BY: Utpal Boruah
The girls of the Laju tribe here are tattooed with a design of a diamond on the chin between the age of four to five years and lines are drawn on the cheek and nose after they attain puberty.Besides face, other parts of the body such as the chest, navel,thigh etc are also tattooed with lines and dots.
Tattoos quite a craze nowdays actually is quite a primitive art. Tattoos are permanent artistic patterns on the skin by pricking and inserting a dye.
Tribals in the state of Arunachal Pradesh had been practicing this art since time immemorial due to some traditional customs and demonstrate the acheivements attained by a person and the art was performed with religious rituals and ceremonies. However, with advent of modernization this form of the art is fast disappearing.
With an effort to preserve the ancient culture the youngsters in Arunachal Pradesh are promoting tattooing as a fashion.
24 year-old man Tadum Baja, when asked about the tatoos on his arm said it was ”hep and cool” and all his friends also have done it.
Tattooing is called ‘Bifa’ at Laju and ‘Khuta’ in other areas. Tattooing of women here is a social custom but with men it has always been connected with head-hunting. Girls are tattooed in a ceremony called ‘Bong Juong’ which is basically done when a girl reaches her puberty.
In the Borduria, Namsang and Laptang areas tattooing is done by a maternal uncle of the girl whereas in other areas it is done by an expert. The designs of tattoos are generally a big stars with cross lines joining the ends, said a tatoo expert. The Adi women have tattoo marks about the mouth, in the hollow of the upper lip,immediately under the nose.
The men in Arunachal generally do not tattoo their faces or bodies, however, in the Laju Tut and Dadom areas under Tirap district, some men carve tattoos on their face and chest.
The traditional tattoo patterns for females are ‘V’ shaped designs with circular ends on the face, a feather design on the chest and stomach and zigzag patterns on the neck.
Tattoos amoung Aka women has more variations with
tattoos on their faces with artistic patterns of a straight line running below the forehead to the chin where it bifurcates into two directions.
It is different amoung the Singpho men who tattoo their limbs, arm and shoulders slightly and the married women carve both legs from the ankle to the knee in broad parallel bands consisting eight bars alternatively of black and white. However, the unmarried women of this community are not permitted to tattoo.
Tattooing in Apatani tribe is called ‘Tipe’ and the designs are different in males and females. Women have perpendicular lines from the forehead to the tip of nose and five lines on lower chin which are vertically done and one horizontal line on the upper portion of the lower chin. In this tribe the male members have ‘T’shaped designs on the middle of the lower chin.
The children too are tattooed at the age of seven and are done repeatedly till the marks are clearly visible in their young age. The girls are tattooed on the forehead called ‘Tipe Tinyo’.
Tattooing in Apatani is an age-old practice but from the last few decades this has been gradually disappearing due to ouside influences.
The paint used for tattooing is prepared from soot collected from burnt earthen pot in a green bamboo tube with boiled rice water along with a few drops of oil from skin domestic boars in proportion.
Before using this paint it is stirred with the help of a bamboo stick. The tools for tattooing consists of three to four pieces of thorns known as ‘Iimo Tire’ or ‘Tipe Tare’ and are bound together in a small wooden handle just like an axe said a tatoo developer.
Tattooing is a very painful operation as the designs are drawn by pricking by thorns of cane, said a tatoo expert. Another practice involves pricking of the portion first and then smearing the paint over it, said a tribal.
As they do not apply any medicine during tattooing, after
tattooing the portion of the body swells with severe pain. Instead of medicines they apply hot fomentation for few days. The wound heals up after a week.
The youngsters here are trying hard to revive this fast vanishing tradition by inflicting needles into their skin.//EOM//
Posted BY: Dr.Y.Bala Murali Krishna
