Arunachal Tribal Weaving & Bamboo Craft
Loin-loom shawls and river-cane baskets from the eastern Himalaya.
Arunachal Pradesh's many communities — Apatani, Adi, Nyishi, Galo, Monpa, Wancho and others — weave shawls, skirts, jackets, bags and ceremonial cloths on backstrap and loin looms, each group with its own palette, motifs and weave. Alongside the textiles, households make cane and bamboo baskets, carrying frames, mats, containers and the woven cane helmets and hats that are part of men's dress, while the Monpa of the Tawang area make paper by hand from a local shrub and weave wool carpets. Much of this is still made for the family and the village rather than for sale, and a woven cloth's pattern can identify the wearer's community and clan.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
Also Known As
Apatani, Adi, Nyishi and Monpa weaving; Northeast cane and bamboo craft
Craft Type
Backstrap-loom weaving and cane-and-bamboo work
Practising Community
Women weavers of the Apatani, Adi, Galo, Nyishi, Monpa, Wancho, Nocte and other communities; men do most cane and bamboo work
Materials
Cotton, nettle, wool, animal hair and acrylic yarn; natural dyes (indigo, madder-type roots, lac) and chemical dyes; split cane and several bamboo species; and shugu sheng (Daphne) bark for Monpa paper.
Known For
Tribe-specific woven textiles, cane hats and baskets, and Monpa handmade paper and carpets
Where It's Made
Ziro (Apatani), Pasighat and Along (Adi/Galo), Tawang and Dirang (Monpa), and Longding and Khonsa (Wancho), Arunachal Pradesh
Time to Create
Days to weeks for a patterned shawl; one to three days for a basket
GI Status
Not registered as a group; individual products such as some Monpa crafts have been proposed for GI
Process Steps
Preparing yarn and strips
Weavers wind and dye yarn into the colours a design needs; basket-makers fell cane and bamboo and split them into thin, even strips with a dao.
Warping the loin loom
The warp is wound between two beams; one is fixed to a wall or post and the other is tensioned by a strap around the weaver's back.
Weaving the ground
The plain ground weave is built up by throwing the weft by hand and beating it down with a wooden sword.
Picking up the pattern
Coloured motifs are lifted into the cloth as a supplementary weft, counted out with a pattern stick or the fingers.
Finishing the cloth
The woven length is cut from the loom, its ends are secured or fringed, and panels are joined into shawls, skirts or jackets.
Plaiting cane and bamboo
Split strips are woven into hexagonal or twill baskets, hats and carrying frames over a simple mould or by eye.
Rimming and reinforcing
Basket rims are bound with cane, bases are doubled, and straps or handles are added for carrying loads.
Making Monpa paper
Daphne bark is boiled, beaten to pulp, poured over a framed screen and dried in the sun into sheets of strong handmade paper.
Technique Glossary
Loin / backstrap loom
A portable loom whose warp tension comes from a strap around the weaver's body, common across the northeastern hills.
Supplementary weft
An extra patterning thread floated over the ground weave to build motifs without weakening the cloth.
Dao
The all-purpose hill knife used to fell, split and shave cane and bamboo.
Hexagonal weave
An open basketry structure of strips crossing at three angles, strong and light, used for carrying baskets.
Nettle fibre
Fibre stripped from Himalayan nettle stems, spun for durable cloth and bags before mill cotton spread.
Shugu sheng
The Daphne shrub whose inner bark is the raw material for Monpa handmade paper.
Gale / gadu
Names in some Arunachal languages for the wrap skirts and heavy woven blankets that are staple garments.
A Craft Through Time
Pre-modern
Every household a workshop
Weaving, cane armour and basketry are universal domestic skills, marking clan and status across the territory.
19th–early 20th century
A frontier of local materials
Textiles and cane work use only hand-spun fibre, plant dye and forest cane, with little outside trade.
20th century
Contact and change
Mill yarn, acrylic, new tools and outside markets alter materials and motifs across the region.
1987
Statehood and emporia
Arunachal becomes a state; craft centres and emporia begin marketing tribal textiles and cane work.
Present
Identity and income
Woven shawls and cane goods are sold to visitors and used to assert distinct community identities, while much weaving stays domestic.
Did You Know?
Apatani weavers can often identify a stranger's village and clan from the pattern and colours of their shawl alone, since each community keeps its own distinct combination.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.