Through the Eye of Time


 Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library

Edited by
Henk Blezer
Alex McKay
Charles Ramble

VOLUME 16/1

ii
iii
iv

Apatani priest looking through the viewfinder of one of

­Fürer-Haimendorf  ’s cameras.
  Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Apatani valley, 1944
Through the Eye of Time

Photographs of Arunachal Pradesh

1859–2006

Tribal Cultures in the Eastern Himalayas

By

Michael Aram Tarr 

and
Stuart Blackburn

LEIDEN • BOSTON
2008
 Cover illustration: Apatanis welcoming the Fürer-Haimendorfs to the Apatani valley.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 1944, SOAS 155 (5) 1

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tarr, Michael Aram.

Through the eye of time : photographs of Arunachal Pradesh 1859-2006 : tribal cultures in the eastern Himalayas /
by Michael Aram Tarr and Stuart Blackburn.
   p. cm. — (Brill’s Tibetan studies library ; v. 16/1)
  Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-16522-9 (hardback : alk. paper)
  1. Indigenous peoples—India—Andhra Pradesh—Pictorial works. 2. Tribes—India—Arunachal Pradesh—Pictorial
  works. 3. Arunachal Pradesh (India—Pictorial works. I. Blackburn, Stuart H. II. Title.

DS485.A5542T37 2008
954’.163035—dc22

2008002432

vi

ISSN: 1568-6183
ISBN: 978 90 04 16522 9

Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

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printed in the netherlands

Table of Contents

Abbreviations of sources of archival photographs  viii

Acknowledgements  ix
About the authors  ix

Introduction  1
A. People and Place  1
Map 1 Arunachal Pradesh and the eastern Himalayas  2
Map 2 Arunachal Pradesh  2
B. Colonial Contacts  4
Portraits in the Plains: 1860s  4 
Expeditions into the Hills: 1870s-1930s  7
Staying in the Hills: 1940s-1960s  12
C. The Uses of Photographs  17
Notes  19
Bibliography  22

Plates  25

Appendix: List of Photographs  213

 Abbreviations of sources of archival photographs

BL (British Library, London)

BM (British Museum, London)
NAM (National Army Museum, London)
PRM (Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford)
RGS (Royal Geographical Society, London)
SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, London)


Acknowledgements About the authors

This book is based on research carried out dur- Rivers Museum, Oxford; the British Library, Lon- The contemporary photographs in this book
ing the ‘Tribal Transitions’ project funded by the don; the School of Oriental and African Studies, were taken by Michael Aram Tarr, and the great
Economic and Social Research Council (UK) London; the National Army Museum, London majority were taken between 2002 and 2006 as
from 2002 to 2007. Based at the School of Ori- and the British Museum, London. We also wish part of the ‘Tribal Transitions’ project. Mr. Tarr,
ental and African Studies (London), the project to thank Ashok Elwin in Shillong for his coopera- who lives in Berkeley, California, has been pho-
partners were the British Museum (London), the tion in arranging for digital copies of photographs tographing in India since his childhood and in
Centre for Cultural Research and Documentation taken by his father,Verrier Elwin, to be deposited Arunachal Pradesh since 1996. He also selected
(Itanagar) and Rajiv Gandhi University (Itanagar). in the British Museum. We are equally grateful the historical photographs to be included in this
Some of the images in this book were shown as to Nick Haimendorf in London, who granted book from a total of approximately 8,000 pho-
part of a touring exhibition in India during 2005- us special access to the photographs taken by his tographs of Arunachal Pradesh now located in
2006, which was supported by the British Council father, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, which several collections in the U.K. and in the Elwin 
in New Delhi. The publication of this book was are held at SOAS. collection in Shillong.
made possible by the generous support of the E. We are especially indebted to Toni Huber, at The Introduction was written by Stuart Black-
Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. the Humboldt University in Berlin, and to John burn, director of the ‘Tribals Transitions’ project.
Norma Schultz drew the maps. Falconer, at the British Library, for their advice, He is a Senior Research Associate at SOAS and
We are grateful to the following institutions for knowledge and enthusiasm while preparing this the author of several books on folklore in India.
permission to use images from their collections: book.
the Royal Geographical Society, London; the Pitt

 Introduction

People and Place In addition, the almost yearly expeditions by the sen mainly but not exclusively on aesthetic crite-
British authorities into the hills provided countless ria. A degree of geographical and ethnic diversity
Arunachal Pradesh is a little-known corner of the
opportunities for photography. also influenced selection of the historical images;
world tucked away between Assam,Tibet, Bhutan
and most of the contemporary photographs were
and Burma. Few people, even today, have heard
Historically, the region that is now Arunachal selected in order to complement or comment
of the Adi, the Monpa, the Nyishi, the Khampti
Pradesh lay on the periphery of two great civilisa- upon the historical ones. Whenever possible a
or any of the other thirty or more groups who
tions, the Tibetan across the tall peaks to the north narrative structure guided the sequencing of the
live in this part of the eastern Himalayas. So it is
and the Hindu/Ahom in the Assam valley to the images. A focus on rituals emerged from our
all the more fortuitous that photography, within
south. Both Tibetan and Ahom written sources research interests in these events, which display
twenty years of its invention, had made its way up
record the presence of hill tribes on their borders, culture in an especially visual manner.
the Brahmaputra River and that over the course
but only when the British empire pushed into the 
of the next century several thousand photographs
Assam valley in the early nineteenth century do In the end, of course, the photographs in this book
were taken in these mountains on the northeast-
we find any detailed descriptions.2  From the 1820s do not tell anything like a complete story; the ar-
ern frontier of India. This unlikely photographic
onward, the people of Arunachal Pradesh appear chival images are reflected through a colonial lens,
documentation of tribal life was created by many
in essays, books, diaries and official reports; their and the contemporary ones are also selective. But
different, unrelated hands and motivated by a va-
villages are sketch­ed and their portraits drawn. placed side by side, they present, for the first time,
riety of aims, which is why the photographs are
The first photograph of a person from the region Arunachal Pradesh through the eye of time.
scattered in several archives.1  Taken as a whole,
was taken in 1859, but it is published here for the
however, the photographs have a depth and qual-
first time. In the roughly one hundred years that The state, with a population of just over one mil-
ity due in no small part to individuals, especially
followed, thousands more photographs were taken lion, has approximately 35 tribes and 25 languages
to a civil surgeon with unus­ual technical talent,
of these hill tribes, mostly by colonial officials and (numbers vary according to how one classifies
to officers with a sympathetic eye and to anthro-
anthropologists.The majority of these images, too, groups and sub-groups). For convenience, the state
pologists convinced of the value of the camera.
have never been displayed or printed. may be broadly divided into three cultural zones:
tibetanised Buddhist groups in the west and along
Fig. A
For this book, we have selected a little more than the northern border; a central zone of primarily
Dadaso Manyu’s family and friends who came to participate in a Du 100 of these historical images, from the 1860s animists, with a growing Christian presence; and
festival. to the 1960s, and added about 100 more mostly the southeast with groups from Burma, some of
Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
taken between 2002 and 2006. Brought together, whom are Theravada Buddhist, and Naga-related
Dadaso Manyu is the man in the centre wearing the baseball hat they show change—in housing, clothing and land- tribes, who practice both animism and Christian-
backward. The first of his four wives, in whose house the ritual scape—but also continuity—especially in rituals ity.These regions or culture zones are also defined
took place, is to his left, wearing a traditional Mishmi shawl. Da- and ceremonies.The photographs have been cho- by major river systems: the Kameng in the west;
daso is a Digaru Mishmi, but his family includes Miju Mishmis
as well. Other guests are behind the family on the porch. See also
photographs # 61-63.
 Map 1
Arunachal Pradesh and the eastern Himalayas.
Norma Schultz, 2007

Map 2
Arunachal Pradesh
Norma Schultz, 2007
the Subansiri, Siang (Tsangpo/Brahmaputra) and and slavery, the coming of good roads, telephones, I, the Dihinga Bar Gohain, do engrave on the stone
Dibang in the centre; the Lohit and Tirap in the hospitals and literacy, but also to a considerable pillar and the copper plate these writings (on the
southeast. military presence, a growing influence of Hindu- strength of which) the Misimis [sic] are to dwell on
ism and a startling rise of Christianity. the hills near the Dibong River with their females,
According to the Indian census of 2001, 35% of children, attendants and followers.They will occupy
the state’s population are Hindu; 31% are tribal When the British assumed control of the As- all the hills.They will give four basketfuls of poison
animist (‘Other’); 19% are Christian; 13% are Bud- sam valley from the Ahom kingdom in the early and other things as tribute and keep watch over the
dhist; and a fraction are Sikh, Muslim or Jain.3 The nineteenth century, they inherited, almost un- body of the fat Gohari (Sadiya Khowa Gohain).
high figure for Hindus is partially explained by the wittingly, the hill areas encircling it. Initially, the
If anybody happens to be in possession of and
large number of Indians who are concentrated in government in Calcutta wished to leave the hill
wishes to encroach on both sites [sides?] (of the
the state capital and district headquarters, where tribes alone, or at least bypass them, as they sought
hills), he is prohibited from encroachment. If any-
they work as government employees, small busi- new trade routes to China. Soon, however, the
body should dwell by the side of the hills, he will
nessmen and shopkeepers. Another reason is that fledgling colonial administration in Assam was
surely become a slave (of the Misimis). I do pro-
some tribals, especially Idu Mishmis and Noctes, dragged into long-standing economic relations claim wide that if anybody sits exalted (i.e., comes
consider themselves ‘Hindu.’ All tribes, with one in the region. The British happily took over land in power, i.e., becomes a ruler) he should break the
exception (the Tai-speaking Khamptis in the revenues in Assam but soon found that they also agreement and break the stone.5 
east), speak Tibeto-Burman languages. Only the had to manage trade between the valley and hills.
Khamptis and some of the tibetanised groups have In order to regulate this trade, the colonial gov- Such promises, even in stone, and even when
historically used a script. ernment revived two institutions begun by the changed to written ‘treaties’ by the British in the 
Ahoms, a Tai-speaking Shan people who had en-
nineteenth century, were easily broken. Disagree-
In the course of the 150 years shown through the tered the valley in the twelfth century and become
ments led to raids on villages in the plains, which
photographs in this book, the people of Arunachal thoroughly hinduised by the time the British ar-
in turn prompted the colonial government to send
Pradesh have seen fundamental changes in their rived. First, the colonial government encouraged a
military expeditions into the hills. Throughout
lives. During the first 100 years, they slowly ab- series of annual fairs held at duars (or ‘doors’) near
the colonial period, in fact, relations between the
sorbed the impact of British colonial rule; admin- the foot of the mountains. Second, they revived
British and the hill tribes in the northeast were
istrative control in the interior was limited even an annual tax called posa, which obligated some
characterised by a low-level but more or less
at Indian Independence, but the market economy, villages in the plains to give a specified amount
tea estates and schools in Assam gradually pulled of goods and money to hill tribes; even the post- continuous warfare.6 
hill populations southward. The emergence of Independence Indian government continued to
new economic relations in the hills was signalled make some of these payments into the 1950s. Pacification required penetration into the hills.
as early as the 1830s when annual payments to Following the conquest of Assam, army regiments
one tribe were changed from salt and cloth to The only lithic evidence of what must have been were stationed at various points along the Brah-
rupees;4  and in the 1940s, the first air-drop in the extensive contact between the hill tribes north of maputra River; otherwise, however, colonialism
hills symbolised a new political order. During the the Brahmaputra and the Ahoms records another was thin on the ground. From the beginning of
past fifty years, these new forces advanced further type of arrangement (see fig. B). An inscription British control in the 1820s, the northeast region
and further into the hills: a cash economy re- on a stone pillar, erected probably in the early was absorbed into the Presidency of Bengal and
placed barter, and political authority was displaced sixteenth century, pledges the local Ahom ruler ruled from Calcutta.The Commissioner of Assam
from local councils to elected elites based in the to protect the settlements of Idu Mishmis if they had his office at Gauhati, in lower Assam, but the
state capital and funded from New Delhi. These provide him with baskets of a valuable medicinal vast stretch of upper Assam, where most contact
changes have resulted in a virtual end to feuding plant: with hill tribes occurred, had few personnel. In
 campaigns against hill tribes, and railways reached From the mid-nineteenth century onward, the
upper Assam at the end of the nineteenth century. camera proved admirably suited to take over from
By mid-century, other colonial outposts, consist- the draughtsman and the painter in the ‘passion
ing of a District Commissioner and his small staff, for documentation’ (to use Falconer’s phrase) that
were set up on the north bank, at Darrang and energised the colonial enterprise.12  It is also true
Lakhimpur.7  Although the D.C. headed frequent that the camera followed the gun: in 1855, for ex-
punitive expeditions into the hills, his principal ample, photography was added to the curriculum
task was to collect revenues in the plains. at the East India Company’s military academy in
Surrey.13  Cameras, as Samuel Bourne suggested
In the 1870s an ‘Inner Line’ was drawn along the in 1863, were part of the colonial arsenal, which
base of the hills to divide British-administered ‘though as suspicious perhaps in appearance, at-
territory from the area controlled by the tribes.8  tained their object with less noise and smoke.’14 
Colonial administration pushed right up to this It is also more than coincidence that the col-
line of control when a British officer (Assistant lodion necessary for the wet-plate processing of
Political Officer) was stationed at Sadiya in the photographs in the mid-nineteenth century was
1880s and another at Pasighat by 1912. However, essential for making gunpowder.15 
these posts were still in the plains, on the British
side of the Inner Line; it was not until the 1940s Seen from one angle, the historical photographs
 that even a semi-permanent government pres- of people from Arunachal Pradesh provide an-
ence was established anywhere in the hills.9  After other illustration of these observations. Yet it
Independence in 1947, the Indian government set would be a mistake to conflate the camera with
up the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), with the pen or the gun, or to push the collusion
a full administrative apparatus of schools, courts between photography and colonialism too far.
Fig. B  Stone pillar with Ahom inscription, probably early and police at several locations in the hills. In 1972, Although some of the earliest photographs as-
16th c. Maan Barua, Assam State Museum, Guwahati, 2003
NEFA became the Union Territory of Arunachal sembled in this book were commissioned in order
Pradesh, which then became a state in 1987, with to construct racial categories, in fact they often
the 1830s, responsibility for the hill tribes was the its capital at Itanagar.10  reveal the idiosyncracies of their subjects. Similarly,
remit of the Political Agency at Sadiya, the farthest while many of these historical photographs were
outpost of colonialism located where three rivers taken during military campaigns, they usually
converge to form the Brahmaputra. Here a British Colonial Contacts show us the complexities of colonial contact.
officer and his assistant, plus a few Assamese and
tribal interpreters and peons, backed by a regiment Portraits in the Plains: 1860s Although photography had to wait until mid-
of Assam Rifles, negotiated posa payments and century, drawings, etchings and watercolours had
treaties with several hill tribes. Sadiya was aban- We know that photography went hand in hand established the popularity of representing Indian
doned after an attack by tribesmen in 1839, but with ethnography in colonial India. As Christo- subjects, especially ‘types’, since the second half of
troops were soon stationed at the small towns of pher Pinney and John Falconer have shown, soon the eighteenth century. Colonialism came late to
Tezpur, on the north bank, and Dibrugarh, on the after the new technology arrived in British India, the northeast, but visual representations of people
south, because these river locations enabled easy photographers were enlisted in the project of clas- in this isolated corner of empire followed almost
transportation. Gun-boats were used in military sifying the tribes and castes of the subcontinent.11  immediately on the conquest of Assam in the
1820s.A drawing from about 1825 (in theVictoria The previous year, a lightly armed expedition had by Rev. Edward H. Higgs of St. Paul’s Church,
and Albert Museum, London) shows a man from been beaten back by bows and arrows, leaving Dibrugarh.19  Rather than follow the gun, in this
the Subansiri area of Arunachal Pradesh wearing two sepoys dead. Intended to restore lost prestige, case the camera met it in retreat.
a bear pelt head-dress and bead necklaces that are the 1859 expedition consisted of 400 sepoys, 60
still symbols of tribal identity today.16  Lithographs tribesmen (mostly Singphos and Khamptis) armed This photograph was unlikely to have helped
of river scenes illustrate the 1837 Topography of with bows, arrows and machetes, and two howit- anyone classify the castes and tribes of India. The
Assam by John M’Cosh, who was himself a pio- zers. This large force, including Carter mounted young woman in it is identified by Carter as a
neer photographer in India. The first published on an elephant, attacked villages above Pasighat, ‘Chief ’s daughter, Bor Abor Tribe: inhabit the
representations of people from Arunachal Pradesh, burned two of them and succeeded in driving mountains immediately north of Debroogurh,
however, were lithographic portraits of Hill Miris the Adis back but suffered several causalities and Upper Assam.’20  ‘Bor’ or ‘Bori’ was used in the
and Nyishis by Colesworthy Grant that appeared wounded British officers. The British force then nineteenth century to refer to tribes who lived
in his Sketches of Oriental Heads in the 1840s (see pulled back to Dibrugarh, where the photograph near or in the plains and were ‘dependent’, that is,
fig. C).17  Another set of colour lithographs of was taken, not by Carter but (almost certainly) not hostile to the British; they were distinguished
four Arunachal tribes appeared in John Butler’s from the ‘Abor’ tribes, who were ‘independent’
A Sketch of Assam and Hill Tribes in 1847.18  The and typically lived in the high hills.21  ‘Bor Abor’,
clothing, machetes and ornamentation are more a curious combination, was often used to denote
convincing in Grant (indeed, the figures in Butler Padam Adis, who lived at various elevations.22 
resemble Nagas), but neither could make sense Although the face of the young woman in this
of the braided hair knot with brass skewer that historic photograph looks more Assamese than 
distinguishes these tribes of the Subansiri area. Adi, her dress is similar to that seen in nineteenth-
Photographs would reproduce these details more century photographs of Adis; and in this border
accurately, but precision did not always solve the area Adis and Assamese often intermixed and
problem of identification and many photographs married, and still do.23  She is ‘dressed up’ for this
are mislabelled. Even today, the lack of ethno- portrait, wearing a full set of necklaces, earrings
graphic information and inconsistent labelling in and arm bracelets. Despite her bemused face, the
the original documentation often make it difficult photograph has a light-hearted feel and was prob-
and sometimes impossible to identify the tribe of ably given to Carter as a souvenir, to take home
people in colonial photographs. when he left India a few years later.

The earliest known photograph of a person from Carter’s obscure photograph has never before been
an Arunachal tribe has an interesting history (see published, but other early images of Arunachal
photograph #1).This portrait of a young woman tribes have acquired a modest place in the his-
belonged to Sergeant-Major George Carter, who tory of photography in India.That achievement is
pasted it into his scrapbook, along with diary largely due to one man. Sir Benjamin Simpson was
entries and other memorabilia during his service born in Dublin, joined the East India Company
in India. Many of his diary entries describe the as an Assistant Surgeon in 1853 and served with
military expedition launched in 1859 to punish a series of regiments in north India. In 1860, he
Fig. C  ‘Tema, Huzara, and his Wife. Hill Mirrees [Hill
Adis who had attacked a village near Dibrugarh, returned to India (possibly with his camera) after
Miris].’ by Colesworthy Grant, Sketches of Oriental Heads
on the south bank of the Brahmaputra River. (Calcutta, Thacker and Spink, 1840s), BL a three-year leave, and was promoted to Civil
 Surgeon in the 24 Paraganas in Bengal and later part of the Indian displays at the International many different races of men are collected together
held that same post in Darjeeling, where he served Exhibition held in London in 1862; most of his as in the valley and hills of Assam.’33 
until his retirement in 1869.24  By that time, he ‘likenesses of natives’ were portraits of people from
had taken a series of ‘travelling studio’ portraits of Bhutan, Sikkim, Kabul and Chota Nagpur, plus The attempt to classify these ‘many different
tribal people in northeast India, Bhutan and other two from northeast India (a Garo and a Kachari) races,’ however, ran into difficulties, which the
parts of the Himalayas.We have included several of but none from Arunachal Pradesh. Simpson’s photographs and their confusing captions did
his portraits of Arunachal tribes (taken in Assam) portraits of Arunachal tribes finally reached an little to resolve. For one thing, tribal populations
not only because of their technical sophistication audience outside Calcutta when four of them in the northeast never fitted easily into the nar-
but also because they display the dignity of their appeared in the first volume of The People of India rative of India’s racial history put together during
subjects. published in 1868.28  The large and heavy eight colonial times. Neither ‘military’ nor ‘criminal’
volumes of The People of India, containing over caste, neither Aryan nor Dravidian, they (along
The exact dates of Simpson’s photographs of 500 photographs, stand as an impressive monu- with the Assamese) were a pale streak of yellow
Arunachal tribes are unclear, although some were ment to the early use of photography in India.29  ‘Mongoloid’ at the edge of Risley’s famous racial
taken in 1861 or 1862 and displayed in the annual Although never influential in its day, this book is map of 1915.34  A fundamental problem was that
exhibition of the Bengal Photographic Society now thought to epitomise the colonial preoccupa- a lack of knowledge about these people and their
in Calcutta in December 1862.25  The remainder tion ‘to accumulate, or­ganise and use ethnological languages produced inconsistent labels and impre-
were taken between December 1867 and April information in ways which both justified and cise descriptions. As already mentioned, ‘Bor’ and
1868 when Simpson was sent to Assam to collect reinforced notions of dominance.’30 Whatever the ‘Abor’ were used inconsistently and with politi-
 more photographs for an exhibition to be held in intentions of the men who planned this project, cal undertones. Another label applied with little
Calcutta in 1869. Precisely where in Assam these however, the camera sometimes produced pho- discrimination was ‘Miri’ (in various spellings),
wonderful photographs were taken is also uncer- tographs at odds with both military conquest and which was used for populations living both in the
tain—perhaps in Lakhimpur or Dibrugarh—but racial typing. Subansiri region (later called ‘Hill Miri’) and in
most were probably taken in Sadiya, the colonial the Assam plains (later known as ‘Mishing’), and
outpost in upper Assam where the tribes in the The ‘Assam’ section of the first volume, illustrated for certain Adi groups, as well.35  Certainly the
images (Khampti, Singpho,Adi, Galo, Idu Mishmi, with Simpson’s four portraits of Arunachal tribes essay in the Assam section of The People of India
Miju Mishmi and Digaru Mishmi) either lived and five of Assamese tribes, is a case in point.This volume made no headway by classifying the hill
or came to trade at that time.26  Throughout thesection was introduced with an essay that under- people in Arunachal as the ‘Indo-Chinese tribes…
lined both the commercial and the ethnographic
1860s, Simpson’s portraits were admired at the an- easily dis­tin­guish­ed…by high cheek bones…
nual exhibition held by the Bengal Photographic potential of Assam.31 The author pointed out that also fairer and of a more yellowish colour than
Society in Calcutta, of which Simpson served although this area was still a relatively unknown the other sections of the people.’ Similarly, in the
as Vice-President. It is difficult to improve on a
corner of the Raj, it would provide the long-de- captions, Arunachal tribes are variously labelled a
contemporary assessment that his ‘large portraits
sired northeast passage to facilitate trade between ‘wild frontier tribe’,‘hill tribe’,‘frontier tribe’ and
are excellent, full of artistic merit; they are not to
India and China. It was also a fertile region, he ‘warlike frontier tribe (Laos).’36 
be surpassed.’27  claimed, so rich that ‘it might one day be converted
into one continued garden of silk, cotton, coffee, Although Simpson’s subjects were often shown in
Simpson’s work was commissioned as part of an sugar, and tea, over an extent of many thousand anthropometric profile, frequently holding weap­
ambitious project, supported by the Governor- miles.’32  Of its potential contribution to science, ons and sometimes with little clothing, their proud
General of India, to document the ‘people of the author enthused that ‘[t]here is perhaps no bearing and sensitive eyes create an impression
India.’ Eighty of his photographs were shown as country of the world, of the same extent, where so different than that implied by these captions and
descriptions. A ‘Dhoba Abor’ Galo man is appar- were to die,‘it might lead to inconvenient political the aesthetic of European nineteenth-century
ently about to draw his machete (see photograph complications.’41  portraiture to upper Assam. However, when later
#3), but the look of anxiety on his face is more photographers were freed from official com-
pensive than threatening; at what was probably Before these scruples scuppered the Congress, missions to classify ‘race, caste and tribe,’ they
his first contact with photography and Europeans, however, Simpson was sent back to Assam, ‘that did occasionally produce revealing images, close
he is surprisingly relaxed. Other men also have a most prolific of ethnological fields,’ to take pho- to tribal life and sometimes with ethnographic
hand on their machete, but few viewers would tographs for the planned Calcutta exhibition.42  value. Good examples are two fine portraits of
know that the dao was an everyday tool and not The job of collecting and collating the ethno- Khampti men (see photographs # 68 & 69) from
primarily a weapon of war. Even the long spears, graphic information was given to Dalton, who the early twentieth century, pasted into a scrap
held by some ‘warriors’ in the group shots, point had held posts in Assam in the 1840s and 1850s, book about transporting elephants from Assam to
to the ground and appear to have been placed in during which time he visited hill tribes in both Burma.44  Still, most of the photographs during
their hands just before the shutter opened. the Subansiri and Lohit river valleys. Crucially, he the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
succeeded in obtaining 10,000 rupees from the were taken by British officials, usually during the
Curiously, given its scope, official patronage and Government of India to support the publication many military campaigns that penetrated higher
high quality of images, The People of India did not of his Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. In contrast and higher into the hills north of Assam.The first
attract much attention at the time.37  Far more to The People of India, Dalton’s book put ethnog- photographs actually taken in the hills, and not
influential was a publication in 1872 that carried raphy ahead of photography: a mere 37 plates somewhere in the plains of Assam, are from the
24 of Simpson’s portraits of Arunachal tribes. As (lithographs based on photographs) are scattered late 1870s; although posed in front of a hastily
with the Watson and Kaye volumes, the catalyst over nearly 400 pages of scholarly description, hung blanket or backdrop of banana leaves, these 
for E. T. Dalton’s Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal vocabularies and a detailed index. Fifteen of those people, unlike those posed by Simpson a decade
was an exhibition. In 1866, the Asiatic Society of plates, containing 24 separate images, are Simp- earlier in the plains, look at home.
Bengal decided to sponsor a ‘great Ethnological son’s portraits of people from Arunachal Pradesh;
Congress…to bring together in one exhibition in addition to the Khamptis, Singphos, Digaru Photographs of Arunachal people in everyday
typical examples of the races of the Old World Mishmis and ‘Miris’ in the earlier book, we now situations, however, did not appear until the fol-
to be made the subject of scientific study.’38  This see Idu Mishmis, Miju Mishmis and various Adis, lowing decade. If not the first, then certainly a fine
Congress, in which ‘[e]very physical character including highly composed groups shots with an example is a group portrait of Akas standing on
will be carefully noted and registered by means unconvincing generic hut as background. Here, the porch of their longhouse in 1883-84 (see pho-
of photographs,’ was intended to be an auxiliary for the first time, photographs of people from tograph # 164).This peaceful image, nonetheless,
to a general industrial exhibition scheduled for Arunachal Pradesh reached a sizable audience, and belies the story behind it. Since the 1870s, Akas
Calcutta in 1869-70.39  But this ambitious exhibi- Dalton’s book soon became the standard reference had been in conflict with the government over
tion never took place. A major reason was official in a field with few reliable markers.43  their rights to rubber trees and elephant hunting
concern about transporting tribesmen and women in the forests close to Assam. Then, in late 1883,
from Arunachal Pradesh and elsewhere in the an Assamese man working for the British govern-
northeast.According to Dalton, the Commissioner Expeditions into the Hills, 1870s-1930s ment was sent into the hills to collect objects and
of Assam feared that bringing the ‘strange shy a ‘model Raja and Rani with their ornaments’ for
creatures’ to the big city would result in ‘casualties No photographer after Simpson produced por- the Calcutta International Exhibition to be held
that the greatest enthusiast for anthropological re- traits of the people of Arunachal Pradesh with a that same winter. Incensed, the Akas held the As-
search would shrink from encountering.’40  In the similar technical sophistication; in the controlled samese officer and his party prisoner, while they
Com­missioner’s words, if any of the ‘specimens’ conditions of his travelling studio, he brought attacked a village and a forestry office in Assam
 and carried two officials back to the hills as hos- which Mishmis are not to
tages. It was to recover these captives that R. G. come.’49 
Woodthorpe led an expedition into the Aka hills;
after burning villages and granaries, he returned Another set of photographs
with both captives and a number of photographs, of Arunachal tribes beyond
including #164 in this book.45  colonial rule was taken fur-
ther west along the north-
Photographs of other tribes who lived far from ern border with Tibet (see
governmental offices in Assam were taken by F. M. photograph # 151). These
Bailey, adventurer, spy and gifted writer, as well as images of people (mostly
an officer in the Military Police. In particular, on Sulungs and Nyishis) who
two expeditions between 1911 and 1913, he used traded with Tibetans in
his camera and his diary to record his travels to the upper reaches of the
Idu Mishmi and Khamba villages in the northeast Subansiri River, near the
corner of Arunachal Pradesh, where Idus had been international border, were
at war with the recently-arrived Khambas. At the taken in the 1930s by G.
beginning of his trek, Bailey was visited in camp Fig. D  ‘Up Sisseri River. Headman of Lemo. His three sons and their wives.’
Sherriff during expeditions Frederick Marshman Bailey, 1911, BL
by an Idu Mishmi headman, ‘who made a rather led by the botanist and ex-
 lengthy speech in which he said he was glad to plorer Frank Ludlow. Ludlow’s description of these
be under British control and asked us to stop in ‘Lobas,’ as they were known to Tibetans, includes
his village…he killed a mithan for us.’46 Two days details of material culture not found in earlier
and two marches later, Bailey met Andron, another accounts (including the braided hair knot so
Idu headman, this time of Lemo village, whom he confusingly depicted in the lithographs a hundred
photographed with his three sons and their wives years earlier); and, what is even more unusual, he
(see fig. D). ‘The people of Lemo,’ wrote Bailey comments on one subject’s reaction:
in his diary, ‘were the most friendly that we have Fig. E  Detail of photo­graph
yet seen, in fact the further we penetrate into the #31.
The majority wore skins of animals such as takin
country, the better class of people we meet. We [similar to a large mountain goat], barking deer, and Frederick Marshman Bailey,
March-April 1913, BL
spent some time in the house of the headman… monkeys. A few had black shoulder capes which at
The old father of the headman said there was first sight look like bear skins, but eventually proved
always some fighting here but no longer since to made of palm fibres. Many wore close-fitting continuously out of metal pipes.The head-man had
under one gov’t.’47  Bailey met Khambas, the Idus’ bamboo [sic. cane] skull-caps furnished with a a two-pronged musket, and wore a chuba reach-
rivals, on an expedition in 1913, when he went spout.This was kept in place by a brass or wooden ing to his knees. His gay young wife looked like a
further up toward the Tibetan border. In the vil- skewer which pierced a knot of hair hanging over Tibetan and dressed like one. Aware of her good
lage of Mipi, he photographed a group of these the forehead. Some had lammergeyer’s [a vulture] looks, she enjoyed being photographed.50 
tibetanised Khambas, including their headman feathers stuck into their head-gear. All carried
bamboo bows about 4 1/2 feet long, iron-shod at Other photographs give us a glimpse of the dy-
(see photograph #31 and fig. E), ‘with tousley
one head, which they used as a khud [walking] stick
hair and a yak’s hair overcoat. He is going to take namics of the colonial encounter during this pe-
whilst on the march.Their arrows were smeared to
us over the pass to Chimdo [Chamdo].’48  Bailey riod. Static yet revealing are the group shots taken
the barb with the deadly aconite. Many bore long
also noted that the headman ‘erected a mark above lances and clumsy swords. They smoked tobacco during official expeditions, which present British,
Arunachal and Indian figures in close proximity. Burma.Williamson reported that the government Fellow officer G. A. Nevill wrote that the Raja
Their calm, orderly arrangement is an ironic con- had nothing to worry about and that ‘presents ‘was very nervous and evidently much afraid. He
trast to the animated chaos of these expeditions: were exchanged in a cordial atmosphere.’53  The said that his heart was as clear as the Tenga river,
hundreds of men, officers, sepoys, interpreters and image, with its key figures named on the print, but that the last sahib came 30 years ago and the
guides, an equal number of porters, plus horses is a good example of how photography provided visit was not friendly.’55  Nevill then added that the
and elephants, carrying equipment, ammunition, documentation for political intelligence. ‘Tagi is gifted with a good deal of in­tel­li­gence…
rations and tents, attempting to move several he has been much spoiled when visiting Assam
miles each day in steep mountainous country. A more ambiguous photograph of an equally stra- and is now somewhat puffed up with the sense
Motionless for the moment, the British officers, tegic meeting was taken during an expedition to of his own importance.’56 
Indian sepoys, tribal interpreters, guides and por- the Aka hills, on the other side of Arunachal (see
ters pose for the camera. Two early group shots photograph #165).The photographer was a young This is the figure we see sitting (with his wife) on
were taken by W. Robert, an assistant surveyor medical officer, Robert Siggins Kennedy, attached a raised bench, in a relaxed moment during what
during topographical surveys in 1877-78, first to to an expedition of more than a thousand officers, looks like an official reception.The large black ob-
the lower Subansiri and then to the Idu Mishmi soldiers and porters that advanced up from Assam ject on the bench to the far left is a gramophone,
hills (see photographs # 35 and 93).51  The two in late 1913 and reached the village of Jamirigoan which the Raja is said to have enjoyed hearing
photographs have a similar composition: British by New Years Day 1914. One of the expedition’s almost as much as the sound of British military
officials sit stiffly, Indian soldiers stand proudly aims, once again, was to monitor Tibetan and/ bugles. In another photograph, he is shown stand-
erect, while Idus and Hill Miris sit on the ground or Chinese influence, as is clear from Kennedy’s ing with a group of his followers (see photograph
in the first row smoking their pipes, with a few description of meeting the Tagi Raja, a local leader # 166). But is this man the Tagi Raja? Despite 
small boys who have come along to see the show. of Akas, a few days later: the details in contemporary descriptions, local
All, however, are alike in their concentrated stare
people have expressed doubts that the man in the
at the camera. Today about 1pm the Raja arrived, surrounded by photographs is an Aka: to some he appears to be
a motley crew of courtiers and followers. He was a Monpa, to others a Bugun or a Tibetan, while
A more historic moment is captured in the picture preceded by two standard bearers carrying white still others confirm that he is an Aka.Whoever he
of a meeting between a British and a Tibetan of- flags on long poles, and two wretchedly small and was, this unusually tall figure, who loved listening
ficial in 1910 (see photograph #7). Noel Wil­liam­ miserable ponies, bedecked with saddle and saddle
to the gramophone, did not oppose the expedi-
son, Assistant Political Officer at Sadiya, is seen cloths of Tibetan pattern were led behind. This
taking tea with the so-called ‘Governor of Rima’ whole show reminded me forcibly of the proces-
tion, which later met armed resistance from Mijis
in a woodland setting far up the Lohit River valley sion of a Bhutanese chieftain.This raja is a big man, and Nyishis. During one of those skirmishes,
near the present-day border between India and standing almost six feet high, which makes him very Kennedy helped to build a makeshift bridge over
China; seated with them are a Tibetan interpreter conspicuous amongst his rather low set subjects. which the British party fled; at other times, he
and a Khampti leader, with Miju Mishmi porters He has an evil cast of countenance, with thick lips, was busy treating local people for goitre. At the
and Tibetans in the background.52  Only a few and strikes one as being a shifty character. His age end of the Aka expedition, he went to the Monpa
is about 30 years. His dress was that of a Tibetan country, where he took a number of memorable
years after Young­husband’s advance to Lhasa but
official, of some importance and was pretty correct photographs, including one of a young boy (see
before the Simla Agreement drew a line along
in detail, though he denied ever having been to photograph # 175).57 
the high Himalayas, the British government grew Tibet. His ‘chuba’ [coat] was of blue Chinese silk,
anxious about Tibetan influence in this part of the and he wore a gilt mandarin hat, with a red coral
unadministered northeast frontier. They sent the Another dynamic colonial encounter is captured
button on top, which according to Chinese usage
energetic Williamson to investigate and if pos- denotes high rank, though I fancy his wearing it in a group photograph taken in 1897, during the
sible to secure this region for trade to China and was purely accidental.54  first official British visit to the Apatani valley (see
 photograph # 105).The photograph shows us the an accusation of murder on British territory, the enthusiastic young man travelled up the Siang,
familiar groups—British officers, Indian officers Apatanis claimed they knew nothing of this ‘In- Subansiri and Lohit rivers, and into the Mishmi
and soldiers, interpreters and local tribesmen—but ner Line.’ On the second day, an Apatani named and Naga hills; more than once, in the course of
in a different kind of arrangement: not in rows Murchi, admitted to having led the raid but first his duties, he ordered villages burned and livestock
posed for the camera but in a tight circle of Apa- subjected McCabe to more than two hours of destroyed.According to a contemporary, however,
tani and Nyishi negotiators, surrounded by British oratory in which he enumerated every Apatani ‘Mr. Williamson had been very popular among
officers and others. The photograph was labelled grievance against Nyishis and Hill Miris; he laid these people [in the Lohit valley], largely cupboard
‘The Palaver’ by the British officer who took it, out small pieces of bamboo: one piece for each love I am afraid, for he used to give them large
and looking closely (with a magnifying glass) at mithun stolen, each woman taken hostage, every presents of opium and other things.’60 
the faces in the inner circle, one can almost hear man wounded or killed.59  After listing these past
the speeches that went on for many hours during wrongs, Murchi then argued that the murdered On his final journey in 1911, he returned to the
two cold days in February. man was a labour contractor for the tea estates upper Siang, once again to monitor the extent of
who had cheated many Apatanis. Listening to this Tibetan influence and extend British control to-
The story behind the photograph is complex.58  speech through his interpreters, McCabe heard ward the northern border.Williamson knew well
When a Nyishi man living near the Apatani val- the words ‘finally’ and ‘in conclusion’ innumer- that he might encounter resistance: as mentioned
ley murdered a fellow tribesman, he fled and took able times before what he called this ‘long Scot- above, Adis from this area had fought Sergeant-
refuge with an Apatani friend in the valley; that tish sermon’ finally came to a stop. By the end of Major Carter back in the 1850s, and peace had
Apatani friend spirited him away and hid him in the day, the Apatanis turned over three captives, never been fully established since. On his trip to
 a village near the plains. When the hiding place as well as a gun belonging to the owner of the the same villages only two years before, in 1909,
was divulged to the family of the murder victim, tea estate. Impressed, McCabe fined the Apatanis Williamson himself had gained firsthand knowl-
they hunted down the murderer, took him back a single mithun, which he then handed back to edge of the continuing resistance to any kind of
and killed him.Assuming that the Nyishi murderer them because he did not know what else to do British authority in the hills. He reached Kebang
would wrongly believe that he had betrayed him, with the large animal. village, something no other official had managed
the Apatani friend now feared that the murderer’s to do since Carter’s time, but despite his speaking
soul would wreak revenge on him; so the Apatani A more violent colonial confrontation is shown, some Adi and entertaining village leaders with a
man decided to attack those who had betrayed at least partially, in photographs taken a few years lantern show, he could not persuade them to give
the hiding place and had thus placed him in dan- later in the Adi area. Like the Apatani incident, him permission to push further up country.61 
ger. Going down to the plains, the Apatani man this conflict also began with a murder; but this While halting at Kebang, a leader from Riu village,
killed a man (a Hill Miri) on a tea estate, and this time the victim was a British officer, the same described as the ‘war minister’, arrived and ad-
is what brought the British to the Apatani valley. Noel Williamson whom we see taking tea with dressed the local audience for about an hour: ‘He
Because this second murder was committed on a Tibetan official in photograph #7. Only one and his attendants wore tall round hats of sambhur
British soil, on the Assam side of the Inner Line, year later, in 1911, Williamson was killed along [a large deer] skin and long coats also of Tibetan
the authorities sent an expedition to the Apatani with Dr. Gregorson, a British medical officer, and texture. He had a short beard and moustache, held
valley to investigate. 44 of their porters. After his posting to Sadiya in a spear in his left hand, gesticulating throughout
1905 as an Assistant Political Officer, Williamson with his right’62  (see fig. F). After this rousing
The negotiations, shown in the photograph, lasted made several trips into the high hills beyond the speech,Williamson was told that war between Adi
for two full days. When the commanding officer, Inner Line. Guided by the goals of his political villages was imminent and that the area was too
Capt. R. B. McCabe (seated to the left, wearing a masters, to counter Tibetan interests and establish dangerous for him to proceed further.
beret in the photograph) opened the parley with friendly relations with tribes in the interior, this
In 1911, Williamson did not even reach Kebang. reported that the Major-General believed their also given prison sentences. When Williamson’s
When rations went missing in camp a day’s march story and spared their villages from the revenge murderers were photographed, the extensive visual
from Kebang,Williamson accused the Adi porters he was seeking.67  Later that same day, another Adi documentation of the Abor Expedition came to
and told them that he ‘would require satisfaction headman, this time from Pangin village, arrived an end; no fewer than eight different men, who
on his return journey.’63  Some Adis wanted to kill waving a white flag of truce (see photograph #10) served as military or civil officers, took photo-
him right then and this was reported to William- and he too was exonerated. Retaliation was taken graphs of these historic events.
son, but he dismissed it as rhetoric.What actually against Kebang alone, which is seen burning in
tipped intention into action appears to have been photographs # 12 and 13. The Abor Expedition is still remembered by local
a mixture of misunderstanding, fear and pride. people in the area. When interviewed in 2005,
When Williamson sent a ‘Miri’ (Padam?) carrier Two of the three men accused of killing Wil­ many people in Komsing and Kebang villages
back to the plains to bring up more rations, he liamson were captured, tried and found guilty: one spoke about what happened nearly a century
also gave him letters to take to the post office.The was given a life-sentence and the other 10 years ago, and detailed accounts were collected from
carrier, however, reportedly showed the official red (see photograph # 14). Two men found guilty of the descendants of the murderers of Williamson,
and black envelopes to Adis and ‘boasted’ that they the murder of Gregorson received death sentences, Gregorson and the porters. 68  Matmur Yamoh
were orders to punish the villages of Kebang and which were later commuted to life sentences; three proudly showed the machete his great grandfa-
Rotung. Oral accounts also claim that Williamson other men accused of killing the porters were ther had used to kill Williamson and explained
had earlier insulted and slapped a man, who then
planned to retaliate.64 Within days,Williamson and
all but five of his party were murdered; Gregorson 
and most of his party, camping nearby, were also
killed. Whether their bodies were recovered is in
doubt, but stone memorials were erected to mark
the spots where they were killed.65 

The British response was the Abor Expedition.

A force of nearly one thousand soldiers, military
police and officers was sent to find and punish the
murderers. On 18 December 1911, while camped
at Yambung village, not far from Kebang, the
headmen of Komsing and Riu villages arrived to
protest their innocence to Major-General Bower;
reassured by friendly Adis in the British camp,
these local men had summoned up the courage
to present themselves.A journalist with the British
army reported that ‘[t]heir arrival had a touch of
tragic humour about it. They were accompanied
by a slave behind whom they screened themselves,
while he waved a flag, made out of a copy of the Fig. F  ‘Another group at the village of Kebang.The gam of Reu [Riu] addressing the village.’
Calcutta Statesman.’66  Another British officer Dugald McTavish Lumsden, February 1909, RGS
 that some family members had recently begun to The burning of Kebang marked the end of Adi re- stay in the hills for longer periods of time. Living
hoist a flag to celebrate what they consider to be sistance and the beginning of a permanent colonial for months at a time in a single region allowed
a courageous act of defiance against an external presence beyond the Inner Line. Soon after the an officer with a camera, and a little curiosity, to
aggressor (see fig. G). Abor Expedition, new outposts were established observe local culture and record a wide spectrum
at Pasighat and Along, which then became the of activity, and in some depth. In these circum-
None of this is surprising since the murder of centres whence emanated the forces of change that stances, he was able to capture aspects of life that
Noel Williamson was arguably the single most sig- transformed most of the state during the twentieth the leader of a military expedition or manger of
nificant event in the colonial history of Arunachal century: education and literacy, increasing Chris- a tea estate in the plains could not: for the first
Pradesh.69  Questions arising from it—What ex- tianisation and Hin­dui­sa­tion, and, in response to time, for example, we see a ritual unfold over a
actly was the nature and extent of British control these changes, cultural revival movements. sequence of six or eight shots; we see agricultural
in this corner of the Empire?—were debated in practices throughout the year; and we see the
Parliament and led to four separate expeditions.70  everyday activities that only a long-term visitor
Staying in the Hills: 1940s-1960s would notice. A second reason for the new eth-
nographic photographic collections was technical.
‘Clearly no real progress can be made till…the No longer burdened with heavy, wooden came­ras
officers in charge of the tribal areas move up into and awkward tripods, by the 1920s even ama­teurs
the hills.’71  used smaller cameras and faster film to record life
with greater spontaneity. This led to collections
 The gradual colonial penetration of the hills also not of hundreds but of thousands of photo­g raphs.
brought a new kind of photography to Arunachal Finally, in the early twentieth century, the concept
Pradesh. As already mentioned, photography of culture, not just of different racial types but
in India was allied to ethnology from the mid- of different patterns of behaviour and thought,
nineteenth century, but in truth this marriage was gaining wide recognition and appreciation.
produced little more than measured crania for It certainly fascinated many of the British colo-
scientific exhibitions and exotic portraits for nial officers who worked in northeast India in
books and postcards. These early photographs of the first half of the twentieth century, several of
‘natives’ in India have been, quite properly, docu- whom were also among the first anthropologists
mented, dissected and displayed as specimens of to embrace the new visual methodology of their
racialist colonial thinking. What we know much trade.
less about, however, is the use of photography in
ethnographic research in India in the first half of These various factors—staying in the hills, im-
the twentieth century, during which the camera proved technology and a growing awareness of
was used extensively by anthropologists who pro- culture—first produced new ethnographic pho-
duced large photographic collections. Arunachal tography in the Naga Hills, where colonialism was
Pradesh, and northeast India more generally, already well established by the first decades of the
played a significant role in these developments. twentieth century. During these years, J. H. Hutton
Fig. G  Matmur Jamoh and the machete with which his and J. P. Mills served as district commissioners in
great grandfather, Manmur Jamoh, killed Noel Williamson Several factors contributed to this new photo­ the Naga Hills, wrote ethnographic monographs
in 1911. Sarit K. Chaudhuri, Yagrun village, 2005. graphy. One was that colonial officers began to and used the camera extensively.72 And it was Mills
who provided the link for the arrival of the new and Hill Miris, plus several hundred feet of movie a few Apatani and Nyishi men began to wear
photography in Arunachal Pradesh. film, to which he added during a few more visits the canvas shoes and khaki shorts, acquired from
until 1980.75  soldiers, which are still worn today by some older
In late 1936, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, men. Modern haircuts for younger men began to
who had just completed his academic training Soon after Fürer-Haimendorf left, another anthro- replace the traditional braided hair knot with a
in London, went to the Naga Hills for his first pologist arrived who extended the photographic metal skewer in the 1960s, about the same time
fieldwork.There he met Mills, who soon took him documentation he had begun. Ursula Betts (née that shirts and trousers became popular and that
on a tour of Adi villages, the same villages fatally Graham-Bower), like Fürer-Haimendorf, began women stopped wearing large, hoop earrings
visited by Williamson two decades earlier, where her ethnographic work among the Nagas in the (see photograph # 109).That decade also saw the
Fürer-Haimendorf took the first photographs 1930s, but she came to the Apatani valley in 1946 decline and disappearance of blacksmithing and
of an archive that would eventually reach nearly as wife of Major F. N. Betts, who was appointed pottery, abandoned because these products were
18,000 images (not just of Nagas and Arunachal Political Officer of the Subansiri area. During her more easily obtained in the market (traded up
tribes but also populations in central India and nearly two years in the area, she took approximate- from Assam). Similarly, but much more recently,
Nepal). Later, when Mills was in charge of tribal ly 1,100 photographs, a collection that comple- roofs of flattened bamboo, which replaced thatch
affairs for the entire northeast, he sent the young ments Fürer-Haimendorf ’s by its emphasis on in the 1940s in the Apatani valley, have given way
Austrian to the Subansiri area to do what virtu- ritual practices.76  Remarkably, Betts was followed to aluminium roofing in order to prevent the fre-
ally all his predecessors had done: investigate the by yet a third photographer in the Subansiri region quent fires that consume local houses; and cement
extent of Tibetan influence and establish friendly in the same decade. C. R. Stonor, a botanist and an slabs have all but replaced wooden planks on the
relations with tribes. Before leaving with his wife agricultural officer attached to the Assam Rifles, ritual platforms (lapang). 
on the seven-day hike from the foot of the hills to was also an amateur anthropologist who published
the Apatani valley, Fürer-Haimendorf made two several essays and left a collection of about 400 Another important group of customs no longer
important decisions: he ignored the advice of local photographs, mostly of ritual and material cul- visible are those concerned with managing con-
officials to take an armed escort and he resolved ture.77  The combined photographic collections flict and maintaining social order. In the photo-
to take two cameras (plus a movie camera).73 The of Fürer-Haimendorf, Betts and Stonor—more graphs from the 1940s, we see an Apatani girl held
‘riotous reception’ he received in the Apatani val- than 3,000 images—show us a comprehensive by placing her leg in a huge block of wood (see
ley, for which the lack of military escort was surely view of life in the Subansiri region, especially of fig. H & photograph # 155);78  a high bamboo
one reason, is shown in photograph #106 (and also Apatanis, Nyishis and Hill Miris, just prior to the tower erected as protection against a rival clan;
on the cover) and described in his words: imposition of a new political order. mock warfare, involving hundreds of men dashing
about and waving spears in the Apatani valley (fig.
…there on a grassy meadow, dominated by a hugeMuch of what we see in their photographs from I);79  and negotiations between feuding parties,
pine tree, was the place the Apa Tanis had chosen
the 1940s is no longer visible. Some of the most who enumerate their points by use of bamboo
for our camp. It seemed a truly delightful site. But
obvious changes are in clothing and body decora- counters (fig. J). What we cannot see in the his-
we hardly had time to appreciate its beauty for…
tion, such as abandoned grass skirts, bamboo penis torical photographs, however, is the resentment
we were soon the centre of a dense crowd all of
whom shouted and pushed in their eagerness to covers, fibre raincoats, red cane wrapped around a among local people created by the replacement of
catch a glimpse of their unusual visitors.74  man’s waist, tattoos on men and women, and nose these traditional practices by a new civil authority
plugs on women. All these practices soon became backed by firepower. Discontent also arose from
During eight months in the Apatani valley in two unwanted signs of backwardness, were discour- forced port­erage; several photographs from the
visits during 1944-45, Fürer-Haimendorf took aged by local leaders and discarded in favour of 1940s show the long lines of porters required,
about 1,600 photographs of Apatanis, Nyishis more fashionable attire. As early as the late 1940s, before the building of an airstrip in the Apatani
 Fig. H  ‘Apa Tani justice: a girl with one leg encased in a log tied up at a public sitting- Fig. I  ‘Gambu [mock warfare] scene.’
platform in Haja.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS Ursula Betts, Apatani valley, 1947, PRM


Fig. J  Negotiations between parties enumerating their points with bamboo counters. Fig. K  ‘Kago Bida, Chigin Nime [foreground] and Tim [Betts] watching the air
Ursula Betts, Apatani valley, 1947, PRM supply drop.’ Ursula Betts, Yazali, near the Apatani valley, 1947, PRM
valley in the 1950s, in order to supply the new For instance, some of the necklaces worn every- and cows, and then distribute meat to every single
authorities and their staff with everything from day by the women of the Subansiri, and shown family in the valley. In addition to this general
sugar to socks.Apatani men, who had never before in the lithographs from the1840s, are visible both largesse, the sponsor of the festival makes gifts
been forced to work for anyone, were required to in the 1940s and today. A more complex ex- to a series of ceremonial friends and relations; in
carry heavy loads to and from the plains 10 or 15 ample is identifiable in Fürer-Haimendorf ’s and return, he receives donations of pad­dy and mil-
times a year. These two related changes—the loss Betts’ photographs of an Apatani festival, which let from hundreds of women. On the first of the
of local authority and forced porterage—were the is a local version of the ‘feast of merit’ celebrated twenty-one days of the festival, a priest stands on
underlying causes of the first and only act of armed throughout the hills between India, Burma and a ritual platform (lapang) and chants for 12 to 14
resistance by Apatanis against the outsiders. Bangladesh, as well as upland Southeast Asia. hours, inviting spirits and ancestors to take part
The Apatani Murung is a public performance of in the sacrifice and bring prosperity to the hosts
That attack occurred in 1948, after Fürer-Hai- culture and a display of wealth by an individual (see photograph #129). During that morning,
mendorf and Betts had left the Apatani valley, and his family, who sacrifice eight or ten mithuns the daughters-in-law in the sponsor’s clan stand
but their photographs contain traces of the event.
Both left memorable portraits of the Apatanis who
assisted them, and no one was more instrumental
to their success than Chige Nyime (see photo-
graphs # 121 and 122). He was the priest who
had performed the house-warming ritual when
Fürer-Haimendorf first arrived in the valley and 
had guided them on dangerous tours to the in-
terior and negotiated them out of conflicts with
Nyishis and Apatanis alike. No wonder Fürer-
Haimendorf called him the ‘seer’. Betts and her
husband, too, relied on Nyime to settle disputes
and smooth the transition to the new system of
power based in the plains (see fig. K). Despite this,
the Apatani attack in 1948 was led by Chige Ny-
ime. The secret raid on government and military
buildings on a hill overlooking the valley was easily
repulsed by gun fire, which killed two Apatanis;
later the government burned two villages and all
their granaries, killing another three Apatanis and
wounding two more. Among the dozen men sent
to prison in Assam, Chige Nyime was one of the
few who returned.

While cultural change is perhaps more obvious, Fig. L  ‘[Apatani] priests on a lapang during a sacrificial rite.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
we can also find continuity in the photographs. A scene from the day of the procession during the Murung festival.
 in a tableau, displaying their wealth by where), he favoured a gradual process
wearing expensive bead necklaces (see of integration and not the acculturation
photograph # 130). that, as he had seen up close in other
parts of tribal India, often brought deg-
The Murung feast, like most of Apa- radation and pauperisation. His views,
tani culture, has changed during the however, were publicly criticised as a
past sixty years; but, unlike clothing or backward policy of keeping ‘tribals in
conflict management, this performance a museum.’80 
remains remarkably similar to its earlier
form. Now, the day-long procession One dimension of Elwin’s multi-faceted
through the valley does include young life that has yet to be examined, however,
women and more entertainment, but the is his photography. In contrast to both
complex sequence of rituals over three Fürer-Haimendorf and Betts, Elwin’s
weeks, including the long chant and field research in Arunachal Pradesh was
tableau of married women, the network spread widely across the entire state.
of gifts and donations, are little different His main interest in NEFA, again un-
to those photographed and described like Fürer-Haimendorf and Betts, was
by Fürer-Haimendorf and Betts sixty not social anthropology but art and
 years ago (see fig. L; photographs # 114, folklore, especially oral stories, which
126-147). he collected during long walking tours
among most tribes in the state, from
The final figure in the history of ethno- the Monpas in the west to the Wanchos
graphic photography in mid-twentieth in the east. His approximately 2,500
century Arunachal Pradesh stands apart photographs, covering the full cultural
from the others.Verrier Elwin, like Betts Fig. M  ‘Sarak [Hill Miri] woman of Kabak wearing the characteristic cane bras- spectrum in the state, is unparalleled in
and Stonor, became an anthropologist siere, Subansiri.’ Verrier Elwin, March 1955, BM breadth, although it sometimes lacks
(and folklorist) in the field; and like depth and contains many staged shots.
his near-contemporary Fürer-Haimendorf, he in central India. As a high-profile figure, his writ- This thin ethnographic surface is partly explained
worked in both central and northeast India. Only ings pitched him into the heated debates in the by the fact that he usually spent only a few days
he, however, was a figure of national importance, 1940s over the proper place of tribal groups in in any single place.
as well as controversy, in India. the soon-to-be-independent India. The special
status of NEFA raised similar questions:Were the Despite this limitation, his photographs record
A personal friend of Nehru, Elwin was appointed prohibitions against outsiders owning land and aspects of tribal life ignored by others. More phi-
Honorary Adviser on Tribal Affairs when the businesses in this tribal area a necessary protec- losopher than anthropologist at this stage of his
North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) took over tion from unmanaged modernity? Or, were these life, he attempted to capture beauty; the young are
the administration of Arunachal Pradesh in 1954. restrictions, including the Inner Line, impediments everywhere in his photographs, while old people
Even before that post, which he held until his to progress? Should these tribes become part of are difficult to find. His eye was also drawn to
death a decade later, Elwin had published eth- mainstream India or remain separate? As Elwin designs, shapes and colours: through images of a
nographies and collections of oral stories of tribes made clear in his A Philosophy for NEFA (and else- Wancho grave, a Sherdukpen jacket and an Idu
Mishmi shawl, he sought to reveal the imagina- Calcutta, where they were admired for their artis- when they were presented within the larger nar-
tion and aesthetic of tribal culture in Arunachal tic quality. Photographic portraits of tribal people rative of the expansion of empire. Throughout
Pradesh. Because he wanted to preserve these from the northeast (and elsewhere in India) had early 1875, for example, The Illustrated London
artistic traditions, Elwin also proposed various commercial value, as well; they were sold in Cal- News followed the unfolding drama of a military
schemes to nurture arts and crafts; for example, cutta both through the Photographic Society of expedition by publishing engravings (and articles),
he planned and designed the district museums, Bengal and the several commercial studios active including an evocative image of two ‘scouts of the
with their distinctive octagonal shape, to show- at the end of the nineteenth century.82  Abor Dufflas [Nyishis] reconnoitering on a hill
case local culture. Like those buildings and his side’ (see fig. N).83 
writings, Verrier Elwin’s photographs show that Although the appeal of such portraits back home
his understanding of the cultures in Arunachal in Britain was limited, there was a public appetite When the camera did follow the gun, as it did on
Pradesh was visual. for images of natives, tribal or otherwise, especially the numerous military and civil expeditions that
penetrated the Arunachal hills in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,
The Uses of Photographs the photographs produced were often
submitted as part of official reports:
If, as Samuel Bourne suggested 150 years these prisoners captured, this terrain sur-
ago, the camera was part of the arsenal veyed. Not all were official documents,
of colonial India, the images it produced of course, and images of friends fishing
had a variety of uses. In the early period, and picturesque landscapes were kept as 
as we have seen, some of the photographs souvenirs. F. M. Bailey, for example, who
of people from Arunachal Pradesh served travelled all over the eastern Himalayas
pseudo-scientific purposes and impe- in the early decades of the twentieth
rial ideology. However, as Chris Pinney century, sent many of his photographs
noted, the earliest portraits, before the home to his mother for safe-keeping.84 
Indian uprising of 1857, contained a ‘cre- Likewise, in the 1920s, Robert Charles
ative un­predictability’ that was ‘capable of Case, a railway engineer, took a series of
collapsing colonial distance.’81  Although holiday snaps of Adis and Mishmis when
Pin­ney considers the portraits in The he and his sister rode into the hills above
People of India to have lost this quality and Sadiya in a bullock cart.85 
to have acquired the formality of impe-
rial rule, I would suggest that Simpson’s Nevertheless, public interest in photo-
portraits of Arunachal tribes have an in- graphs of Arunachal Pradesh was limited.
timacy and dignity that make them more In the many picture-books of India
than instruments of colonial policy. In that appeared throughout the colonial
any case, we know that his photographs, period, portraits of tribal people in an
as well as those of others, were displayed isolated corner of northeast India could
not only in large ethnological exhibitions not compete with magnificent monu-
but also in the annual exhibition held by ments or dazzling Himalayan snow-
the Photographic Society of Ben­gal in Fig. N  Illustrated London News, 27 March 1875. peaks, let alone naked head-hunters in
 the Naga Hills. Even in the popular writings of began with colonial rule in Assam in the early somewhere outside the state, usually from Tibet.
Frank Kingdon Ward (in the 1930s and 1940s), nineteenth century and continues to this day. Local scholars have attempted to recover this past
his photographs are secondary to the thrill of ad- by studying these local histories and migration
venture and dangers of exploration described in In other words, the historical photographs in legends; some groups have mounted expeditions
his prose. Photographs of Arunachal Pradesh were this book are not just passive documents of the to follow the path of migration back to their
only used, with any frequency, in scholarly essays, past; they also represent a modernity that moved legendary point of origin. Another sign of this
books and teaching about this part of the world. gradually but persistently into the hills, along with growing movement to reclaim history is the in-
A set of glass-lantern slides of various Arunachal roads, schools and plastic buckets. Evidence of this sistence that old labels for tribes be replaced by
tribes, for example, illuminated the lectures given transformation is visible in the photographs in this others that the people themselves prefer:‘Adi’ not
by J. P. Mills and Fürer-Haimendorf at the School book, such as the airplane that landed in the Apa- ‘Abor’; ‘Nyishi’ not ‘Dafla’ or ‘Duffla.’88 
of Oriental and African Studies, in London, in the tani valley in the 1960s (see photograph # 148).
late 1940s and early 1950s. Images of Arunachal Besides the obvious differences noted above— Photographs are also beginning to play a role in
tribes also illustrated articles, travelogues and in clothing, conflict management and building these attempts to recover the past. Faded photo-
ethnographies published in the twentieth century, materials—the contemporary photographs also graphs from the NEFA years are regularly repro-
just as they had done for Dalton’s famous book show change on a deeper level: traditional culture duced in government publications and displayed in
in the 1870s.86  is increasingly concentrated in ritual, especially museums in Itanagar and the district headquarters,
festivals.Textiles and ornaments that are no longer but they do not attract many viewers;89  on the
As we have seen, the uses of the photographs of worn everyday are put on for these events; with other hand, locally produced and widely distrib-
 Arunachal Pradesh conform to the general history warfare a thing of the past, helmets and armour are uted books and pamphlets increasingly use histori-
of the colonial camera in India; although I have now worn by Adi men when participating in the cal photographs to display heritage. A booklet for
mentioned qualifications and inconsistencies, the ritualised activity of building a bridge. ‘Tradition’ the fiftieth anniversary of a school, for example, is
intended purposes of the images were primarily has also become detachable, as in the artificial hair filled with photographs from the 1950s. Similarly,
ethnological and political. However, and as Chris pieces, worn instead of the braided hair knot by the pamphlets published every year as part of a
Pinney has demonstrated, while serving these co- many Apatani and Nyishi men on special occa- tribe’s annual ‘official’ festival now include pho-
lonial purposes, photographs also slowly entered sions. On an institutional level, since the late 1960s tographs of festivals in past years.
the life of the people whom they recorded.87  A and early 1970s, most tribes in central Arunachal
‘social life’ of photographs in Arunachal Pradesh Pradesh have established a new, centralised and This local interest in photographs was brought
is beyond the scope of this essay—except to say community-wide festival in place of more indi­ home to me when I used the 1897 image of the
that holidays to Shillong, ‘picnics’ at New Year vidualised and scattered celebrations, in an attempt first colonial contact in the Apatani valley to elicit
and major ceremonies have been captured by to provide a focal point for tribal identity. As oral histories (see photograph # 105). Expecting
snaps since the 1980s; that postcards of tribal life traditional culture is increasingly squeezed into a few vague recollections, I was surprised when
have been produced by the State Department of these formal events, historical photographs have several people told me in detail what had hap-
Tourism since the 1990s; and that video is now fast entered local debates about the past. pened more than a hundred years ago. During
overtaking photography. Still, what I have tried to my next visit, I showed a man some of the 1940s
emphasise in this Introduction is that photographs In today’s Arunachal Pradesh, the past is increas- photographs of the Murung festival in this book.
are part of broad historical forces: the first photo- ingly contested and politicised; historical origins He took them over to the light of a window, sat
graph of 1859, taken by a missionary and pasted are a vital element of cultural identity. Every down and began to study them, holding them at
into the scrapbook of a British soldier, refects an tribe in this part of the eastern Himalayas has a various angles, and then excitedly identified the
early stage of a transformation of tribal life that migration legend that traces its movement from village and clan of the individuals shown.
A novel use of photographs of Arunachal Pradesh (see fig. O). The exhibition generated opinion project, and they now play a role in the recovery
took place in 2005-2006, when many of the im- pieces and letters to local newspapers, propos- of the past by local people. They may reveal only
ages in this book, both historical and contempo- ing corrections to the identifications of people fragments of colonial contacts, but through these
rary, were exhibited in New Delhi, Calcutta and in some photographs and discussing the value of images, through research, local knowledge and
Itanagar. Not only was the exhibition in Itanagar photographs as historical records. memory, the people of Arunachal Pradesh are
the first showing of these photographs, it was the gaining new perspectives on the past 150 years
first photographic exhibition of any kind in the As the cultural distance between generations of their history.
state.While looking at the pictures, viewers spoke widens, and when (as in most of the state) there
excitedly about the time of their parents and has been no tradition of writing, photographs take
grandparents, pointing out small details of dress on extra significance in the interpretation of the Notes
or adding anecdotes about the events pictured past. Photographs played a part in the colonial  1
In addition to the collections mentioned in the Ac-
knowledgements, a small number of photographs from
Arunachal Pradesh are held at the Centre for South Asian
Studies, Cambridge University, at the Musée du quai Branly
in Paris and at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington
D.C. In India, the Department of Information and Public
Relations in Itanagar has several thousand images from the
1950s to the present; another large collection, beginning with
the same period, is held by the Anthropological Survey of
India in Calcutta. A collection of photographs taken in the 
early twentieth century by S.W. Kemp of the Indian Museum
in Calcutta unfortunately remains untraced.
 2
Arunachal tribes are mentioned in Tibetan sources
from the twelfth century; in the Ahom chronicles (buranji,
written in both Tai and Assamese scripts), which cover the
thirteenth to nineteenth centuries but were first composed
in the seventeenth century; and in a Persian history that
recounts the Mughal invasion of Assam in the seventeenth
century. Ahom relations with the Mishmis are also the sub-
ject of an inscription on a stone pillar of the early sixteenth
century (see pp. 3-4).
 3
These census statistics on religious groups are best
viewed as estimates.
 4
Mohanta 1984: 38.
 5
Dikshit 1927. Although he does not mention the
original Tai-Ahom word, Dikshit suggests that ‘poison’ prob-
ably refers to a local aconite (bih); it might also refer to tita,
another medicinal plant traded down from the hills. When
the stone pillar was found in the 1920s by a British official,
it was indeed broken but has since been repaired and is now
in the Assam State Museum in Guwahati.We are indebted to
Maan Barua, who took photographs of it in 2003.
 6
A partial list, of more than 100 raids, is given in Chakra-
varty 1995 [1973]: 136ff
Fig. O  The Tribal Transitions photographic exhibition: school children discussing Fig. A. Moji Riba, Itanagar, 2006
  7  29
Mills 1854, Appendix L. ‘Akhas’[Akas]. Lithographs, sketches and drawings remained Falconer 2002 provides a detailed history of this pub-
 8
The Inner Line remains (with minor adjustments) the popular media for illustrating books well after photographs lication (Watson and Kaye 1868).
 30
border between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.The northern began to be published; Dalton’s famous Descriptive Ethnology Falconer 2002: 53.
 31
border with Tibet/China was inconclusively negotiated in of Bengal of 1872, for example, used lithographs. Official The essay and other notes were apparently written by
1914, when the McMahon line was imagined across the reports were also illustrated by lithographs based on draw- Capt. Meadows, who earned a fee of £400 for his labours
Himalayas. ings; see, for example, R.G. Woodthorpe’s letter of 1878 at (Desmond 1982:122).
 9  32
At Karko and Riga on the upper Siang in 1941 (Reid the Royal Geographical Society (JWA/2). Watson and Kaye 1868: vol. 1 (quoting from M’Cosh
 19
1997 [1942]: 262), and at Ziro in the Subansiri region in Other photographs on this same page in the scrapbook 1836: 193 and M’Cosh 1837: 132).
 33
1944-1945. have the initials of Rev. Higgs (John Falconer, personal com- Watson and Kaye 1868: vol. 1 (quoting from M’Cosh
 10
In 1963 a portion of NEFA was given to the new munication, 2006). 1836: 193 and M’Cosh 1837: 132).
 20  34
state of Nagaland. British Library, Mss Eur E 262, ‘Sergeant-Major Risley 1915.
 11  35
Pinney 1990a; Pinney 1990b; Pinney 1997. Falconer George Carter Collection:Views of Bermuda, Canada, and The Assam essay in The People of India stated that the
1984; Falconer 1990; Falconer 2000; Falconer 2002. Assam.’ Miris’ land touched Adi territory on the north, that they
 12  21
Falconer 2000. As the primary uses of the new tech- Dalton 1960 [1872]: 26; Butler 1847: 110; Roy 1997 cultivated land along the Brahmaputra river and that their
nology were expected to be cartographic, the Government (1960): 2. See also British Library, L/P&S/10/180, p. 175. ‘head village’ was Motgaon (Watson and Kaye 1868), all of
of India commissioned a study of European advances in this Today, the Bori tribe lives in the middle and high hills of which describes Mishings.The ‘Miris’ in Simpson’s portraits,
field, published as Waterhouse 1870. the Siang area. however, resemble Adis, especially Padams. By the 1880s, the
 13  22
Desmond 1982:111. For an overview of photography Elwin explains that ‘Bor Abor’ was changed to ‘Padam distinction between Hill Miris and Miris in the plains (Mish-
in the military service of the British empire, see Ryan 1997, Adi’ after more accurate information was gained during the ings) was well recognised (Michell 1973 [1883]: 239).
 36
chapter 3. Abor Expedition of 1911-1912 (Elwin 1959:224, fn. 1). Capt. Meadows cobbled together these descriptions
 14  23
As quoted in Falconer 1990: 264. She might belong to the Padam Adis whom Rev. Higgs from the meagre literature available at that time.
 15  37
Dehejia 2000: 17. ‘settled’ near Dibrugarh in the 1850s (Elwin 1959:218). See Falconer 2002: 52.
 16  38
 The man appears to be either Nyishi or Hill Miri also photograph #6. Dalton 1960 [1872]: i.
 24  39
(Victoria and Albert Museum, reference IS65-1946. For this British Library, L/MIL/10/81, pp. 103-104. See From a letter by Dr. Fayrer, published in Proceedings of
image and information we are indebted to Dr. Mandy Sadan). Falconer 1984 for other details on the photography of the Asiatic Society of Bengal April 1866, p. 84.The original idea
Sketches of a Singpho village, dao (long knife for daily work) Benjamin Simpson. for the exhibition, however, came from Dr.Thomas Oldham,
 25
sheath and shield were also published in Neufville 1828. In December 1862 the annual exhibition of the Bengal President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Proceedings of the
 17
Colesworthy Grant (1813-1880), British Library, Photographic Society in Calcutta displayed Simpson’s pho- Asiatic Society of Bengal January 1868, p. 28).
 40
P2628, ‘Hill Mirrees. After sketches by Capt. G. Dalton tographs of the ‘Frontier Tribes of Upper Assam’ (Journal of Dalton 1960 [1872]: i.
 41
(1812-1848).’ Various editions of the Sketches of Oriental the Bengal Photographic Society 1 (3) December 1862, p. 68). Dalton 1960 [1872]: i. The Commissioner was prob-
Heads were issued from Calcutta in the 1840s. On this litho- His second visit to Assam in 1867-1868 is mentioned in ably aware that, only a decade earlier, the drowning of an
graph of Hill Miris (and others of Nyishis) Grant wrote:‘from Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal January 1868, p. 28. Idu Mishmi chief ’s son, who had gone to Assam to visit
drawings by Capt. G. C. Dalton, Assam’; and on another set We know from his service record, written in his own hand, Dalton, had sparked a retaliation that included the killing
he wrote only:‘G. Dalton’. However, no G. C. (or G.) Dalton that he ‘proceeded to Assam on special duty to take pictures of two Europeans.
 42
served in the Bengal army at this time. On the other hand, of the aborigines on the N.E. frontier for Bengal government Dalton 1960 [1872]: ii.
 43
Lt. E. T. Dalton not only served in Assam during the 1840s on 21 Dec. 1867. Returned to Darjeeling on 15 April 1868’ Having lost some of his field notes during the chaos
(at Lakhimpur near the foothills) but also made trips to Hill (British Library, L/MIL/10/81, p. 104). of the 1857 uprising, Dalton admitted that his text was not
 26
Miri and Nyishi villages in the hills (Dalton 1845). On one The annual ‘trade fair’ at Sadiya, which was set up in as complete as he would have wished. For contemporary
visit, he met the Hill Miri man depicted in Grant’s lithograph the1860s in order to regulate trade with the hills, attracted criticism of Dalton’s book, especially the Naga material, see
shown here (identified as ‘Tema Hazaree’ in Dalton, and as approximately 3,000 tribesmen and women in 1876 (Report Elwin 1959: xxv.
 44
‘Tema, Huzara’ in Grant). Finally, inserted into one edition on the Administration of Assam, 1874-75, 1875-76. Shillong, These photographs are at the British Library, in the
of the Sketches is a typed list of all the portraits in the series, 1876, Part II, p. 12.) collection of E. H. Soole, who worked for a tea estate in
 27
which mentions that the Hill Miri, Nyishi and Garo litho- Journal of the Bengal Photographic Society 11 (7), March upper Assam.
 45
graphs were done from ‘sketches by Colonel Dalton.’ E.T. 1864, p. 87. Osik 1999: 10-11; in Elwin 1959: 433-434. The Cal-
 28
Dalton was promoted to Colonel in the 1860s. The portraits were of a Khampti, a Digaru Mishmi, a cutta International Exhibition in 1883-84 was the indirect
 18
Butler’s lithographs depicted ‘Meeres’ [Miris; prob- Singpho and a ‘Miri.’ cause of at least one more flashpoint between Arunachal
ably Padam Adis], ‘Abors’ [Adis], ‘Dufflahs’ [Nyishis] and tribes and British authorities.When an Idu Mishmi headman
  73
named Lakho died after having returned from the exhibi- when Williamson did indeed travel up the Lohit but only Fürer-Haimendorf used Zeiss Ikon AG cameras to
tion, his relatives took revenge by killing a British subject as far as Sati, 35 miles before Rima (see Williamson 1909). take his photographs during the 1940s. Although his wife,
(an Assamese fisherman). The Assistant Political Officer at He met the ‘Governor of Rima’, or the representative of a Betty, may have taken some photographs, there is no evi-
Sadiya then led 50 soldiers to Lakho’s village, but when the Tibetan governor, only once, in 1910. dence that she did.
 53  74
villagers refused to hand over suspects, he imposed a block- Reid 1997 [1942]: 217. Fürer-Haimendorf 1955: 25. ‘For the ethnographer,
 54
ade on the Idus’ trade with the plains. The blockade made British Library, Mss Eur D 516, Kennedy’s Aka diary, who often faces problems of photographing camera-shy
life difficult for Idus in the higher elevations and was only pp. 10-11. people, it may be interesting to know that for the portraits
 55
lifted in 1887 when the Idus paid a fine of 2,000 rupees British Library, Mss Eur D 516, G. A. Nevill’s report reproduced here I used a 13.5 long-distance lens’ (Fürer-
(Assam Secretariat 1884, Foreign-A PROGS, August 1884, on the Aka Promenade, 1913-14, p. 2. Haimendorf 1956, foreword).
 56  75
Nos. 23-2874/1334; State Archives, Itanagar [I am indebted As quoted in Reid 1997 [1942]: 285. Although at least two other films of people from
 57
to Sarit K. Chaudhuri for transcribing this document]; Osik It was taken during Kennedy and Nevill’s visit to But Arunachal Pradesh were shot in the 1930s, Haimendorf ’s
1999: 71). Lakho himself is shown in a drawing in Michell village, en route to Dirang and Tawang in March 1914. films were the first of any ethnographic value. One of these
 58
1973 [1883], facing p. 102. More details are given in Blackburn 2003. early films, which I have not been able to locate, was shot by
 46  59
British Library, Mss Eur F 157/205, entry dated These bamboo counters can be seen in fig. J. Brooks-Carrington of the Raycol British Corporation on
 60
10.12.11. Bailey 1945: 141. the British Museum’s Assam-Burma expedition in 1933-34
 47  61
British Library, Mss Eur F 157/205, entry dated This journey is described in Lumsden 1909. (with Frank Kingdon Ward); the other, shot in 1934 by a tea
 62
12.12.11. Lumsden 1909: 625. planter in Assam, shows mask-dances, acrobatics and other
 48  63
British Library, Mss Eur F 157/173, entry dated Reid 1997 [1942]: 218. activities, presumably as part of some official programme for
 64
27.4.13 at Mipi. Accounts of this incident were collected by Sarit K. visiting dignitaries (‘Aka and Daffla Dances,’ at the British
 49
British Library, Mss Eur F 157/205, entry dated 4.4.13. Chaudhuri in January 2005; see also the accounts in Nyori Film Institute, London).
 76
G. A. Nevill, who accompanied Bailey, noted in his report 1993:114; Nath 1998: 140-141. A typewritten account by Ursula Betts (at the Pitt Riv-
 65
that the Khambas of Mipi had come from Riwoche, west Reid, the Governor of Assam, claimed that they were ers Museum) explains that she used a ‘Leica IIIa, with 35mm,
of Chamdo, and from Pashen, north of Shiuden Gompa buried (Reid 1997 [1942]: 233), but Dunbar, who was 50mm, 90mm and 135 mm lenses.’ She considered her Naga 
(British Library, Mss Eur F 157/324(f), p. 8). actually on the expedition, believed that their bodies were photographs to be superior to her later photographs in the
 50
Ludlow 1938: 7. This passage does not describe the probably thrown into the Siang (Dunbar 1932: 121). Subansiri region because the former were on Agfa Isophan
 66
people in photograph # 151 but others seen on the same Hamilton 1912: 298. F stock and were developed in London, whereas the latter
 67
journey, whose photographs are published in both Ludlow From a report dated 18 Dec. 1911 by A. H.W. Bentinck, used Kodak film and were processed in Calcutta.
 77
1938 and Ludlow and Sherriff 1937. District Commissioner Lakhimpur, who served as Assistant Stonor’s collection also includes photographs of Adis
 51
Although these negatives are catalogued in the collec- Political Officer on the expedition (British Library L/ and Monpas. He visited the Apatani valley at least twice: first
tion of R. G. Woodthorpe, they were taken by W. Robert. PS/10/181). with J. P. Mills in late 1945 and then with Ralph Izzard, a
 68
The date of 1872 for these photographs in the Pitt Rivers Interviews and photographs were taken by Sarit K. London-based journalist, in 1946.
 78
Museum documentation is also incorrect since the Subansiri Chaudhuri during January 2005. The girl was taken as a slave during the resolution of
 69
expedition took place between December 1877 and January Another British officer, Lt. Holcombe, and 80 others a dispute about a missing brass plate (Fürer-Haimendorf
1878, and the Mishmi expedition in March 1878 (Royal in his survey party were murdered by Wanchos in the Tirap 1955: 72-73).
 79
Geographical Society JWA/2; British Library, V/24/3976, area of Arunachal Pradesh in 1875 (see Chaudhuri 2006; This event is described in Graham Bower 1953:119-
General Report on the Operations of the Survey of India, 1877-78, photograph # 85); John Butler, Deputy Commissioner of 127.
 80
Calcutta 1879). Robert was also part of a punitive expedi- the Naga Hills and son of the author of A Sketch of Assam, This controversy is described in Guha’s biography of
tion to the Subansiri region from November 1874 to Janu- was killed by Nagas in the same year. Neither event, however, Elwin (Guha 1999).
 81
ary 1875 (the ‘Duffla Expedition’ reported in the Illustrated triggered a response as extensive as the four expeditions that Pinney 1997: 70.
 82
London News; see fig. N); but none of his photographs from followed Williamson’s murder. An example in this book is the picture of Lt. Hol-
 70
this journey appear to have survived. In addition to the punitive Abor Expedition, the au- combe’s murderers (photograph # 85), which belonged to
 52
The Tibetan official came to Williamson’s camp at thorities launched three survey expeditions, two to the Mish- a set of photographs by Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte, who
Tatap Pi, a stream just south of Rima (Reid 1997 [1942]: mi Hills and one to the Subansiri area (Miri Mission). travelled in northeast India and was active in Calcutta dur-
 71
217); another source, close to the event, reported that Wil- J. P. Mills 1943: 3. ing the second half of the century (British Library, Photo
 72
liamson met ‘representatives of the Dzonphon [official] of Mills, Hutton and others were encouraged to use 913; personal communication, John Falconer, May 2006).
Sangacho Dzong,’ which is about 60 miles and several days’ photography by Henry Balfour, the first Director of the Pitt For details of commercial photography in nineteenth-cen-
walk away (Bailey 1945: 141). The Royal Geographical Rivers Museum in Oxford. tury Calcutta and elsewhere in India, see Karlekar 2005;
Society, which holds this photograph, dates it to 1907-08, Thomas 1981.
  83
Illustrated London News 27 March 1875. Earlier issues Dalton, Edward Tuite. 1845.‘On the Meris and the Abors Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von. 1950 [1947]. Eth-
contained news items and other images, mostly of natural of Assam.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal nographic Notes on the Tribes in the Subansiri Region.
scenes on the route of the advancing expedition sent to pun- 14, part 1: 426-430. Shillong: Assam Government Press.
ish Nyishis for a raid on a village in Assam in 1873. Dalton, Edward Tuite. 1960 [1872]. Descriptive Ethnology Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von. 1955. Himalayan
 84
British Library, Mss Eur F 157/173. Bailey’s diary entry of Bengal. Calcutta: K. L. Mukhopadhayaya. Barbary. London: John Murray.
dated 18.4.13 contains a list of photographs sent by him to Davy, Capt. A. E. G. 1945. ‘Tour diary of Capt. A. E. G. Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von. 1956. Glückliche
his mother, including a few of his friends (G. A. Nevill and Davy, Additional Political Officer, Balipara Frontier Barbaren. Bei unbekannten Völkern an der Nordostgrenze
R. S. Kennedy) fishing, of rivers, mountains and camp scenes. Tract, 1944-45.’ typescript, SOAS Library. Indiens. Wiesbaden: F.A. Brockhaus.
In the same entry, Bailey writes that he has asked his mother
Dehejia,Vidya. 2000. ‘Fixing a shadow.’ In Vidya Dehejia Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von. 1962. The Apa Tanis
to have his camera repaired by Kodak.
 85 (ed.), India through the Lens, Photography 1840-1911, pp. and their Neighbours.A Primitive Civilization of the eastern
British Library, Mss Eur E 335,‘Indian Reminiscences’,
11-34.Washington, D.C.:The Freer Gallery of Art and Himalayas. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
by Robert Charles Case, p. 11. His photographs are in the
British Library, Photo 930 (1) and 930 (2). the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Graham Bower [Betts], Ursula. 1953. The Hidden Land.
 86
For example, Fürer-Haimendorf 1955; Graham-Bower Desmond, Ray. 1982. The India Museum, 1801-1879. London: John Murray.
1953; Stonor 1957; Roy 1997 [1960]; Fürer-Haimendorf London: HMSO. Grant, Colesworthy. 1844-1850. Sketches of Oriental Heads
1962. Dikshit, K. N. 1927. ‘Note on Ahom stone pillar in- [various editions]. Calcutta: Thacker and Spinck.
 87
Pinney 1997. scription.’ Annual Report, Archaeological Survey of Guha, Ramachandra. 1999. Savaging the Civilized:Verrier
 88
In 2003, a minister of the Arunachal Pradesh state India, 1924-25, pp. 157-58. Calcutta: Government Elwin, His Tribals, and India. Chicago: University of
government made a public request that we (the Tribal of India. Chicago Press.
Transitions project) attempt to change what are perceived Dunbar, George. 1932. Frontiers. London: Ivor Nicholson Hamilton, Angus. 1912. In Abor Jungles, Being an Account
as offensive labels in British colonial sources. Even today, the and Watson. of the Abor Expedition, the Mishmi Expedition and the
central government continues to use ‘Dafla.’ Elwin,Verrier. 1959. India’s North-East Frontier in the Nine- Miri Mission. London: Eveleigh Nash.
 89
 A collection of several thousand of these photographs teenth Century. Bombay: Oxford University Press. Karlekar, Mavalika. 2005. Re-visioning the Past: Early
taken during the NEFA years and later are held by the state Elwin,Verrier. 1964. The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin: An Photography in Bengal 1875-1915. New Delhi: Oxford
government in Itanagar. Although most have been digitised, Autobiography. Bombay: Oxford University Press. University Press.
the collection remains uncatalogued. Elwin,Verrier. 1970. A New Book of Tribal Fiction. Shillong: Kingdon Ward, Frank. 1942 [1941]. Assam Adventure.
North-East Frontier Agency. London: Jonathan Cape.
Falconer, John. 1984. ‘Ethnographical photography in Ludlow, Frank and G. Sherriff. 1937. ‘Expeditions:The
Bibliography India, 1850-1900.’ Photographic Collector 5 (1): 16-46. sources of the Subansiri and Siyom.’ Himalayan Journal
Falconer, John. 1990. ‘Photography in nineteenth-cen- 9: 142-147.
Bailey, Frederick Marshman. 1945. China-Tibet-Assam, tury India.’ In C. Bayly (ed.), The Raj: India and the Ludlow, Frank. 1938. ‘The sources of the Subansiri and
a Journey 1911. London: Jonathan Cape. British 1600-1947, pp. 264-277. London: National Siyom.’ Himalayan Journal 10: 1-17.
Blackburn, Stuart. 2003. ‘Colonial contact in the “Hid- Portrait Gallery, Lumsden, Dugald McTavish. 1909. ‘A journey into the
den Land”: Oral histories among the Apatanis of Falconer, John. 2000. ‘A passion for documentation: Abor country, 1909.’ The Geographical Journal 37:
Arunachal Pradesh.’ Indian Economic and Social History Architecture and ethnography.’ In Vidya Dehejia (ed.), 621-629.
Review 40 (3): 335-365. India through the Lens, Photography 1840-1911, pp. M’Cosh, John. 1836. ‘Account of the mountain tribes
Butler, John. 1847. A Sketch of Assam. London: Smith, 69-118. Washington, D.C.: The Freer Gallery of Art on the extreme N.E. frontier of Bengal.’ Journal of the
Elder and Co. and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Asiatic Society of Bengal 5: 193-208.
Chakravarty, L. N. 1995 [1973]. Glimpses of the Early Falconer, John. 2002. ‘‘A pure labour of love’’: A pub- M’Cosh, John. 1837. Topography of Assam. Calcutta: British
History of Arunachal, 3rd edition. Itanagar: Directorate lishing history of The People of India.’ In Eleanor M. Military Orphan Press.
of Research. Hight and Gary D. Sampson (eds.), Colonialist Photog- Michell, Captain St. John F. 1973 [1883]. The North-East
Chaudhuri, Sarit. 2006. ‘Colonial expansion and tribal raphy: Imag(in)ing Race and Place, pp. 51-83. London: Frontier of India (a topographical, political and military
response: A Note on the oral history of the Wanchos Routledge. report). Delhi:Vivek Publishing.
of Arunachal Pradesh.’ The Indian Historical Review Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von. 1945. ‘Tour diaries Mills, A. J. Moffatt. 1854. Report on the Province of Assam.
XXXIII (1): 288-304. of the Special Officer Subansiri, 1944-45.’ typescript, Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing.
SOAS Library.
Mills, J. P. 1943. ‘Tour note on Balipara Frontier Tract, Watson, J. Forbes and John William Kaye. 1868. The
November 11th-15th, 1943,’ typescript, SOAS Li- People of India, vol. 1. London: W. H. Allen.
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Arunachal Pradesh 1875-1975. New Delhi: Uppal. 1907, to January, 1908.’ The Geographical Journal 34:
Nath, Jogendra. 1998. ‘Murder of Capt. Williamson and 363-383.
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History, Economy and Culture of Arunachal Pradesh, pp.
133-146. Itanagar: Himalayan Publishers.
Neufville, Capt. John Bryan. 1828. ‘On the geography
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331-352.
Nyori, Tai. 1993. History and Culture of the Adis. New
Delhi: Omsons.
Osik, N. N. 1999. Modern History of Arunachal Pradesh
(1825-1997). Itanagar: Himalayan Publishers.
Pinney, Christopher. 1990a. ‘Classification and fantasy
in the photographic construction of caste and tribe.’
Visual Anthropology 3 (2-3): 259-288.
Pinney, Christopher. 1990b. ‘Colonial anthropology in
the “Laboratory of Mankind”’. In C. Bayly (ed.), The
Raj: India and the British 1600-1947, pp. 252-263. 
London: National Portrait Gallery.
Pinney, Christopher. 1997. Camera Indica:The Social Life
of Indian Photographs. London: Reaktion Books.
Reid, Sir Robert. 1997 [1942]. History of the Frontier
Areas bordering Assam, 1863-1941. Shillong: Assam
Government Press.
Risley, H. H. 1915. The People of India. Calcutta:Thacker
and Spinck.
Roy, Sachin. 1997 [1960]. Aspects of Padam Minyong Cul-
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Ryan, James R. 1997. Picturing Empire. Photography and
the Visualization of the British Empire. London: Reak-
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Stonor, Charles R. 1957. ‘Notes on religion and ritual
among the Dafla tribes of the Assam Himalayas.’ An-
thropos 52: 1-23.
Thomas, G. 1981. History of Photography in India. Hy­
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of Photography as used in the Topographical Departments of
the Principal States in Central Europe, with Notes on the
European and Indian Surveys. Calcutta: Superintendent
of Government Printing.

Plates





‘Chief’s daughter, Bor Abor [Adi] Tribe: inhabit the mountains
immediately north of Debroogurh, Upper Assam.’
Rev. Edward H. Higgs, near Dibrugarh, 1859, BL

The identification of the girl in this photograph is uncer-

tain; when it was exhibited in Arunachal Pradesh in 2006,
many local people did not recognise her as being from
Arunachal. Photograph #2 reveals how both dress and or-
namentation changed during the intervening 80 years.
 


‘Gallong Abor [Galo Adi]
woman.’
John Howard Fry Williams,
1940s, BL



‘A Dhoba Abor [Galo] (helmet decorated with
boar’s tusks and ‘Lama’ sword of Tibetan manufac-
ture) in Assam – East India.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS
 
Adis taking a break during a bridge-building ceremony.
Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002

See photographs #18, 20, 21, 23 and 25 for this same

ceremony.




Drinking rice-beer from a bamboo tube during a break in the
bridge-building ceremony.
Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002



‘Dhoba Abor [Galo] in Assam-East India.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS

This man does not resemble any hill tribes-

men in Arunachal Pradesh and may be- >
long to a tribal or low-status caste in Assam; The ‘Governor’ was a local Tibetan official. Chawna
he may also have assimilated into a Galo Khamti was a local Khampti chief, who aided
community or be the result of a marriage Williamson. The ‘Mijus’ are Miju Mishmis, one of the
between Galos and Assamese. tribes in the region, who served as his porters.
 

 ‘Meeting of Mr. Noel Williamson with the Governor of Rima.’ photographer unknown, 4 February 1910, RGS
 >
When the Abor Expedition returned to Riga in March
1912, two months after this photograph was taken,
Bentinck noted in his diary that a large number of
people came to visit the camp and that about ‘200
men gave an exhibition of the art of war,’ dressed in
‘scarlet Tibetan coats, light blue glass necklaces, which
they are fond of, hats of deerskin with tufts of black
bearskin or red-dyed yak hair, and cane helmets… Un-
fortunately, it was too cloudy to take photographs’ (BL,
Mss Eur D 1024/3, p. 53).




‘S[h]imong Abors [Adis] and Mr.Williamson’s servant, who
escaped.’
Arthur Harold Walter Bentinck, February 1912, RGS

<
The murder of Noel Williamson, a British political
officer, in 1911 prompted a punitive expedition against
the Adis.The ‘Abor Expedition,’ however, met no resis-
tance in Shimong, which was not involved in
Williamson’s death. His servant (far right) was a Naga
named Vichy.While in Shimong, Bentinck, the Politi-
cal Officer on the Abor Expedition, wrote in his diary:
‘[I] sewed up photos to be sent back, 72 in all but
some I know are failures’ (BL, Mss Eur D 1024/3,
p. 49).
 

 ‘Abors [Adis] at Riga camp: Assam, India.’ photographer unknown, January 1912, RGS
  ‘Village of Kebang.’ Dugald McTavish Lumsden, February 1909, RGS

This photograph was taken during Williamson’s (and Lumsden’s) earlier visit to the
village, when he demonstrated the gramophone and gave a magic lantern show to
local people.



 ‘Gam of Panghi [Pangin] and slaves, Statesman flag of truce.’

photographer unknown, Yambung, 18 December 1911, NAM
 ‘The burning of Kebang village.’ Capt. D. H R. Gifford, 9 December 1911, NAM

Headmen (gams or gamburas) from several Adi villages sued for peace and were spared
retaliation. The flag was fashioned from a page of the Calcutta Statesman newspaper.
 

 ‘The burning of Kebang village.’ Capt. D. H R. Gifford, 9 December 1911, NAM

Soldiers of the 8th Gurkha Rifles during the Abor Expedition.



 ‘The murderers of Williamson.’ photographer unknown, Pasighat?, 1912, BL

Two of the five men in chains were found guilty of killing Williamson; one, Manmur Jamoh, was
‘transported’ for life to a penal colony, while the other man received 10 years in prison. The other
three men, found guilty of killing his porters, were given shorter prison sentences. See also Fig. G.
>
This picture is part of a series with the
following note: ‘Abors putting on a mock
battle and attack on a village, preparation
to slaughtering a mithun (tame bisan) be-
fore a feast.’
 


‘Abor [Adi] warrior.’
John Howard Fry Williams,
1940s, BL



‘A young Abor [Adi] matron.’
Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1911-1912, BL

Note the decorative plaited cane worn on the lower leg

and the coin necklace. The upper garment has been re-
placed today by a generic, mass market blouse, and the
lower garments are now woven to cover most of the leg.
 


‘Unmarried Abor [Adi] girls wearing
“bayops” [beyops].’
John Howard Fry Williams, 1940s, BL

Beyops, usually leaf-shaped and made

of embossed bell-metal, were tradi-
tionally worn by Adi girls until mar-
riage or the birth of their first child.
 Adi Bridge-building in Shimong
In early Spring 2002, Shimong Adis decided to
replace an aging lego (tree-bridge) with a new
bridge across a stream on the main path linking
the village to the road that leads to the district
headquarters of Yingkiong. Although the bridge
was a practical necessity, local people did not hire
contractors or labour; instead the event was punc-
tuated with rituals and conducted like a festival.
First, a small group of men searched for the right-
sized tree, which, when cut in half length-wise,
would stretch well across the deep stream and al-
low more than one person, or even a motorcycle,
to make an easy crossing. They then chopped it
down with small axes.The next morning, the men
returned and began to haul the enormous tree
down the hillside toward the stream, some two
 kilometres away. As they pushed on the specially
cut knobs and pulled on thick vine ropes lashed
to the log, they sang songs, called ‘ant-songs’ be-
cause they are believed to be sung by ants when
they build homes or transport food. Many of the
men also wore the spectacular headgear once worn
by their fathers and grandfathers when they went
to war with outsiders (other Adis, Tibetans and
the British), which can be seen in photographs #
4, 5, 18, 20 and 21. While the men and boys
dragged the tree, the women and some men ran
an efficient catering system.

The final step came three days later when the

tree-bridge was pulled and pushed down a steep
incline just above the stream. Then, moving
quickly, in small groups, with few words and no
leaders, they formed a human chain and lifted
stones from the stream bed to shore up the bank
under the bridge.The new bridge was now ready

for use.
Adi men passing stones in a line as they build up the support
wall during the bridge-building ceremony.
Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002




‘Construction of the
Shimong R[iver]cane
bridge.’
John Howard Fry
Williams, 1940s, BL
 

 Adi men dragging the single log to be made into a footbridge over a stream. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002

Note the thick vine ropes used to drag the log.



 Adis battling with the thick vine rope during bridge-building. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002
 


‘Construction of the
Shimong R[iver]. cane
bridge.’
John Howard Fry Williams,
1940s, BL


 Adi men and women pulling on a thick vine rope during bridge-building. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002

As the log got close to its final position, more and more people joined
in the pulling; some of these women are also ritual specialists.
 


‘Construction of the Shimong
R[iver]cane bridge.’
John Howard Fry Williams,
1940s, BL



The completed bridge.
Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002
 


The Gandhi Bridge at Yingkiong, upper Siang River.
Michael Aram Tarr, 2002

Built in 1968 and named for Indira Gandhi, this bridge

was rebuilt after it was destroyed by a flood in 2001.



‘Palibo who came to Pagum dur-
ing our halt there to trade wool and
ornaments for rice, 2.3.56. Siang.’
Verrier Elwin, 1956, BM

Palibos are a small Adi tribe,

only about two or three hun-
dred people, who live in the
Siyom river valley.
 


‘Palibo Hunter.’
Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM

Note the bear pelt on his hat

and the long quiver (also in
photograph #29).



Tangam man carrying a large
basket.
Verrier Elwin, 1950s [1958?], BM

This huge basket was used

primarily for carrying rice
paddy. Tangam Adis, who
number only a few hundred
people, live along the upper
Siang River close to the in-
ternational border with Ti-
bet/China. Elwin recorded a
visit to Tangam villages in
February 1958 (Elwin 1970:
6-7, 153ff).
 


Tangam woman smoking a pipe.
Verrier Elwin, 1950s [1958?], BM


 ‘Group of Tibetans at Mipi.’ Frederick Marshman Bailey, 27 April 1913, BL

Capt. Bailey was Assistant Political Officer on the section of the Mishmi Mission that surveyed the Idu Mishmi area,
including Mipi on the upper Mathun River. In his diary Bailey described some of the figures in this photograph:
‘Gzamto, headman, with tousley hair and a yak’s hair overcoat. He is going to take us over the pass to Chimdo.
Tibetan, Tsona Chugya, striped boots.’ (BL, Mss Eur F 157/173, 27 April 1913)
 

 ‘Tibetans at Gyari Shing near Mipi.’ Frederick Marshman Bailey, March-May 1913, BL



‘Ableo Chulikata [Idu] Mishmi Chief.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS
 


‘Ableo Chulikata [Idu] Mishmi Chief.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS

The same man as in photograph # 33 but showing

the distinctive hair style (for both men and women)
that prompted the Assamese to call these people chuli-
kata (‘hair-cropped’).


 ‘Capt. Woodthorpe, R. E.’ W. Robert, 1878, PRM

R. G. Woodthorpe, a Royal Engineer with the Topographical Survey of India, as well as illustrator, painter and
author, is the hatless figure seated in the centre of this group of British officers, Indian soldiers, Idu Mishmis and
possibly other tribes.
 


‘[Idu] Mishmi children.’
Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1911-1912, BL
 Idu Mishmi Funeral
Idu Mishmis, like other tribes in central Arunachal,
bury the dead, whose soul is then guided by a
priest (igu) during a long and difficult journey to
the sunny and prosperous land of the dead. Idus,
however, have elaborated this basic pattern into
four different kinds of funerals, the most compli-
cated of which (yah) lasts 3 or 4 days (see photo-
graphs # 37-46). After a mourning song (anja),
sung by family members and friends beside the
corpse inside the house, the priest begins his spe-
cialist chant. He speaks directly to the dead per-
son, advising it about the condition of death, the
dangers of the journey and the food that must be
taken. As he continues to chant, the body is car-
ried on a bier in a small procession to the grave
site: for a dead woman, the person in front holds
 her weaving shuttle (see photograph #43); for a
man, he carries a machete. When the burial is
complete, the priest comes to the grave and hangs
a small bamboo container of rice, rice-beer and
meat on a fence in front of the grave. Rapping
his machete on the fence to get the dead person’s
attention (see photograph #37), the priest ad-
dresses the soul and prepares it for the journey to
the land of the dead. He and his two assistants
strike the lizard-skin head of small drums (ripung)  Rapping his machete on the fence to alert the dead person’s
with a bamboo stick; a fourth man uses his hands soul, the priest addresses it and prepares it for the journey to
to beat the lizard-skin heads of a larger barrel drum the land of the dead.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003
(amba). Chanting and dancing, the priest guides
the soul, naming almost 150 places along the path
that reaches into Tibet/China. The final place is
Asi Akhrika, ‘where the door to the soul’s place is
closed, so I cannot say anymore.’


A priest ritually cleansing people with special leaves after the burial
during an Idu Mishmi funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003

 
Cooking for the feast during an Idu Mishmi funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003




A boy making a basket for the distribution of food after the
feast during an Idu Mishmi funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003
 
Family members and friends at the grave during an Idu
Mishmi funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003



Although Idu Mishmis publicly disapprove of mar-

riage outside the tribe, inter-marriage with other
groups does occur. The man wearing glasses in the
centre of the picture is the Rajasthani son-in-law of
the deceased, an old woman of a prosperous family.


Labourers preparing the burial chamber during an Idu Mishmi
funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003


 The eldest son leading his mother’s body in procession and holding her weaving shuttle during an Idu Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003
 

 Family members placing food gifts for the deceased in her burial chamber (visible in photograph # 45) while friends and relatives look on during an Idu Mishmi funeral.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003


 The burial chamber before it was sealed with all the possessions that the deceased will need in the land of the dead. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003

Note the baskets of pigs in the lower right corner.

 

 The priest communicating with the dead person’s soul while holding purifying leaves late at night during an Idu Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003


 Idu Mishmi cane and bamboo bridge. Michael Aram Tarr, Anini, 2003
 


‘Digaro [Digaru] Mishmees in
Assam-East India.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS



‘Mijoo Mishmee [Miju Mishmi] woman in
Assam-East India.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS
 


‘Mijoo Mishmee [Miju Mishmi]-Assam-
East India.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS


 ‘[Digaru and/or Miju Mishmi] Headmen.’ M. Steele, 1934, RGS

 

 ‘Mijus and Tibetan traders at Sati.’ photographer unknown, 1907-1908, RGS




‘Minyong [Adi]. Grave of village headsman [sic].’
Frederick Marshman Bailey, 1913, RGS

This grave appears in fact to be either Digaru

or Miju Mishmi.
 


Miju Mishmi grave for two people.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lohit Valley, 2004

Note the deceased woman’s possessions in-

side the structure, like the Idu Mishmi grave
shown in photograph #45.



‘Taraon [Digaru Mishmi]: Dancers
at Tushe, Lohit.’
Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM
 

 Digaru and Miju Mishmis celebrating at a party held during a sacrifice. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004


 Digaru Mishmi woman weaving. Michael Aram Tarr, Trafraliang, 2004

 

 Digaru Mishmi man making a basket. Michael Aram Tarr, Loliyang, 2004
 Digaru and Miju Mishmi healing ritual
Domo is a healing ritual among Digaru and Miju (for example, see photograph #60). Each priest, prove the mental and physical health of the per-
Mishmis of the Lohit Valley. It is performed at who may be either a Digaru or a Miju, then in- son in whose house the ritual takes place. When
night by three priests ( gwak), working individu- tones the chant appropriate to that spirit, while the ritual is finished in the early morning, carved
ally but in coordination: in a specific part of the accompanying himself on a small drum or other pieces of wood (representing a fish, arrow etc.)
ill person’s house, each man builds a different struc- percussion instrument. The domo, which contin- are hung on a pole that stands in a small fenced
ture of bamboo and leaves to a different spirit ues for most of the night, is conducted to im- area in front of most houses.



 Sotha Chaitom, Miju Mishmi priest, at the domo ritual. Michael Aram Tarr, Loliyang, 2004
 

 Structure of bamboo and leaves for addressing spirits, constructed and used by Sotha Chaitom during the domo ritual. Michael Aram Tarr, Loliyang, 2004


 Priest making offerings to the ancestors at their symbolic resting place during the first night of the Du festival sponsored by Dadaso Manyu, a Digaru Mishmi. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
 

 Priest making a food offering to a cow prior to the main animal sacrifice at Dadaso Manyu’s Du festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004


 Mithun and cow sacrifice at Dadaso Manyu’s Du festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
 

 Mithun and other skulls hung as ritual trophies near the entrance of a Digaru Mishmi house. Michael Aram Tarr, Trafraliang, 2004



‘Khamti [Khampti] Woman (elevation of the hair on
crown indicates marriage) wearing black velvet bodice and
ear ornaments of amber.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS
 
‘A Kamti [Khampti] Raja, a kind of Shan who came to Sadiya—with
his attendants.’
photographer unknown, 1911-1913, BL

The ‘Raja’ is the figure in the centre.




Chow Khamoon Gohain Namssham, Khampti
Chief and first Arunachal Pradesh member of the
Raja Sabha in New Delhi.
Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham, 2004



‘[Khampti] Head man of Village.’
photographer unknown,
1908-1909, BL
 


‘Khamptee [Khampti] Tribe, Dehong River, North Assam.’
photographer unknown, 1908-1909, BL


 Khampti house. Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004

 

 Khampti fisherman on his porch. Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004



 Khampti Buddhist nuns at the World Peace Pagoda blessing Chow Sanjay Mein, grandson of one of the nuns and a highly
respected man in the community. Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham, 2004

 Khampti Buddhist nun at the World Peace Pagoda.

Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham, 2004
 


Buddhist statue in a small roadside shrine.
Michael Aram Tarr, Pang Khao, 2004


 Dhammakirti, head monk of a Khampti Buddhist monastery. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004
 

 Small stupa in the prayer hall of a Khampti Buddhist temple. Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004



Remains of a Khampti ritual.
Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004
 

 The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral:The lay priest, Chow Tiyot Mancheykum, who represents the family of the deceased in their supplications to the monks. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004


 The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral: Monks listening to the lay priest as he requests a good rebirth for the soul of the dead man. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004
 

 The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral:The lay priest asking the monks to bless everyone present. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004


 The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral:The breakfast. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004
 

 Khampti Buddhist funerary structure on the riverbank where cremations are held. Michael Aram Tarr, near Momong, 2004



‘Singpho. Warlike frontier tribe (Laos).
Southern frontier of Assam.’
Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, BL
 


‘Singhpos [Singphos].’
Bourne and Shepherd studio, 1890s, BL



‘Nagas [Wanchos]. The murderers of Lieut
Holcombe and party.’
Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte, Calcutta, c.1875, BL

Lieut. Holcombe and 80 men in his survey

expedition, including officers, Indian sepoys,
porters and servants, were killed in a Wancho
village in 1875. Four men accused of the
murders were imprisoned in Calcutta, where
this photograph was taken.
 


‘Wancho: Boy puts on his cane-belt at
Longkao, 5.12.54.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM



‘Wancho: Men [man] with carved hands in
their [his] hair, Nov. 1954.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM

Carved wood hands, and other simi-

larly carved objects, were worn by
Wanchos who had taken a head or as-
sisted in killing an enemy.
 


‘Wancho: Scenes at the wedding at Senua,
23.11.54.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM

In the notes accompanying his nega-

tives, Elwin identified this Wancho
girl as ‘Sinkeo, daughter of the
Wangham’s brother at Senua in her
wedding attire.’



‘Wancho: Scenes at the wedding at
Senua, 22.11.54.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM
 


‘Wancho: The war-dance at Longkao,
5.12.54.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM

Elwin described this dance as ‘an

attempt to recapture the old days
of head-hunting, to which they all
looked back as the time then they
were really men…every now and
then the boys would let off their
guns just behind me to see me
jump’ (Elwin 1964: 282).



‘Wancho with the tattoo-marks of hu-
man figures allowed only to the head-
hunter.’
Verrier Elwin, 1950s [1954?], BM
 


‘Young Wancho man smiling, large comb,
Nov.-Dec. 1954.’
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM


 ‘Capt.Woodthorpe, R. E.’ W. Robert, 1877-1878, PRM

Capt. Woodthorpe, with a peaked cap, farthest right of the four British figures, sits among this group
of sepoys, Hill Miris and possibly other tribes.
 

 ‘Miri [Hill Miri].’ W. Robert, 1877-78, PRM




Young Hill Miri man.
Christoph von Fürer-
Haimendorf, 1945, SOAS
 


Young Hill Miri girl.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf,
1944-1945, SOAS



Young Hill Miri man.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
 


Young Hill Miri woman.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS



‘Miri [Hill Miri], woman of Dobom [Dodom?]
village with grass skirt.’
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper Kamla,
March-April 1945, SOAS
 


Hill Miri man.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper Kamla,
March-April 1945, SOAS



Nyishi or Hill Miri girl.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
 


‘[Hill] Miri woman of Rute-Hate village smoking a pipe.’
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS



Hill Miri man.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper
Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS
 

 Hill Miri or Nyishi men. Michael Aram Tarr, Tamen, 1996


 ‘The Palaver.’ Asher Leventon, Apatani valley, February 1897, BL

This photograph, taken by Surgeon-Lt. Leventon, and others in attendance. Robert Blair McCabe, Po- Buta Singh, second from left; the other Indian officer
shows a scene during the first colonial expedition to litical Officer on the expedition, is shown sitting (ap- is probably Subadar Gopal Singh. ‘Tegu’ remains uni-
the Apatani valley. British officials are negotiating with parently taking notes). Lt. H. F.‘Norie’ and Capt. G. R. dentified.
Apatanis over compensation for a murder, with Nyishis ‘Row’ are British military officers. ‘Singh’ is Jamadar
 

 Apatanis welcoming the Fürer-Haimendorfs to the Apatani valley. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 1944, SOAS



Young Apatani woman with a baby standing on the wooden
steps of a house.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS

Traditionally, young girls (and boys) were tattooed and

wooden plugs were placed in girls’ nostrils. In 1974
the Apatani Youth Association demanded that these
practices be abandoned and today they are only seen
on older people.
 


Apatani men carrying firewood.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS

Since the 1980s, carrying wood (and working in the

rice fields) have become primarily women’s tasks.



Young Apatani woman with large hoop earrings.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS

These earring are no longer in fashion (although priests

wear a similar type).
 


Apatani man with pipe.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS

A less elaborate version of this hair-style is still worn

by older men.


 Apatani priest in a sacred grove performing a ritual during the Myoko festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 1996

 >
Bamboo strips placed as protection around a ritual structure
during the Myoko festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2002



 Apatani man leaping over a bamboo pole during the Myoko festival. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
 

 Apatani man leaping over basket containing rice-beer during the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Reru, 2005



Apatani ropi ritual.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 1944, SOAS

This ritual, Fürer-Haimendorf explained, was per-

formed in the context of an ongoing dispute. An
Apatani man was captured by Nyishis but escaped and
took his revenge by killing a woman relative of his
former captors. He then brought her hand back to his
village as a trophy, where it was kept in the nago hut
(on the right in this photograph). On the third day, a
ropi ceremony was performed in which the spirits of
the dead woman’s ancestors are invited to take ‘the
offerings of food and rice-beer placed on the altar; the
men and boys…had danced most of the night; and
early in the morning the hand had been taken out of
the nago, covered with pigs’ fat and then burnt to ashes
in the fire which we still saw smoldering’ (Fürer-
Haimendorf 1955: 47).
 
Apatani men and priests watching the ropi ritual.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 1944, SOAS



Apatani ropi procession.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf,
March 1944, SOAS
 
Apatani ropi procession.
Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005

A version of ropi is still performed when certain animals

are killed, in this case, a jungle cat. Apatanis believe that,
in the world of ancestors and spirits, this animal is closely
allied to humans; as with humans, the ritual is intended to
prevent retaliation by the victim’s ancestors. The proces-
sion to the nago is led by one of the oldest and most
respected priests, Hage Gyati, followed by the young man
who killed the cat, followed by his father with the cat’s
skin hanging from his back.




The young man who killed the jungle cat.
Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005
 

 Hage Gyati, an Apatani priest, during the ropi ceremony. Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005

Hage Gyati wears a scarf around his neck, much as Fürer-Haimendorf described the ropi priest in 1944 wearing ‘a
thick, embroidered muffler round his neck [see photograph # 116]… perhaps symbolic protection against sword
thrusts or perhaps just part of a warrior’s normal outfit’ (Fürer-Haimendorf 1955: 47).


 ‘Chigi Nime, the seer of Duta, invoking the gods before sacrificing a mithan.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 12 December 1944, SOAS

Photographs #121-125 were taken by Fürer-Hai- Haimendorf— set out to free an Apatani man taken to be sacrificed and eaten by the men coming with us
mendorf during a campaign led by the colonial gov- hostage by the Nyishis, Apatanis performed a pre-raid to Licha. Chigi Nime took it to the sacrificial place
ernment, in collaboration with Apatanis, against a ritual. These photographs are unusual because they near our camp and there for long [sic] invoked the
Nyishi clan who for some time had kidnapped Apa- show a war ritual performed for an actual raid and not gods lunging again and again at the beast with his long
tanis and their animals, and ransomed them back to staged for the photographer (as in photographs #15 dao. At last the mithan was killed by Nime and other
their families; the ropi ritual in 1944 (see photographs and #90). Apa Tanis helped with their dao in cutting up the meat
# 115-117) was prompted by one such kidnapping. ‘A few days ago a Dafla [Nyishi] brought a mithan calf for the Apa Tanis and Daflas who assemble (or are ex-
Before the war party—consisting of Assam Rifles and as a present and on the eve of our departure for Licha pected to assemble) tonight in our camp’ (Fürer-
Apatanis and led by British officers, including Fürer- [name of Nyishi clan and hamlet] we gave the mithan Haimendorf 1945: 60).
 

 Apatani priest (probably Chige Nyime) performing rituals for success in the raid against Nyishis. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 13 December 1944, SOAS

Early the following morning, Chige Nyime, who had chanted most of the night, led Apatani men in a dance in front of a
bamboo structure dedicated to Karun, a spirit who gives strength in time of war. A small dog (to be sacrificed) is tied to the
left of the ritual structure; shoulder armour, also worn by the men in the photograph, is piled up behind it.


 ‘Apa Tani war-dance on the morning of the departure to Licha.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 13 December 1944, SOAS
 
Apatani men set out for war.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 13 December 1944, SOAS

The man standing far right appears to be counting the warriors by

marking each man with a small bamboo piece, the traditional
Apatani method of counting (see also fig. J).




Nyishi village of Kirum burning.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf,
18 December 1944, SOAS

Following unsuccessful negotiations to free the captive man, Capt.

Davy, Additional Political Officer, ordered his men to burn five
houses in Kirum owned by men of the Licha clan who had re-
fused to cooperate. This generations-old conflict was eventually
settled, temporarily, by the traditional method of negotiating, us-
ing bamboo pieces as counters (see fig J; Davy 1945: 59).

 Apatani Festival of Murung
The Murung festival is celebrated during the cold cific people, both relatives and those with whom
winter months in the Apatani valley in order to the sponsor has formed a ritual bond. On the
prevent illness or misfortune and to bring general following morning, hundreds and sometimes
prosperity. It is sponsored by individual families thousands of women donate rice and millet to
throughout the valley, each of whom voluntarily the festival sponsor, which is then made into rice-
makes the decision to commit considerable re- beer (see photograph #126). A week later, in the
sources to the feasting and rituals that continue early morning one piece of meat is distributed to
for three weeks. Divinations by reading chicken every single family among the 30,000 Apatanis
livers and eggs begin months, even years, in ad- living in the valley. That same day a procession of
vance, but the festival itself starts with an all-day men and boys, brandishing machetes, winds
chant by a priest or nyibu (see photographs #128 through the valley, visiting every neighbourhood
& 129). Standing on the lapang (ritual platform), in every village where they are given food and
to which the sacrificial animals are tied, he invites drink (see fig. L, photographs #141-144). The
spirits and ancestors to the feast to ensure that procession is a time for pleasure and fun, includ-
the sponsor’s family and domestic animals enjoy ing singing bawdy songs and waving phallic bam-
prosperity. During the long chant, family mem- boo staves (see photographs #145 & 146). Today, 
bers decorate the mithuns with bamboo shav- the procession is more popular than ever; a re-
ings, smear them with rice powder and pour cent Murung sponsored by a local politician had
rice-beer on them (see photographs # 131-135). more than 2,500 participants.Women, previously
Once sacrificed, various parts are given to spe- only observers, have also begun to take part.


Apatani women donating rice and millet during the Murung
festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

The day after the sacrifice, female friends and relatives

come to the sponsor’s house to donate rice and millet
for the festival, especially for making rice-beer.



Apatani priest during the Murung festival.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
 


Apatani priest holding bamboo sticks with pieces of ginger
and chicks during the Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

Unlike the dress of other men, that of Apatani priests

today looks much like it did in the 1940s. Shorts have
replaced the cane belt around the waist (banned by
the Apatani Youth Association in 1974), and the hair
style is a little less elaborate. The shawl and jacket also
now include synthetic dyes, and the materials are
bought in the market instead of obtained through bar-
ter. Nevertheless, these textiles are essentially the same
and are still handwoven at home. This priest is also
wearing a headman’s red coat for extra warmth on a
cold January day.The concrete flooring and aluminium
roof on the lapang are recent changes.


 ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Kago Tajo, in his capacity as priest, conducting a ceremony with a mithan sacrifice.’ Ursula Betts, Hija, 1947, PRM

>
On the day of the sacrifice, as the priest chants, wives
in the sponsor’s clan stand behind baskets of rice pow-
der and gourds of rice-beer, which they will later dis-
tribute in the neighbourhood.
 

 Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Reru, 2005

 
Apatani man, Rubu Tangu, decorating a mithun with rice
powder during the Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

Rubu Tangu, the sponsor of this Murung, is wearing

the ‘neo-traditional’ dress for men: his purple store-
bought shirt under a handwoven jacket with tradi-
tional colours in a slightly modified design.The bronze
bracelet is the only part of his dress that his grandfa-
ther might have worn.




Apatani woman, Rubu Tangu’s mother, putting rice pow-
der on a mithun during the Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

As seen in this photograph, the ceremonial dress of

Apatani women, especially older women, has
changed only a little less than that of men.The large
hopped earrings are gone; the hair style and jacket
are different; a knitted sweater and shoes are now
worn.

‘Tint [Tendin] ceremony. Preparing a young mithan for sacrifice.’
Ursula Betts, Duta, 1947-1948, PRM

The Tendin is a less elaborate version of a Murung.




‘Tint [Tendin] ceremony. Woman wearing her best clothes
offering the mithan salt and sprinkling its forehead with rice
and flour.’
Ursula Betts, Duta, 1947-1948, PRM


 Apatani man smearing rice powder on a mithun during the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Reru, 2005
 
Apatani men tying a mithun to a post behind the sponsor’s
house just before sacrifice during the Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005




The same scene, a few minutes later when the mithun is killed.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

Once the axe blow stuns the mithun, clan members and
friends jump in to help cut up the animal.


 Apatani boys carrying meat of the sacrificed mithun in a basket during the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

As the mithun is cut up, body parts and internal organs are taken to a hut built for storing and
drying the meat; some parts are later given to relatives and ceremonial friends.

Sacrificial blood in an aluminium pot during the Murung
festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005

The blood of the mithun is stored and eaten later.




The severed head of the mithun during the
Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005


 ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Dancers performing in village street.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, February 1947, PRM

About a week after the sacrifice, a procession of men and boys of all ages travels through all seven villages in the Apatani valley.
 

 Murung procession on its way through Hari village. Michael Aram Tarr, 2005

Men now often wear suits instead of the raw (ere) silk shawls worn in the 1940s and later. Some also wear the zilang shawl,
which was formerly worn only by priests, instead of the simpler white shawl.


 ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Dispensing hospitality to dancers.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, February 1947, PRM
 

 Young men, sporting paper mithun horns, march along in procession during the Murung festival, while onlookers offer rice-beer. Michael Aram Tarr, Reru, 2005

The procession has always had an element of clowning and today includes costumes of all sorts, as seen here.


 Men playing with phallic bamboo staves during the Murung festival. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Hija, February 1945, SOAS
 
Phallic joker in a Murung procession.
Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005




Joker in a Murung procession.
Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005

Another sign of changing times, women now partici-

pate in the formerly male-only procession



Nani Sala (left, in airplane) and Padi Lalyang (right,
in airplane) in a Dakota airplane.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Apatani valley, 1962,
SOAS

These two men were the most powerful politi-

cal leaders among Apatanis in the mid-twenti-
eth century. Kago Bida (foreground) was also
an influential man of the period.
 


‘A Daphla [Nyishi] at Dikalmukh. July 1921.’
Charles Dennis Balding, 1921, BL



‘Group of Daflas [Nyishis], Assam.’
Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte, 1870s?, PRM

Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte was a well-known and

admired photographer working in Calcutta during the
1850s-1870s (and possibly later).This photograph was
probably taken during the 1870s and most likely in
Assam, where Mallitte worked at the time. The word
‘Dufflas’ [Daflas, Nyishis] added as a stencil below the
negative suggests that this photograph was part of a
series of ‘types’ popular at the time. The sitters, cer-
tainly not Nyishis, are possibly tribals from central In-
dia working on a tea estate in Assam; their hair styles
and ornaments are a bizarre mixture from Nyishi and
other groups.
 


‘Loba, at Trön, from the Kashong La.’
G. Sherriff, 1936, BL

This photograph was taken along the international

border between India and China, near the Chayul Chu,
a tributary of the Subansiri River. The people in it
have been identified by local inhabitants in the area as
either Sulungs or Nyishis from the upper Kamla val-
ley (information from Toni Huber).



Nyishi man.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Talo, 1944, SOAS
 


Nyishi or Hill Miri woman wearing an Apatani shawl.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS

Apatanis wove shawls for Nyishis in return for cotton.




Nyishi man, probably a porter, preparing his
hair inside a temporary shelter during the
Fürer-Haimendorfs’ first trip, a seven-day
walk, to the Apatani valley.
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 1944,
SOAS
 


‘A young Dafla [Nyishi] man held prisoner
in the Apa Tani village of Haja [Hija].’
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945,
SOAS

 Nyishi Festival of Nyokum
Photographs # 157-159 were taken in 1948 by
Charles R. Stonor, an agricultural officer with the
Assam Rifles, in a Nyishi settlement near Balipara
in Assam. These photographs of a healing ritual
provide the closest parallel with the now widely-
celebrated Nyokum festival, shown in photographs
#160-163, taken at Doimukh, near Itanagar in
2002. Nyokum is an example of the centralised
and community-wide celebrations that have been
established, with political support, throughout
central Arunachal Pradesh. Once a minor agri-
culture rite performed in isolated settlements ev-
ery few years, in the 1960s Nyokum was rede-
signed as an annual event and has now become a
government recognised holiday celebrated annu-
ally on a fixed date in several centralised loca-

tions. Combining new elements of flag, songs,
dance competition and speeches with traditional
ritual chanting, elaborate bamboo altars, mithun
sacrifice, rice-beer offerings and women’s dress
and jewellery, Nyokum has became an important
symbol of Nyishi identity.
The core of the festival, and older ritual, is the
negotiation with the vast spirit world in an at-
tempt to protect crops and increase prosperity.The
focal point of Nyokum is the set of bamboo al-
tars built in honour of various spirits, especially
Donyi (Sun), who are offered chickens and a
mithun, and possibly a goat or pig. During the
sacrifices, and beforehand, two or three nyubs
(priests) chant, while women pour rice-beer on
the altars from gourd ladles. This complex series
of chants and rituals, which used to stretch over
four or five days, is now condensed into two or
< three days.

Young Nyishi hunter on the road from the Apatani valley to
Tamen.
Michael Aram Tarr, 1996



‘Senior Priest addresses mithan.
Lokra.’
Charles R. Stonor, 1948, PRM
 


‘Second arrow is fired at mithan.
Lokra.’
Charles R. Stonor, 1948, PRM

The first arrow can be seen

in the mithun’s side. Stonor
described the actions of the
young man in this photo-
graph:
‘He was handed two arrows,
the first with a barbed iron
head, and the other with no
head. Taking his stand a few
paces from the victim he
fired them both into its side
in quick succession, and a few
second later the master of
ceremonies stepped forward
and pole-axed the mithan
with a steel axe’ (Stonor
1957: 20).



‘Mithan sacrifice: Women of the feaster’s household
collect rice beer in their grain baskets. The niuh-buh
atena [main priest] is running the beer down bamboos
from his paupei mop [wand of feathers].’
Charles R. Stonor, 1948, PRM
 

 Nyishi priests helping to arrange a basket of rice paddy on a woman’s back during the Nyokum festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002

The man on the left wears a badge proclaiming him as ‘Head Priest.’


 Nyishi women near the bamboo altar during the Nyokum festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002
 

 Nyishi women offer rice-beer during the Nyokum festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002

Nyokum, like many other festivals in the state, are increasingly politicised. Politicians make speeches and are accompanied by security guards
(note the man with a black headscarf and gun behind the main figures). The man front left is wearing a conveniently detachable hair knot.



Young Nyishi women in front of the bamboo altar during the
Nyokum festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002
 

 ‘Group of Akas. Jamirigoan. E. Bhutan. Jan 1884.’ photographer unknown, 1884, PRM

Akas, who prefer the term Hrusso, are a population of about 3,000 who live east
of the Nyishis, near the Kameng River.


 ‘Tagi Raja.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 6 January 1914, BL

The Tagi Raja was a leader of one section of Akas. The figure, said to be the Tagi Raja, wears a Tibetan hat and
sits with his wife on a bench (note the gramophone on the bench far left). Doubts exist about whether this man,
who does not appear to be an Aka, was in fact the Tagi Raja.
 

 ‘Group of Royalties.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 7 January 1914, BL

The tall figure was identified by colonial sources as the Tagi Raja, but again this may be mistaken.



Young Aka men.
Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM
 

 Aka musicians performing on Statehood Day. Michael Aram Tarr, New Jamirigoan, 2004


 ‘Miji woman [Duppen area].’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL  ‘Miji Headman [Duppen area].’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL
 


Miji priest during Statehood Day celebrations.
Michael Aram Tarr, New Jamirigoan, 2004

Mijis are neighbours of the Akas, with whom they

sometimes marry and for whom they sometimes con-
duct rituals.



Bugun man.
Verrier Elwin, 1955, BM

Buguns (also known as Khowas), who

number only a few hundred, live close
to the Mijis and the Akas.
 


‘Bugun Special: portrait.’
Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM



‘Aka [one word illegible]. Same as Mago people’s hat.’
Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL

The identification as Aka may be mistaken; this man

may be a Miji. Mago is a Monpa village near Tawang.
 


‘A But villager.’
Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL

But is both a village and the name of a section of

Monpas. Behind the boy is a structure for burning
juniper to fumigate.The figure to the right is a Miji or
Aka, behind whom stands a soldier with a rifle bayo-
net and topi.
 
‘Dirang Dzong.’
Frank Kingdon Ward, 1924, RGS

Dirang is an important Monpa town, with a dzong

(‘fort’), which served as an administrative centre for
 Tibetan officials appointed from Lhasa.


Dirang.
Michael Aram Tarr, 2003

This photo was taken from what is now known as

Old Dirang, near the location where photograph #176
was taken. Relatively little has changed since 1924.
The tall building on the far left is the dzong, which
now contains mostly rubble. The main road from
Bomdila to Tawang has been built, and minor changes
in architecture and metal roofs have been introduced.
This dance expresses Tibetan Buddhist ideas of non-
 

 Monpa deer dancers. Michael Aram Tarr, Shamphung, near Kalaktang, 2004

violence.


 Monpa yak dancers during Losar (New Year) celebrations on the road to Lahgam Chenrezig. Michael Aram Tarr, Dirang, 2004

This dance of clowns, two of whom play the yak, enacts the frustration of
trying to catch the indomitable animal.

‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’
Robert Reid, 1939, BL

This photograph of Sherdukpen dancers and

musicians was taken in Assam during an official
visit by the Governor of Assam, Robert Reid,
who wrote in his diary:‘Charduar, with Lightfoot
[P.O. Balipara] and other Brits. Saw Aka and
Sherdukpen dances’ (BL, Mss Eur E 278/54). 


‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’
Robert Reid, 1939, BL

Sherdukpen dancers for the ‘Hunting Dog and

the Deer’ dance during the same event shown
in photograph #180.
  ‘Udalguri 21 Feb 1942, The Kalaktang Jongpens.’ Robert Reid, 1942, BL

These Monpa officials from the Talung Dzong in the Kalaktang area paid a visit to Robert Reid, the Governor of Assam,
who described the event in his diary: ‘The Kelaktang Jongpens came in for their posa [payment] (Rs. 5000): a very small
party this year. A bad day and I doubt if the pictures will be any good’ (BL, Mss Eur E 278/57).


‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’
Robert Reid, 1939, BL

Robert Reid (describing the same occasion shown

in photographs # 180 and 181) wrote in his diary:
‘Met 2 Aka “rajas” of Jamiri and the Sat Rajas of
Shergao[n] and Rupa, headed by…[? Wangia], an
old chap in a beautiful yellow brocade and an or-
ange papier mache hat. They gave [me] a couple
of scarves, a similar hat… a little box, [? 70] bowls’
(BL, Mss Eur E 278/54).
 


‘Ishi Dorji at Shergaon.’
Frank Kingdon Ward, 1935, RGS

Ishi Dorje was the man, based in Tawang, whom

Kingdon Ward described as ‘the High Priest of
Mönyul [Monpa area]… a rotund man with little
pig eyes in his creased full-moon face.’ Kingdon
Ward noted that when he gave this Monpa official
a gift of a ‘noisy alarm clock,’ Ishi Dorje recipro-
cated with a ‘sheep, which ran along with us for a
fortnight before we had to butcher it’ (Kingdon
Ward 1942: 19-20).The building in this photograph
(a gompa or monastery) burned down in the 1960s
but was still standing when Verrier Elwin photo-
graphed it in the 1950s.



‘Tawang Monpa Special: a typical
Monpa youth leading his horse, May,
1956, Kameng.’
Verrier Elwin, 1956, BM
 

 Monpa residents of Mukto. Michael Aram Tarr, Mukto, 2003

Mukto is a village near Tawang on the opposite side of the valley.

Note the mixture of Nike knitted and yak’s wool felted hats.


 Monpa boys in a tree. Michael Aram Tarr, Morshing, near Kalaktang, 2004
 

 ‘Tawang Monpa Special: two little boys embracing each other at Dirang Dzong, May, 1956, Kameng.’ Verrier Elwin, 1956, BM

 Monpa Ney
Common throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world, The Mandala Phudung ney, near Kalaktang, is said astery and may be married) begins the ritual by
ney denotes a holy place or person or object. In to have been sanctified by Padmasambhava, the chanting a prayer before entering the cave. Once
the Monpa area, ney are typically found within legendary eighth-century Tantric Buddhist from inside the cave, someone (usually a woman) sings
wooded groves where it is forbidden to hunt, Swat who brought Buddhism to Tibet and is con- a song, after which the lama then points out the
collect firewood or defecate. Monpa ney are also sidered to be the ‘second Buddha’ by Tibetan different natural formations and explains their
often caves, lakes and unusual rock formations or Buddhists. This ney consists of a number of natu- story. These natural formations usually represent
rock textures. Pilgrims visit these places, especially ral caves and a waterfall where pilgrims clean ritual objects, such as books and bells, but may
the caves, where Padmasambhava or another pow- themselves before entering the caves. An atten- also be ‘models,’ for example, to teach humans
erful lama is said to have spent time and sancti- dant lama (a local ritual specialist, who has some how to construct a proper funeral pyre.
fied or ‘opened’ the spot. religious training but is not connected to a mon-



The cave where Padmasambhava is said to have meditated
and thus ‘opened’ it as a sacred place.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004

<
189
Pilgrims at Mandala Phudung Ney.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
 
The spot where shoes are left before entering
the most sacred area of the ney.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004




The waterfall where pilgrims perform ablutions before
entering the cave in which Padmasambhava is said to
have meditated.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
 
A pilgrim performs ablutions.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004




A pilgrim prostrates after bathing at the waterfall.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004


 A pilgrim in the cave. Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
 

 While the lama inside the cave explains its mythology, a katha (scarf) is placed over one of the sacred natural objects next to him. Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004

 Monpa Festival of Torgya
A festival performed throughout the Tibetan Bud- evil and bad luck, and the cleansing of the audi-
dhist world, Torgya is celebrated every year by ence of impurities and sins.Torgya means ‘casting
Monpas at the Gelukpa monastery in Tawang out of the torma.’
founded in the late 17th century by the 5th Dalai In addition to Torgya, Monpas perform other
Lama. A more elaborate version, Dungjur, is also forms of Tibetan dance and opera in contexts
held every third year. A set of religious texts outside the monastery at Tawang. The Aji Lhamu
(Torgya Chakhar) is recited for nine days before cycle of stories and the yak dance are both per-
the dances begin. During the festival, cymbals, formed (although with decreasing frequency) in
huge drums and long horns are played by monks all three Monpa areas in Arunachal Pradesh
with yellow hats to accompany deep-throated (Tawang, Dirang and Kalaktang).
recitations. The head lama (a Tibetan) delivers a
public sermon, and special scarves (katha) are pre-
sented to monks.
The highlight of Torgya, however, is the cycle of
masked dances performed in the monastery’s open
courtyard by young Monpa monks. For three days,
from before sun rise until after dusk, they per- 
form about two dozen dances, most of which
express Tibetan Buddhist principles, including the
consequences of actions and thoughts, especially
in the bardo state, or the transition from death to
rebirth.
A few dances narrate historical legends or are a
form of devotion, especially to Paldan Lhamo, the
guardian of the monastery. Some dances are slow
and sombre, others are theatrical and dramatic; a
few are humorous, laced with sexual innuendo
and racy dialogue (see photograph # 197). The
first day of the dance cycle ends with the burning
of two ritual structures (torma), made primarily
of dough and butter, and containing fire crackers
(the main structure is shown in photograph #
202). When the head lama throws these struc-
tures into the fire, it symbolises the casting out of


Appa, the clown, and his two sons.
Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2007


 Young Monpa monks rehearsing for the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
 

 Hunter and his two dogs during the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003


 Musicians during the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
 

 Wrathful deities in the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003


 One of the torma structures about to be destroyed during the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
 

 Shrine of Paldan Lhamo in the Great Prayer Hall of the Galden Namgye Lhatse Monastery at Tawang during the Losar (New Year) celebration. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003

 Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 160 (4) 2   9. ‘Abors [Adis] at Riga camp: Assam, India.’ Ar-
List of Photographs I. ‘Gambu [mock warfare] scene.’ Ursula Betts,Apatani thur Harold Walter Bentinck, January 1912, RGS
valley, 1947, PRM 1998.2489.13 S0010409
J. Negotiations between parties enumerating their 10. ‘Gam of Panghi [Pangin] and slaves, Statesman flag
Note: original captions are placed within inverted points with bamboo counters. Ursula Betts, Apatani of truce.’ Photographer unknown,Yambung, 18 De-
commas. valley, 1947, PRM 1998.2845.9 cember 1911, NAM, album of Capt. Smithes, Capt.
K. ‘Kago Bida, Chigin Nime [foreground] and Melville & Capt. Poole #73
Cover Tim [Betts] watching the air supply drop.’ Ursula 11. ‘Village of Kebang.’ Dugald McTavish Lumsden,
Betts, Yazali, near the Apatani valley, 1947, PRM February 1909, RGS S0015975
Apatanis welcoming the Fürer-Haimendorfs to the 1998.309.2095 12. ‘The burning of Kebang village.’ Capt. D. H. R.
Apatani valley. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, L. ‘[Apatani] priests on a lapang during a sacrificial rite’. Gifford, 9 December 1911, NAM, Gifford album #
March 1944, SOAS 155 (5) 1 Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 59
166 (5) 6 13. ‘The burning of Kebang village.’ Capt. D. H. R. Gif-
Frontispiece M. ‘Sarak [Hill Miri] woman of Kabak wearing the ford, 9 December 1911, NAM, Gifford album #62
characteristic cane brassiere, Subansiri.’ Verrier Elwin, 14. ‘The murderers of Williamson.’ photographer un-
Apatani priest looking through the viewfinder of March 1955, BM known, Pasighat?, 1912, BL Photo 1083/35 (127)
one of Fürer-Haimendorf ’s cameras. Christoph von N. Illustrated London News, 27 March 1875. 15. ‘Abor [Adi] warrior.’ John Howard Fry Williams,
Fürer-Haimendorf, Apatani valley, 1944, SOAS 158 O. The Tribal Transitions photographic exhibition: 1940s, BL Photo 492 (19)
(5) 3 school children discussing Fig.A. Moji Riba, Itanagar, 16. ‘A young Abor [Adi] matron.’ Robert Siggins Ken-
2006 nedy, 1911-1912, BL Photo 1112/3 (488)
Figures in the Introduction 17. ‘Unmarried Abor [Adi] girls wearing “bayops” [be-
Plates yops].’ John Howard Fry Williams, 1940s, BL Photo 
A. Dadaso Manyu’s family and friends who came to 492 (170)
participate in a Du festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Ha­ 1. ‘Chief ’s daughter, Bor Abor [Adi] Tribe: inhabit the 18. Adi men passing stones in a line as they build up a
yuliang, 2004 mountains immediately north of Debroogurh, Up- support wall during the bridge-building ceremony.
B. Stone pillar with Ahom inscription, probably early per Assam.’ Rev. Edward H. Higgs, near Dibrugarh, Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002
16th c. Maan Barua,Assam State Museum, Guwahati, 1859, BL Mss Eur E 262, p. 109c 19. ‘Construction of the Shimong R[iver] cane bridge.’
2003 2. ‘Gallong Abor [Galo Adi] woman.’ John Howard Fry John Howard Fry Williams, 1940s, BL Photo 492
C. ‘Tema, Huzara, and his Wife. Hill Mirrees [Hill Miris].’ Williams, 1940s, BL Photo 492 (31) (102)
by Colesworthy Grant, Sketches of Oriental Heads 3. ‘A Dhoba Abor [Galo] (helmet decorated with boar’s 20. Adi men dragging the single log to be made into a
(Calcutta, Thacker and Spink, 1840s), BL Prints and tusks and ‘Lama’ sword of Tibetan manufacture) in footbridge over a stream. Michael Aram Tarr, Shi-
Drawings P2628 Assam - East India.’ Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS mong, 2002
D. ‘Up Sisseri River. Headman of Lemo. His three sons S0002641 21. Adis battling with the thick vine rope during bridge-
and their wives.’ Frederick Marshman Bailey, 1911, 4. Adis taking a break during a bridge-building cer- building. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002
BL Photo 1083/35 (46) emony. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002 22. ‘Construction of the Shimong R[iver]cane bridge.’
E. Detail of photograph #31. Frederick Marshman 5. Drinking rice-beer from a bamboo tube during a John Howard Fry Williams, 1940s, BL Photo 492
Bai­ley, March-April 1913, BL Photo 1083/36 (55) break in the bridge-building ceremony. Michael (107)
F. ‘Another group at the village of Kebang.The gam of Aram Tarr, Shimong, 2002 23. Adi men and women pulling on a thick vine rope
Reu [Riu] addressing the village.’ Dugald McTavish 6. ‘Dhoba Abor [Galo] in Assam-East India.’ Benjamin during bridge-building. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong,
Lumsden, February 1909, RGS S0010411 Simpson, 1860s, RGS S0002653 2002
G. Matmur Jamoh and the machete with which his great 7. ‘Meeting of Mr. Noel Williamson with the Governor 24. ‘Construction of the Shimong R[iver]cane bridge.’
grandfather, Manmur Jamoh, killed Noel Williamson of Rima.’ photographer unknown, 4 February 1910, John Howard Fry Williams, 1940s, BL Photo 492
in 1911. Sarit K. Chaudhuri,Yagrun village, 2005. RGS S0010392 (104)
H. ‘ApaTani justice:a girl with one leg encased in a log tied 8. ‘S[h]imong Abors [Adis] and Mr. Williamson’s ser- 25. The completed bridge. Michael Aram Tarr, Shimong,
up at a public sitting-platform in Haja.’ Christoph von vant, who escaped.’ Arthur Harold Walter Bentinck, 2002
February 1912, RGS S0010410
 26. The Gandhi Bridge atYingkiong, upper Siang River. 44. Family members placing food gifts for the deceased in Du festival sponsored by Dadaso Manyu, a Digaru
Michael Aram Tarr, 2002 her burial chamber (visible in photograph # 45) Mish­mi. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
27. ‘Palibo who came to Pagum during our halt there while friends and relatives look on during an Idu 62. Priest making a food offering to a cow prior to the
to trade wool and ornaments for rice, 2.3.56. Siang.’ Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, main animal sacrifice at Dadaso Manyu’s Du festival.
Verrier Elwin, 1956, BM 2003 Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
28. ‘Palibo Hunter.’Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM 45. The burial chamber before it was sealed with all the 63. Mithun and cow sacrifice at Dadaso Manyu’s Du
29. Tangam man carrying a large basket. Verrier Elwin, possessions that the deceased will need in the land festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, 2004
1950s [1958?], BM of the dead. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003 64. Mithun and other skulls hung as ritual trophies near
30. Tangam woman smoking a pipe.Verrier Elwin, 1950s 46. The priest communicating with the dead person’s the entrance of a Digaru Mishmi house. Michael
[1958?], BM soul while holding purifying leaves late at night dur- Aram Tarr, Trafraliang, 2004
31. ‘Group of Tibetans at Mipi.’ Frederick Marshman ing an Idu Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New 65. ‘Khamti [Khampti] Woman (elevation of the hair on
Bailey, 27 April 1913, BL Photo 1083/36 (55) Elope, 2003 crown indicates marriage) wearing black velvet bod-
32. ‘Tibetans at Gyari Shing near Mipi.’ Frederick Marsh- 47. Idu Mishmi cane and bamboo bridge. Michael Aram ice and ear ornaments of amber.’ Benjamin Simpson,
man Bailey, March-May 1913, BL Photo 1083/36 Tarr, Anini, 2003 1860s, RGS S0002632
(53) 48. ‘Digaro [Digaru] Mishmees in Assam-East India.’ 66. ‘A Kamti [Khampti] Raja, a kind of Shan who came
33. ‘Ableo Chulikata [Idu] Mishmi Chief.’ Benjamin Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS S0002548 to Sadiya—with his attendants.’ photographer un-
Simpson, 1860s, RGS 002496 49. ‘Mijoo Mishmee [Miju Mishmi] woman in As- known, 1911-1913, BL Photo 1069 (98)
34. ‘Ableo Chulikata [Idu] Mishmi Chief.’ Benjamin sam-East India.’ Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS 67. Chow Khamoon Gohain Namssham, Khampti Chief
Simpson, 1860s, RGS 002497 S0002651 and first Arunachal Pradesh member of the Raja
35. ‘Capt. Woodthorpe, R. E.’ W. Robert, 1878, PRM, 50. ‘Mijoo Mishmee [Miju Mishmi]-Assam-East India.’ Sabha in New Delhi. Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham,
Woodthorpe album # 10 Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, RGS 002652 2004
 36. ‘[Idu] Mishmi children.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 51. ‘[Digaru and/or Miju Mishmi] Headmen.’ M. Steele, 68. ‘[Khampti] Head man of Village.’ photographer un-
1911-1912, BL Photo 1112(489) 1934, RGS S0010396 known, 1908-1909, BL Photo 1069 (95)
37. Rapping his machete on the fence to alert the dead 52. ‘Mijus and Tibetan traders at Sati.’ photographer 69. ‘Khamptee [Khampti] Tribe, Dehong River, North
person’s soul, the priest addresses it and prepares it for unknown, 1907-1908, RGS S0010390 Assam.’ photographer unknown, 1908-1909, BL
the journey to the land of the dead. Michael Aram 53. ‘Minyong [Adi]. Grave of village headsman [sic].’ Photo 1069 (98)
Tarr, New Elope, 2003 Frederick Marshman Bailey, 1913, RGS S0010388 70. Khampti house. Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004
38. A priest ritually cleansing people with special leaves 54. Miju Mishmi grave for two people. Michael Aram 71. Khampti fisherman on his porch. Michael Aram Tarr,
after the burial during an Idu Mishmi funeral. Mi- Tarr, Lohit Valley, 2004 Empong, 2004
chael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003 55. ‘Taraon [Digaru Mishmi]: Dancers at Tushe, Lohit.’ 72. Khampti Buddhist nun at the World Peace Pagoda.
39. Cooking for the feast during an Idu Mishmi funeral. Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham, 2004
Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003 56. Digaru and Miju Mishmis celebrating at a party held 73. Khampti Buddhist nuns at the World Peace Pagoda
40. A boy making a basket for the distribution of food during a sacrifice. Michael Aram Tarr, Hayuliang, blessing Chow Sanjay Mein, grandson of one of the
after the feast during an Idu Mishmi funeral. Michael 2004 nuns and a highly respected man in the community.
Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003 57. Digaru Mishmi woman weaving. Michael Aram Tarr, Michael Aram Tarr, Chowkham, 2004
41. Family members at the grave during an Idu Mishmi Trafraliang, 2004 74. Buddhist statue in a small roadside shrine. Michael
funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 2003 58. Digaru Mishmi man making a basket. Michael Aram Aram Tarr, Pang Khao, 2004
42. Labourers preparing the burial chamber during an Tarr, Loliyang, 2004 75. Dhammakirti, head monk of a Khampti Buddhist
Idu Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, 59. Sotha Chaitom, Miju Mishmi priest, at the domo monastery. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004
2003 ritual. Michael Aram Tarr, Loliyang, 2004 76. Small stupa in the prayer hall of a Khampti Buddhist
43. The eldest son leading his mother’s body in proces- 60. Structure of bamboo and leaves for addressing spirits, temple. Michael Aram Tarr, Empong, 2004
sion and holding her weaving shuttle during an Idu constructed and used by Sotha Chaitom during the 77. Remains of a Khampti ritual. Michael Aram Tarr,
Mishmi funeral. Michael Aram Tarr, New Elope, domo ritual. Michael Aram Tarr, Loliyang, 2004 Empong, 2004
2003 61. Priest making offerings to the ancestors at their 78. The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral: The lay priest,
symbolic resting place during the first night of the Chow Tiyot Mancheykum, who represents the family
 of the deceased in their supplications to the monks.   96. Young Hill Miri girl. Christoph von Fürer-Hai- 113. Apatani man leaping over a bamboo pole during the
Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004 mendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 194 (3) 6 Myoko festival. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf,
79. The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral: Monks listening   97. Young Hill Miri man. Christoph von Fürer-Hai- 1944-1945, SOAS 163 (4) 5
to the lay priest as he requests a good rebirth for the mendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 172 (2) 2 114. Apatani man leaping over basket containing rice-
soul of the dead man. Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem,   98. Young Hill Miri woman. Christoph von Fürer- beer during the Murung festival. Michael Aram
2004 Haimendorf, Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, Tarr, Reru, 2005
80. The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral: The lay priest SOAS 198 (3) 5 115. Apatani ropi ritual. Christoph von Fürer-Hai­men­
asking the monks to bless everyone present. Michael   99. ‘Miri [Hill Miri], woman of Dobom [Dodom?] dorf, March 1944, SOAS 156 (6) 5
Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004 village with grass skirt.’ Christoph von Fürer-Hai- 116. Apatani men and priests watching the ropi rit­
81. The 7th Day of a Khampti Funeral: The breakfast. mendorf, Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS ual. Christoph von Fürer-Hai­men­dorf, March
Michael Aram Tarr, Khenem, 2004 192 (4) 5 1944, SOAS 156 (6) 4
82. Khampti Buddhist funerary structure on the river- 100. Hill Miri man. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 117. Apatani ropi procession. Christoph von Fürer-Hai-
bank where cremations are performed. Michael Aram Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS 198 (3) mendorf, March 1944, SOAS 156 (6) 3
Tarr, near Momong, 2004 2 118. Apatani ropi procession. Michael Aram Tarr, Hari,
83. ‘Singpho. Warlike frontier tribe (Laos). Southern 101. Nyishi or Hill Miri girl. Christoph von Fürer-Hai- 2005
frontier of Assam.’ Benjamin Simpson, 1860s, BL mendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 199 (4) 1 119. The young man who killed the jungle cat. Michael
Photo 972 (29) 102. ‘[Hill] Miri woman of Rute-Hate village smoking Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005
84. ‘Singhpos [Singphos].’ Bourne and Shepherd studio, a pipe.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Upper 120. Hage Gyati, an Apatani priest, during the ropi cer-
1890s, BL Photo 124 (70) Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS 198 (3) 6 emony. Michael Aram Tarr, Hari, 2005
85. ‘Nagas [Wanchos].The murderers of Lieut Holcombe 103. Hill Miri man. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 121. ‘Chigi Nime, the seer of Duta, invoking the gods
and party.’ Oscar Jean Baptiste Mallitte, Calcutta, Upper Kamla, March-April 1945, SOAS 197(3)3 before sacrificing a mithan.’ Christoph von Fürer-
c.1875, BL Photo 680 (2) 104. Hill Miri or Nyishi men. Michael Aram Tarr,Tamen, Haimendorf, Apatani valley, 12 December 1944, 
86. ‘Wancho: Boy puts on his cane-belt at Longkao, 1996 SOAS 175(1) 3
5.12.54.’Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM 105. ‘The Palaver.’Asher Leventon,Apatani valley, Febru- 122. Apatani priest (probably Chige Nyime) perform-
87. ‘Wancho: Men [man] with carved hands in their [his] ary 1897, BL Photo 1120 (56) ing rituals for success in the raid against Nyishis.
hair, Nov. 1954.’Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM 106. Apatanis welcoming the Fürer-Haimendorfs to the Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, Apatani valley,
88. ‘Wancho: Scenes at the wedding at Senua, 23.11.54.’ Apatani valley. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 13 December 1944, SOAS 175 (2) 1
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM March 1944, SOAS 155(5)1 123. ‘Apa Tani war-dance on the morning of the depar-
89. ‘Wancho: Scenes at the wedding at Senua, 22.11.54.’ 107. Young Apatani woman with a baby standing on ture to Licha.’ Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf,
Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM the wooden steps of a house. Christoph von Fürer- Apatani valley, 13 December 1944, SOAS 175 (2)
90. ‘Wancho:The war-dance at Longkao, 5.12.54.’  Ver- Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 163 (3)1 3
rier Elwin, 1954, BM 108. Apatani men carrying firewood. Christoph von 124. Apatani men set out for war. Christoph von
91. ‘Wancho with the tattoo-marks of human figures al- Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 190 (1) 2 Fürer-Haimendorf, Apatani valley, 13 December
lowed only to the head-hunter.’Verrier Elwin, 1950s 109. Young Apatani woman with large hoop ear- 1944, SOAS 177 (2) 1
[1954?], BM rings. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944- 125. Nyishi village of Kirum burning. Christoph von
92. ‘Young Wancho man smiling, large comb, Nov.-Dec. 1945, SOAS 162(1) 4 Fürer-Haimendorf, 18 December 1944, SOAS 176
1954.’Verrier Elwin, 1954, BM 110. Apatani man with pipe. Christoph von Fürer-Hai- (4) 6
93. ‘Capt. Woodthorpe, R. E.’ W. Robert, 1877-1878, mendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 203(4) 1a 126. Apatani women donating rice and millet during
PRM Woodthorpe collection, album 2 ‘Miri and 111. Apatani priest in a sacred grove performing a ritual the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya,
Mishmi extreme N.E. Assam’ #11 during the Myoko festival. Michael Aram Tarr, 2005
94. ‘Miri [Hill Miri].’ W. Robert, 1877-1878, PRM Lempya, 1996 127. Apatani priest during the Murung festival. Chris-
Woodthorpe collection, album 2 ‘Miri and Mishmi 112. Bamboo strips placed as protection around a ritual toph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS
extreme N.E. Assam’ #16 structure during the Myoko festival. Michael Aram 166 (3) 5
95. Young Hill Miri man. Christoph von Fürer-Hai- Tarr, Hari, 2002 128. Apatani priest holding bamboo sticks with pieces
mendorf, 1945, SOAS 190 (5) 4 of ginger and chicks during the Murung festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005
 129. ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Kago Tajo, in his while onlookers offer rice-beer. Michael Aram Tarr, 161. Nyishi women near the bamboo altar during the
capacity as priest, conducting a ceremony with a Reru, 2005 Nyokum festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh,
mithan sacrifice.’ Ursula Betts, Hija, 1947, PRM 145. Men playing with phallic bamboo staves during the 2002
1998.309.2229.13 Murung festival. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 162. Nyishi women offer rice-beer during the Nyokum
130. Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Reru, 2005 Hija, February 1945, SOAS 188 (4) 3 festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002
131. Apatani man, Rubu Tangu, decorating a mithun 146. Phallic joker in a Murung procession. Michael Aram 163. Young Nyishi women in front of the bamboo altar
with rice powder during the Murung festival. Tarr, Hari, 2005 during the Nyokum festival. Michael Aram Tarr,
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005 147. Joker in a Murung procession. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002
132. Apatani woman, Rubu Tangu’s mother, putting rice Hari, 2005 164. ‘Group of Akas. Jamirigoan. E. Bhutan. Jan 1884.’
powder on a mithun during the Murung festival. 148. Nani Sala (left, in airplane) and Padi Lalyang (right, photographer unknown, 1884, PRM 1914.5.2.
Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005 in airplane) in a Dakota airplane. Christoph von 48.2
133. ‘Tint [Tendin] ceremony. Preparing a young mithan Fürer-Haimendorf,Apatani valley, 1962, SOAS 466 165. ‘Tagi Raja.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 6 January
for sacrifice.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, 1947-1948, PRM (3) 5   1914, BL Mss Eur F 157/324 (1)
1998.309. 2844.1 149. ‘A Daphla [Nyishi] at Dikalmukh. July 1921.’ 166. ‘Group of Royalties.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 7
134. ‘Tint [Tendin] ceremony.Woman wearing her best Charles Dennis Balding, 1921, BL Photo 498 (46) January 1914, BL Mss Eur F 157/324 (2)
clothes offering the mithan salt and sprinkling its 150. ‘Group of Daflas [Nyishis],Assam.’ Oscar Jean Bap- 167. Young Aka men.Verrier Elwin, 1950s, BM
forehead with rice and flour.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, tiste Mallitte, 1870s?, PRM 1998.219.2.7.1 168. Aka musicians performing on Statehood Day.
1947-1948, PRM 1998.309. 2844.2 151. ‘Loba, at Trön, from the Kashong La.’ G. Sherriff, Michael Aram Tarr, New Jamirigoan, 2004
135. Apatani man smearing rice powder on a mithun 1936, BL Photo 743/10 (211) 169. ‘Miji woman [Duppen area].’ Robert Siggins Ken-
during the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, 152. Nyishi man. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, nedy, 1914, BL Mss Eur F 157/324 (9)
Reru, 2005 Talo, 1944, SOAS 179 (5) 4 170. ‘Miji Headman [Duppen area].’ Robert Siggins
 136. Apatani men tying a mithun to a post behind 153. Nyishi or Hill Miri woman wearing an Apa- Kennedy, 1914, BL Mss Eur F 157/324 (8)
the sponsor’s house just before sacrifice during tani shawl. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, 171. Miji priest during Statehood Day celebrations.
the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 1944-1945, SOAS 170 (6) 4 Michael Aram Tarr, New Jamirigoan, 2004
2005 154. Nyishi man, probably a porter, preparing his hair 172. Bugun man.Verrier Elwin, 1955, BM
137. The same scene, a few minutes later when the mit- inside a temporary shelter during the Fürer-Hai- 173. ‘Bugun Special: portrait.’ Verrier Elwin, 1950s,
hun is killed. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005 mendorfs’ first trip, a seven-day walk, to the Apatani BM
138. Apatani boys carrying meat of the sacrificed mithun valley. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, March 174. ‘Aka [one word illegible]. Same as Mago people’s
in a basket during the Murung festival. Michael 1944, SOAS 152 (5) hat.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL Photo
Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005 155. ‘A young Dafla [Nyishi] man held prisoner in the 1083/37 (35)
139. Sacrificial blood in an aluminium pot during Apa Tani village of Haja [Hija].’ Christoph von 175. ‘A But villager.’ Robert Siggins Kennedy, 1914, BL
the Murung festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, Fürer-Haimendorf, 1944-1945, SOAS 200A (3)1 Mss Eur F 157/324 (32)
2005 156. Young Nyishi hunter on the road from the Apatani 176. ‘Dirang Dzong.’ Frank Kingdon Ward, 1924, RGS
140. The severed head of the mithun during the Murung valley to Tamen. Michael Aram Tarr, 1996 S0010387
festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Lempya, 2005 157. ‘Senior Priest addresses mithan. Lokra.’ Charles R. 177. Dirang. Michael Aram Tarr, 2003
141. ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Dancers performing Stonor, 1948, PRM 1998.320.215 178. Monpa deer dancers. Michael Aram Tarr, Sham­
in village street.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, February 1947, 158. ‘Second arrow is fired at mithan. Lokra.’ Charles phung, near Kalaktang, 2004
PRM 1998.309.2224.3 R. Stonor, 1948, PRM 1998.320.211 179. Monpa yak dancers during Losar (New Year)
142. Murung procession on its way through Hari village. 159. ‘Mithan sacrifice:Women of the feaster’s household celebrations on the road to Lahgam Chenrezig.
Michael Aram Tarr, 2005 collect rice beer in their grain baskets. The niuh- Michael Aram Tarr, Dirang, 2004
143. ‘Morrum [Murung] festival. Dispensing hospital- buh atena [main priest] is running the beer down 180. ‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’ Robert Reid, 1939, BL
ity to dancers.’ Ursula Betts, Duta, February 1947, bamboos from his paupei mop [wand of feathers].’ Mss Eur E 278/86-4
PRM 1998.309.2224.8 Charles R. Stonor, 1948, PRM 1998.320.201 181. ‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’ Robert Reid, 1939, BL
144. Young men, sporting paper mithun horns, march 160. Nyishi priests helping to arrange a basket of rice Mss Eur E 278/86-2
along in procession during the Murung festival, paddy on a woman’s back during the Nyokum 182. ‘Udalguri 21 Feb 1942, The Kalaktang Jongpens.’
festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Doimukh, 2002 Robert Reid, 1942, BL Mss Eur 278/88-3
183. ‘Charduar Feb.18.1939.’ Robert Reid, 1939, BL 201. Wrathful deities in the Torgya festival. Michael Aram
Mss Eur E 278/86-3 Tarr, Tawang, 2003
184. ‘Ishi Dorji at Shergaon.’ Frank Kingdon Ward, 1935, 202. One of the torma structures about to be destroyed
RGS S0010402  during the Torgya festival. Michael Aram Tarr,
185. ‘Tawang Monpa Special: a typical Monpa youth Tawang, 2003
leading his horse, May, 1956, Kameng.’Verrier El- 203. Shrine of Paldan Lhamo in the Great Prayer Hall of
win, 1956, BM the Galden Namgye Lhatse Monastery at Tawang
186. Monpa residents of Mukto. Michael Aram Tarr, during the Losar (New Year) celebration. Michael
Mukto, 2003 Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
187. Monpa boys in a tree. Michael Aram Tarr, Morshing,
near Kalaktang, 2004
188. ‘Tawang Monpa Special: two little boys embracing
each other at Dirang Dzong, May, 1956, Kameng.’
Verrier Elwin, 1956, BM
189. Pilgrims at Mandala Phudung Ney. Michael Aram
Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
190. The cave where Padmasambhava is said to have
meditated and thus ‘opened’ it as a sacred place.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
191. The spot where shoes are left before entering the
most sacred area of the ney. Michael Aram Tarr,
Mandala Phudung, 2004 
192. The waterfall where pilgrims perform ablutions
before entering the cave in which Padmasambhava
is said to have meditated. Michael Aram Tarr, Man-
dala Phudung, 2004
193. A pilgrim performs ablutions. Michael Aram Tarr,
Mandala Phudung, 2004
194. A pilgrim prostrates after bathing at the waterfall.
Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala Phudung, 2004
195. A pilgrim in the cave. Michael Aram Tarr, Mandala
Phudung, 2004
196. While the lama inside the cave explains its mythol-
ogy, a katha (scarf) is placed over one of the sacred
natural objects next to him. Michael Aram Tarr,
Mandala Phudung, 2004
197. Appa, the clown, and his two sons. Michael Aram
Tarr, Tawang, 2007
198. Young Monpa monks rehearsing for the Torgya
festival. Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
199. Hunter and his two dogs during the Torgya festival.
Michael Aram Tarr, Tawang, 2003
200. Musicians during the Torgya festival. Michael Aram
Tarr, Tawang, 2003
