[The Assam Rifles Securing the Frontier, 1954–55.]

Nagaland, Kameng, and Subansiri, India: 1954–55. Three mimeographed reports in English (approx. 330 x 220mm), bound in cloth-covered boards; typescript text portions range from 25–70 pp., each with a section of original mounted photographs; three including manuscript maps by the author either bound in or in rear map pocket 190 x 315mm–890 x 840mm. One report stamped “Secret” on front and rear endpapers.

Three typescript ﬁeld reports, documenting pacification missions by the Indian Army in the frontier regions of Nagaland, Kameng, and Subansiri, 1954–55, illustrated with original photographs and manuscript maps.

Offered here is a fascinating collection combining Lt. Rai’s journals with his formal ﬁeld reports documenting the geography, ethnography and social-political organization of three remote frontier regions in northeastern India in the years after WW2. These volumes were presumably prepared for internal dissemination among Indian government officials during a period of conflict between the central government in Delhi and the border regions, which had traditionally governed themselves along tribal lines. To that end, the author provides a detailed and valuable account of his first-hand observations of tribal customs, costume, village life, social organization, and inter-tribal relations for each of the tribes he encountered. Of particular interest are the many original photographs, mounted album-style with detailed captions, providing what we assume to be a unique visual survey of tribal life in northeastern India in the period prior to pacification. Among the many tribes documented are the Naga (whose earlier headhunting reputation is perhaps over-dramatized by the author); Apatani, Dafla, Sherdukpen, the Miji (described as “a happy-go-lucky warrior tribe”), and several others. Also depicted are members of both the Indian Civil and Military corps.

Of the author, a commanding ofﬁcer in the elite Assam Rifles division of the Indian Army, we can discover little. Rai appears to have been in charge of a column of counterinsurgency troops following the disastrous Aching-Mori Incident of 1953, in which 47 Indian government ofﬁcials were massacred by rebel Tagin tribesmen. Explicit about his keen interest in the region, he writes in a lively, personal style, often dramatizing encounters and historical facts in order to heighten his narrative; and his photographs, though clearly the work of an amateur, manage to capture the essence of tribal life in the remotest regions of northern India.

All three of the maps are enlargements of official maps (or in one case, apparently, a portion thereof), and add details specific to Rai’s tour. Each includes a legend identifying such features as the tour route, routes going through dense jungle, wooden bridges, cane bridges, staging camps, dropping zones, foot paths, the Assam Rifles Post, etc.

Finally, though these surveys date from the mid-20th century, we note that many of these regions had barely been penetrated by Western (or westernized) eyes prior to this time, and these documents—apparently never commercially published—provide a rich primary source for study of the role of the Indian military in the region, as well as the ethnography of areas and tribes which are still only marginally under central government control.

Included are the following:

1. Patience and Proportion: Tour Note Tuensang Frontier Division [further titled] Naked Naga with Naked Sword for Naked Head. October 1954. 67 pp. of text; inserted set of tables; 53 original mounted photographs (ca. 2 1/4” x 2 1/4”) each with typed captions. Map-pocket at rear, containing a large (ca. 49cm x 44) folding hand-drawn map on vellum in rear pocket, “Enlargement of Map Sheet No. 83… (Tuensang Frontier Division).”

2. Daflas – Daos – Dames & Dash: Tour Notes Subansiri Frontier Division. Dated 31 Dec. 1955. 28 pp text; inserted set of tables; 51 mounted photographs with typed captions; hand-colored manuscript map of region preceding text, “Sketch of Route from Ziro to Nyapin.” Evidence of removal of a map-pocket at rear.

3. Men of Letters: Your Note Kameng Frontier Division. Dated 10/1955. 27 pp. text; inserted set of tables; 85 mounted photographs; very large folding manuscript map (ca. 88cm x 85) in rear pocket, “Enlargement of Map Sheet No. 83A, 83B, and 78M(K.F.D. [Kameng Frontier Division]).”

A fascinating set of documents reflecting the efforts of the Indian government to understand and secure its remotest territories.

CONDITION: Good, one volume with map pocket and map removed; mild external wear and occasional weakness to bindings.