Apatani blacksmith and assistant at work
Man on the right is an Apatani blacksmith : When Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf expressed an interest to see a blacksmith, he was ‘taken into a side valley and then up a pine-covered slope to a small hut, standing in an isolated position amidst pasture land : the blacksmith’s forge, I was told, mus...
| Full title: |
Apatani blacksmith and assistant at work [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: |
Man on the right is an Apatani blacksmith : When Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf expressed an interest to see a blacksmith, he was ‘taken into a side valley and then up a pine-covered slope to a small hut, standing in an isolated position amidst pasture land : the blacksmith’s forge, I was told, must stand at some distance from the village, for his art is fraught with magical danger…’ blacksmith was named Nenkre Kenchi, who said that he made all his own tools : He had been taught by his father, although the craft is not hereditary : the bellows consisted ‘of two wooden bowls covered with banana leaf cones; they were let into the floor and were worked by a man pulling alternate cones up and down, thus pressing the air into the bamboo tubes that lead to the forge… Most of the iron he worked came from Assam, largely in the shape of old or broken tea-estate hoes, which plains-going men obtained cheaply : If a man brought one tea-estate hoe, he : would turn it into two swords machetes : and would receive one side of bacon and one basket of unhusked rice for his 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. |