Nagaland, India CM Demands End To Auction Of Sacred Naga Skull In UK, Calling it Dehumanizing

In a strong response to the proposed auction of a Naga skull in the UK, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has reached out to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, labeling the auction as “dehumanizing” and indicative of “continued colonial violence.” The skull, described as a ‘19th-century horned Naga skull,’ was listed for sale by The Swan auction house at Tetsworth, with a valuation between £3,500 and £4,500. However, following public outcry, the item was removed from the auction listing as of Tuesday evening.

Rio’s letter to Jaishankar came after the Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR)—an organization of church leaders and civil society members—expressed their concerns regarding the auction. The Chief Minister emphasized that the auction had been received negatively across all sectors of society in Nagaland, stressing that it is a “highly emotional and sacred issue” for the community.

He stated, “You will agree that the human remains of any deceased person belong to those people and their land. Moreover, the auctioning of human remains deeply hurts the sentiments of the people, is an act of dehumanization, and is considered continued colonial violence against our people.”

Rio urged the Ministry of External Affairs to engage with the Indian High Commission in the UK to halt the auction, stressing the need to protect the rights and emotions of the Naga people.

The Naga community has been actively working to repatriate ancestral human remains from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, which houses approximately 6,500 Naga objects collected during the British Empire’s expansion and colonial rule. This repatriation process, initiated in 2020, has been significantly supported by the FNR, which highlighted the urgency of prioritizing the return of Naga ancestral human remains in its correspondence with the Chief Minister.