Caught the last quarter of ‘that’ program on Discovery on Apatanis on TV this morning. Aside from other observations, it focused on the marriage rituals and customs of the Apatanis. As is the wont of the Discovery-style documentaries, it was unbiased and true. It mentioned giving of mithuns, meat and the various rituals from Maabo-Inchi, Arii Banii and Mida. What struck me was the mention of such gift-giving as ‘Bride-Price’ and the exchange these days made easier by using paper currency. Up until now, I had always considered that these were gifts, and not to an extent as expensive as the ‘dowry’ prevalent elsewhere. Keeping amounts fixed in terms of currency as a proxy for mithuns and other allied gifts has eliminated much of the problems of gifts not being accepted. The program also mentioned that the gift-givings were reciprocal with the groom’s side first giving gifts and then the bride’s. However, there seems to be a view considering that this is taking it the easy way out and that customs are being erased out because of this new practice.
This set me thinking on whether it really is so, and whether this new practice was good or bad?
The question was, was this introduction of money into the social fabric a sign of the times that this was a custom that needed changing, or was it intended just as a respite for those cases where the financial burden of the traditional customs could be lessened for those who needed such help. Should have been there when this amount was being decided to be able to hear out the logic and the reasoning behind it. I guess I will have to grow up some more for that. :)
Am going home for Myoko this 19th, will see what I can learn there.
