center hill chalets Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital

HEAD HUNTERS Throughout northeastern India and parts of western Myanmar the Naga tribes were long feared for their ferocity center hill chalets in war and for their sense of independence center hill chalets both from each other and from the rest of the world. Intervillage wars continued as recently as the 1980s, center hill chalets and a curious center hill chalets feature of many outwardly modern settlements is their treaty stones recording peace settlements between neighbouring communities. It was the Naga s custom of headhunting that sent shivers down the spines center hill chalets of neighbouring peoples. The taking of an enemy s head was considered a sign of strength, and a man who had not claimed a head was not considered a man. Fortunately for tourists, headhunting was officially outlawed in 1935, with the last recorded occurrence in 1963. Nonetheless, severed heads are still an archetypal artistic motif found notably on yanra (pendants) that originally denoted the number of human heads a warrior had taken. Some villages, center hill chalets such as Shingha Changyuo in Mon district, still retain their hidden collection of genuine skulls. Today Naga culture is changing fast, but it was not a government ban on headhunting that put an end to this tradition but rather the activities of Christian missionaries. Over 90% of the Naga now consider themselves Christian.

Despite being an oil-service town, Sivasagar exudes a residual elegance from its time as the capital of the Ahom dynasty that ruled Assam for more than 600 years. The name comes from waters of Shiva , the graceful central feature of a rectangular reservoir dug in 1734 by Ahom Queen Ambika. Three typical Ahom temple towers center hill chalets rise proudly above the tank s partly wooded southern banks to the west Devidol, center hill chalets to the east Vishnudol and in the centre, the 33m-high Shivadol Mandir, India s tallest Shiva temple. Its uppermost trident balances upon an egg-shaped feature whose golden center hill chalets covering the British reputedly tried (but failed) to pilfer in 1823.