Apatani Children

Earlier known as the North
East Frontier Agency, Arunachal Pradesh is strategically located in more senses than one. From geopolitical perspective, it is strategic as it shares frontiers with China in the north and northeast, Myanmar in the east and Bhutan in the west. Assam and Nagaland form its southern and south-eastern boundaries. From biodiversity point of view, its location in the eastern Himalaya is more important. It is at the tri-junction of three bio-geographic regions - Palaearctic, Indo-Chinese and Indo-Malayan. This strategic factor has endowed the State with unparalleled richness in biodiversity. It is recognized as one of the only 18 "biodiversity hotspots" around the world. Its nearly 85,000 square kilometres area forms a complex network of mountain ecosystems with deep valleys and high mountains.

The varying elevations, climatic conditions and topography have endowed the State with luxuriant forests that is home to myriad plant and animal life forms. It harbours more than one-third of the country's total flora and many of them are unique and endemic. Among many other things, it has more than 5,000 species of plants, 89 species of bamboo, and 18 species of cane. Of about 1,000 species of orchid reported from India, Arunachal Pradesh is home to 600 species. Its rich plant resources make it a nursery of a number of cultivated species. It is equally rich in animal life with more than 100 varieties of mammals, 650 species of birds, 83 kinds of reptiles, 130 types of fish, 7 varieties of monkeys and apes, and innumerable insects and other life forms. Of 51 different species of pheasants found in the world, India has 17 of them. The State boasts of 11 of these colourful birds. Among all the Indian States, it has the distinction of a remarkably rich diversity in orchids and pheasants. Therefore, it is also known as the land of orchids and the land of pheasants.

Arunachal Pradesh is also home to 27 ethnic communities ("Scheduled Tribes") with distinctive cultures and rich traditions. Of these, the Apatani are considered to be a very progressive community. In contrast to the others, who practice jhum (slash-and-burn) system of cultivation, the Apatani engage themselves in settled agriculture. Their origin is shrouded in the mists of antiquity. In the absence of any authentic documentation, the renowned anthropologist, Christoph von Fuerer-Heimandorf considers them to be of Mongoloid origin. One of their folklores recalls their ancestors having migrated from the extreme north of Subansiri and Siang areas following the rivers Khru and Kime, the tributaries of Subansiri river, and settled down in the area now known as the Apatani Plateau in the Lower Subansiri district. Nearly 52 square kilometres in area, the Plateau is at an elevation of approximately 1,564 metres. The geologists consider it as the bed of a dried up lake. Ringed by hills, it lies between the rivers Kamla and Khru in the north and Palin in the south with Kele River flowing through the middle of it in the north-south direction. All these rivers and other tributaries drain into Subansiri River, which in turn drains into the mighty Brahmaputra.

The Apatani are concentrated in about 20 villages on the Plateau's periphery. The tribe is divided into clans and sub-clans but the clans are not geographically separated. Each clan lives in a clearly defined part of a village. Some of the villages have seven or more clans. They speak a dialect distinct from those of the State's other ethnic communities but have no script of their own. They believe that they lost it during their migration to their present habitat. Instead of idols, they worship Sun ("Donyi") and Moon ("Polo") as also a number of other deities. One of them called Hilo is believed to be the creator of Abotani, the first ancestor of the Apatani. They celebrate many festivals but the Dree and the Myokoh are closely associated with agriculture. Murung festival is celebrated for general peace and prosperity of the community. Almost all of their festivals are linked with nature's conservation and the community's welfare.

The Apatani even today live in harmony with nature. Their system of land-use and agriculture, patterns of forest resource use and consumption, festivals and rituals reflect the deep imprint of environmental conservation on their tradition and culture. The land-use system shows a sequential pattern from centre to periphery. The house sites at the core of the village are followed in concentric circles by granary sites, bamboo and pine groves, paddy nurseries, kitchen gardens or pine groves, all individually owned. Then come the paddy and millet fields, grazing lands and burial grounds that are clan owned. The distant pine and bamboo groves for firewood followed by lands for grazing or growing millet, swampy areas for paddy cultivation and forests for hunting and for firewood and building material are at the periphery. The cultivable land is privately owned and comprises paddy fields, bamboo and pine groves, house sites and granaries. Public places within the village and pasturage, burial grounds, forests and groves for hunting on the periphery are clan or community owned.