Stop British auction of Naga skull, CM urges Center | India News – Times of India

GUWAHATI: Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio sought the immediate intervention of EAM S Jaishankar to resolve the British auction of a “19th century horned human Naga skull”. Rio described the auction as an “act of dehumanization that is considered continued colonial violence on our people.”
The website of Tetsworth-based Swan Fine Art had listed the skull as one of the items due to go under the hammer on Wednesday, but it was removed from the auction catalog late on Tuesday evening. It remains unclear whether the auction was officially canceled or whether the skull was merely removed from the auction catalogue. the website. Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum – which houses anthropology and archeology collections from various world cultures – posted on X that “the Naga ancestral remains have been withdrawn from sale.”
A California-based Naga professor of anthropology, Dolly Kikon, had announced this auction on Monday on X, saying, “Naga ancestral human remains remain collectibles in the 21st century!”
In his letter to Jaishankar, Rio stated that he had been informed about the auction of “Naga human remains” by an organization of church leaders and representatives of a civil society group, Forum for Naga Reconciliation (FNR).
“You will agree that the human remains of deceased persons belong to those people and their country. Furthermore, the auctioning of human remains deeply hurts the feelings of the people, is an act of dehumanization and is considered continued colonial violence against our people,” Rio wrote to the foreign minister.
FNR informed Rio that the value of the skull is estimated at ₹ 3,500-4,000 – Rs 3.85 lakh to Rs 4.4 lakh.