DOCSLIB.ORG

The Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Sacrifice and Religious Ritual Using Instrument Made of Animal and Human Body Parts Among the Memba Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh Dr

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Sacrifice and Religious Ritual Using Instrument Made of Animal and Human Body Parts Among the Memba Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh Dr Saudi Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN 2415-6256 (Print) Scholars Middle East Publishers ISSN 2415-6248 (Online) Dubai, United Arab Emirates Website: http://scholarsmepub.com/ The Tibetan Buddhist Tradition of Sacrifice and Religious Ritual Using Instrument Made of Animal and Human Body Parts Among the Memba Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh Dr. Chera Tamak Department of History, Faculty of Social Science, Rajiv Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Doimukh, Arunachal Pradesh, 79112, India Abstract: This article explores the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of sacrifice and *Corresponding author religious ritual using instrument made of animal and human body parts among the Dr. Chera Tamak Memba tribe of Menchuka Valley. The Memba is a name given to a collection of group of Buddhist people who migrated from various parts of Bhutan, present Article History Tawang district and Tibet (China) respectively and settled in Menchuka Circle of Received: 08.10.2017 West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, India during the early 17th Century A.D. Accepted: 13.10.2017 The paper tries to present the ritual tradition of Memba tribe of Menchuka who Published: 30.10.2017 follow Tibetan form of Buddhism and belong to Nying-ma-pa sect. It is interesting to know that Memba are still following and preserving most of the age-old ritualistic DOI: tradition of their ancestor. They followed extensive tantric ritual and comes under 10.21276/sjhss.2017.2.10.5 third vessel Vajrayana form of Buddhism introduced by Guru Padmasambhava in Eight century A.D. in Tibet. The article tries to provide brief information regarding the types of sacrificial ritual and use of animal and human body parts that are still prevalent among the Memba tribe. The paper also traces the belief and myth associate with it. In order to do so, varieties of sources in the form of secondary, primary, field study and folk narration are briefly examined to provide glimpse of their ritualistic practice. Keywords: Sacrifice, Instrument, ritual, Gomp (Monastery), Chorten (Stupa), Neh (Pilgrimage place), Lama (Monk), Kapali INTRODUCTION The Memba ethnic group is one of the various tribes of Arunachal Pradesh who inhabits in the Menchuka Circle of Menchuka Sub-division in the northern part of West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Menchuka has international boundary facing China towards north, Upper Subansiri district on the west, Upper Siang district on the east and Upper Subansiri district and Yomcha Sub-division on the south. As per 2011 census, the population of Memba was 4,395 [1]. The Memba is a nomenclature given to a collection of group of people who had migrated from various parts of Bhutan, present Tawang district and Tibet (China) respectively and settled in Menchuka. According to their vernacular literature Cheik it was Fig-1: Statue of Guru padmasambhava during the Seventeenth Century A.D under the guidance of Lama Lorde Gyatso they moved towards Menchuka. Historically, the Tibetans and the western Cheik is a vernacular text dealing with rules and people know Menchuka by the name Pachakshiri regulation to be followed by Lamas and contain some (Baechakshiri) and its resident as Pachakshrisba. detail account of their early history. The original copy Politically before 1947, Menchuka (Baechakshiri) was a of Cheik was confiscated by Chinese army during Indo- private estate of Tibetan aristocratic family called China war of 1962 [2]. Lhalu. Lhalu family considered to be one of the most powerful, respected and come under Yabshi group in Tibet [3]. Yabshi are those families and their 886 Chera Tamak.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.; Vol-2, Iss-10A (Oct, 2017):886-891 descendants into which Dalai Lamas have been born. The Memba rituals include offerings of Linguistically Memba belong to Bodic group of Tibeto- symbolic offering of blood, using effigy representative Burman linguistic group [4]. They follow Tibetan form of an objects, food, water, chang, butter lamp, incense of Buddhism and belong to Nying-ma-pa sect [5]. It is and redeeming animals from slaughter. They use effigy interesting to know that Memba people still follow and made of dough from millet called torma to use as a preserves most of the age-old ritualistic tradition of source where a person’s sins are to be transferred. This their ancestor. They follow extensive tantric ritual and effigy is stumped in dough with the help of wooden come under third vessel Vajrayana form of Buddhism carved effigy. This effigy represents human figure, introduced by Guru Padmasambhava in the eight deity, spirit and animal, stuffed with reproductive organ century A.D. in Tibet [6]. and red juice to symbolise blood. The red juice is prepared from mixing red colour with melted butter. The purpose of this paper is to highlight their The torma is considered incomplete until their religious tradition by tracing their link between their consecration ceremony to animate it with life is oral tradition and practice. Till now there are few performed. The theory behind the offering of torma as research work done on the Memba tribe but no attempt alternative to sacrificial ritual is to ransom it in place of has been made by any researcher to understand their a dying or ill person. The torma is supposedily tradition belief and practice. Thus the information considered superior to any human body. The torma is provided in the paper is first hand information gather by thrown away at the end of the ritual or at constant the correspondent through extensive field study and intervals. They also use sacred religious instrument of collection of oral narration gather during interaction bells, drum, trumpets, conch, Dorjee (vajra), Phurpa, with Memba people. rosary and weapons vigorously for successful performance of the ritual. They also perform ritual, Tradition of sacrifice which cannot be succeeded without having sacrifice. The Memba community practices and follows many rituals during their lifetime. They consider these The rituals take two days to three weeks to rituals as the only medium through which they can complete and require presence of more than three contact the spirit and deities living in this universe. It is Lamas for the practice. On the first day of the ritual, the a practice where religious actions are performed for assistant Lamas called Choi-pen prepare all the material their symbolic value. They believe that, they live in a required for the ritual like torma and butter lamp. After world tamed with malignant, aggressive and violent the materials required have been prepared, the senior spirits who if not dealt properly can cause great trouble, Lama consecrated the torma. With the consecration, for which they have to pacify it by countless offerings they start the rituals. During the rituals, the Lama and and perform various rituals to protect as well as avoid his assistant stay in the person house until the final individual or the community from wide range of completion of the ritual. They also perform various misfortune to befall. rituals for the construction of house, for departed member of the family, for wealth, harvest, passage of In early days before the introduction of lifecycles like birth and marriage. modern medicine, the Memba people did not believe in the perception that illness or accident has a natural cause. They measured it to the work of evil spirits or malevolent deities who wanted to exert control upon them. In order to ward away the evil spirit or deity one had to appease the malevolent deities through worship and ritual. In the Memba community the Lamas plays a vital role of a shaman. He acts as a medium through which the ritual could be successfully achieved. Only a Lama has the knowledge of communication with the spirits that share the natural surrounding with man and his environment. In case if a family member happens to fall ill or some unusual incident occurs, they consult the Lama to determine the cause of the misfortune. The Lama with the help of the sorcerers, oracle and astrology tries to locate the source of the trouble and then suggests remedies required. In order to avert trouble of any kind, a ritual is considered the most effective means of solving it. Fig-2: Statue of Aapo Dorjee Drakchen Available Online: http://scholarsmepub.com/sjhss/ 887 Chera Tamak.; Saudi J. Humanities Soc. Sci.; Vol-2, Iss-10A (Oct, 2017):886-891 The first reference of sacrificial ritual among of January month every year. The place contains the Memba is found in the form of ritual called Aapo numbers of holy sites called Sada Bumba Chorten built Dorjee Drakchen. This ritual is performed in favour of by Lama Lorde Gyatso, foot prints of Lama Lorde demon named Aapo Dorjee Drakchen. They perform it Gyatso and his horse, Ba-Chu Lansa, Shing-Yong once in every year in a place called Tsensi-gang in Masar and Dutse-Lansa. During pilgrimage, they Menchuka village. Every year a black coloured chicken perform sacrificial ritual by offering one hen in favour is sacrificed as offering to the deity. A chosen Lama of local deities named Dorjee Barwa Sungma, Lha-diu- performs the ritual. Earlier in Menchuka, a Lama named Chenm and Zingkyong-Yab-yung. The ritual is Lama Thupden performed it. After his death, the Head performed in the site where Sada Bumba chorten is Lama Dongse Thinley Narbu Naksang continued the located. If the sacrifice hen fall towards the stream it ritual until the reincarnation of Late Lama Thupden symbolizes deity accepted the offering and Menchuka named Lama Dorjee Phurpa Buru took charge. It is Valley will be prosperous in that year. On the other believed that if the sacrificial offering is not performed hand, if the sacrificed hen jumps towards the land it then the Memba people would have to face the wrath of symbolises that the deity is unhappy and will bring Aapo Dorjee Drakchen.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ethnolinguistic Survey of Westernmost Arunachal Pradesh: a Fieldworker’S Impressions1
    This is the version of the article/chapter accepted for publication in Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, 37 (2). pp. 198-239 published by John Benjamins : https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.37.2.03bod This material is under copyright and that the publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form Accepted version downloaded from SOAS Research Online: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/34638 ETHNOLINGUISTIC SURVEY OF WESTERNMOST ARUNACHAL PRADESH: A FIELDWORKER’S IMPRESSIONS1 Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area Timotheus Adrianus Bodt Volume xx.x - University of Bern, Switzerland/Tezpur University, India The area between Bhutan in the west, Tibet in the north, the Kameng river in the east and Assam in the south is home to at least six distinct phyla of the Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman, Sino- Tibetan) language family. These phyla encompass a minimum of 11, but probably 15 or even more mutually unintelligible languages, all showing considerable internal dialect variation. Previous literature provided largely incomplete or incorrect accounts of these phyla. Based on recent field research, this article discusses in detail the several languages of four phyla whose speakers are included in the Monpa Scheduled Tribe, providing the most accurate speaker data, geographical distribution, internal variation and degree of endangerment. The article also provides some insights into the historical background of the area and the impact this has had on the distribution of the ethnolinguistic groups. Keywords: Arunachal Pradesh, Tibeto-Burman, Trans-Himalayan, Monpa 1. INTRODUCTION Arunachal Pradesh is ethnically and linguistically the most diverse state of India.
    [Show full text]
  • Kurukshetra Magazine Summary for April 2021 Issue
    NURTURING INDIA’S RICH CULTURAL HERITAGE • India with its glorious past has bequeathed a remarkable variety of monuments and sites spread all across the length and breadth of the country. There are 38 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India (as of 2021), of which 30 are cultural sites, 7 are natural sites and one mixed site. • Along with these are rich and varied intangible cultural heritage of the country like oral traditions and expressions, craftsmanship etc. Heritage are not just reflectors of the past, but opportunities to generate employment and income in the present and future through heritage tourism. Heritage can Change the Rural Economy • There are various heritage structures with cultural and historical significance in the rural hinterlands lying untapped and unattended. Due to the pandemic, people are now more interested in visiting less- crowded rural India. This creates opportunity for rural areas. • There are traditional step wells which have heritage significance and also can be explored if the water sources can be revived. While attracting tourists, it will also solve the water issue faced by the people in the area. Steps Taken by the Govt. • In budget 2020-21, govt. has proposed five archaeological sites, namely, Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) to be developed as iconic sites with on-site Museums. • Rakhigarhi, the site of a pre-Indus Valley Civilisation settlement, dating back to about 6500 BCE village is located in Hisar District in Haryana. • Dholavira, a site of ruins of ancient Harappan city, is located near the Dholavira village in Gujarat.
    [Show full text]
  • 35 Chapter 2 INTER-ETHNIC CONFLICTS in NORTH EAST
    Chapter 2 INTER-ETHNIC CONFLICTS IN NORTH EAST INDIA India as a whole has about 4,635 communities comprising 2,000 to 3,000 caste groups, about 60,000 of synonyms of titles and sub-groups and near about 40,000 endogenous divisions (Singh 1992: 14-15). These ethnic groups are formed on the basis of religion (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, etc.), sect (Nirankari, Namdhari and Amritdhari Sikhs, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Vaishnavite, Lingayat and Shaivite Hindus, etc.), language (Assamese, Bengali, Manipuri, Hindu, etc.), race (Mongoloid, Caucasoid, Negrito, etc.), caste (scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, etc.), tribe (Naga, Mizo, Bodo, Mishing, Deori, Karbi, etc.) and others groups based on national minority, national origin, common historical experience, boundary, region, sub-culture, symbols, tradition, creed, rituals, dress, diet, or some combination of these factors which may form an ethnic group or identity (Hutnik 1991; Rastogi 1986, 1993). These identities based on religion, race, tribe, language etc characterizes the demographic pattern of Northeast India. Northeast India has 4,55,87,982 inhabitants as per the Census 2011. The communities of India listed by the „People of India‟ project in 1990 are 5,633 including 635 tribal groups, out of which as many as 213 tribal groups and surprisingly, 400 different dialects are found in Northeast India. Besides, many non- tribal groups are living particularly in plain areas and the ethnic groups are formed in terms of religion, caste, sects, language, etc. (Shivananda 2011:13-14). According to the Census 2011, 45587982 persons inhabit Northeast India, out of which as much as 31169272 people (68.37%) are living in Assam, constituting mostly the non-tribal population.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts in Alphabetical Order
    Abstracts in alphabetical order “They are taking our land”: a comparative perspective on indigeneity and alterity in Meghalaya and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Ellen Bal (VU University Amsterdam) & Eva Gerharz (Ruhr‐University Bochum) The border region of Bangladesh, India, and Burma has been the scene of dozens of tribal autonomy conflicts since the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 (Baruah 2007). These conflicts have unsettled the whole region, impacted international relations, threatened national stability, and caused a deep sense of insecurity among the locals. The majority of these conflicts pivot on ‘sons‐of‐the-soil’ claims, invoking notions of autochthony to legitimize occupational rights to lands and regional autonomy (Cf. Vandekerckhove 2009). Most conflicts link up to the globalized discourse on indigenous rights, which has been particularly powerful since 1993 (the United Nations’ ‘Year for Indigenous Peoples’). Our paper addresses the notions of citizenship, indigeneity and alterity (otherness) at work in Meghalaya and the Chittagong Hill Tracts from a comparative perspective. Although a number of similar issues are at stake, the situations in the two regions differ, partly because of different political contexts which frame these discourses. British colonial policies had been geared towards the isolation of the hills from the plains in order to secure the available resources for the colonial state (Van Schendel 1992). Independent India continued such particularistic policies, granting a special position to the so‐called tribal Northeast Indian hill states (Vandekerckhove 2009, 53). However, the subsequent governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh (since 1971) moved towards inclusion of the tribal territories. In the Chittagong Hill Tracts this attempt of national inclusion resulted in a vicious war between indigenous insurgents and the state.
    [Show full text]
  • Title Cultural Adaptation of the Himalayan Ethnic Foods With
    Cultural Adaptation of the Himalayan Ethnic Foods with Title Special Reference to Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh Author(s) Tamang, Jyoti Prakash; Okumiya, Kiyohito; Kosaka, Yasuyuki ヒマラヤ学誌 : Himalayan Study Monographs (2010), 11: Citation 177-185 Issue Date 2010-05-01 URL http://dx.doi.org/10.14989/HSM.11.177 Right Type Departmental Bulletin Paper Textversion publisher Kyoto University Himalayan Study Monographs No.11, 177-185,Him 2010alayan Study Monographs No.11 2010 Cultural Adaptation of the Himalayan Ethnic Foods with Special Reference to Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh Jyoti Prakash Tamang1）, Kiyohito Okumiya2） and Yasuyuki Kosaka2） 1）Food Microbiology Laboratory, Sikkim University, Gangtok 737102, India 2）Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan The Himalayan people have developed the ethnic foods to adapt to the harsh conditions and environment. The in-take of such foods has been in the systems for centuries and people have adapted such foods to protect and sustain them. People living in high altitude (>2500) are adapted to cereals and food grains grown in dry and cold climates, with less vegetables and more meat products. More diversity of food items ranging from rice, maize to vegetable, milk to meat is prevalent in the elevation less than 2500 to 1000 m. Ethnic foods possess protective properties, antioxidant, antimicrobial, probiotics, bio-nutrients, and some important health-benefits compounds. Due to rapid urbanisation, development, introduction of commercial ready-to-eat foods have adverse effects on production and consequently consumption of such age-old cultural ethnic foods is declining. The people should be ascertained about the worth indigenous knowledge they possess, and biological significance of their foods.
    [Show full text]
  • Land, People and Politics: Contest Over Tribal Land in Northeast India
    Land, People and Politics Land, PeoPLe and PoLitics: contest oveR tRibaL Land in noRtheast india Editors Walter Fernandes sanjay BarBora North Eastern Social Research Centre International Workgroup for Indigenous Affairs 2008 Land, People and Politics: contest over tribal Land in northeast india Editors: Walter Fernandes and Sanjay Barbora Pages: 178 ISSN: 0105-4503 ISBN: 9788791563409 Language: English Index : 1. Indigenous peoples; 2. Land alienation; Acknowledgements 3. Northeast India; 4. Colonialism Geographical area: Asia Publication date: January 2009 cover design: Kazimuddin Ahmed, Panos South Asia This book is an outcome of collaboration between North Eastern Social Research Centre (NESRC), Panos South Asia and International Published by: North Eastern Social Research Centre 110 Kharghuli Road (1st floor) Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). It is based on studies on Guwahati 781004 land alienation in different states of the Northeast done by a group of Assam, India researchers in 2005-2006. Some papers that were produced during that Tel. (+91-361) 2602819 study are included in this book while others are new and were written Email: [email protected] Website: www.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/ or revised for this publication. We are grateful to all the researchers for NESRC the hard work they have put into these papers. The study, as well as the book, was funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) Denmark. The study was coordinated by Artax Shimray. We are grateful Classensgade 11E DK-2100 Copenhagen to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark for financial support for this Denmark book. We are grateful to IWGIA particularly Christian Erni and Christina www.iwgia.org Nilsson for their support.
    [Show full text]
  • REVISION of 'Tlfesjjist.'Vof SCHEDULED Ofgtes Anfi
    REVISIONv OF 'TlfEsJjIST.'VOf Svv'vr-x'- " -?>-•'. ? ••• '■gc^ ’se v ^ - - ^ r v ■*■ SCHEDULED OfgTES ANfi SCHEDULED-TIBBS' g o VESNMEbrr pF ,i^d£4 .DEI^Ap’MksfT OF.SOCIAL SEmFglTY THE REPORT OF THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE REVISION OF THE LISTS OF SCHEDULED CASTES AND SCHEDULED TRIBES GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SECURITY CONTENTS PART I PTER I. I n t r o d u c t i o n ............................................................. 1 II. Principles and P o l i c y .................................................... 4 III. Revision o f L i s t s .............................................................. 12 IV. General R eco m m en d a tio n s.......................................... 23 V. Appreciation . 25 PART II NDJX I. List of Orders in force under articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution ....... 28 II. Resolution tonstituting the Committee . 29 III, List of persons 'who appeared before the Committee . 31 (V. List of Communities recommended for inclusion 39 V. List of Communities recommended for exclusion 42 VI, List of proposals rejected by the Committee 55 SB. Revised Statewise lists of Scheduled Castes and . Scheduled T r i b e s .................................................... ■115 CONTENTS OF APPENDIX 7 1 i Revised Slantwise Lists pf Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Sch. Sch. Slate Castes Tribes Page Page Andhra Pracoih .... 52 9i rtssam -. •S'S 92 Bihar .... 64 95 G u j a r a i ....................................................... 65 96 Jammu & Kashmir . 66 98 Kerala............................................................................... 67 98 Madhya Pradesh . 69 99 M a d r a s .................................................................. 71 102 Maharashtra ........................................................ 73 103 Mysore ....................................................... 75 107 Nagaland ....................................................... 108 Oriisa ....................................................... 78 109 Punjab ...... 8i 110 Rejssth&n ......
    [Show full text]
  • People of the Margins Philippe Ramirez
    People of the Margins Philippe Ramirez To cite this version: Philippe Ramirez. People of the Margins. Spectrum, 2014, 978-81-8344-063-9. hal-01446144 HAL Id: hal-01446144 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01446144 Submitted on 25 Jan 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. People of the Margins People of the Margins Across Ethnic Boundaries in North-East India Philippe Ramirez SPECTRUM PUBLICATIONS GUWAHATI : DELHI In association with CNRS, France SPECTRUM PUBLICATIONS • Hem Barua Road, Pan Bazar, GUWAHATI-781001, Assam, India. Fax/Tel +91 361 2638434 Email [email protected] • 298-B Tagore Park Extn., Model Town-1, DELHI-110009, India. Tel +91 9435048891 Email [email protected] Website: www.spectrumpublications.in First published in 2014 © Author Published by arrangement with the author for worldwide sale. Unless otherwise stated, all photographs and maps are by the author. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted/used in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
    [Show full text]
  • Chalohoppo's Trip Calendar for 2020 Unique Group Tour Packages for Northeast India
    ChaloHoppo's Trip Calendar for 2020 Unique Group Tour Packages for Northeast India This is quite a comprehensive list of over 4000 words covering experiences in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland. The only states missing are Mizoram, Sikkim, and Tripura and if you wish to travel to these 3 states then we can always customise a trip for you. You can send us your enquiry here. ​ ​ ​ The blog has 10 experiential tour packages listed with the different dates on which one can book it. Each of these 10 tours has again been broken down into the following three parts: ​ A) You should book this trip if you: This is to give you an idea of your traveller persona and ​ ​ ​ choose a trip based on the kind of experiences you would like to have. B) The locations and spots you will get to tick off your list: This gives an overview of the ​ places the trip will cover. It doesn’t specifically mention everything to do in that place. C) Highlights of the trip: This tells you what experiences we will be crafting for you. ​ Tour name Dates of the tour Cost of the State(s) you Minimum Maximum group tour per are travelling number of capacity traveller to travellers(f or the trip to happen) Chalohoppo to camp Every 2nd and 4th Starting from Meghalaya 3 30 in Wahkhen and Saturday Rs.3000/- conquer Mawrynkhang ChaloHoppo to Mar 6 - 10 | Apr 22 - Rs 17,000/- Nagaland 4 15 Asia's First Green 26 | May 23 - 27 Village, Dzuleke and Dzukou Valley ChaloHoppo on Feb 25 - Mar 1 | Mar Rs.
    [Show full text]
  • Population History and Identity in the Hidden Land of Pemakö *
    Population History and Identity in the Hidden Land of Pemakö * Kerstin Grothmann ** Introduction This study explores the history of migration by different Buddhist peoples from eastern Bhutan, the neighbouring Tawang area and the Tibetan plateau to the ‘hidden land’ (Tib. sbas yul ) of Pemakö, and the circumstances that induced migrants to leave their homelands. The descendants of these diverse migrants who settled in the southern part of Pemakö - the Tuting, Geling and Singa Circles of Upper Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh - became officially classified as the Memba and Khamba 1 ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (hereafter ST) by the Indian administration during the early 1950s, in order to incorporate them all into the newly independant Indian state. These ST categories were constructed on the basis of supposed common group origins and spoken language, and thus convey the impression that Upper Siang’s Buddhist population consists of two different groups, both of which are internally homogeneous. However, both written sources of the British and post-independence Indian administration and my own fieldwork data demonstrate clearly that Pemakö’s * Fieldwork data on the Buddhist population of Upper Siang District was gathered in 2009 as part of the project “Between Tibetanisation and Tribalisation: Towards a New Anthropology of Tibeto-Burman Speaking Highlanders in Arunachal Pradesh”, directed by Prof. Toni Huber (Humboldt University, Berlin) and funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. I would like to thank Toni Huber for his helpful comments on the draft version of this article. ** PhD Candidate, Tibetan Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin. Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Khamba is the spelling used by the Indian administration.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Spreading to Tribal Population
    'Son preference' is spreading to tribal population --Shambhu Ghatak 1 Most of the reports that we find in the mainstream media about falling child sex ratio in India pertain to non-tribal areas. It is assumed that tribals have been better than non-tribals in terms of child sex ratio and gender equality. For example, one can find that most tribal dominated North- Eastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh (972), Meghalaya (970) and Mizoram (970) enjoy better child sex ratio as compared to economically developed states like Haryana (834), Punjab (846) and Gujarat (890). Hence the tendency of the mainstream media is to ignore the new trends emerging for child sex ratio in tribal populated states such as Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and North Eastern states. Attempt in this research is to reanalyze data specifically emerging from tribal India. Once again the approach is to compile data, tables, charts etc. in such a way that it is of immediate use to journalists of mainstream media. However, a cursory look at the data compiled in the present report gives us an idea that these issues have been more or less ignored by not only the national media but also the language media of these states. About the study The present study looks at the declining trend of child sex ratio among the tribal dominated states/UTs of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. For this purpose, data and reports from the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner and Ministry of Tribal Affairs have been relied upon.
    [Show full text]
  • Knowledge Report on Sustainable Tourism in North East India
    Knowledge Report on Sustainable Tourism in North East India 5th North East Connectivity Summit November 14-15, 2018 0 | P a g e FOREWORD BY EY Ernst & Young LLP (EY) is proud to release this knowledge report on Sustainable Tourism North East India at the 5th North East Connectivity Summit at Tawang from 15-16 November 2018. The report focuses on the strategic location of the North East Region, the importance of Tourism as a key growth driver for the region, policy initiatives of State Governments, challenges and investment opportunities in the Tourism sector in the region. The region has not developed at par with rest of India and lack of infrastructure and connectivity has been one of the key reasons for the relatively slow progress of developmental activities. The last few years have been a watershed moment for the region with the Central Governments’ focus on creating enabling infrastructure and the aggressive push to bring the region at par with the rest of the country. Progressive State Governments in the region are now vying for investment along with other developed and developing states in the country and are seeking large scale employment generation through private sector involvement in key areas such as Tourism. This report aims to put forth the inherent strengths, challenges, opportunities and a vision for the sector in North Eastern Region EY’s Economic Development Advisory (EDA) practice works with various State Governments including in the North East Region and helps them in policy formulation and review, infrastructure development & promotion, investment & trade promotion, sector & regional promotion and implementing ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Reforms.
    [Show full text]