{"id":"MUS2026-048","label":"Konyak ma, swung to call rain","people_or_site":"Konyak Naga","country_current":"India","historic_region":"Nagaland (Mon), NE India","macroregion":"South Asia / Northeast India","local_name":"Ma","source_term":"bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"Bull-roarer of the Konyak Naga, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (acc. 1953.10.64; Henry Balfour coll.). PRM 1928.69.608 is a second Konyak blade, from Longlam, 363 x 51 mm, collected in October 1923.","function_summary":"Konyak boys swung such blades as toys to bring rain.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"pitt_rivers","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-121523","page_or_plate":"1953.10.64 | PRM 1928.69.608","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"approximate culture/locality centroid","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"Konyak boys swung bullroarers to call rain, sending a wooden voice into the weather above their fields. J. P. Mills collected two in October 1923 that survive with their notes: one from Shiong, a blade with cane handle, notches and incised decoration, set down as \"A boy's toy now becoming obsolete\"; one from Tamlu, cut in the shape of a fish-tail and swung by boys to bring rain. A third, long and slender, came from Longlam. Among the neighbouring Angami, a Khonoma bullroarer served as a toy and to scare birds from the crops.","pull_quote":"Bull-roarer used by boys as a toy to bring rain, resembling a fish-tail (if the 'fork' were deeper the roarer would split).","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Cambridge Naga Database (Exploratour), Konyak bull-roarer, Tamlu, coll. J.P. Mills 16.10.1923 (Pitt Rivers Museum 1928.69.609)","term_gloss":"","cls":"weather","class_label":"Weather / fertility magic","color":"#2F6FA3","is_candidate":false,"flags":["weather","toy_survival"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1953.10.64","url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-121523","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260917174840/https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39663"},{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum 1928.69.608, Longlam Konyak village, October 1923.","url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39612","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260917174840/https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39663"}],"source_citations":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1953.10.64; Pitt Rivers Museum 1928.69.608, Longlam Konyak village, October 1923.","source_display":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, acc. 1953.10.64; Pitt Rivers Museum 1928.69.608, Longlam Konyak village, October 1923.","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Bull-roarer of the Konyak Naga, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (acc. 1953.10.64; Henry Balfour coll.). PRM 1928.69.608 is a second Konyak blade, from Longlam, 363 x 51 mm, collected in October 1923.","function_display":"Konyak boys swung such blades as toys to bring rain.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"konyak naga","display_name":"Konyak ma, swung to call rain","image":{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/MUS2026-048_prm_1928_69_608.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/MUS2026-048_prm_1928_69_608_thumb.jpg","alt":"Konyak blade collected at Longlam in 1923, a broad plain wooden slat with cord wrapped around its notched end.","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1928.69.608)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39612","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Another Konyak blade, flat and notched at one end, collected at Longlam in 1923.","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/prm/prm_121523.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/prm/thumbs/prm_121523_thumb.jpg","alt":"Konyak Naga bullroarer “Ma”: a dark wooden blade broadening toward its rounded end, with a small cord tied at the narrow tip and a museum label on its face.","credit":"© Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (acc. 1953.10.64)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-121523","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Konyak Naga bull-roarer ‘Ma’, Pitt Rivers Museum (acc. 1953.10.64)."}]},"slug":"mus2026-048-konyak-naga"}