The Nagas are quintessentially a hill people. They are a predominant community in the Indian states of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Naga self-administered zone, formerly in the Sagaing division in the neighbouring country of Myanmar. The knowledge, as well as the need of the community, is environment, cultural zone and culture contact specific. Nagas have been sovereign not only to their land but also to their requirement. Behind the tradition and heritage, there is science. Nagas have a unique way of making and/or working with metal, ceramic, salt, wood and bamboo; practicing water management, agriculture, and architecture; and, knowledge of dyeing, textile, hunting, fishing, medication, weather forecast, etc. Archaeological, historical, anthropological, and folk tales testify to these inventions and innovations within the Naga Hills. About 30 archaeological and ancestral sites have been excavated so far, but no array of skulls then proper burial is noticed. Yet Nagas are attributed as head-hunters instead of knowledge practitioners. This paper questions this perception and argues in favour of Nagas as Knowledge practitioners.
