The Buguns (formerly Khowa) are one of the earliest recognized schedule tribes of India,Tribes of India
/ref> majority of them, inhabiting the Singchung Sub-Division of

West Kameng West Kameng (pronounced ) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. It accounts for 8.86% of the total area of the state. The name is derived from the Kameng river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that flows through the distric ...

District of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

. Buguns live in several exogamous clans. Traditionally, the predominant occupation was agriculture, supported with other allied activities like fishing and hunting, cattle rearing etc. Buguns have their own folklores, songs, dances, music and rituals. A rare bird, the Bugun liocichla, was named after the tribe. They live mainly in the

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

Singchung Administrative Sub-Division of

district with its, almost whole, native population under 6-Thrizino-Buragaon ST Assembly Constituency of the state of

Language

The Bugun language, one two of the Bugunish/Kamenic language under Kho-Bwa languages is considered endangered by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

, with only around 10,000 speakers mainly concentrated in the Kameng district of

, India.

Religion

The Buguns are traditionally followers of the

animistic Animism (from meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, Rock (geology), rocks, rivers, Weather, ...

religion However, the early 20th century witnessed the gradual penetration of some dominant religions like Buddhism (

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

), particularly from the neighbouring ethnic group Sherdukpen, and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. Some have come under

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Prades ...

influence. Profound Buddhist influence has led to the adoption of many Buddhist rituals and the invitation of Buddhist lamas to participate in their communal rituals. As a result, many Buguns declared themselves as Buddhist in censuses.

References

External links

Endangered Languages

Tribal Village Councils of Arunachal Pradesh

* ttp://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bgg Ethnologue profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Bugun Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh Buddhist communities of India Donyi-Polo communities Scheduled Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh Ethnic groups in India