Shades of Silver

Twice in a year, the Apatanis don't have time to breathe. One is during harvesting of paddy in September-October when the crops have to be safely in the granaries in the narrow window after they have ripen but before they fall off. The other occasion is now when the paddy saplings have to be transplanted in the fields from the nurseries before they grow too big.

Much water has flowed down the Kle river in the last fifty years, but little has changed as far as agricultural practices of the Apatanis is concerned. The two pictures below, taken more than fifty years back, could have been shot today!

This time of the year is one of the best times to visit Ziro. Not only is the weather excellent - after the chill of the winter and before warmth of the summer months, but lots of activities can be observed. The hills around the valley are replete with varieties of wild berries and fruits. Irrigated paddy fields present various shades of silver. 

It won't be very long these shades of silver give way to carpets of green and then to shades of gold. Welcome to Ziro again! 

Kiwi Hill

As the traditional agriculture struggles to survive, various commercial farmings have been started at Ziro these days. One of them is kiwifruit, introduced a few years back. Not that the fruit is entirely new; its wild variety has been savored by the local people as long as they can remember.

The picture above is one of the many fairly large scale cultivations started at Ziro. This is located at Tajang Myolyañ, just two kilometers ahead of Pine Grove.

Dree Story - 1: the Beginning of Agriculture

Abotani was tired. It had been a long day. He did not get much food today, though he had trekked through several hills. He had to forage for food everyday. He had to survive.

Lying down beside the fire, an idea struck Abotani, “I could plant the seeds of the food at one place. I won’t, then, have to go from place to place.”

As the cocks crew early next morning, he took this idea to Aba Liibo and Ane Donii. “A brilliant idea, Tani,” they cried. “Go to Jilyu Myogyañ (Jilyu Myodi) and Tolyo Siipêr (Yomo Barañ). Sow the seeds there. They shall be your aji (agricultural fields).”

“Where would I get the seeds?” Abotani asked.

“Ah, we will find out who can give you the seeds,” Aba Liibo and Ane Donii said.

Help was forthcoming. Hintii and Hirii offered to provide seeds for the primary food items. So, Abotani got seeds of emo (rice), sarse (millet), taku (cucumber) and tanyi (corn) from them.

“These seeds are pure,” they told. “They will yield pure food. They will sustain you in good times and bad times.”

Aha Riñtii brought the seeds of other food items like tape (pumpkin), peruñ (bean), inge (taro) and so on. Abotani did not consider them pure but sowed them to supplement his diet.

Cultivation was thus started in Jilyu Myogyañ and Tolyo Siipêr. Life became more comfortable for Abotani. After some years, however, the yield decreased. Abotani was worried. He consulted Aba Liibo and Ane Donii again, “I have been working hard in the fields, but the land is not kind to me. What could be the reason?”

Aba Liibo and Ane Donii examined the soil and said, “Aha! These fields have lost their fetility.”

“Is there nothing I can do?” Abotani asked.

“Yes, you can, Tani,” they said. “Some distance from here is a place named Liiha Poñtañ. Go ye there and cultivate.”

So, Abotani shifted to Liiha Poñtañ and made it his agricultural field.

Tarin

The Apatanis have always practiced multicropping in their paddy fields. Bulyu, tasiñ, ngiiyi amii and chunyi have always been harvested. These can be said to be the harbinger of the present day paddy-cum-pisciculture.

The practice got a major boost with the establishment of the Regional High Altitude Fish Seed Farm at Tarin near Ziro.

Till recently this picturesque site was the most popular picnic spot every new year. This trend, happily, has been checked to a large extent now. And other better sites are replacing it. Yet, it retains its freshness and continues to attract visitors from far and near even today.

This farm is said to be one of the very few of its kind anywhere in the world. Fish seeds are cultivated here and sold to the farmers at subsidized rates. At the same time, it is a demonstration site where bigger fishes too are raised.

The farm staff are now getting ready to prepare enough seeds for the farmers this season. Welcome to Tarin.

Midiñ - Green Beds

The seed beds - midiñs - are turning from black to yellow to green these days at Ziro.

It won't be long when the growing paddy plants will be taller and ready to be transplanted in the fields. In the meantime, the fields are filled with water and getting ready for the next season of agriculture.

Happy New Year!

Paddy and millet are the two main crops of the Apatanis at Ziro. And they are the ones which are transplanted from their seed beds to the fields. While the millet seeds are sown in the kitchen gardens - yorlus and balus, the paddy seeds are sown in the midiñs. While the yorlus and balus are excellent examples of multi-crop farming, midiñs could be the opposite of it. It is used only for growing paddy seedlings. So, it is hardly used for two or three months a year. Other times of the year, it rests in a puddle of water and covered with often colorful layers of algae.

The sight of these picturesque midiñs reminds one of the future and of hope. It must be exactly because of this that everybody wishes each other every new year.

Happy New Year, 2010!!

Harvesting Time

On the instigation of Tini Rungya, Abotani had married her and divorced his virtuous wife, Diilyañ Diibyu. As the years went by, Tiini Rungya showed her true colors and ruined Abotani. A day came when not a morsel of grain was left.

Abotani realized his mistake, divorced Tini Rungya and tried to woe Diilyañ Diibyu back. Ayo Diilyañ Diibyu would not listen. Abotani begged for some food. No mercy.

He had to survive. Humankind had to survive. He had to get some food somehow.

"Go to Diilyañ Diibyu's house," Abotani told his dog. "She must be drying paddy on the piipiñ. Roll on it and come back running fast."

The faithful dog did as he was told. However, Diilyañ Diibyu saw Tani's dog and immediately knew his trick. She caught hold of the dog, cleaned all the paddy crops sticking to his hair and sent the dog back, "Now you can go back to Tani."

When the dog returned Tani was disappointed. As he petted the dog, however, he noticed a morsel of grain in each of the small pocket that all dogs have on their ears. Now, he had to multiply these grains to feed mankind.

The first year, Tani sowed the grain in the hearth - ugu. Next, he sowed them in the space around the urinal - si sita. Thus as the years went by, he had enough grains to be sown in the seed bed - midiñ.

It is entii piilo now. Time for harvesting paddy that our ancestor had propagated all around. This is one of the two seasons when the Apatanis cannot wait for anything. The other is the transplantation time of the paddy saplings.

The dog being the one who brought grains to us, the Apatanis never beat them during harvesting time.

Entii piilo is also the time for entii patañs to get together. A patañ usually consists of ten members - five male and five female. It is because it takes around two weeks to complete the harvesting of paddy.

It is a time to rejoice - reaping the fruits of the year-long labor.

After 64 Years

1945 (a still from Haimendorf's film). An agricultural field and an irrigation channel.


2009. The same agricultural field and the irrigation channel.

Gold Everywhere

Entii Piilo is coming. The whole landscape of Ziro is turning into gold. Harvesting of paddy has started in places.

Countless shades of green, gold and yellow. It is a real feast to the eyes. Bountiful nature.

Paddy Transplantation and Siigañ

The Apatanis have two occasions in a year when everything can wait but their works in the paddy fields. One is now - time for transplantation of paddy saplings. The other would be in October - harvesting time.



Its a joy to look at the irrigation channels - siigañs these days. This is the time when the water should be flowing continuously in these channels.




As children, we used to put paper boats at the origin of this siigañ and follow the course till it joins back the original river downstream.

Showcasing Ziro

The maiden visit of the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil to Arunachal Pradesh was an occasion for showcasing the rich cultural heritage as well as potential of the women of the state. It was made an special occasion to showcase Ziro for all the right reasons in the Banquet Hall, Itanagar.

This is the model of the Apatani agricultural system - siigan, hurbu, endi, arge and pakho. Oh yes, and live fishes! In the background is the picture of the view of Ziro from Paku Akhii Putu (seen in one of the previous posts).


The followings are the model of an Apatani house - without walls.




I wish a President visits the state more frequently!

Apatani Irrigation System

There are many finer practices of irrigation of agricultural fields among the Apatanis. One is the channel within the field to ensure retention of appropriate amounts of water throughout the year. These channels also prevent sudden drainage and subsequent washing away of fertile top soil from the field.

With the increased popularity of psciculture, more innovative methods are being used these days .

Fencing Plants

It is not for nothing that the Apatanis are known to be good farmers. Gardening has been one of their expertise from time immemorial. Gardens are classified into two categories - balu which are near the houses, usually at the backyard and are the typical kitchen gardens; and yorlu, which are further away from the village. These gardens provided varieties of vegetable, notably beans, pumpkins, chillies, gian haman, potatoes and so on. It also served as the nurseries for millet.



One of the prohibiting factors of any kind of gardening had always been fencing, because cattle or wild animals were always a threat to them. The Apatanis solved this problem by using plants like sankhan melyan and tai belan as fencing materials.

A stroll around any of the several hillocks in the Ziro valley is a pleasure and a walk on a path between two neatly bound natural fencing is sheer ecstasy.

Water Management

A few days back, I met an avid traveler who had just been to Ziro and enthusiastically telling me how beautiful the place is. He had all praise for the agricultural system of the Apatanis. I was happy to meet one more person who appreciates the tribe and its customs. Then he started speaking about the ‘Keley’ river and remarked that the water there should be used for irrigation purpose!

“It is the water of that river which irrigates 90% of the rice paddy you saw,” I told him.

“How can that be?” he was incredulous. “That river bed is lower than the paddy fields.”

I then understood that he just had a glance at the paddy fields and the river, but not really looked at the irrigation system of the Apatanis. It also made me realize how really expert the Apatanis are in maximally utilizing the water resource in the area. The traditional irrigation channels (siigangs) are diverted from the main river at the traditional irrigation projects called bogos made of bamboo and wood.

Moreover, the perfect gradient of the irrigation channels – the siigangs – are something to be given a thought. Neither does the water in any of the siigangs flow too fast to cause damage, nor does it flow too slow to remain stagnant anywhere in its course.

Apart from irrigation, there are other areas of water management that is often not noticed. One is the traditional way of erosion protection using bamboo and wood. This was a laborious affair, as it had to be repaired every year, but it was quite effective. That is the reason the course of the ‘Keley’ river had not changed over all these years.

Land Use at Ziro

The harvesting of paddy is at the fag end. We can still see some fields being ploughed again immediately after harvest and potato gardens being started. The Apatanis, being meticulous agriculturists leave not even an inch of land unused. Similarly in the above picture, not even a single week in an agricultural calender is left unused. Vegetable gardening immediately after paddy harvest.

I wish this was happening at Ziro. The above picture is in the Kathmandu valley in Nepal where the topography and weather condition is exactly same as at Ziro valley. If this can happen there, this can happen here too.

In winter after harvest in October, this is the picture that Ziro wears:



I am sure someday, somebody will start using the land even in winter and beat a way for the rising sun.

Bamboo implements

The Apatanis are known for the meticulous care they take of their agricultural fields. In fact, it is often said they take too much care of the fields. After transplantation of paddy saplings, for example, they have to repeat three cycles of weeding before the paddy is harvested. It ensures that the fields are always clean.

Two days back when we visited Hong village with two American friends, the women had just returned from their works. One of our friends was into farming in Washington. The women asked her whether they do weeding too. Of course they do, but not that much and not in the same way as the Apatanis do.

The Apatanis use an implement called Pallii which used to be made of bamboo. These days, almost everybody use iron Palliis. The method of weeding remains the same.