Yapung Ui; The Apatani ritual for the sky, soil and the regeneration of forests

Purab Riddhi Chaudhuri

Abstract

This article sheds light on the indigenous ritual Yapung Ui of the Apatani people in Arunachal Pradesh which currently takes place every year on the 10^th of September.

Yapung in Apatani Tani Agun (Apatani language) refers collectively to the sky, forests, rocks, soil, rain and everything that comes under the natural world.

Ui firstly means the spirits (malevolent and benevolent) in nature, and in Miji (sacred ritual speech) refers to rituals of any kind. As a PhD research scholar in Applied Ethnomusicology with overlaps in Study of Religions, I think it’s crucial to share the unique age-old ritual of Yapung Ui with a larger audience not only because of its eco-sustainable nature but also the inherent core belief system of regenerating the forest.

The Nyibu (Apatani ritual specialist/shaman), is the performer of the ritual but he along with his Nyibu association applies for a notice which is approved by the DC of Ziro every year, notifying the taboo period with the norms that are to be followed for a minimum of 4-5 days in the entire valley including Hapoli, Old Ziro and the nine villages (lembas) irrespective of religious belief, background, or social status.

Climate Change: Individual Action Versus Collective Action

According to my ongoing research, Yapung Ui is a ritual that re-establishes the truth and significance of an older, unique form of ritual tradition lead by a Nyibu (Apatani Shaman) which is not performed in the newer religious institutions like the Danyi Piilo Meder Nello setting which is a new religion which claims to be indigenous in nature and form.

It is fascinating to notice how Baptist, Protestant and Revival Church goers among the community also follow these taboos irrespective of religious preferences in the 21^st century. This points towards a unique socio-religious eco-system of the Apatani people where older religious factions and knowledge systems are sustained through contemporary state apparatus, in harmony.

This article will hence, shed light on the significance, form and importance of Yapung Ui using primary source verification from living Apatani Nyibus like Nyibu Pura Pai, Mudang Pai, Landi Tajang, and others.

Yapung Ui; The Apatani ritual for sky, soil and the regeneration of forests.

The Apatani people are described in dozens of available literatures as primarily an agrarian community of farmers with ritual practices that are animistic in nature, with belief systems which are inscribed in miji-migung traditions, and knowledge systems of rituals that revolve around fostering nature, the sky, and the forests. Knowledge of futuristic and sustainable practices makes the Apatani unique and resilient in nature.

Through my personal experience of trying to understand Apatani singing and ritual traditions (biisie and ayu in Apatani), I have steered my nature of enquiry towards a newer, more fresh understanding of ‘who’ the Apatani people are. Salient literature is available in the ethnographic writings of Christoph Von Furer Haimendorf (1944, 1980), Kalung Chala (1990), Takhe Kani (1996, 2012), Sarit Chaudhuri (2013), Gyati Rana (2014), Radhey Yampi (2018, 2022), Hage Bida (2018), Stuart Blackburn (2008, 2010), Hage Tabyo (2023, 2024) and others in post 2000’s in the form of emic and etic accounts.

Radhe Yampi and Stuart Blackburn have written extensively on the Nyibu tradition with recent work on Biisi by Radhey Yampi, but yet there needs to be more work done. However, a dearth in literature in understanding what miji-migung and ayu biisi meant to theApatani people encouraged me to understand the community through their singing traditions; the histories and herstories.

This article is pointing towards a pre-existing and continuing practice by the Apatani Nyibu (ritual and healing specialist) along with his/her assistants who are called by specific names during specific rituals like Gora, Gori, Pontang, Buho and others.

At present through rituals like Korlang uii, Muruń ui, Subu-Henii ui, Tamu ui, Danyi ui, Meth, Dree ui, Yapung ui, Myoley ui, Myoro Su, Aha Korlang and others, the Nyibus still are co-existing and co-performing ancient rituals in Ziro valley. Auto biographies and literature from Nyibu practitioners is absent and hence the various parts of this enormous, sacred, ecological rituals on an ancient oral tradition are being written about by non-practitioners, non-indigenous scholars and researchers.

Today, there are multiple faiths practiced in Ziro including Christianity, Donyii Polo, Danyi Pillo, etc. In this article, I am dealing with the older (ancient) form of Apatani ritual of Yapung Ui which is performed by the Nyibu wherein the readers are introduced to the older form of Apatani Ayu benii (ritual chanting)tradition. The ritual stands out both because of its ecological background, and nature of its origin.

For example, members of the Apatani tribe continue to perform a ritual for sustaining life on earth through forest, jungle, soil and land regeneration; they continued to do so for over at least 1200 to 1500 years (AV, interviews with Mr. Pura Pai, Mr. Michi Sala, Mr. Landi Tajang, Mr. Mudang Pai and others, 2023-2024)

Yapung Ui mandates the following of a taboo period. The taboos and the period are prescribed by the Nyibus and approved by the District Commissioner of Lower Subansiri District office in Hapoli. Irrespective of religious faiths and belief systems, all inhabitants of the valley are requested and notified to abide by the taboo protocols. Yapung Ui is performed by Nyibu from select villages (lemba).

Anyone who breaks the taboo protocols are subjected to fine in cash or cattle to the Apatani Nyibu Association if found guilty. In this article, I am going to describe the Ayu benii of Yapung Ui from translations of a performance by fourth generation Nyibu Pura Pai.

Yapung Ui; The Apatani ritual for the sky, soil and the regeneration of forests

Who are the Apatani Nyibu?

An Apatani Nyibu is an expert in age old miji-migung tradition(together comprises of oral knowledge systems), where Miji directly refers to Ayu (ritual verse)or Ayu benii (the ritual performance or ritual chanting) and Migung respectively means nitiń hormiń which comprises of proverbs and old sayings. And according to 80-year-old Nyibu Mudang Pai (personal interview, February 2024), a Nyibu is a doctor of both humans (Miu) and the soil (kidi), i.e., a person who can communicate with spirits (ui’s) that come to latch on to humans and the soil.

A Nyibucan communicate with the unseen ui and perform divination and take steps like sacrifice or other depending on what the egg ritual guides them to do. ANyibualways takes permission from ui before choosing to perform big rituals including Yapung ui and Sama Pinii (firt major ritual in Myoko) and others. A Nyibu performs rituals for the binaries like Kidi (soil)- Mudo (sky), Chanth (soil)- Doth (sky), Siichang (soil)- Mudo (sky), Chaha (soil) and Doha (sky) among others. According to Nyibu Mudang Pai, when Apatani Nyibu tradition ceases to exist, Apatani identity will also diminish and will become a new kind of identity with newer cultural practices.

Whereas according to Mr. Kalung Challa (1998), “The folklore of the Apatani traces the origin of proverbs (Migung) to Koluñ Popi and Kolo Sarmin, who handed down these wise sayings to Neha Popi and Neha Sarmin, literally known as the first galaxy of human wise man, from whom these classic sayings have been disseminated through several generations till today”.

According to my understanding of miji-migung, Koluñ Popi, refers to the knowledgeable person who is a man (popi) who knows about the evolution or history of the land, earth and the formation of everything that exits on the earth, whereas Kolo Sarmin is a knowledgeable lady teacher (sarmin) who knows about the evolution of the sky and the stars and celestial objects in it. Koluñ and Kolo refers to the beginning and initial evolution of the earth and the sky from a time when only darkness prevailed the earth.

What is Yapung Ui?

In Nyibu Pura Pai’s words (translated from Hindi to English) “Yapung ui is the owner of wild animals, birds, insects, snakes, forest, trees, flora and fauna, hailstorm, rain, sky and others. Everything that exists in the forest belong to the yapung ui. Yapung ui comes under the miji tradition of miji-migung. Yapung ui is a common name for a group of spirits or uii’s. Yapung ui consists of different kinds of ui’s. The names of the Ui who together form and represent the Yapung ui whom he invokes in Hija village are Myorii sii, Siichi Myoyo, Su Myoro, and Harnyang Pombyang.

What is the significance of Yapung Ui?

Yapung beniing (chanting)is performed to forbid the falling of hail, reduction of stormy winds, and precisely for the good health of the crops till the harvest season in October. Historically the taboo period consisted of almost two months till harvest begins in late October. According to Nyibu Mr. Pura Pai, (AV interview, 2023), Yapung Ui was started byNyibu Upyo Paachi, NyibuUi-ngiri, Huli Gori, Hula Gora, Gora, Pontang (assistant) who helped to organize and collect donation (1 mug of rice) from the ancestors of the Apataniin the Upyo lembyang. According to the Apatani oral history and miji-migung tradition (from Apatani community experts) there was a great famine that pre-dated the performance of Yapung Ui in the community in the Upyo/Iipyo lembyang.

Further, Nyibu Pura Pai told me about Ui Halang Diimay. He described it as a prolongedstorm leading to famine, where people suffered with fever, leading to an epidemic, ‘kheti bari’ (rice fields- seed beds) were destroyed.The ritual Yapung Ui originated in Upyo lembyang and continued through Miido supung and currently in Ziro supung. Supung or lembyang in common understanding, means a place of prolong inhabitation, cultivation and halt among the Apatani community ancestors.

In my opinion, Yapung Ui might have been started as a reaction to a catastrophic environmental disaster, reduced tree growth, change in sessional cycle which led the Apatani ancestors to perform a ritual for Yapung (owner of rain, forests, soil, rocks, sky and others) to sustain the growth or re-growth of the trees, forests, flora and fauna. According to Nyibu Pura Pai, there was indeed a time that came after Ui Halang Diimay, when the Apatani ancestors faced a period similar to drought which is called Chant-Chango Doth-Dogo in Apatani language. Since, the idea of forest re-generation and a socio-cultural ban of any kind of deforestation lays at the core of this Yapung beniing ritual, where the forests, rice fields and bamboo garden are to be left as it is for two months in a seasonal cycle without human interference in its growth.

I had the privilege of witnessing the Yapung Ui ritual in person with Nyibu Pura Pai. The very first step consists of acknowledging the ritual space and place where the ritual takes place.

The forest and mountain where we stood for the ritual Yapung Ui is acknowledged through chanting Yapung beniing. Yapung Tugyang, Tadu Dango, Pepu siiko, Binibu refers to the area where he had been performing the ritual for the last five years including this year. In the initiation ritual stanza, Su myoro is offered an egg. It would be important to share with the readers that in spiritual language of the Nyibus, he is referred as Hibo. Hibo is what Mr. Pai refer as while introducing his Ayu and also while chanting and inviting the four ui’s and they are Myorii sii, Siichu Myoyu, Su Myoro and Harnyang Pumbyang. Mr. Pai offered a pair of flowers made of bamboo to each of them. He placed them on the agyang (common name for a ritual alter).

In the second part of the Yapung benning (chanting), he remembers and acknowledges the first Nyibu Dolyang Chanjang and all the pantheon of Nyibu from Upyo lembyang and Mudo supung who have continued to perform Yapung ritual. It is a central part of his chanting process which involves remembering the ancient nyibus and their individual roles at performing the ritual. He also remembers the first priest and Nyibu, Sister Dolyang Chanjang whom the Apatani people call Tani Barmii as she was the sister of the first man Abo Tani.

The third part of his Ayu for Yapung beniing consists of Rego Reniing which translates to the migration narratives of the Tanis of Arunachal Pradesh till Ziro supung.

In the fourth Stage of Yapung beniing after Rego Reniing part, in the fourth part there is a distinct change of tune/tonality/vocalization/ and ways of addressing the Ui.
He used a little harsh tone while addressing the spirits. According to Mr. Pai he reminds the spirits that he is a Nyibu and they are Ui and that they should listen to his request for a hail free harvest season. He further requests the ui’s not to send stormy winds which will destroy the crops in the fields. Around the end of this stage, ritual sacrifices are done where he offers one chicken to each of the four ui. These individual ui’s also denote the four directions in respect to where the ritual takes place.

He also acknowledges the evolution of the earth. He also remembers and refer to Kolyung Kolo Nyibu in his ritual chanting who also performed a ritual similar to Yapung ritual.

In the fifth stage of the Yapung beniing ritual he sings a song (lanker/langker) to the ui’s. While offering Khanchi Api and Kharo Ala (big and small bucket for storing rice beer also used for making the beer) Mr. Pai started singing a song to the Ui’s, where he shares with the spirits who have arrived for the ritual upon his invitation of chanting Yapung Beniing. He informs the spirits the effort that the clan members in Hija lemba undertook in the preparation of the ala (rice beer).

Further he takes the names of all the clans in Hija village who comprise his community members. Through the song narrative, he offers rice beer and try his best at making the four spirits understand the significance of the ritual Yapung uii and further try to entertain them with his singing while the spirits enjoyed the meat and rice bear that was offered to them.

Timothy Rice while rereading Clifford Geertz’s The Interpretation of Cultures, was struck by his claim that “symbolic systems… are historically constructed, socially maintained and individually applied” (1976. 363-364). Rice wants to examine the implications of a slightly modified form of this statement by Geertz as a ‘model for ethnomusicology’.

In simple words, Rice means to advice ethnomusicologists that they should study the ‘formative processes’, in music that they should ask and attempt to answer the simple question of how do people make music or, in its descriptive form, on how do populations historically construct, socially preserve and independently create and experience music?

This ongoing understanding and quest of understanding the sacred ritual belief system of the Apatani Nyibu through Yapung ui resonates with what Timothy Rice means by ‘formative processes’ in starting a tradition.

Then final stanzas in the 6^th part of the ritual is where he acknowledged and referred to the taboo period of five days.

In the beginning of Yapung beniing he declares to the spirits that he is going to offer very special rice grains like Hirii Anii ka Lochung tata which means special like bone marrow of Hirii Anii. This stage involves offering rice grain from rice fields from Hija lemba (village). The names of these rice grains are-

Hirii Hipu Permo Pepu– white type, Hirii Helang Permo Perlang -Red rice

Hirii Hikhey Permo Pekhey – Multi-color rice.

Nyibu Pai mixes all of these different grains together while finishing up the ritual chanting, he then communicates to the spirits that he has mixed all of the rice grains together and he has offered all of what he had. He conveys the spirits that he cannot give any more. His assistants leave while he is chanting this part. He asks all his Buho and Gora (designation of assistants) to also leave before him. He then asked me to leave with all my belongings, since this place cannot be visited for at least a week. He has to vacate at the end after everyone leaves.

His final words before leaving were to further tell the spirits and remind them that till five days, he was going to think about yapung ui and then after 5 days, he might have to go to the forest, cut some trees and bamboos. He also warned the spirits, the various yapung ui’s not to disturb his clan members who visit the forest after the taboo period is over.

What are the different taboos that are followed after the performance of the ritual?

In earlier days till harvest was done, all the taboos used to be performed. But, at present since, 2010-11, the DC in Ziro in Lower Subansiri district publishes a circular on the request of the Apatani Priest Association. The circular is published and distributed ten to twenty days before the Yapung Ui ritual. This circular addresses the central taboos to be maintained by all the people living in the entire Apatani plateau from Hapoli to Old Ziro to all the lembas (villages) in the Ziro valley.

Though the Apatani Priest/Nyibu Association requests the District commissioner every year for the taboos to be observed for a minimum of one month, but unfortunately, the circular that is published by the DC every year limits the days of taboo for a maximum of five days from the day of the Yapung beniing ritual, that is till the 14th of September every year. The main taboos to be followed after the performance of Yapung beniing are-

Felling of trees or deforestation is prohibited for a minimum of four days, i.e., 11^th-14^th September.
Use of blasting materials.
Noise pollution.
Earth cutting.
Fishing and hunting.
And also includes construction work of any kind.

Conclusion

During my recent months of observing, participating and interviewing process within the Apatani community members in Ziro, among a dozen important rituals that are practiced within the valley by the Nyibu with a lot of help in organizing from Gora and Buho within the community every year, Yapung Ui or Korlang as it is called in Mudang Tage village in the valley, remain one of the top three most important rituals of the Apatani people. Though there isn’t a common name for this ancient religion of the Nyibus in Apatani miji-migung, but personally I find similarities with Tengrism.

The significance of Yapung Ui and its unique ancient taboos from a Upyo/Iipyo lembyang, somehow makes me wonder if the beginning of this ritual has any significance to the darkest year recorded in human history, i.e., the Volcanic year of 536 AD, that marked the beginning of the Dark ages in Europe. The evidence and records in literature hinted towards several migrations in Asia, Mongolia, Tibet and China.

In my attempt at understanding the Apatani ancient ritual tradition of Yapung Ui, I think it was community decision lead by the Nyibus and their assistants who collectively consented towards the performance of Yapung Ui, and subsequently following the taboos for over two months. Further the structure of the ritual chanting (yapung benii) in my opinion is very chronological in history of origin, name of the first Nyibu and Goras or Pontangs so on and so forth.

The acknowledgement of the Apatani ancestors and their stories and oral narratives of migration through rego-reniing part during the chanting points towards a systematic inclusion leading to narration of historical accounts through important rituals like Yapung Ui, and other rituals like Muruń, Dree and Subu Henii. In the fifth stage of the Yapung ritual, Nyibu Pura Pai sings a song to entertain the invited spirits.

This part according to me breaks away from the prejudice that Shamans only chant and many people even within the Apatani community at present don’t know of such a reality of performance where an Apatani Nyibu sings during various rituals before the final stage when the tone of the Nyibu alters and becomes harsher.

The taboos after the performance of Yapung beniing are followed by people of the entire plateau irrespective of individual faith, religion, origin or occupation and this nature and significance also points towards a man vs nature binary, where the human population needs to unite irrespective of religious backgrounds when it comes to bowing down in front of nature.

The Yapung ritual also points towards a world of co-existence of humans, animals, rain, sky, birds, spirits in a multi-layered ecosystem of shared and a mutually balanced survival.

Bibliography

Blackburn. Stuart. (2010) ‘The Sun Rises: A Shaman’s Chant, Ritual Exchange and Fertility in the Apatani Valley’. Leiden and Boston, Koninklijke Brill NV. IDC Publishers.

Blackburn. Stuart. (2008) ‘Himalayan Tribal Tales: Oral Traditions in The Apatani Valley’. Leiden and Boston, Koninklijke Brill NV. IDC Publishers.

Chaudhuri, S.K. (2013). ‘The institutionalization of tribal recasting the

Donyi-Polo movement in Arunachal Pradesh.’ Asian Ethnology, 72 (2), 259-277.

Haimendorf. Furer. Von. Christoph. (1944-45) Ethnographic Notes on the Tribes of the Subansiri Region. Assam Government Press.

Haimendorf. Furer. Von. Christoph. (1980) ‘A Himalayan Tribe: From Cattle to

Cash’. University of California Press.

Rice, Timothy. (1987). Toward the Remodeling of Ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology, 31(3), 469-488.

Yampi. Radhe (2012) ‘Religion and Syncretism in Apatani Society of Arunachal Pradesh’. Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

Yampi. Radhe (2018) ‘NYIBU Ritual Specialist of the Apatanis’. Directorate of Research, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

Yampi. Radhe. (2018) ‘Fear Mongering in Apatani Religion’ (52-54) Popiriscope Select Edition, Published by Popi Sarmin Society.

Written by- Mr. Purab Riddhi Chaudhuri; 2nd Year PhD research scholar in Ethnomusicology, Department of Music,University College Cork, Ireland

Proofread by Nyibu Pura Pai

[This article was first published in the INDIGENOUS 2024 ( An annual Journal of North East Indigenous Peoples Forum, inaugurated at Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh on 9th August, 2024, on the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples; edited by Anjan Sama and Monikangkan Barooah]

Mahabahu.com is an Online International Journal with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking. You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary) Images from different sources.