The Social Status of Women among the Tribal Society in Arunachal Pradesh, enlightened by Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi(1)
There is a total of 34 tribes living in Arunachal Pradesh. Among them, 14 are considered to be the main groups.
Some of them are Aka, Miji, Monpa, Sherdukpen, Nakte, Galong, Bhutia, Tagin, Bugun, Wanja, Apatani, Nyishi, Mishing, etc.
They have also many problems related to the social life of tribal groups in Arunachal Pradesh. The writer, Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi enlightens some problems in his eight numbers of social novels.
Read more—Yeshe Dorjee Thongchiৰ সৈতে সাক্ষাৎকাৰঃ ইটানগৰ, ৬ আগষ্ট, ২০১৮ চন
He not only refers to the problems but also reflects the solutions and tries to deal with the problem with a wholehearted effort to overcome the issues. Some common issues are polygamy, polyandry, inter-family marriage, etc.
The groups are eccentric and isolated, unaware of other groups. The main problems of all ethnic groups are superstition and black magic.
Thonchi wholeheartedly makes efforts to highlight the colorful and diverse traditions, customs, rites and rituals, and folklore, which are deeply rooted in the tribal society in his eight novels.
In this topic, we only focus on the issue of social Status of Women in the Ethnic Society, especially in Panchenpa women of Panchen and Dackpanang area of Arunachal Pradesh.
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Lummer Dai, the prominent novelist who belonged to the tribal community of Arunachal Pradesh, at first focused on some issues of tribes in his five novels.
Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi is the proper descendant of Lummer Dai. Thonchi wholeheartedly makes efforts to highlight the colorful and diverse traditions, customs, rites and rituals, and folklore, which are deeply rooted in the tribal society in his eight novels. Though he is from Arunachal Pradesh, his mother tongue is not Assamese, Thongchi is a prominent figure in Assamese literature.
He is a creative novelist who very realistically and vividly portraits ethnic colors and rises his voice through his novels.
In his novels, he always points out the sociological problems in the ethnic groups like Monpa, Sherdukpen, Wanja, Miji, Nichy, etc tribs, and tries to search for a way to get rid of them.
His novels are centered on life, society, social customs, education, economic standard, mutual understanding between the groups, and superstition of the tribes dwelling in Arunachal Pradesh.
The novel, “BishaKanyar Deshot” is a story of the superstition and black magic of a Panchen Monpa Woman living in the Panchen area of Arunachal Pradesh.
Going through the story of the novel, the writer narrates that Panchenpa women grow natural poison in their nails and they can kill any person using their natural poison mixed with liquor.
Even they can harm that person by looking at his food. They are called ” Doumo “. The meaning of Doumo is a witch.
There are many famous poisonous women around the Panchen area. An abstruse Doumo of Jimithang Lochang Doima had killed her own son and daughter along with four other youths by mixing her own poison in the wine. This is a real story expressed in a Hindi magazine named, Dharmayug, in the year 1983.
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Dr. R.K BEZBARUAH,Tezpur.
