significance of bamboo in karbi culture: a case study among the karbi tribes of assam (india)
Kh Narendra Singha,Longkiri Timung
Published in International Journal of Advanced Research in Biology and BioTechnology
ISSN: xxxx-xxx Impact Factor:xx Volume:1 Issue:1 Year: 10 March,2015 Pages:1-9
Abstract
The tribal people usually live in the forest areas, thus they have a very close relationship with the natural resources. They try to utilize most of the resources available in the natural environment according to their needs. Apart from economic, political and cultural, their religious aspects are also associated with the flora and fauna. The ritual practices of the Karbis are associated with a number of ritual traits which are wholly collected from surroundings natural environment. Bamboo is a versatile group of plants capable of providing ecological, economic and livelihood security to the people of the north-eastern States of India. The livelihood of the tribal people of the North-east India mainly depends on bamboo. Bamboo shoots are a delicious food for the majority of the people of the north-eastern states. The tribals living in the areas earn their livelihood through selling bamboo culms and shoots as well as incense sticks and other industrial products made out of bamboo. The versatile uses of bamboo have made it the backbone of the rural economy of the north-eastern Region. Bamboo is also one of the ritual traits which are utilized in almost every ritual performances of the Karbis, be it, the rites of passage or the rites of intensification. The Karbis are one of the important tribes scattered in north east India with a major concentration in the central part, in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam and their livelihoods depends on the forest based natural products of their surrounding forest. The present study attempts to find out the importance of bamboo in the Karbi culture and identify some of the bamboo made traits which is being utilized in their ritual performances. The data were collected from the villages of Lumbajong block of Karbi Anglong district of Assam (India). Case study methods were used for collecting the relevant information. One-third of the households in the villages covered in the study were having bamboo cultivation. The findings revealed that Karbis used bamboo for various purposed viz. for ritual purpose, economic, food as well as to prepare different household implements.
Kewords
Bamboo, Karbis, Culture, Ritual, livelihood.
Reference
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