Hill Miris arriving for a ceremony of purchasing a bell
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Material Information

Title:
Hill Miris arriving for a ceremony of purchasing a bell
Creator:
Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von, 1909-1995 ( Photographer )
Furer-Haimendorf, Christoph von, 1909-1995 ( contributor )
Haimendorf, Christoph Von Fürer- (1909-1995); anthropologist ( contributor )
Place of Publication:
[S.l.]
Publisher:
[s.n.]
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Materials:
Photographic film: 35mm B&W negative, Eastman Kodak : Plus X ( medium )

Notes

General Note:
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General Note:
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General Note:
Cette image est protégée par le droit d'auteur. S'il vous plaît, utiliser en accord avec la licence Creative Commons: Attribution-Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale (CC BY-NC). Fichiers numériques de haute résolution sont disponibles sur la SOAS, Université de Londres - le Bureau du projet de bibliothèque numérique.
General Note:
Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf (1909-1995) was born and educated in Vienna, gaining a PhD in anthropology from the University of Vienna in 1931. A grant from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled him to study at the London School of Economics, under the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. In 1936, he went to the Naga Hills in northeast India for his first fieldwork; over the next four decades, he worked extensively in south & central India, northeast India and Nepal. In 1950 he was appointed Professor of Anthropology at SOAS, where he established the Department of Anthropology. During his career, he published seventeen books, most of them ethnographies of tribal cultures. He was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute (1975-77) and a pioneer in the field of visual anthropology.
General Note:
Metal bells traded down from Tibet (or in some cases up from Assam) were invested with great value, both material and spiritual, by most people in the Subansiri region. Although these bells had no handle or clapper, many had inscriptions (some in imitation of Tibetan or devanagri script) and were given names as well as genealogies. Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf described the scene in this photograph: 'Late this afternoon a large group of men and women from Malempobo, a village of Boki clan near Kumra [a day's walk across the Kamla River], arrived here on a ceremonial visit connected with the purchase of a Tibetan bell....A young man ...is entering into a bond of friendship with Boki Tari by selling a maje [bell] called Rusi, which he has inherited from his father. Boki Tari has already paid two mithan, an endi [Assamese silk] cloth and other valuables, and has brought now one mithan and a calf, as well as a large quantity of beer and meat. The party arrived shortly before sunset and most of the villagers watched the procession coming up the hill. Ahead went two men leading the mithan and mithan calf then followed a priest and a line of women [shown here], each carrying a basket of with two new bamboo vessels of beer or with meat, and behind them came the men, Boki Tari with a large head-dress of yak's hair, all carrying spears and at the end of the procession another priest chanting as he went...Inside they sat down, the women in one group and the men in another, and the two priests paced up and down chanting incantations, one swinging a bamboo whisk. They chanted of the maje [bell] Rusi, moulded by gods, which they came to obtain and prayed that the spirits of the place should be friendly to the guests.'
General Note:
The Kamla River is also known as the Sipi River.
General Note:
Ethonlogue considers the Hill Miri to be part of the Mising (people) while other sources group the Hill Miri with the Nyishi. The Hill Miri are differentiated by their unique language, Sarak-miri or Hill-miri, from both Mising and Hill Miri.
General Note:
This scene was photographed on or approximate to 19450327
General Note:
Other designation of photograph: 194/09/Rute-Hate (first visit)
General Note:
Haimendorf's reference: 194_09_Rute-Hat (first visit),
General Note:
Original Container: BW Negatives Box III
General Note:
BW Negatives Box III
General Note:
Funded in the United Kingdom by JISC
General Note:
SOAS name authority for "Haimendorf, Christoph Von Fürer- (1909-1995); anthropologist" is GB/NNAF/P146323.
General Note:
VIAF (name authority) : Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von, 1909-1995 : record number 109123273
General Note:
For descriptive reference, see: PP MS 19, Diary, p. 113

Record Information

Source Institution:
SOAS, University of London
Holding Location:
Archives and Special Collections
Rights Management:
© 1945, The Estate of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. The Estate is currently (2015) represented by Nicholas Haimendorf, son of Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. ----- Creative Commons (by-nc-nd). -- This image may be used in accord with Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs.
Resource Identifier:
PP MS 19/6/MIRI/0117 ( SOAS manuscript number )
194_09_Rute-Hat (first visit), ( Haimendorf reference )