Mao Naga

The Mao are one of the major tribes constituting the Nagas, a group of tribes spread over the easternmost part of India and the western border region of Myanmar. The Maos inhabit the northern part of Manipur State of India, bounded by similar Naga tribes such as the Angami and Chakhesang tribes in the north, the Maram Naga and Zeme Naga tribes in the west and south, and the Tangkhul and Poumai tribes in the east. The Maos are also known as Memei or Ememei, in their own language. The term 'Mao' also refers to the area where most of the old and original villages are situated, as distinguished from the newer settlements in an expanded area of their habitation.

Origin and uses of the term

Etymology

The people who are today known as the Maos (Mao, as the proper name of the tribe) do not refer to themselves in their language as such; rather they still call themselves "Memei" or "Ememei". Indeed, the term "Mao" is of outside origin and does not figure in their language. The term “Mao” became popular with the advent of the British in the 19th Century in the Naga areas. The term was used extensively to refer to a group of people inhabiting the hilly ranges immediately south of the border of the then Naga Hills district of Assam. It is probably a derivation from "Momei" or "Maomei", a combination of two words "Mao", the proper name and "mei" meaning people, by which their southerly neighbours, the Marams, called them. Since the Meiteis of the Manipur valley had interactions with the Maos through the Marams by way of trade relationships, the term of reference used by the Marams might have been shortened to "Mao" when the Meiteis began to use the name, dropping the suffix "mei".