[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 12 Jun: At a time when the indigenous tribal faith system is facing an onslaught from Hindu and Christian missionaries in the state, the Idu Mishmi tribe is making a sincere effort to try to save their age-old faith by starting an ‘Idu Mishmi Shaman Fellowship Programme (IMSFP)’.
It is a joint initiative of the Idu Mishmi Cultural and Literary Society (IMCLS) and Mysore-based Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) to preserve and continue the shamanic tradition.
The Idu Mishmi Shamanic School, where the IMSFP has been introduced, is located in Alinye in Dibang Valley district. Igu (shaman) Sipa Melo is mentoring the ‘fellows’, and Nina Meto is the coordinator. At present, there are four full-time fellows accommodated in the dormitory.
The pilot project was launched on 1 February, 2021, on the occasion of Reh festival. Two of the IMSFP trainees have already taken up conducting smaller rituals, and the other two have become proficient in subordinate chanting to the main igu.
Dr Rajiv Miso, chairman of the identification, preservation and documentation of the institution of igu/shaman (IPD-IGU, IMCLS), said that the programme is showing promising results.
“We took up this project to support younger Idus to take up igu as spiritual and economic livelihood, and to create broad interest of the community in the institution. In this shamanic school, two respected igus as guides prepare two fellows (tamro), respectively, as students for a period of two years. The fellows are learning full-time, staying with igu guides and following them whenever summoned for rituals.
“Hence, it is a practice-based programme,” he said.
The igu guides, the fellows and the coordinator are paid stipends equivalent to a permanent entry-level government position for their full-time commitment.
Dr Miso said that the need to start the programme was felt as the institution of igu (shaman) among the Idu Mishmis is dying. As per the data collected by IPD-IGU, IMCLS, there are only 81 igus for the entire Idu Mishmi community.
“In the past, there used to be more than two igus in a village. In the present scenario, an igu has to make hectic visits to two or more villages. The individuals have to summon igus from far areas. The decline of igus will ultimately result in the vanishing of the ancient sacred oral narratives and knowledge of the community,” said Dr Miso.
The IMCLS, under the leadership of its president Ginko Lingi and secretary Rao Dele, initiated the process for the IMSFP by forming the IPD-IGU, IMCLS. Most of the works are sponsored through contributions from within the community and with funds from voluntary organisations.
The committee is also working on audiovisual documentation and providing logistic support to the igus.
“The objective is to document all the rituals, audio and video, to transcript, translate and publish the chanting for future usage. Till now, 80 percent of the rituals, big and small, have been audio-visually documented and stored,” said Dr Miso.
He said that “the committee, after doing a lot of research, came to the conclusion to create a new generation of igus through a long-term plan of training them by following a curriculum,” and added that “social will of the community is equally needed for the IMSFP to succeed.”
“Through IMSFP, the new igus would be ‘made’ in formal shaman school and not ‘acquired’, as in the past, through divination. The argument put forth was that there existed an intangible school of shamanistic learning in the traditional setup, where they would act as assistants/apprentices (tamro) and eventually proceeded on their own to attain divinity to become one,” he said.
In recent years, people in the state have been raising concern over the growing saffronisation of the tribal faith by Hindu missionaries and also the conversion of tribals into Christianity by the Christian missionaries. The move to start the IMSFP is expected to counter the attempt to dilute the tribal faith and help to carry forward the Idu Mishmi faith in its purest form to the next generation.
