By: Kamal Baruah
Most of the ALGs in Eastern Frontiers remain unused since the 1962 war. Tuting situated close to the border opened a few years back with Aalo, Mechuka, Pasighat, Tawang Walong, and Ziro. While transiting to Siang valley, we see the mountainous terrain varied in its topography that goes on to become a sudden 4000 feet elevation. The weather changes dramatically every quarter hour. The forecast is always for scattered showers. The Mi-17 was on manoeuvres in hazardous conditions. We experienced sudden lifts on the sharp hills and hovered anxiously over the vastness of water. The Dibang riverbanks were abundant in beautiful wild plants.
A chopper appears as Angel hovering above its territory, indeed a lifeline for landlocked Arunachal. Soon we landed on the foothills of Tezu, and a line of porters greeted us. We wrestled with excitement before heading off to our mission. British era systems of using porters to transport food grains are indispensable, where connecting human habitations in remote areas is an uphill task and the Indian Air Force is deployed to serve air-fed circles of the state. We witnessed porters lugging essentials on steep mountainous tracks and through jungles. They’re serving as a bridge between the government and the people while essential commodities are airdropped in interior regions through helicopter sorties.
We came across remote villages at a dispersed settlement. One of the villages is said to consist of a single longhouse. The lack of strong social cohesion among the Mishmi reflected insignificance while a village isn’t so important but a house is. Besides Idu Mishmi that dwells in the Dibang Valley, Digaru Mishmi and Miju Mishmi live in the Lohit district.
Mishmi’s hair is cropped all around the head. The legend of Rukmini is believed to be associated with their region. They claim Rukmini, one of the consorts of Lord Krishna, was an Idu Mishmi. Rukmini, the daughter of King Bhismaka at Bhismaknagar was carried away by Krishna while her brother Rukma failed to stop them. Krishna didn’t kill Rukma but cropped his hair as a measure of punishment. And the myth goes that since then the Idu Mishmi tribes have been cropping hair close.
This, of course, isn’t historically accurate as they migrated much later than the age of the Mahabharata. Mishmi originated in Tibet in a place called Deng and later migrated to this land of the dawn-lit mountains, where the Sun rises first. Arunachal is also called the land of rivers. The ferocity of rivers forced transportation into a herculean task as we tackled extreme challenges navigating remote locations. We used a boat to cross rivers near Roing and were almost swept away by treacherous currents.
Mishmi’s craft of silversmithing is unique. Men wear a strap across the chest, laden with silver coinage that belongs to the pre-independence period while women wear a silver band overhead, silver bodkins (a thick, blunt needle with a large eye), and a pair of dumbbell-shaped earplugs known as Krupei or Eingsut which is locked from behind using another embossed copper cap. The earlobes often got hanging from the lower margin of the ear for the heaviness of their earplugs but this doesn’t stop Mishmi from adorning with this fascinating piece. The similarity of grandma’s Thuriya (Assamese earrings of raw gold or pure silver) made it hard to differ.
They trade yak leather, wool and tree fibre for silver and salt from Assam thus silver becomes a symbol and highly prized for a status. That traditional craftsman is from the technique of wax-moulding. Silver is cast into ingots and treated by heating, hammering and forging before being smithed into jewellery. They’re finely embossed with a dotted pattern over the flat face. The attire of ornamental silver doesn’t end at trinket; a Mishmi is incomplete without a silver smoking pipe. The length of the silver pipe represents their social position. Amazingly, Khasi’s bamboo pipes incorporate a similar motif.
Mishmi follows their tradition naively. The sacraments and sacrifices are done to signify tribes’ customs and upbringing a girl. They probably don’t understand the science behind ear piercing but with traditional beliefs of the ancient Indian practice of Karna vedha. As the exceptional technique is fading, the craft of silver is becoming a memory here and now. Silver smithing was once Mishmi’s identity in days of yore. (The author is a freelance writer)