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\u201cWhen I was in my late 20s, I was in Echali, my village. I went hunting right before the monsoon when the jungle is full of berries,\u201d Buge begins. \u201cSometimes after gorging on berries, the bears just fall asleep on the trees. Once, I saw five bears sleeping on one tree \u2013 two were sleeping on the lower branches and three were on top. I shot four of them,\u201d Naba says. \u201cBut I was only able to carry back two of the bears. I stopped in a friend\u2019s village to rest and share the meat. When I arrived at his house, an old woman ordered me to take the meat away. She seemed angry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He drew a breath before recounting the rest of the story. \u201cA stillborn baby had been born in that house. We are not supposed to bring jungle meat into a house where someone had died, but I had not known. I left immediately, but I knew I had broken a ghena.\u201d A ghena is a taboo, and breaking it has consequences.<\/p>\n
The ghenas<\/strong><\/p>\n In Arunachal, there are dozens of tribes and sub-tribes. The Idu Mishmis are dwindling; numbering about 12,000 people. Their lives are profoundly shaped by rituals, myths, and taboos. These rituals are intertwined in cultural practices related to food, death, prayer, and even hunting. Referred to as ghena, these restrictions provide ecological balance for the Idu tribe.<\/p>\n Ghenas can function as an intricate conservation device. Large animal killings demand various personal sacrifices, usually for at least five days. The hunter is not allowed to sleep with his wife, bath, eat garlic or salt, or wash clothes. Even if you only eat the meat from the jungle there is a penance. An important ghena applies to tigers, the apex predator in the region. Tigers can only be killed in self-defense, or if one has turned into a maneater. If a tiger is killed otherwise the ghena attaches not just to an individual but the whole village, and all of them suffer, making the protection of tigers a collective responsibility. Ghenas ensure that the Idus continue to respect the ecosystem they inhabit because it remains at the forefront of their mind.<\/p>\n Hunting is a big part of Idu life. Hunters would go out into the jungle for months at a time. The practice supplements kitchens, and during it the Idu also collect medicinal plants. Children go hunting and foraging because it is a matter of survival, custom, and ritual. Hunting enables children to learn about nature and imbibe traditional knowledge that generations before them have cultivated.<\/p>\n Thinking twice about hunting<\/strong><\/p>\n Ghenas require people to think twice about hunting; they are not to be taken lightly. Buge is an exceptional hunter and in the Idu community he is a legend, but even he has suffered the consequences of breaking ghena and disrespecting nature. Buge reduced his hunting after the bear attack, but in spite of that, all his sons died over the course of his lifetime. He thinks this is because of his ghena of hunting too much.<\/p>\n As Arunachal Pradesh opens to the world with increasing development and tourists coming to see its natural beauty, it is at risk of becoming another destination hotspot, with pressure on ecological resources. Naba wonders what will happen to the next generation. Many of them are not interested in the Idu ways. He is seeing things rapidly change before his eyes. \u201cIf people stop going into the jungle and lose their connection, how will we keep our balance?\u201d<\/p>\n A worse thought may be that if people go into the jungle, and do not observe the ghenas \u2013 a mauling by a bear may be the least of dangers. Like Buge, they may live to see their children die.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the mountainous north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, the tribal communities have elaborate taboos to govern their interaction with nature, and thus manage conservation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2194,"featured_media":20022236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[764],"tags":[523,555],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000111],"class_list":["post-20022235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-conservation","tag-indigenous-peoples","country-india"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NABA-sword.jpg\")
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