Vanishing lifestyles

AGLAJA STIRN and Peter van Ham are not anthropologists by training. She is a specialist in psychosomatic medicine and director of a Frankfurt hospital, while he is a musician who teaches, composes, and scores for films. Yet, this multi-faceted duo have taken on the arduous, sometimes dangerous task of documenting the unique tribal culture of the seven North Eastern States before it disappears altogether. The authors have already produced three books on the subject and built up such a reputation that they have been granted permission to do their fieldwork in an area normally closed to foreigners.

This comprehensive survey, with more than 400 photographs, outlines the origins, rituals and religious beliefs of the tribes, their myths and matriarchal culture. Being out of the Indo-Aryan mainstream, their ethos is a world far removed from ours.

The diversity of the region is mind-boggling. Seventy eight ethnic groups inhabit tiny Tripura, and each of the other States is home to 20 to 30 different tribes. Apparently, they came here in a wave of migrations about 3000 years ago, and surmises about their beginnings are based on facial features and linguistic affinities. These indicate a Chinese or South-East Asian origin, but some Naga groups resemble the natives of Papua and Melanesia, and the Meitheis use words of Tamil derivation. Since there are almost as many languages as there are tribes, such speculations are unending.

Turning to old records, one finds in the 2nd Century, Ptolemy, of all people correctly describing the Nagas as those who live "in the realm of the naked", but we still know nothing of their origins. However, where facts falter, myth steps in. So, according to the Akas, all human beings are the children of Father Heaven and Mother Earth and, eons ago, descended from the sky by ladders - golden ones for Aka royalty, silver for commoners, iron for Tibetans and so on. "Inferior" tribes such as Nishis and Cacharis had to make do with ladders of bamboo or, worse still, grass! There are variations on this story but the ladder is common to all, and an ancient monolith in Mizoram, six metres high, is known throughout the region as "heaven's ladder".

Class distinctions in these tribal cultures are often cruelly enforced, but conscious efforts are also made to reduce them. While feasting fosters a sense of togetherness everywhere, among the Nagas and Apa Tani it has a cathartic function, since sumptuous banquets deplete the wealth of those who have too much, and the envy of those who have too little. This financial levelling down reintegrates the former with their community, and serves the practical purpose of emptying the stores of grain before the coming harvest. Further, the neighbouring tribes supply huge quantities of meat, which buys their friendship and preempts attack.

Laws are framed for the larger good. Punishments for the same crime vary and become progressively more severe. The Apa Tani penalise persistent theft with public humiliation to begin with, where the culprit is scratched, spat upon and even bitten. If he steals again, one hand is cut off, then the other, and finally he faces execution.

If families steal from each other in pursuance of a feud, the thefts are ignored until they become too disruptive. Then, in a strange custom called lisudu, the families compete in a display and depletion of wealth. The challenger slaughters, say three head of cattle and places them at his enemy's door, who must then do likewise. The killings multiply, with 60 animals, in one instance, being slaughtered on each side. When the feud reaches such ruinous proportions, the council of elders calls a halt, while the villagers gorge on highly prized meat. The authors cite a very similar practice called potlatch on the other side of the globe among the Kwakiutl Indians of North America.

Tribal religions are animistic, and the wind and rain, thunder and lightning, the mountains and rivers have supernatural powers in every aspect of life. The sun and moon, which watch over all earthly happenings, are the most sacred, and an oath sworn on them is as binding as one on the Bible would be for a Christian.

Weaving, the divine art, was taught to the first man by the Sun- Moon God himself, and abstract symbols of these deities are favoured motifs. In Aka and Naga textiles, as in wood-carving and paintings, a nine-sided rhombus with a corona represents the sun, cowrie shells the moon or the heads of enemies. All things cosmic have earthly correspondences, a row of striped squares standing for a starry sky, a triangle for a mountain and so son. This complex metaphoric language extends to colours, red for the blood of foes or black for night, and to choice fabrics which are worn only by those of high status. The soul resides in one's art, so when cloth is sold, the weaver removes a thread, retaining her own soul symbolically.

Tribal dance is mystic or magical, a means of reaching out to the spirit world. The dancers whip themselves up to a frenzy and fall into a trance, or absorb the force of Nature through stillness. In The Dance of the Happy Hearts, Khasi virgins stand erect, moving only their bare feet almost imperceptibly, slowly drawing out the power of the earth, letting it travel up the arrow- straight spine to the head where the soul resides. The eyes remain half closed to hold the energy within.

Since all created things are born of a female and Nature herself is a mother, it follows that matriarchy is the norm. The clan mother is its chief and priestess, and administers its property. The family name and inheritance pass on through the daughters, and the all-important burial rites are conducted by the youngest. In a reversal that will make feminists sing hosannas, Khasi couples continue to have children till a girl is born. While all authority, religious and secular, is vested in women, the men hunt, propagate, protect that village from attack and perform the more arduous agricultural tasks. So disadvantaged, men have begun to protest, and Meghalaya has a male emancipation movement, the only one worldwide.

Not all is ideal in these cultures. Apart from the brutal suppression of individuality, head-hunting, though illegal, is still found in remote pockets, and human sacrifice persisted through The Raj and was stamped out only in 1950. But under the leadership of women, poverty and homelessness are virtually nonexistent. The Community cares for all, and no child is illegitimate since "motherhood is certain, fatherhood merely incidental". Today, no one would support a Rousseauvian return to the primitive, but this fine study shows India's unrivalled diversity and the value of our indigenous life-styles. Living in an oppressively patriarchal society, we have a great deal to learn from the Seven Sisters.

ZERIN ANKLESARIA

The Seven Sisters of India: Tribal worlds between Tibet and Burma, Aglaja Stirn and Peter van Ham, Prestel and Mapin Publishing, Rs. 2,400.

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