[Assam] Dog Tag?

[Alpana B. Sarangapani]

   > wondered about what could lead educated self-respecting women to ever do> that.
 
tradition, love, impulse, family-feeling, convenience????
And in extreme cases, forced by the husband? :)                                                          
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




  
 
 

 

 
“In order to make spiritual progress you must be patient like a tree and humble like a blade of grass.”
  
 > Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:31:29 -0500> From: a.saha at alumni.tufts.edu> To: assam at assamnet.org> Subject: Re: [Assam] Dog Tag?> > Hmmm... not in a totally different category from women introducing> themselves or preferring the use of "Mrs." in front of their names, is it?> Or for that matter taking on their husbands' last names! I have always> wondered about what could lead educated self-respecting women to ever do> that.> > > On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>wrote:> > > That seems like a dog collar and tag to me - the kind you put on a dog if> > you own one. The female has to wear a necklace if married and the male does> > not have to.> > How did the female activists let that happen? There must be more to come.> > Dilip Deka> >> > ==============================================================================> > >From the Assam Tribune> >> >> > Jenjap' solves conjugal woes of Nyishis> > Correspondent> > ITANAGAR, Dec 17 – The Nyishi women of Arunachal Pradesh, from now> > onwards, will don 'jenjap' (necklace) as marital symbol, much like their> > non-tribal counterparts in the plains. Thanks to the new-found 'awakening'> > sweeping across 300 clans of Nyishis, a major tribe of this ethnic state,> > inhabited by more than 25 major tribes.> >> > Beset with an increasing number of adultery, a major societal problem, the> > tribal community has long been seeking an end to it. At a time when the> > 'discussions and debates', met with a dead end, two small clans of> > Nyishi—Tebw and Lappa having around 20,000 population spread across the> > hilly interiors of East Kameng, Papum Pare, Lower Subansiri, Upper> > Subansiri, Kurung Kumey, East and West Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh.> > They are also active in some parts of neighbouring Assam's Sonitpur> > district. They practice what they preach.> >> > Taba Hare, the president of Tebw and Lappa Welfare Society, who is the man> > behind the novel concept, said, "With calls from several quarters, including> > intellectuals of the Arunachalee society, to reform the outdated customs and> > traditions and anything genuinely acceptable to the society to match with> > the passing time, the Tebw and Lappa Welfare Society (TLWS) had> > conceptualised the idea to adapt 'jenjap' as a marital symbol for women at> > its 7th annual convention held at Balijan under Papum Pare district in> > February this year."> >> > As per TLWS' resolve, it was made mandatory for the married women to wear> > the necklace, similar to mangalsutra, so that the people could know about> > their marital status.> >> > The organization has also made it compulsory for every groom to present the> > jenjap to his new bride as a ritual at the time of solemnizing their> > marriage. Moreover, if a man possesses more than one wife, as is the common> > practice in the tribal societies, he should present the necklace to each of> > his wives to reveal their marital status to the community.> >> > Besides being a part of state's indigenous faith movement, Hare, himself a> > former politician, said that the 'identity crisis' for the tribal women has> > a bearing on the marital fabric of their respective communities. The fact> > that tribal women did not have any marital symbol identical to 'mangalsutra'> > and 'sindur' of Hindus, resulted in occurrences of 'many unfortunate> > incidents' that led to chaos among their own tribal brethren.> >> > Asserting that TLWS had only revived the age-old tradition not by imitating> > the practice of the people of plains, Taba Hare said, "We have the tradition> > of giving 'kopung tasang', an expensive necklace made of silver, by the> > mother-in-laws or other senior female members of tribal families to the> > newly-wedded brides as a blessing for their well-being. But those traditions> > have almost been discontinued or forgotten owing to the current wave of> > modernization."> >> > According to the TLWS president, the reintroduction of jenjap, a modified> > version of 'kopung tasang' and its mass acceptance will go a long way in> > putting a check on the incidences of elopement and polyandry. It will rather> > strengthen the marital bonds between the husband and the wife.> >> > The married male members of Tebw and Lappa clans, in a ceremonial function> > held at Doimukh on December 16 last, presented 'jenjap' to their wives.> > Prominent among those who presented the traditional ornament to wives were> > Education Minister Tatar Kipa, Sports & Youth Affairs and Land Management> > Minister Atum Welly, local MLA Ngurang Pinch and Berlin Deori, son of former> > Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president, late Omem Moyong Deori.> >> > Berlin, who does not belong to Nyishi tribe but associated with the> > community through marital ties, looked elated while tying jenjap around the> > neck of his Nyishi wife.> >> > Welly, Kipa and Pinch—all seemed effusive in praise of the initiative of> > Tebw and Lappa Welfare Society that blazed a trail in social transformation> > by introducing the jenjap. "The day certainly goes down in the annals of> > history of not only Nyishi tribe but all other tribes of the region as Tebw> > and Lappa, the two small clans, have set the trend for all tribes to> > follow," said Atum Welly.> >> > Not to rest on his laurels, Taba Hare has set his sights on bigger goals—to> > convince all the tribes of the state to follow the suit. "Just the journey> > of a thousand miles begins with a step, we, though, belong to a small clan> > always aspire for the big. As for us, we will not sit idle and but will try> > to convince other tribes facing similar crisis to adopt the marital symbol> > for women," Hare sighed off.> > _______________________________________________> > assam mailing list> > assam at assamnet.org> > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org> >> _______________________________________________> assam mailing list> assam at assamnet.org> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
_________________________________________________________________
You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. 
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/127032869/direct/01/