Abstract
This chapter approaches the historical understanding of preliterate communities with Nyishis of Arunachal Pradesh as a case study by applying both historical and anthropological sources and methods. While reconstructing the historical past of a community, the chapter reveals a process of interaction with other communities and explains the process of ‘othering’ and the emergence of new identity. The chapter is critical about the use of a particular disciplinary approach or source materials like oral tradition while reconstructing the history of preliterate communities and advocates for multidisciplinary approaches by combining archaeology, history, ethnology, ethnotoponymy, ethnopolity and social and cultural anthropology under one rubric. The insider and outsider debate though implicit; the chapter aims at attempting an objective frame of analysis within ethnohistorical perspective to reconstruct composite history of the nation even when a scholar studies one’s own community.
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Notes
- 1.
Tani is the name of the ancestor and Abo/Abu means ‘father’. In the tradition of the communities, Abo Tani is used as a proper name. In many earlier writings and even in some recent writings, the same spelling, Abo Tani, is adopted. However, in a few recent writings, the proper name is spelt as Aabhu Thanyi and perhaps considered unique and representative in nature. That is why the fashion of writing the Aabhu Thyani is in vogue (editor).
- 2.
Tribes like the Nyishi, the Apatani, the Tagin, the Galo and the Adi claim their origin from a common ancestor called the Aabhu Thanyi. Therefore, these tribes display a great degree of similarities in terms of cultural traits and political and social organizations even in their present-day lives. Their customary practices, indigenous religious institutions and social values for svbe (ceremonial ox or/bos gaurus/ bos frontalis) are undoubtedly similar across geographical barriers and distances between settlements. The groups also maintain the same narratives about the origin and evolution of this graceful animal, svbe, among them. Although tribes like the Aka (Hrusso), the Bongru, the Nah, the Bori and the Bokar trace their ancestry slight differently, still the essence is not much different from the Aabhu Thanyi groups. There is still a questionable tradition being maintained by some of these small groups of clans and tribes relating to a common ancestor which is under further investigation.
- 3.
The Jiwth Aane is believed to be a virgin mother who had given birth to the sons of the Aabhu Thanyi without any physical contact as maintained by the Aabhu Thanyi groups of communities of Arunachal Pradesh. In their indigenous religious practice, the Jiwth Aane represents the human form of the Aane Donyi (The Timeless Mother Sun, in which the present Sun is only the replica and representational living image).
- 4.
Aathu Nyima Nyia, meaning ‘human being’, is the third son of the Aabhu Thanyi who is shortly popular as Aathu Nyia in narrative traditions. The existing popular myths narrated by different lineage groups and clans maintain that from the Aathu Nyima Nyia, all the human being evolved and grouped into various races, tribes, phratries and lineages with different naming pattern and styles. Hence, Aathu Nyima Nyia son of the Aabhu Thanyi is the actual progenitor of human being on this planet.
- 5.
The phrase ‘traditions period’ is used in this paper to signify the past events of these Aabhu Thanyi groups of tribe who strived hard to preserve their past through a mnemonic device despite the absence of any reading and writing knowledge among them. These traditions are difficult to equate with the European methods of periodization like ancient, medieval and modern to explain the space, time and date and to denote the development and progress of the preliterate society.
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Showren, T. (2020). Exploring Ethnohistory of Arunachal Pradesh. In: Behera, M. (eds) Tribal Studies in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9026-6_3
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