Mosenyii Yakhro, 90, Planted a Flower Garden Around His Late Wife’s Grave in India’s Nagaland, and Village Children and Tourists Now Come to See It

On a hillside in Kigwema village, in India’s northeastern state of Nagaland, a 90-year-old man tends a flower garden that surrounds his late wife’s grave. Mosenyii Yakhro built it about ten years ago after the death of his wife, Vivolheri, who was 80, and it has since become a stopping place for tourists and village children.

The Associated Press photo story, carried by La Nacion on Oct. 30, 2026, says the garden sits just below the highway and looks out over terraced rice fields that had recently been harvested.

A Garden Built Around a Grave

Yakhro’s garden is now called Mosen Viewpoint. According to the AP, he made it around the grave of Vivolheri, whom he calls a “good woman and a good wife.”

The garden is also a family place. Each January 15, relatives gather there to celebrate his birthday. Yakhro told the AP, with a smile, that his own burial place will also be there.

Visitors come, and he welcomes them. He told the AP that he feels very happy and enjoys knowing that the people who come are happy.

The AP describes a man whose life was shaped by limited schooling and a lot of reading. He studied only through sixth grade, later worked as a peon, or office assistant, in a government office, and taught himself in the library. He also recalls the arrival of Japanese soldiers in camouflage during what locals call the “Japanese war.”

That memory has a place in the landscape. The Battle of Kohima, a turning point in Japan’s 1944 offensive into British India, ran from April 4 to June 22, 1944, according to Wikipedia’s account of the battle. Kohima, Nagaland’s capital, lies a short distance from Kigwema.

Kigwema and the Hills Around It

Kigwema is in southern Nagaland, in the Jakhama Circle of Kohima District, about 15 kilometers south of the state capital, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the village. It is considered one of the oldest Angami Naga villages, with a population of 3,872 at the 2011 census.

The village shares land with the Naga Heritage Village, also called Kisama, which hosts the Hornbill Festival and includes a World War II museum. The state’s tourism department lists the Naga Heritage Village, Kohima’s War Cemetery, the Nagaland State Museum and the Kohima Botanical Garden among the capital’s attractions.

That helps explain why a small private garden draws visitors. Travelers headed to the heritage village or the war sites pass the same highway, and a bright patch of flowers below the road is easy to notice.

Terrace farming is common on the slopes of the area, the village entry says, and the terraced rice fields in the AP’s description are part of that setting.

The Cosmos That Grew Too Tall

One of Yakhro’s complaints is a gardener’s complaint. The AP says he is annoyed that the cosmos have grown tall enough to cover the other plants.

That is typical cosmos behavior. The University of Florida’s Gardening Solutions guide says garden cosmos usually reach 3 to 6 feet, and that their thin, weak stems can flop, so taller plants may need support. Pinching young plants early encourages branching and makes them denser.

The same guide notes that cosmos bloom from spring through fall, usually two to three months after planting, and that gardeners should not fertilize them because it can stop flowering. If the plants go to seed, the guide says to leave them in place, since dropped seeds create a denser stand and extend the blooming season.

For a garden kept at a grave, that generosity is fitting. A plant that returns on its own, taller than expected and crowding its neighbors, keeps the place full without much fuss.

Yakhro, at 90, is still watching over the beds. The AP photo story leaves the picture simple: a husband, a hillside, a grave and a garden that people now walk down to see.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Peter Cooper Jr. / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)