Landscape of the Apatani valley
This landscape of the Apatani valley was taken from a point near Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf's camp site, which is raised above the paddy fields : Wet-rice agriculture is the Apatanis’ main food production system : Nearly every metre of level land is devoted to paddy cultivation, mostly the...
| Full title: |
Landscape of the Apatani valley [electronic resource] English. |
|---|---|
| Format: | Photo |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[S.l.] :
[s.n.],
1944.
|
| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
FURER. RSA. PHOTOS. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online access: |
Click here to view record |
| Summary: |
This landscape of the Apatani valley was taken from a point near Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf's camp site, which is raised above the paddy fields : Wet-rice agriculture is the Apatanis’ main food production system : Nearly every metre of level land is devoted to paddy cultivation, mostly the flooded plots in the centre of the valley that produce two varieties : another, early ripening variety grown on dry land is more labour intensive and less popular as food : taking advantage of the slightly southward sloping landscape, Apatanis irrigate the fields by building bunds at carefully graded heights : Into these caked mud walls, they insert wood sluices, hollowed out from the heavy trunks of hardwood trees, which are cut and carried down the high slopes of the surrounding mountains : apatanis also use nursery beds for millet as well as rice, small hoes and sickles, but no animals, machines or wells : the paddy fields stand in the centre not only of the valley but of local culture, too : Four months are named after rice varieties or stages in their cultivation : the work is constant, with a two-week break in January the Murung (Feast of Merit) festival season, and a day here and there at other times : the cycle of tilling, soil mixing, bund repairing, sluice fitting, nursery bed sowing, transplanting, plus weeding three or four times a summer, culminates in the harvest : Using metal sickles from Assam, the early crop is harvested in August, but the main crop is not cut until October, and by mid-November the wooden granaries are filled with husked rice : Paddy plots are owned by families, who tend them throughout the year, although some of the labour is done by groups : Many of these groups are informal, voluntary arrangements between eight to ten people, mostly women, who work in each other’s fields on a rotating basis : Increasingly, however, groups now consist of young men who work for wages during the heavy periods of agricultural season : a few individual men and women, of all ages, also do paid labour. |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[S.l.] :
[s.n.],
1944.
|
| Subjects: | |
| Series: |
SOAS Digital Library.
FURER. RSA. PHOTOS. |
| Access: |
© 1944, The Estate of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. The Estate is currently (2015) represented by Nicholas Haimendorf, son of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. ----- Creative Commons (by-nc-nd). -- This image may be used in accord with Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. |
| Place of Publication: |
India -- Arunachal Pradesh -- Lower Subansiri District -- Apatani River valley. |