Fierce headhunters

Photographer Trupal Pandya has plenty of stories up his sleeves and also inside his camera. After all, photographing some of the fast-disappearing tribes across the world is not an easy task. Currently based out of New York, Trupal travels across the world to some of the most remote areas to photograph indigenous tribes. His latest series on one of the fiercest tribes of headhunters, brought him closer home; the Longwa village of Nagaland.

“Konyaks had been known as fierce headhunters till the 1970s. Killing an enemy and bringing back their head was considered a rite of passage and was rewarded by a tattoo on the face or the chest of the warrior. What money is to us is what heads were to them,” says Trupal, adding, “Human skulls too adorned their walls before the Konyaks converted to Christianity. Many of the tribe’s traditional practices and cultures have nearly vanished. The most feared warriors of yesteryear have almost diminished into just being a few old men with faded tattoos who can now be spotted smoking opium around the village, sharing stories about their glorious past,” he adds.

Trupal’s main aim was to revive their sense of pride and capture their striking personalities to tell their stories. “When I heard about the Konyak tribe and how their culture was on the verge of disappearing, I couldn’t hold myself back, I had to go. Headhunting is no longer a practiced tradition, and I thought that it was necessary for me to document these mighty warriors.” Trupal’s photographs are so stunning that you can see the soul of the subject.

This 27-year-old, who will be leaving next month to conduct a workshop in Ethiopia followed by a possible assignment for the United Nations on the border of South Sudan and Ethiopia. He has interned with the best — Steve McCurry. The photographer from Vadodara says, “I don’t think I would have learned even half of what I know today if I didn’t intern with Steve or if I didn’t do the Eddie Adams workshop. It was a realisation about how people put their entire lives and all they have, behind a subject or a story. It was a big learning curve.”