Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library Edited by Henk Blezer Alex McKay Charles Ramble VOLUME 16/4 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/btsl Origins and Migrations in the Extended Eastern Himalayas Edited by Toni Huber and Stuart Blackburn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Cover illustration: Tadé Mihu, an Idu Mishmi shaman (igu), leading the soul of a deceased person to the place of origins during a brohfee ritual. Anini, Arunachal Pradesh (photograph by Toni Huber, 2007) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Origins and migrations in the extended eastern Himalayas / edited by Toni Huber and Stuart Blackburn. p. cm. -- (Brill’s Tibetan studies library, ISSN 1568-6183 ; v. 16/4) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-22691-3 (hbk. : acid-free paper) -- ISBN 978-90-04-22836-8 (e-book) 1. Tibeto-Burman peoples--Himalaya Mountains--Origin. 2. Tibeto-Burman peoples-- Migrations--History. 3. Tibeto-Burman peoples--Himalaya Mountains--History. 4. Tibeto-Burman peoples--Himalaya Mountains--Social life and customs. 5. Mountain people--Himalaya Mountains. 6. Himalaya Mountains--Emigration and immigration--History. 7. Himalaya Mountains--Social life and customs. 8. Himalaya Mountains--Ethnic relations. 9. Ethnology--Himalaya Mountains. I. Huber, Toni, 1956- II. Blackburn, Stuart H. DS25.5.O75 2012 954.96--dc23 2012000054 ISSN 1568-6183 ISBN 978 90 04 22691 3 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 22836 8 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhofff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS List of Illustrations ............................................................................vii Introduction Toni Huber and Stuart Blackburn ................................................... 1 Trans-Himalayan Migrations as Processes, Not Events: Towards a Theoretical Framework Geoff Childs .................................................................................. 11 Where the Waters Dry Up – The Place of Origin in Rai Myth and Ritual Martin Gaenszle ........................................................................... 33 Where did the Question ‘Where did My Tribe Come From?’ Come From? Robbins Burling ............................................................................ 49 Coevolving with the Landscape? Migration Narratives and the Environmental History of the Nyishi Tribe in Upland Arunachal Pradesh Alexander Aisher ................................................................................63 Micro-Migrations of Hill Peoples in Northern Arunachal Pradesh: Rethinking Methodologies and Claims of Origins in Tibet Toni Huber .................................................................................... 83 Apatani Ideas and Idioms of Origins Stuart Blackburn ......................................................................... 107 0LJUDWLRQ1DUUDWLYHV2I¿FLDO&ODVVL¿FDWLRQVDQG/RFDO Identities: The Memba of the Hidden Land of Pachakshiri Kerstin Grothmann ..................................................................... 125 vi CONTENTS The Language, Culture, Environment and Origins of Proto-Tani Speakers: What is Knowable, and What is Not (Yet) Mark W. Post .............................................................................. 153 Glimpses of the Ethnolinguistic Prehistory of Northeastern India George van Driem ...................................................................... 187 Origin and Migration Myths in the Rhetoric of Naga Independence and Collective Identity Marion Wettstein ......................................................................... 213 Oral Histories and the ‘Origins’ of Current Peoples: Dynamic Ethnogenesis, with Remarks upon the Limitations of Language-Family Subgrouping F. K. L. Chit Hlaing .................................................................... 239 Cords and Connections: Ritual and Spatial Integration in the Jinghpaw Cultural Zone Mandy Sadan .............................................................................. 253 Origin and Return: Genesis and the Souls of the Dead in Naxi Myth and Ritual Charles F. McKhann ................................................................... 275 Migrating Brothers and Party-State Discourses on Ethnic Origin in Southwest China Koen Wellens .............................................................................. 299 Contributors ..................................................................................... 321 Index..... ........................................................................................... 325 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.1 Map of contributor case study locations ....................... 3 Figure 2.1 View south on the Koshi River from Chintang village in Dhankuta district .........................................35 Figure 2.2 Map of the Ma:mangme journey ................................. 38 Figure 2.3 The Kiranti drainage model of genealogy ................... 40 Figure 5.1 Map of the northern Subansiri region ......................... 86 Figure 5.2 Partly Tibetanized Na living near Taksing, northern Subansiri......................................................100 Figure 5.3 Bokar man wearing Tibetan wool tunic and nalong earrings, Monigong, Siyom .....................101 Figure 7.1 Map of sites related to the Memba in the eastern Himalaya .......................................................126 Figure 7.2 Mechukha valley view north ......................................127 Figure 7.3 Map of Pachakshiri and adjacent Tibetan sites ...........131 Figure 7.4 View of Lhalung ........................................................134 Figure 7.5 Picnic atmosphere during pilgrimage .........................141 Figure 7.6 Map of the Mechukha valley .....................................142 Figure 7.7 Pemajeling with meditation caves to the right ...........145 Figure 8.1 Map of the cultural-geographical context of the Tani languages today (approximate) ................154 Figure 8.2 Riyu (Minyong) village, East Siang District ..............155 Figure 8.3 Galo ѪLEy (ritual specialist) and bòo (assistant) atop VDFUL¿FLDODOWDU'DO଎ғܺYLOODJH ......................................155 Figure 8.4 *DORHOGHU1\DDGRR5ܺEDD'DDU଎ғܺYLOODJH ..................156 Figure 8.5 *DOREULGH'DDU଎ғܺYLOODJH ..........................................156 Figure 8.6 0LODQJHOGHU$DPܺQ0RRGԥ0LODQJYLOODJH .............156 Figure 8.7 Provisional Tani family tree ......................................160 Figure 8.8 0RGHUQUHÀH[HVRI3URWR7DQL ƾRғµ¿VK¶ ...................161 Figure 8.9 Cross-branch innovations, contact and the genetic position of Galo .............................................162 Figure 8.10 Taxonomic structure in the Tani lexicon (Pugo dialect of Galo) ...............................................167 Figure 8.11 Representative set of terms employing topographical deixis in Lare Galo .............................167 Figure 8.12 Environmental source of topographical deixis ..........168 Figure 8.13 Well-assimilated Indic loanwords in Lare Galo (Asm = Assamese) ...................................173 Figure 8.14 Assamese loanwords in Karbi-Anglong Mising .........174 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 8.15 Development of Galo modal of necessity via language-internal means following borrowing of an Indic lexical verb meaning ‘want/need’ ............177 Figure 8.16 Rhythm and the opposite typological drifts of Munda and Mon-Khmer ........................................179 Figure 8.17 Rhythm and typological drift in Tibeto-Burman ........179 Figure 8.18 Selection of Tani forms with scarce or unattested PTB cognates ............................................180 Figure 8.19 Milang forms with scarce or non-occurring TB/Tani cognates .......................................................180 Figure 9.1 The fallen leaves diagram for Tibeto-Burman ............188 Figure 9.2 Geographical distribution of the major branches of Tibeto-Burman ........................................189 Figure 9.3 $XVWURDVLDWLFZLWK*pUDUG'LIÀRWK¶VWHQWDWLYH calibration of time depths for the various branches of the language family ...............................................190 Figure 9.4 The portion of the Y chromosome phylogenetic tree .....200 Figure 10.1 Longterok/Ongterok stones near the village of Chungliyimti .........................................................225 Figure 10.2 One of the trees near Makhel said to be the origin of the southern Naga groups ......................................228 Figure 10.3 Detail of a tree near Makhel said to be the origin of the southern Naga groups ......................................229 Figure 10.4 J.H. Hutton’s Migrations of Naga Tribes map ............230 Figure 13.1 Naxi Gods’ Road Map, showing demon pole (foreground) and god pole (back) ..............................282 Figure 13.2 Tibetan Wheel