AKA’s – In the land of Rising Sun

“I married eight times. There are five alive now. Three have died. But I have not forced anyone. I like the woman, she likes me, that’s how I get them. I got eight. In cities people have many women hidden, leave them and then get another. But in my life, whosoever I married, I have shown the world and kept all of them,” is what Govardhan Nimasow defines polygamy, much legalised within the community of a rare tribe of Arunachal Pradesh – the Aka’s.

Arunachal Pradesh, a State in the North Eastern part of India, can also be termed as one of the largest tribal belts, hosting 26 major tribes with about 100 sub tribes. A virgin ecosystem, Arunachal is an exquisite journey of nature’s splendour – with waterfalls springing across tall mountain peaks to mystical lakes shimmering with icicles on varied shades of blue hues dancing to sun changing positions as well as, chanting monasteries.

Amidst this sojourn, I meandered into the most visited part of Incredible India, constituting of the Bomdilla – Tawang – Indo – China Border route. It was on research of a tribus clan of the Aka’s, whose history and geography are as much hidden as their origin. Aka’s history is veiled in mystery. “The time period is difficult to mention because there are no records. In the mythology and as per the narrations given by the village elders during the field study when I conducted, most of the village elders have narrated in this way as this is the origin of Aka’s,” says Dr Gibji Nimasow, Professor and researcher at Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar. An Aka tribal himself, Dr Gibji’s research constituting of books, periodicals, journals on the tribe are a rare insight into history of Aka’s.

Although the legend goes that they carry a lineage from Mahabharata, the Indian epic, claiming their ancestors living in Pratapgarh on the banks of Giladhari river, north of Bishwanath and were ousted from there by Lord Krishna and Balram – thus migrating from plains to the hills due to this feud. “That’s a story,” says Gibji with a smile. “They actually came from Tibet side, settled down towards the plains, to again return back to the mountains.”

An AKA Village

 

THE AKA’s

Mountains of their abode, belongs to a tough path towards Southern Kameng districts of Arunachal – a long six – hour tough journey from the district headquarter Bomdilla. The realisation came, when I decided to uncover the mystery of the tribe while travelling towards three of their villages that lay hidden amongst dense forests and hilltops of roads built on boulders. Thrizino, Palizi and Subu beckoned me into their lap of natural habitat of colourful Aka’s.

Aka tribe, all of ten to fifteen thousand in number, are divided into two main sub tribes – One is Hrusso and another is Koro. Those who are inhabited in West Kameng district, they are known as Hrusso and those that are settled in East Kameng district are known as Koro. There is not much difference culturally speaking, but the difference is only in dialect. The dialect which is spoken by the Hrusso sub tribe is different, totally different from the sub tribe of Koro.

Arunachal Pradesh is gifted with one of the richest biodiversity in the world where the religion of the Tribals belong to “Land, Forest and Water”

Since generations, tribals have protected all three in various indigenous ways that the world today needs to learn as a part of conservation ecosystem. They have a symbiotic relationship between forest ecology and the livelihood of people.

The Hilltop Dwellers – A typical Aka House

“Our core belief is the practice of Nyezino, which is combination of two Aka terms, Nyez means sky and No means Earth. We call them as Thow and Gew – Thow means rearer and Thow means feeder.  This makes us believe that all the mountains, river sources, big stones, big trees and all, has their own owner. We have to do something, we have to extract something from that area, then first of all we have to appease the owner of the land. Then only we can go for extraction or exploitation of that area or the “spirits of nature” will punish us,” says Miali Sidisow, an Aka social worker who keeps telling stories of the tribe to younger generation “so that we do not get erased in the modern world.”

Aka’s have their own laws of administration where crime and punishment are served in traditional ways – that is set-up by the village elders called Gaon Buda (Village elder) since generations. A thief is judged by the traditional village council is known as Meye that consists of Headman called Bagha with two gibba as aides with compulsory representation from each household.

 

AKA VILLAGE COUNCIL called Meye in progress at Subu Aka village

 

The meeting began with a traditional breakfast, cooked and served by beautifully dressed Aka women of that village, creating harmony and togetherness for beginning of this day. The place for holding all meetings Nyetrii Psigha considered sacred is prepared traditionally, for council and other festivities.

The Bagha makes rules in consultation with the tribe in the village council which is mainly threefold, judicial, administrative and developmental. A thief who had stolen, was present at Subu Aka village, led by the priest and then to a location in the forest. The admittance of punishment will decide the fate of the thief. After a brief prayer ritual, the thief has to walk within the bamboo laden with thorns and put his hand inside bamboo containing boiling water.

His denial to both, is proven guilty… thus justice served.

“There are certain things that are imprinted in the culture of the Akas where the role of priest is very important. As the number of priests are declining, Aka’s are facing difficulty in performing all rituals – be it administration, marriage, hunting or any other. Priest cannot be made. We believe that priests are transferred from one generation to another,” explains Dr Gibji.

 

One such rare priest that I had a fortunate bid to meet and film with was Jampra Desisow, who explained how long traditional yet modern marriage ceremony is conducted for six long months or more. Aka’s have never heard of an “arranged match” as it is always the freedom of the girl and the boy to choose their own partner.

“ On knowledge of the son’s preference, a negotiator is sent by the father to the girl’s home. On mutual agreement, the knots in a string are tied thus fixing a date based on the last knot, for the marriage ceremony. Mithun (resembling a buffalo, being the most revered animal of the Aka’s), is the gift from the groom, with the bride’s family equally honouring by return gifts carried to the groom’s home,” states the Priest.

 

MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN AN AKA HOME

All the women of the village had beauty tattoed on their faces. Termed sachiphiu, tattoing is the nomenclature of this tribe with its distinct identification and separateness from neighbouring tribes. Traditionally, the girl reaching puberty is tattoed thus barring her from eating meat, till her marriage. On the marriage eve, as the girl enters the grooms home, she is fed meat by the groom amidst celebrations.

TATTOING or Sachiphiu AN AKA GIRL ATTAINED PUBERTY

Polygamy seems to be the norm of their lives, with a well-to-do man taking on as many as 5-10 wives. They call it by various names, such as Sarorate – man marrying wife’s sister, Levirate where the woman marries husband’s brother after his death and Edogamy where marriage is within one’s own social group giving tradition of a preserved cultural lineage.

“These traditions are slowly fading away, as education of younger generation, is calling it evil system of disempowerment,” says Sang Dorjee, an Aka political leader, who also leads self-help groups to make women aware of their rights.

But within the home and life of five wives of Govardhan Nimasow, the scenario I viewed was an amazing milieu of love and laughter. “ We feel like we are in a girls hostel,” says his third wife Netan Nimasow with a childlike laughter.“We never fight,” says wife number five Jabom Nimasow, “We respect what the elder didi tells us, as she shares everything.” There was an empowering openness on discussing sharing of the man. “ When my Mr. keeps his headgear in my bedroom, I know that it is my chance to sleep with him that night,” says Netan without a blink of her eyelid, which would put disempowerment questionable.

GOVARDHAN NIMASOW, HEADMAN PALIZI AKA VILLAGE with his FIVE WIVES

Aka’s women are empowered as they hold rights to Agricultural land, are in the Gram Panchayat, speak fluent Hindi with younger generation going to school. Their farming on high hilltops termed Jhum has all its produce organic, as explains Rinchin Dema, an Aka farmer woman on why burning crop does not cause pollution. “First we cut the grass and dry it for a month, then make fire lines, then we burn it. We then see the land and then decide what should be planted in it. In some places we plant rice, in some we plant pumpkins, some places we plant sweet potatoes, some places we plant colocasia – basically we plant according to that particular land’s suitability. The benefits of our Jhum cultivation is that when we burn fire lines, the ash is used as pesticides and fertilizer unlike what you do in your cities. That is why we do not suffer from many diseases,” she ends with a satisfied grin on her beautiful face.

Aka’s lives are celebrated inspite of their lack of luxurious lifestyle, which they are unaware of. Their simplicity of innocence is showered by the natural ecology that surrounds them. They believe that “hurting a leaf and a stone or water without its permission and prayer, will hurt our homes” and “hunting is only for food whenever necessary, but 10 day penance is done if any elephant, tiger or pregnant deer is killed by mistake.”

 

FILMMAKER ANU RADHA with an AKA CRAFTSWOMAN

Master crafts men and women weave clothes and headgear from the local produce. Aka dress pasa is self – woven from locally grown plant mumdra; Man wear a small garment hanging below the shoulder to the knees, with a long piece tied to the waist termed Shashi Chupeo. A coat woven in rough cotton hanging from shoulder to waist called Shashi-pholu, with undergarment termed Wopu. Women wear a garment that hangs from the shoulders and red coat Shashi pholu colours them bright. Legs are covered by a piece of cloth called Gudu, giving protection from dam-dum flies, which cause acne swelling in the whole body. Unique headgears miisanga and ghaga adorn men while women being women, adorn themselves with exquisite traditional ornaments. Bamboo is their livelihood, with all its produce woven for household usage as well as, protective gear.

Music and dance are an inherent culture in the life of all tribals, so it is with Aka’s. Invited to see their biggest celebration Nyetrii Dow is a colourful feast to eyes and a dancing heart. “Nyetrii Dow festival for us is important because our Aka tribe villages spread all across, Nyetrii Dow is special as we meet each other, know each other; relatives who stay far meet here in Nyetrii Dow festival. We pray to God that our harvest should be good and all village people should be protected from any disease, and we have blessings from God,” says Hima, the Gram Chairperson dressing in her finery.

DANCING, DRESSING & CELEBRATING – NYETRII DOW FESTIVAL

There is a lot of teachings and learnings as a takeaway gift for an urban wanderer. The dense greenery with meditative silence where the only sound is of a rare insect or a natural waterfall which transforms and is preserved as a swimming pool, with majestic mountainous peaks over small hilltops laden with stones – Aka’s reverence to their ecology, is a study map for world’s conservationists.

Section:: Empowered Gender