The Khamba, also spelled Khemba, are a people who inhabit the Yang-Sang-Chu valley in the westernmost part of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

, near the borders with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

. Within the valley, they live in the villages Yorton, Lango, Tashigong, Nyukong and Mangkota. Wheat and maize are principal crops cultivated by the Khamba. Their houses, which are made from stone and wood, are based on a structure that strongly resembles the

Monpa The Monpa or Mönpa () 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 dependen ...

. The Khamba are adherents of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

and use

Hingna Hingna is a town, tehsil and taluka in Nagpur district in Maharashtra state. Now Hingna is part of Nagpur Metropolitan Region and emerging as an industrial suburb of Nagpur city due to presence of various industrial developments. The Nagpur re ...

, their own script, which is based on the Tibetan script. However, due to relative isolation from

and occasional contacts with the Adi tribes, they are also somewhat influenced by the

Donyi-Polo Donyi-Polo (also Donyi-Poloism) is the designation given to the indigenous religion, of animistic and shamanic type, of the Tani and other Tibeto-Burman peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in Northeast India. The name "Donyi-Polo" means "S ...

faith in their beliefs. In every village there will be a Buddhist

Lama Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hig ...

. Festivals that are celebrated are parallel with the Memba, which includes

Losar Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various d ...

, the

an New Year.

References

External links

Ethnologue profile
{{authority control Buddhist communities of India