Apa Tani: Encyclopedia - Apa Tani

Apa Tani

The Apa Tani, also spelled as Tani or Apatani, is a tribal group of about 25,000 in the Apatani plateau Jiro (usually spelled and pronounced Ziro by outsiders) in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, India. As they are of Tibetan origin, their language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family.

Apa Tani - History

There are currently no known written records of the history of the Apatani tribe, although it is speculated that, throughout their history, the Apatani had a democratic system of running the society. The village council was known as the Bulyang.

Anthropologists such as Sumit Guha suggests that the Apatani have good oral accounts of the political history of the region. One of their oral accounts speak of their migration from the extreme north of Subansiri and Siang areas following the rivers of Kurung and Kimey.

These oral accounts are often presented in the form of folk tales such as the Miji and Migung. The Miji is a collection of religious chants performed by priests who preside over the sacrifices of mithuns, cows, chickens and pigs. A religious song, which is sung from one to twelve hours, accompanies all these ritual performances which describe the previous interactions with the spirits or gods, locally known as ui, the content of which explains the origin of the myths.

On the other hand, the Migung is more realistic, since it is narrated in prose, and that the stories within it explain the origins of the Apa Tani people, who trace their genealogical links to other tribes of Tibet.

This also necessarily includes a few legendary places, and recent events, such as the downfall of a nineteenth-century never-do-well. In these two folk tales, both the ritual chants and the prose narrations speak of Abo Tani, who is reputed to be the original ancestor of the Apatani and the other tribes in central Arunachal Pradesh. These tribes encompass the Tani group.

The first contact with the Europeans came only in 1897, when British officials came to stay in the valley for two days, and only six similar brief visits were later held between the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1944, only after a temporary government outpost was set up by an anthropologist-administrator, did the Apa Tani come in contact with even a minimal government presence. However, when a second but permanent outpost was constructed by the Assam Rifles, stationed there to protect the land, the Apatanis, in 1948, attacked. The angry officer in charge retaliated by burning two of their villages.

Apa Tani - Religion

Most of the Apatanis are loyal followers of the Donyi Polo faith, who pray to an array of spirits and souls for blessing. Abo-Teni, the primal man, analogous to Adam in the Christian faith, is considered to be the sole ancestor of all Apatani and other Animist tribes in the surrounding regions. When a misfortune occurs, they believe that it is caused by certain spirits, and thus they make appeasement sacrifices of chickens and cows. Myoko, the main agricultural festival of the Apatanis, is celebrated in a very grand manner lasting for a whole month from February to March every year.

There are currently a considerable group of about 1,000 Apatanis who have converted to Christianity, following missionary work done by Mizos in recent years. They are sometimes considered socially inferior by the more orthodox Apatanis, as the Apatanis tend to look down those who follow another religion.

The ongoing conversion in Ziro has led to the formation of the a self-preservation organization among the older generation Apatanis, known as Danyii Piillo Meder Nello. This organization, located at Hari Lemba, Ziro, stands to give a properly organized form to the traditional beliefs and values and protect the locals against unquestioned and thoughtless conversion to foreign religions. The current president of the organization is Mrs Hage Nanya.

Apa Tani - Culture

The Apatanis have a culture that contains remanants of the archaic Tibetan culture. Prior to a marriage, the liver of a chicken plays a significant role in fortune telling. Festivals such as Myoko and Dree are based on agricultural cycles, and Murung is celebrated for general prosperity and peace in the village.

Apa Tani - Dress

Though simple, the dress of the Apatanis elaborate colorful, yet simple styles. Tattoing and the stuffing of large nose plugs were once popular among the women, although this practice has gradually been falling into decline in the recent years.

The menfolk tie their hair in a knot just above the forehead with a brass rod measuring at 12 inches, placed horizontally. Strips of fine cane belt painted in red that were bent into the shape of a horse-collar with an elongated end were also worn.

These strips of cane are loosely fastened together, with the loop of the horse-collar being tied round the waist. The men also tattoo their chin, in a horizontal line drawn across the under lip. Straight lines are also drawn downwards right up to the bottom of the chin.

The women tattoo themselves with broad blue lines from the top of the forehead to the tip of the nose, and from the lower lip to the forehead of the chin. The women bundle up their tresses, which are rolled into two balls on the top of the head. A brass-skewer is then inserted horizontally.

Apa Tani - Customs and lifestyle

Apatanis trace their descent patrilineally. While the status of menfolk is considered higher than the womenfolk, the sexes may share responsibilities in the house and the family.

The womenfolk carry out the household chores of gathering of both wild and kitchen garden vegetables, cooking, fetching of water, pounding of rice, cleaning of houses, washing of clothes and utensils, nursing and looking after infants and children, preparation of the Tsampa, ginning and spinning of cotton and other jobs associated with the household. In the field, the Apatani woman carries out the tasks that include gardening, seedling, transplanting of paddy and millet, padding, weeding of fields and other activities. In a home, the internal family income is controlled by a woman.

The Apatanis had a custom of owning slaves, mainly children, who could come either from their own tribe or from other neighbouring tribes. Unlike most slaves, the Apa Tani slaves were treated in a relatively civilised manner, as many of them are young children.

Their wet rice cultivation system, exmaplifying a most intensive of its kind, is one of the most notable in the whole world. Their agriculture system, without the use of any farm animals or machies, deserves a whole book for description and appreciation. UNESCO is considering the Apatani valley to be declared a world heritage site for its “extremely high productivity” and “unique” way of preserving the ecology.

Apa Tani - The Apatani today

You will be disappointed to meet an Apatani today if you went to Jiro expecting to see some tribals following a primitive culture - animistic beliefs, tattooing, long hair tied into a knot on men and animal sacrifices. They have given up most of their tribal ways and have incorporated ways of the modern world. Many of them are high-level Government employees, doctors and engineers. Of late, several teens have even been influenced by American culture.

The last of the generation that still maintains some of the traditional practices consists of individuals of about 45-80 years of age. One can see syncretic traditional practices in the society today, but it won't be long before it's all lost. Children born to Apa Tani parents most of them are unable to speak Apa Tani.Still few of them speak their mother tongue. Instead, they use Hindi and English as the main form of communication.

Apa Tani - Miscellanous

Most of the information about the tribe available on the Internet and books are terribly outdated. They are mainly based off on observations by Professor Christopher von Furer-Haimendorf in the 1940s.

The Apatani has shown an impressive rate of progression since their first contact with the modern world. They are often dubbed "Japatani", a connotation to the Japanese by their neighboring tribes.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Apa Tani", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki