Monpa people

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Monpa
Alternative names:
Momba
Monpa diorama.JPG
Diorama and wax figures of the Monpa people at the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
Total population
75,000
Regions with significant populations
 India (Arunachal Pradesh)60,545 (2011 census)[1]
 China (Tibet)10,561 (2010 census)[2]
 Bhutan3,000
Languages
East Bodish languages, Tshangla language, Kho-Bwa languages
Religion
Tibetan Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Tibetan, Sherdukpen, Sharchops, Memba, Limbu

The Monpa or Mönpa (Tibetan: མོན་པ་, Wylie: mon pa; is a major tribe of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. The Tawang Monpas have a migration history from Changrelung. The Monpa are believed to be the only nomadic tribe in Northeast India - they are totally dependent on animals like sheep, cow, yak, goats and horses. The Monpa have a very close affinity with the Sharchops of Bhutan. Their languages are Tibeto-Burman languages written with the Tibetan alphabet.

Demographics[]

Most Monpas live in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of around 60,000, centered in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng. Around 9,000[2] Monpas live in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, in Cona County, Pêlung in Bayi District, and Mêdog County. These places have a low altitude, especially Mêdog County, which has a tropical climate unlike the rest of Tibet.[3] Of the 60,000 Monpas who live in Arunachal Pradesh, about 20,000 of them live in Tawang district, where they constitute about 97% of the district's population, and almost all of the remainder can be found in West Kameng district, where they form about 77% of the district's population. A small number live in East Kameng district near the border with Bhutan.[4]

The Monpa are sub-divided into six sub-groups because of variations in their language. They are namely:

History[]

Th earliest records of the area the Monpas inhabit today indicate the existence of a kingdom known as Lhomon or Monyul, which existed from 500 B.C to 600 A.D.[5] Subsequent years saw Monyul coming under increasing Tibetan political and cultural influence, which was apparent in the years when Tsangyang Gyatso, an ethnic Monpa, became the 6th Dalai Lama. At that time, Monyul was divided into thirty two districts, all of which spanned the areas of Eastern Bhutan, Tawang, Kameng and Southern Tibet. However, Monyul, also known as the Tawang Tract, remained sparsely populated throughout its history.[6]

In the 11th century, the Northern Monpas in Tawang came under the influence of the Tibetan Buddhism of the Nyingma and Kagyu denominations. At this time the Monpa adopted the Tibetan alphabet for their language. Drukpa missionaries came to the region in the 13th century, and missionaries of the Gelug school came in the 17th century. The Gelug school is the sect to which most Monpas belong today.[7]

Monyul remained an autonomous entity, with local monks based in Tawang holding great political power within the kingdom, and direct rule over the area from Lhasa was established only in the 17th century. From this time until the early 20th century, Monyul was ruled by authorities in Lhasa, who were themselves ruled by the Qing dynasty until its collapse in 1912. However, in the 19th century, the area began to interest the British Raj. One of the first British-Indian travellers into Monyul, Nain Singh Rawat, who visited the area from 1875 to 1876, noted that the Monpas were a conservative people who shunned contact with the outside world and made efforts to monopolise trade with Tibet. Owing to its strategic position, subsequently the British sought to make their political influence felt.

In 1914, Britain and its colonial authorities in India drew the McMahon Line, which they claimed to be the border between Chinese Tibet and British India. The line divided the land in which the Monpas inhabited, and became a source of contention in subsequent years because of ambiguities in the specific location of the McMahon Line.[8]

In subsequent years, China continued to claim the pre-McMahon border as the border between Tibet and India, while British India gradually established effective control over Monyul south of the McMahon line. Following the independence of India and a change of government in China, the dispute became a major issue in relations between China and India. The McMahon Line was the effective line of control in this period, though the border was somewhat porous. In 1962, skirmishes along the disputed border escalated into the Sino-Indian War. During the war, China took effective control of the entire Monyul area south of the McMahon Line as well as other surrounding areas. However, the war ended with China's voluntary withdrawal north of the McMahon Line. Negotiations on the dispute remain active.

Languages[]

The languages spoken by the Monpa people are often referred to as the "Monpa languages". This is not a genealogical term, and several quite different languages are subsumed under it. "Monpa languages" include Kho-Bwa, East Bodish, and Tshangla languages. According to Blench (2014), five groups may be distinguished:[9]

  • The Sherdukpen, Lish, and Sartang languages show no obvious relationship to other languages of the region and they comprise a small language isolate cluster. These three languages are related to Bugun, and form a "Kho-Bwa" group together with it.
  • The Tawang language is an East Bodish language, and is a variety of Dakpa.
  • The languages of the Zemithang, Mago and Thingbu villages are additional East Bodish varieties that are not mutually intelligible with Tawang.
  • The Tshangla language within Bodish comprises closely related dialects spoken in the villages of Nyukmadung and Lubrang and the Brokpa language spoken by nomads. Other languages include Dirang (also known as "Central Monpa"), Murshing and Kalaktang (also known as "Southern Monpa").

Culture[]

The Monpa are known for wood carving, thangka painting, carpet making and weaving. They manufacture paper from the pulp of the local sukso tree. A printing press can be found in the Tawang Monastery, where many religious texts are printed on local paper and wooden blocks, usually meant for literate Monpa Lamas. They are also known for their wooden bowls and bamboo weaving.[3]

All animals except men and tigers are allowed to be hunted. According to tradition, only one individual is allowed to hunt the tiger on an auspicious day, upon the initiation period of the shamans, which can be likened to a trial of passage. After the tiger is killed, the jawbone, along with all its teeth, is used as a magic weapon. It is believed that its power will enable tigers to evoke the power of the guiding spirit of the ancestral tiger, who will accompany and protect the boy along his way.

Religion[]

The Monpa are generally adherents of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which they adopted in the 17th century as a result of the influence of the Bhutanese-educated Merag Lama. The testimony to this impact was the central role of the Tawang Monastery in the daily lives of the Monpa folk. Nevertheless, both Bon and elements of the pre-Buddhist faith (often also called "Bon") remain strong among the Monpas, particularly in regions nearer to the Assamese plains.[7]

Festivals[]

Principal Monpa festivals include the Choskar harvest festival, Losar, and Torgya. During Losar, people generally offer prayers at the Tawang Monastery to pray for the coming of the Tibetan New Year. Pantomime dances are the principal feature of the Ajilamu festival.

Aji Lamu Folk Dance of Arunachal Pradesh

Buddhist lamas read religious scriptures in the gompas for a few days during Choskar. Thereafter, the villagers walk around the cultivated fields with sutras on their back. The significance of this festival is to pray for better cultivation and the prosperity of the villagers, and protect the grains from insects and wild animals.

Society[]

The traditional society of the Monpa was administered by a council of six ministers locally known as Trukdri. The members of this council are known as Kenpo, literally the “Abbot”. The Lamas also hold honored positions, two monks known as Nyetsangs, and two other Dzongpen.

The man is the head of the family and he is the one who makes all decisions. In his absence, his wife takes over all responsibilities. When a child is born, they have no strict preference for a boy or a girl.

Lifestyle and dress[]

The traditional dress of the Monpa is based on the Tibetan chuba. Both men and women wear headwear made of yak hair, with long tassels. The women tend to wear a warm jacket and a sleeveless chemise that reaches down to the calves, tying the chemise round the waist with a long and narrow piece of cloth. Ornaments are made of silver, corals and turquoise. Simetimes a person wears a cap with a single peacock feather in a felt hats.

Due to the cold climate of the Himalayas, the Monpa, like most of the other ethnic groups in the region, construct their houses of stone and wood with plank floors, often accompanied with beautifully carved doors and window frames.[10] The roof is made with bamboo matting, keeping their house warm during the winter season. Sitting platforms and hearths in the living rooms are also found in their houses.

Economy[]

The Monpa practice shifting and permanent types of cultivation. Cattle, yaks, cows, pigs, sheep and fowl are kept as domestic animals.

To prevent soil erosion from planting crops on hilly slopes, the Monpa have terraced many slopes. Cash crops such as paddy, maize, wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, peppers, pumpkin and beans are planted.

Notable Monpas[]

  • 6th Dalai Lama
  • Ngawang Tashi Bapu, popularly known as "Lama Tashi", Grammy Award nominee in the Traditional World Music category, 2006.
  • Dorjee Khandu, former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh
  • Pema Khandu, son of Dorjee Khandu and the current Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "国家统计局：《2010年第六次人口普查数据》". Archived from the original on 25 May 2013.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Moinba Ethnic Group and its customs". Tibet Travel Guide-Let's Travel Tibet. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Winds of Change: Arunachalee in Tradition and Transition" (PDF). 26 September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  5. ^ Andrea Matles Savada (1993). Nepal and Bhutan: Country Studies. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. p. 21. ISBN 0-8444-0777-1.
  6. ^ China Study Centre (1989). China Report. China Study Centre. pp. 104–5.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Col Ved Prakash (2007). Encyclopaedia of North-east India, Vol# 3. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. pp. 1206–7. ISBN 978-81-269-0705-2.
  8. ^ Harish Kapadia; Geeta Kapadia (2005). Into the Untravelled Himalaya: Travels, Treks and Climbs. Indus Publishing. pp. 50–3. ISBN 81-7387-181-7.
  9. ^ Blench, Roger (2014). Sorting out Monpa: The relationships of the Monpa languages of Arunachal Pradesh.
  10. ^ Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India (1979). Arunachal Pradesh. University of Michigan. p. 10.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links[]

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