Traditional handloom practices of Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya

Abstract

The documentation of traditional handloom practices of <em>Nyishi</em> tribe and their cultural attire was done in Papum pare district of Arunachal Pradesh wherein 7 selected villages were surveyed during May 2018 to February 2019 through random sampling with semi-structured questionnaire. <em>Rubung </em><em>Ruekio, </em>a traditional loin loom of <em>Nyishi</em> tribe is prepared from locally available resources, viz., <em>Bambusa.</em><em> tulda, B. pallida</em>, <em>Dendrocalamus hamiltonii, Gmelina arborea, Michelia species</em> and<em> Terminalia myriocarpa. </em>Most of the weavers were female and weaved culturally important traditional dresses such as <em>Pomo gale, Dumping gale, Jekum/Name-acham gale, Jinjab gale</em>, <em>Juhu/Junghang gale</em> and <em>Luch/lungch gale </em>which are worn especially during auspicious occasions. Of these, <em>Jekum</em> gale, <em>Pomo gale </em>and <em>Dumping gale </em>culturally significant. The market price of gale varied tremendously depending on type of raw material and type of handloom used in the production.