[ Prafulla Kaman ]
PONGGING, 6 Jan: Keeping their tradition alive, the members of the Panyang community living in Pongging village in Upper Siang district on Friday organised the 210-year-year-old ‘Bat Festival’ at Pompik Adi hill, on the left bank of the Siang river.
Like in the previous years, members of the Panyang clan, including men, women and children, swarmed into the natural cave in Ponpik Adi, on the outskirts of Pongging village, and caught bats as part of the festival.
It is said that the practice of hunting bats in small quantities once in a year helps keep the natural demographic balance of the bat population in the hill. Moreover, the community feasts on account of the bat festival to keep unity among the clan members.
Referring to oral history, Ponpik Adi Preservation and Protection Committee president Ramayon Panyang said that their clan’s first man, Tamut Panyang, had “bought” the Ponpik hill area along with with the bat cave from the villagers of Komsing some 210 years ago. He said that the festival has always been a source of merriment and a family reunion for them.
“The bat festival is our annual event, steeped in 200 years’ tradition. We feel it is an occasion to bond with our family men, who are dispersed at different places of the state. The members of the Panyang community, who have a share of Ponpik hills, reunite at Pongging village in early January every year and enjoy the community feasts,” said Panyang.
The natural cave, measuring 6.5 metres in height and 3.5 metres in breadth, is located on the left bank of the Siang river, on the upper reaches of the Yamne river confluence at the Bodak viewpoint.
Another senior member of the clan, Kaling Panyang, informed that bat the population has increased this time. He said that “hunting of bats for consumption in small quantities does not affect the demography of the bat species in the region.”
He informed that “the share of the bat cave in Ponpil hill is exclusively for a clan of Panyang among Adis, but their family head sometimes invites other tribes to taste bat meat on the festival day.”
A retired CID official of Ruksin (East Siang), Akeng Taying (Yangkeng), who has maternal relation with the Panyang clan, had the opportunity to taste bat meat hunted by the Panyangs for several occasions, and said that bat meat is a “sacrament” bestowed on him with “blessing” by his uncles.
It may be recalled that a team of research officers of the state’s museum and research department had visited the natural bat cave in Pongging in 2006 and studied the ecological status of the area. The officers suggested to the local villagers to protect and preserve the bat species in the area.
Some zoologists of the state also revealed that the ancient bat cave in Pongging could be a boon to the local people for their economic activities through development as a tourist destination.
