With political changes afoot in Burma, policy wonks and businessmen are taking a new look at India’s Northeast for economic and geopolitical calculations, but there’s a more colourful reason that people should “Look East” to this fascinating region: its remarkable wealth of culture and travel adventures. I had the opportunity to see this richness on display during the fifth Pangsau Pass Winter Festival that took place in Nampong, in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang District. […]
Foreigners need Protected Area Permits to visit Arunachal
Source: “Tad the traveller”, The Telegraph Calcutta, Thursday , March 7 , 2013
Address : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130307/jsp/entertainment/story_16640954.jsp#.UjbUerzW4fl
Date Visited: Mon Sep 16 2013 11:51:06 GMT+0200 (CEST)
The Adi are justly proud of their history. The Himalayan hill tribe’s reputation as fierce warriors, and the inhospitable terrain in which they live, have ensured the survival of Adi culture for centuries. But change is coming fast as technology, ideas – and beliefs – from outside start to take hold in even the most remote Adi villages. | BBC News Country Profile: India >>
The Adi are subsistence farmers who live in the foothills of the Himalayas in the far north east of India. Even today, many of the tribe have never met a European – their home is in Arunachal Pradesh which, until recently, was the only Indian state which was closed to foreigners.
The Adi enjoy considerable control over their own affairs and development and benefit from state government initiatives set up to preserve tribal culture. Yet globalization and the lure of the modern world is increasingly having an impact on the Adi and the other tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.
Adi life
The Adi live in a wild and beautiful area. There are more than 500 species of orchid here; elephants, tigers and leopards live in the abundant forest, along with the white-browed gibbon, civets, the sloth bear, the Himalayan black bear, the red panda and many species of deer. The 100,000-strong Adi are one of 25 major tribes who live in the state, along with a number of sub-tribes.
The name Adi means ‘hill man’. The tribe divides into two main divisions – the Bogum and Onai – each of which is subdivided. There is a highly developed system of democracy and all major decisions in a village are taken by the Kebang (village council) only after full consultation with all members of the tribe.
The Adi survive in the heat and humidity of the Siang Valley. They are self-sufficient thanks to the cultivation of rice, growing crops in the thin mountain soil, and hunting. […]
Both men and woman wear their hair closely cropped, and polygamy (having multiple partners) is still practised. Boys and men have a dormitory club in the village called Moshup and, in some villages, the girls have a separate club called Raseng. These dormitories used to be where young Adi would learn about their traditions and duties, but most children now attend government schools. The curriculum they study ignores the intricacies of tribal knowledge and culture, and this is having an increasing impact on the self-esteem and identity of the young Adis. Today, few young Adi want to work in the fields in the same way as previous generations.
Adi beliefs
The Adi still practice animism, or spirit-based religion, which is officially recognised by the state. Their main god is Dionyi-Polo (which roughly translates as ‘Sun-Moon’), the eye of the world; there is also a host of other spirits and deities. Most villages have a resident shaman known as a miri. In daily life, Adi distinguish between two different kinds of illness: natural and supernatural. […]
In spring, the Adi hold the Aran festival. The village men disappear for several days into the jungle to hunt for game, placating the spirits before they start with offerings of apong, the millet beer, and prayers. […]
“Young folk are more interested in the modern way of dancing and singing,” says one miri. “The young people dance in a different way because of the movies. They watch television when they visit other villages. That’s why their style of singing and dancing has changed.”
Apong, the millet beer brewed in every house, is also a staple. Alcohol consumption is also changing, to whisky, rum and beer in place of traditional apong.
The future
The Adi villages are changing now as the electricity gradually makes its way into the Himalayan foothills, easing the burden of these hard-working farmers by providing light and power, but further eroding Adi culture by bringing in TV soap operas and Bollywood movies.
Large-scale logging has been banned by the state; in fact, this was the result of a Supreme Court intervention after large parts of the forest were destroyed by tribal groups cashing in on the money to be made. And Arunachal Pradesh’s enormous potential for hydro-electric power could also threaten traditional life in the foothills.
But the fact that the Adi still enjoy relative control over their ancient habitat means that they have a higher chance of social and cultural survival than tribal groups in many other parts of the world.
Source: BBC – Tribe – Adi
Address : https://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/adi/
Date Visited: 22 August 2022
[Bold typeface added above for emphasis]
If a man cannot enjoy the return of spring, why should he be happy in a labour-saving Utopia?
George Orwell quoted in Two Cheers for Democracy (London: Penguin Books 1976), p. 76
The house, in which British novelist George Orwell was born more than 110 years ago, has been converted into a museum by the Bihar Government >>
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“The uniqueness of northeast states of India lies in their cultures” | Learn more >>
In Marginalised but not Defeated, Tarun Kanti Bose (a seasoned public interest journalist) “talks about the Khasis, Nagas, Karbis, Garos, Rabhas, Misings, Daflas, Bodos, Akas and others in the North-east. […] The mainstream development paradigm is being questioned and new rainbows of collective, community reassertions are happening across the tribal belt in India. More so, in most cases, led by brave, empowered and resilient women.” | Learn more: https://countercurrents.org/2023/05/book-review-marginalised-but-not-defeated >>
Up-to-date reports by Indian journalists and commentators
To search Indian periodicals, magazines, web portals and other sources safely, click here. To find an Indian PhD thesis on a particular tribal community, region and related issues, click here >>
Search tips
Combine the name of any particular state, language or region with that of any tribal (Adivasi) community.
Add keywords of special interest (music, poetry, dance just as health, sacred grove and biodiversity); learn about the rights of Scheduled Tribes such as the “Forest Rights Act” (FRA); and the United Nations “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, “women’s rights”, or “children’s right to education”.
Specify any other issue or news item you want to learn more about (biodiversity, bonded labour and human trafficking, climate change, ecology, economic development, ethnobotany, ethnomedicine, global warming, hunter-gatherers in a particular region or state, prevention of rural poverty, water access).
For official figures include “scheduled tribe ST” along with a union state or region: e.g. “Chhattisgarh ST community”, “Himalayan tribe”, “Scheduled tribe Tamil Nadu census”, “ST Kerala census”, “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group Jharkhand”, “PVTG Rajasthan”, “Adivasi ST Kerala”, “Adibasi ST West Bengal” etc.
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