Apatani men marching to war
These Apatanis are leaving the Apatani valley, after a night and morning of ritual preparations for war : they were part of an expedition, including Assam Rifles, led by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf and Capt : Davy against a group of Nyishis to the west of the Apatani valley : Carrying spears and...
| Full title: |
Apatani men marching to war [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: |
These Apatanis are leaving the Apatani valley, after a night and morning of ritual preparations for war : they were part of an expedition, including Assam Rifles, led by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf and Capt : Davy against a group of Nyishis to the west of the Apatani valley : Carrying spears and wearing shoulder armour of the blackened fibres of the sago palm, each man is being counted by the men standing and crouching on the right : as each man passes, the crouching man places another small piece of bamboo on the ground, in groups of ten : the standing man supplies him with these pieces : Each group of nine pieces is crossed with a tenth : When the file of men has gone, he will know how many warriors are in the expedition : this expedition set out to challenge the Nyishis of the Licha clan, who had for years waged war against Apatanis and other nearby Nyishis, taking hostages, stealing mithuns and occasionally murdering someone : the British colonial government was determined to break the stranglehold that this Nyishi clan held over the area, in order to promote civil administration and enable further exploration north, toward the McMahon Line : When the punitive party arrived in the area of Licha, Fürer-Haimendorf and Davy ordered the release of two recently captured Apatanis, a demand that ensured the support of the Apatanis in the party : Negotiations were held, villages evacuated, promises made, ultimatums issued and then ignored : In the end, houses and granaries thought to belong to those most responsible for the Nyishis' intractability, were burned in the settlements of Tabia, Bagi and Kirum in the Kiyi River valley : Several weeks later, this generations-old conflict was settled, temporarily, by the traditional method of dispute resolution, involving long speeches and bamboo pieces as counters, just as they had been used to count the men marching to war. |
|---|---|
| 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. |