribes continued even in
independent India reducing them to ethnic minorities. They continue to
have the arbitrary boundaries superimposed upon them by the British
and after Independence, by the Government of India, that has assigned
them under different administrative units in Assam, Nagaland and
Manipur. Separated in this manner, the tribes have had contrasting expe-
riences and aspirations as well as centripetal and centrifugal tendencies
among themselves.

Niumai 359
Rani Gaidinliu: A Spiritual and Cultural Revivalist
Although Rani Gaidinliu emerged as Heraka’s spiritual head, many
followers of Jadonang ceased to practise Heraka after his arrest and
execution. For her, however, ‘Loss of religion is loss of culture, loss of
culture is loss of identity’ (Shah, 2017). Rani Gaidinliu is known to have
healed the sick through the healing waters collected from Bhubon cave
as well as attempted to revive indigenous cultural practices such as tradi-
tional dance and folk songs, and she tried to bring about various reforms
and unity among her community. Initially, she taught her followers
to offer animal sacrifices to gods, goddesses and spirits but later she
discouraged animal sacrifices to gods, goddesses and spirits.When I did
my fieldwork in May 2017 and interviewed people who knew Rani
Gaindinliu, Ajonliu, a 96-year-old woman was one of the respondents
who had a first hand experience on Rani Gaidinliu. She said:
I was an ardent follower of Rani Gaidinliu when I was a small girl. We used to
follow her Heraka spiritual teachings and performed dances in our traditional
attire to appease the evil spirits along with our village folk singers. Earlier,
we offered sacrices of buffaloes, chicken and the like to our village deity for
every occasion. But she discouraged this from 1990 onwards. She also taught
us to worship the almighty God—Tingwang.
I interviewed Chaoba Kamson at his residence in Imphal, Manipur in
May 2017 where he narrated the following:
I have worked with Rani Gaindinliu. One day, I stayed at her ofcial resi-
dence in Kohima in Nagaland and found her in a trance where she spoke to
herself for more than an hour. When I broached this to her personal assistant,
I was told that she was communicating with her God. This incident afrmed
to me that she was a deeply spiritual woman with mystical power.
Some members of her community believed that she was an avatar of
goddess Cherachamdinliu who possessed supernatural power. Under
Rani Gaidinliu, Heraka became an influential tool to reach out to various
cognate tribes and it thrived among the Zeme and Rongmei Nagas. More
than other tribes, the Rongmei Nagas became Sanskritised (Srinivas, 1995)
in order to enhance their social status and mobility but did not desert
their non-vegetarian food habits and drinking of ‘jou’ (rice beer). New
born infants were given local Sanskritic Meitei names like Ram, Arjun,
Shyam so as to let the youngsters fit into a predominantly Hindu society.
However, the Zeme, Liangmai and Npui were not strongly influenced by

360 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
the process of Sanskritisation but rather more by Western education
and Christianity. In spite of the overwhelming influence of Sanskritic,
Western and Christian influence on these tribes, they still retained the
basic elements of their socio-religious lifestyle. Women proudly wore
their traditional shawls and phanek aka mekela (wrap around skirts)
throughout the year with the men occasionally donning traditional costumes
mostly on festive occasions. The mantra of Heraka, a tool of ‘cultural
revivalism’ attempted to act as a charm to unite these cognate tribes but
could not achieve its goal as the majority has been converted into
Christianity. This period can be contextualised as an ‘open moment’ when
different religious possibilities were available: Christianity was one
possibility and it was a success. Heraka was also another possibility but
did not succeed. Today, there is no open moment as the ‘Great Tradition’
of the Nagas draws considerably from Christianity.
Exclusion and Unwarranted Perception
of Rani Gaidinliu
Since majority of the Naga tribes have been converted into Christianity
in the 20th century, they felt enlightened, globalised and modernised
in contrast to Rani Gaidinliu, who propagated her indigenous religion
Heraka. She crusaded against conversion to Christianity, leading her
critics, particularly the NNC leaders, to think of her as backward, and
one committed to indigenous religion, Heraka. It is true that Rani
Gaidinliu reached out to associate with Hindutva ideologies like the
VHP and RSS, stressing revival of culture, ethnic identity and working
against conversion to Christianity. She used her political influence to
pursue the Zeliangrong movement and since her ideas did not fit into
mainstream Naga thinking, she was an irritant for the Nagas at large.
Thus, she was labelled a witch, demon possessed, sorcerer, magician and
cannibal. Interestingly, Naga scholars refrained from putting such stories
received through elders and others into writing; however, some youths
criticised and labelled her a witch, demon-possessed, sorcerer, magician
and cannibal in the social media instruments such as Facebook. This was
especially in 2015 after the BJP-led government proposed to construct a
library-cum-memorial museum to mark Rani Gaidinliu’s birth centenary
in Kohima, Nagaland. Women who are popular in some cultures are
labelled heretics like Joan of Arc in France.
The following narratives and fond reflections substantiate the fact that
Rani Gaidinliu was a kind-hearted woman who loved her community,

Niumai 361
identity and culture and left a substantial legacy. In an interview, Indian
Postal service officer Som Kamei said:
My father Gangmumei Kamei worked closely with Rani Gaidinliu. One
day, while I was a student during the late 1980s, she invited me to her
room in Manipur Bhavan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi and encouraged me to
work hard and gifted me some cash which reveals her humane and maternal
traits.
In another interview, Rev Dr Daisok Panmei, Senior Pastor of Miami
Baptist Church, Logansport, Indiana, USA, said:
I was born and partly raised in Kohima, Nagaland where Apei (Grandmother)
Rani Gaidinliu used to live. She christened me Daisuaklung that means great
and big and forever with prayer and love. My name is unique since I have
not come across anyone so far by the same name. My paternal and maternal
grandmothers lived in Manipur and as I did not get to see them, I considered
Rani as my own dear Apei. I saw her almost every day for one year while
I was studying in Class 2 at Minister Hill English School, Kohima. I remember
vividly to this day, how I used to run down to her house (ofcial quarter
allotted by the Government) during my school break (since her house was
just below our school) to see her, and enjoyed her treats. When she saw
me coming, she would take me to her lap and treat me with some kind of
orange candies and tell some stories that I truly enjoyed. Before I got back to
school, she would put her hands over my head and bless me. She would see
me off, making sure that her maids lled my pockets with some pears from
her garden. That was just few of the many ways she made me feel special.
My strongest memory of a smile on her face was the day I told her that I’d
met a special girl at school. She chuckled and winked with joy when I told her
about the girl I had a crush on.
No matter what and who she prayed to, the Rani was deeply spiritual and
treasured life and its simple pleasures. She dearly enjoyed spending time
with children and making each of us feel special. Though Apei was
barely 5 feet tall, I looked up to her, even after the momentous day when
I surpassed her in height. I still bear the name that she gave me.
Such narratives are also that last generation of oral tales that was one of
the main activities in the Naga villages and which is almost dead accord-
ing to Tezenlo Thong and it is through this oral rendering that the cultural
process is furthered through the generations, which is unfortunately
becoming extinct (Thong, 2016).

362 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
Rani Gaidinliu: A Warrior
In spite of facing struggles and challenges as a member of the second
sex (De Beauvoir, 1949), Rani Gaidinliu fearlessly fought against the
British colonial rulers as well as the patriarchs of the NNC. Though she
did not consciously identify feminism and gender in her spiritual and
political struggle, she was well aware of the traditional cultural barriers
between men and women in her community. For instance, customary
law and culture prohibits women from participating in the decision-
making process, inherit immoveable property and fight with weapons
at war against the enemies. Maitreyee Chaudhuri (2003) argues that the
economic and political spheres are ‘alien’ spaces women have to enter; the
‘home’ is the ‘natural’ realm where women already exist. Her arguments
hold true for Naga women as for centuries, they were never encouraged to
be involved in political spheres although they ‘administered’ their homes.
Rani Gaidinliu had gone beyond traditional norms since she rejected
a marriage proposal (Kamei, ibid.). In other words, she considered her
‘calling’ (Weber, 1919) to be higher than settling down to have children
and be confined within a domestic space.
The British used their authority and power, status and patriarchal
privilege to continuously exploit and suppress the cognate Naga tribes.
Rani Gaidinliu had the conviction to mobilise her army and fight the
oppressive colonial system. The patriarchal and oppressive methods of
the British of using forced labour, collecting revenue taxes per house in
every village, feasting at the expense of the poor villagers, constructing
inter-village roads and bungalows made of bamboo and thatch roofs for
Britishers to stay for a single night in the village free of cost had a pro-
found impact on Rani Gaidinliu, she became aggressive and militarised,
fighting for social justice of her people. Paochunbou, an NGO activist
and elder of the community recounted:
In 1924, the British ofcial Mr William Shaw visited my village Konphung in
Tamei sub-division, Tamenglong district, Manipur. Whenever the track to the
village was rough to walk on foot, the villagers who accompanied William
Shaw made a bamboo palanquin and carried him on their shoulders. Seeing
such rampant oppressive practices of the British in villages, Rani Gaidinliu
managed to send across the message to her people that achieving freedom
from the British was a larger goal than educational, economic, political,
cultural and social equality with men.
As she struggled to achieve her goal, hundreds of young girls and men
are said to have come to the fore and stood by her side. I interviewed D.P.
Panmei in May 2017 in which he said:

Niumai 363
The ghting men smuggled arms and ammunitions from Cachar by carrying
these on bullock carts covered by racks and dead cows or bulls and passed
over Jiri Ghat. The British police posted at Jiri Ghat did not stop the bullock
carts and they crossed the Jiri river successfully.
Rani Gaidinliu and her women warriors may have suffered hunger, thirst
and harsh weather as the men did but they learned to wield the dao
(sword), spears and the like. She may have also raised questions about
her own and other girls’ femininity and sexuality—whether men were
attracted to her/them and how to tackle such situations. Regarding her
relationship with the girls in her army, she managed to forge close bonds
with them. She gained respect from both men and women who shared a
common purpose. In due course of time, she must have overcome the
gender differences since she marched, organised ambushes and fought
along with men and also tasted the joy of victory and shared the sorrow
of betrayal and defeat. Rani Gadinliu’s act of arming girls with the dao
is another example of taking from the cultural resources of the cognate
tribes; this is relevant given the singular lack of political participation of
Naga women in post-colonial times.
Another peculiar characteristic of Rani Gaidinliu was engaging young
‘virgin girls’ as her close aids or maids or nurses. Paochunbou, an elder
of Liangmai Naga tribe and who met Rani Gaidinliu a couple of times
when she was alive narrated the following in December 2017:
She believed that her deity would not accept her freedom movement unless
her nurses and maids are virgins. It was believed that she knew whether the
young maid girls were virgin or not because her dream or vision would reveal
about the girls’ virginity. She had conviction that unless the girls are virgins,
she would be defeated in the ghts against the British … She managed to
recruit and convince her followers that the British guns would turn into water
while facing her. She often camped at a huge cave in Mount Kisa which could
accommodate around two hundred people near Magulong village inhabited
by the Zeme tribe, Tamenglong district, Manipur.
Catriona Child, daughter of Ursula Graham Bower, the British
Anthropologist who worked among the Zeme Nagas in North Cachar
and was a V-Force guerrilla fighter against the Japanese in Myanmar
during the Second World War, reflected:
My mother visited Magulong village where Rani Gaidinliu used to often
hide from the British rulers and take shelter with her followers. Ursula was
perceived by some Zeme Nagas as an avatar of Rani Gaidinliu, who was
at that time in prison. The villagers assumed that their Rani Gaidinliu, who

364 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
possessed mystical power, had come back to them as a fair-skinned lady.
During the war, my mother was nicknamed ‘The Naga Queen’ by soldiers of
the Allied army, because of her close friendship with the Zeme Nagas.6
This statement unquestionably proves that Rani Gaidinliu’s community
perceived her as their mystical leader. Perhaps, she realised that her
followers might withdraw in a possible fight against the British. Hence,
she may have stated that guns would turn into water in order to create a
sense of confidence among them.
Warfare is perceived to be a critical aspect of masculinity (Enloe,
1983, 2004), a part of the patriarchal ideological structure in every
culture. However, involvement of women in warfare changes the notion
of masculinity to a certain extent, even though the majority were not at
the top of hierarchical structures but remained at the bottom. Rani
Gaidinliu’s experiences as a woman warrior made her feel prepared for
anything and that she became more confident after taking a role in her
community’s history was evident. She became more courageous, realised
the shortfalls of the British rulers and reacted to the enormously patriar-
chal character of the colonial authority’s approach towards her commu-
nity. Her feminine identity as a chaste and mystic woman was critically
significant during the struggle against the British as it shaped her efforts
to popularise the Heraka cult and demand for the Zeliangrong homeland
even after India’s Independence. Under her influence, the Zeliangrong
movement was strengthened. However, Rani Gaindiliu passed away in
1993 at her village in Manipur without achieving her vision.
Conclusion
Rani Gaindinliu became a legend for being committed, determined and
convicted for her tireless efforts to pursue her dream of the Zeliangrong
homeland. She strategically combined the Heraka religion with politics
to fulfil her goals in fighting against the British rulers. Her story illus-
trates a rationality that would encourage marginalised and invisible
women to become leaders in both socio-political and spiritual spheres.
Such empowerment would bring about social inclusion and supersede
patriarchal structures at home as well as in the public space. She showed
how her community in particular and the Nagas could integrate with
mainland India. Rani Gaidinliu managed to encourage her people to
preserve their traditional and cultural heritage as she stood at the

Niumai 365
intersection of many important events such as religious currents the
Naga movement and the freedom struggle. While the Rani may not have
had educational qualifications and her goal may not have been planned
professionally, she still remains an icon in the Northeast India. Rani
Gaidinliu gave her people a sense of identity and left a legacy, a memory
that the region could produce one of the most courageous women
freedom fighters.
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to Malavika Karlekar for her meticulous comments and suggestions
to bring this article to the final version.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or
publication of this article.
Notes
1. People of a tribe or group descended from a common ancestor.
2. Jawaharlal Nehru met Gaindiliu in 1937 at Tura Jail in Shillong and was
greatly impressed. He gave her the title ‘Rani’ (Queen in Sanskrit and Hindi)
and gradually, she gained popularity as ‘Rani Gaidinliu’.
3. Bhubon cave in Assam is significant because Jadonang and Gaidinliu
are reputed to have received their vision and direction from Tingwang or
Ragwang (Almighty God) and the spirit who dwells there.
4. The method of memory studies employed here involves matching com-
mon data from the present interviews that are known as a representation
of secondary orality along with the largely held views of the contemporary
period and any reminisces of the same by the informants as primary orality.
The second aspect in this method involves eliminating interpolations and
other intrusions like loan words of a later vocabulary. The ideas that emerged
after this filtration process is considered as relatively reliable memory.
The method is based on the concept that memory is not static but dynamic
and is vulnerable to change. Therefore, these changes reflect later interpo-
lations that are not part of the original memory and this method involves
retrieving the original memory. Memory studies is primarily used as part
of oral history based on experiences of Africans in America and pre-literate
societies. The seminal text informing the study was Paul Thompson’s (1978)
The Voice of the Past: Oral History.

366 Indian Journal of Gender Studies 25(3)
Rani Gaindiliu was honoured as an India’s freedom fighter and awarded
Padma Bhushan, Tamra Patra Freedom Fighter Award in 1972, Birsa Munda
Award posthumously and Vivekananda Sewa Samman in 1983 and Stree
Shakti Puraskar award in 1997. She was also honoured with a postage stamp
of `1 by the Government of India in 1996. In 2010, the Hindustan Shipyard
Ltd launched a shore patrol vessel named after her at Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh (Kamei, ibid.). On 24 August 2015, the BJP government
launched a commemorative coin of `100 and circulation coin of `5 to mark
Rani Gaindiliu’s birth centenary celebrations (Retrieved 29 June 2018,
from http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/statue-of-rani-
gaidinliu-to-be-installed/article6832012.ece).
5. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_Gaidinliu
6. Retrieved 29 June 2018, from http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/
entertainment-others/woman-who-came-in-from-the-wild-ursula-graham-
bower-4792719
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