Harvest Festivals in North-East India: a Cultural Integrity in Diversity

Abstract

Prasanta Pathak Abstract: North-East India is well known for its rich cultural heritages which gives it an extraordinary cultural identity not only in India but all over the world. One of the most diverse regions in Asia, the North East is prominent for its diverse cultural elements of different tribes that constitute a composite culture enhancing its magnitude and attraction. Standing as a true frontier region to the easternmost part of India, the North-East is ethnically distinct from the rest of India since it has a peculiar connection with South-East Asia, China and Inner Asia and Burma from pre-historic times. North-East Indian tribes have their origins with the ethnic groups of Indo-Mongoloids, Tibeto-Burmese and proto Austrioloids which represent the Asio-Austric Culture. This cultural confluence contributes most of the ethnic and cultural ingredients to this region and enriches its large cultural casket. The region is the setting ground for many ethnic groups where they flourish their varied cultural elements and as a consequence a grand cultural assimilation is built up by these heterogeneous elements. Under a geomorphologic location which divides the region into the hills and valleys inserts the tribes in the seven states commonly known as ‘Seven Sisters’ and Sikkim. Besides Sikkim North-East India comprises Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. This is a region which attains a unique notification due to its integrity in divers...