Lhoba (English translation: ;
; bo, ལྷོ་པ།) is any of a diverse amalgamation of
Sino-Tibetan-speaking tribespeople living in and around
Pemako, a region in southeastern
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, ...
including
Mainling,
Medog and
Zayü
Zayul County
()
KNAB, retrieved 5 July 2021.
[Nyingchi
Nyingchi (), also known as Linzhi and as Nyingtri, is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China. The administrative seat of Nyingchi is Bayi District.
Nyingchi is the location of Buchu Monastery.
Economy ...]
and
Lhünzê County of
Shannan, Tibet.
In 1965 the
Chinese government officially recognised Lhoba as one of the
56 ethnic groups in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. Lhobas are the smallest ethnic minority in China.
Lhobas, with respect to the Chinese perception of Southern Tibet (administered by India as Arunachal Pradesh), have been part of Chinese documentary films and articles. This has been criticised as propaganda by commentators such as
Claude Arpi
Claude Arpi is French-born author, journalist, historian and tibetologist born in 1949 in Angoulême who lives in Auroville, India. He is the author of several books including ''The Fate of Tibet: When Big Insects Eat Small Insects'', and several ...
.
Etymology
Lhoba means "southerners".
History
The area nowadays inhabited by the modern Lhoba people was known in medieval texts as ''Lhoyü'' (or ''Luoyu'', ''lho-yul'', ལྷོ༌ཡུལ་).
Lhoyü is now the name of an area in Tibet, while Lower Lhoyü is part of the Indian state 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 ...
. Luoyu came under the control of Tibet from the 7th century onwards.
It is not currently known whether modern-day Lhoba peoples in fact inhabited Luoyu at the time of Tibetan conquest, nor whether languages spoken by modern-day Lhoba peoples are indigenous to this region or not. While most
Tani tribespeople living in modern-day
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 ...
point to a traditional homeland in or around this region, there is currently no independent means of verification.
Most people designated as "Lhoba" within the modern-day
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions ...
(TAR) actually refer to themselves via a diverse set of
endonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
s, speak different languages, and do not traditionally self-identify as a single entity. The two main tribal groups which fall under the designation "Lhoba" in the TAR are the
Mishmi people (), who speak the
Idu Mishmi language, and the speakers of the
Bokar dialect of
Abo Tani, who are found in far greater numbers inside
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 ...
, a state of modern-day
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
claimed by China.
Other groups identified by Chinese authorities as "Lhoba" include the
Tagin people, who speak the
Bangni-Tagin language.
Language
Lhoba tribespeople speak at least three mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages:
Idu Mishmi of the
Digaro family, Bokar (
Adi) of the Eastern
Tani branch, and
Nah
Nah or NAH may refer to: Places
* Naha Airport (Indonesia) (IATA airport code: NAH), Tahuna, Sangir Islands, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
* Nehbandan or Nah, a city in South Khorasan Province, Iran
Other uses
* NaH, the chemical formula of sodium hy ...
(tagin) of the Western Tani branch.
Customs and dress
Many customs, habits and dress of different clan members may vary. The Lhoba men in
Luoyu wear knee-length black jackets without sleeves and buttons made out of sheep's
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
. They wear helmet-like hats either made from bearskin or woven from
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
stripes or rattan laced with bearskin. They also wear ornaments that include earrings, necklaces made of beads, and bamboo plugs inserted into the ear lobe. The Lhoba women wear narrow-sleeved blouses and skirts of sheep's wool. The weight of the ornaments the womenfolk wear is a symbol of their wealth, which includes shells, silver coins, iron chains bells, silver and brass earrings. Both sexes usually go barefooted. Their dress are quite similar to the
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, ...
an costume. The Idu men wear a sword and waterproof cane helmet, and a chignon on their hair and shields made of buffalo hide. Yidu weaponry includes straight Tibetan sword, dagger, bow and poisoned arrows.
Among the Yidu Lhoba (Idu
Mishmi), one of the sub-tribes is the Bebejia Mishmi. Bebejia Mishmi women are expert weavers and make excellent coats and blouses.
The Idu houses are divided into a number of rooms for use of every married person. Unmarried girls and boys sleep in separate rooms. A fireplace occupies the centre of the room, round which the inmates sleep. The Idu are polygamous and each wife has their own rooms in the house. The family is organised in
patriarchal
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical anthropological term for families or clans controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males ...
principles. The inheritance of a widow is exceptional compared to a mother's.
The wooden pillow of the master of the house is considered taboo to the inmates of the house as it is considered improper to sit upon it. Guests are not allowed to enter the room of the master of the house. The animal skulls preserved in the house are considered to be sacred.
The slash and burn method of cultivation, known as
Jhum is the mainstay of the Idus, and clearing of land is carried for every three to five years. The important crops they raise are
paddy
Paddy may refer to:
People
*Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname
*An ethnic slur for an Irishman
Birds
*Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon
* Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species
*Black-faced s ...
,
arum,
tapioca
Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America ...
,
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets a ...
and
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...
.
Rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
is the staple
food supplemented by millet maize and tapioca. They also take leafy vegetables, beans,
gourd
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and '' Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the ear ...
, sweet potato etc. Animal flesh is considered taboo to Idu woman. The Yidu also consume "Yu", a locally brewed rice beer, and rice beer prepared by a woman during her period is taboo to a priest.
The Idu calendar was based upon the menstrual period of the women and dating is done by untying one each from a number of knots put on a piece of string. Traditional village
panchayat
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...
(abbala) settle all internal disputes within the tribe.
Culture and religion
Few Lhoba speak the
Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to:
* Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
* Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect
* Any of the other Tibetic languages
See also
* Old Tibetan, the languag ...
. In the past, when there was no writing, the Lhobas kept track of history through telling their descendants and tying knot codes about their past. Their literature poses a significant influence on their Tibetan counterparts. They are known as "
Bokar
Lhoba (English translation: ; ; bo, ལྷོ་པ།) is any of a diverse amalgamation of Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan-speaking tribespeople living in and around Pemako, a region in southeastern Tibet including Mainling County, Mainli ...
" in Arunachal Pradesh of northeast India and are found in the Pidi and Monigong circles of Arunachal Pradesh. They trace their origin from a common forefather,
Abotani. They follow the genealogy counting from Abotani as Nijum-Jumsi-Siki-Kiyor-Yorkar-Kardung-Duram-Ramdung/Ramgu/Ramgo. All Bokar groups have originated from Ramdung, Ramgo and Ramgu. Their immediate brothers are
Galo,
Ramo
{{other uses
A ramo (Kwaio: ''lamo'') was a warrior-leader among certain tribes on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. A ramo was recognized when he had killed an adversary in personal combat, and established an intimidating reputation. This was also b ...
,
Libo/Pailibo and
Tagin.
The Lhoba(Bokar) in India are mostly converted to Christian now to this day. Mostly are Penticost followed by other Christian.
The Lhoba engage in barter trade with the
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, ...
ans, trading goods like animal hides, musk, bear paws,
dye
A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...
(locally knowns as ''tamen'' or botanically known as ''
Rubia cordifolia'') and captured game for farm tools, salt, wool, clothing, grain and tea from Tibetan traders. As a result of this constant trading, they have been increasingly influenced by the Tibetans in their dress. Many Lhobas have converted to
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 ...
in recent years as they traded with
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
monasteries, frequently blending it with their indigenous
animist
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems ...
beliefs, which traditionally have deep roots in the tiger. Others, remain
animistic
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, h ...
, especially those in
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 ...
, who follow
Donyi-Poloism; the pilgrimage centre of their community lies at
Atho-Popu the
Dibang valley
Dibang Valley (Pron:/dɪˈbæŋ/) is a district of Arunachal Pradesh named after the Dibang River or the Talon as the Mishmis call it. It is the least populated district in India and has an area of .
History
In June 1980, Dibang Valley distri ...
. The stories about immigration are told along the banks of twelve rivers in the Dibang valley, the clustered area known as Cheithu-Huluni. The
Yidu traditionally believe in a supreme god named "Inni".
Festivals such as
Reh are celebrated to appease the mold
deities
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greater ...
, who are traditionally believed to control the peace and prosperity of the people. Celebration with great fanfare and the performance of priest dances marks the end of the festival.
There are four funeral variants among the Yidu Lhoba (Idu Mishmi), and people of different social status would choose to conduct any of the variants. In all variants, an Igu priest would recite mourning songs for the dead.
Mithuns are sacrificed in the ''Yah'' variant of the funeral, which lasts for three to four days.
Lhoba boys are trained to hunt at an early age. Women have low status in society and have no inheritance rights from their husbands or fathers.
The Lhoba enjoy a subtropical/warm temperate climate.
Cuisine
Lhoba cuisine varies across regions. Staple foods are dumplings made of
maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American English, North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous ...
or millet flour, rice or buckwheat or
sago palm starch. In places near Tibetan communities people eat
tsampa
Tsampa or Tsamba (; ) is a Tibetan and Himalayan staple foodstuff, particularly prominent in the central part of the region. It is glutinous meal made from roasted flour, usually barley flour and sometimes also wheat flour. It is usually mi ...
,
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...
es, buttered tea and spicy food. Heavy drinkers and smokers, at celebrations the Lhobas sing and drink wine to celebrate good harvests and good luck. Buttered tea is their favorite drink. However, due to lack of
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...
, they suffer endemic
goiter
A goitre, or goiter, is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. A goitre can be associated with a thyroid that is not functioning properly.
Worldwide, over 90% of goitre cases are caused by iodine deficiency. The term is ...
. Many are either born deaf or mute. Their population declined until recently due to this disease, and due to their low population, many either intermarry with Tibetans or with the tribal groups 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 ...
, notably 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 ...
.
Dengba people
The Deng people (or ''Dengba'',
Chinese transcription of Taraon-Kaman languages: 代巴玫;
Chinese: 僜人;
Hanyu pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: Dèng Rén) are not officially recognised by the government of
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. They are related to the
Derung people of Yunnan or the
Taron people of Myanmar. They live in nine villages in
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, ...
's
Zayu County
Zayul County
()
KNAB, retrieved 5 July 2021.
[Himalaya
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...]
s and the Hengduan Mountains at an elevation of 1000 meters. Bradley (2007) reports 800 ' (Chinese: Darang Deng) and 200 ' (Chinese: Geman Deng; known as the Kaman or Miju Mishmi in India) in China, one village in Burma where they are known as ''Taraung'', and the Taraon, Tayin, or Tain (formerly Digaru Mishmi) in northeastern India.
[Bradley, David (2007). "Language Endangerment in China and Mainland Southeast Asia". In Matthias Brenzinger, ed. ''Language diversity endangered''. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.] Many of them have migrated from China to India.
References
Notelist
CitationsBibliography
*
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*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The LhopasIdu Arts and CraftsFuneral of the Idu Mishmiphotographs
Ethnic profile references
Asia harvest profile – Bagar LhobaAsia harvest profile – Yidu LhobaAsia harvest profile – Puroik/Sulung
{{authority control
Nyingchi
Ethnic groups officially recognized by China