Burying Alive: Strange case of Idu Mishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh

IDU MISHI TRIBE - ARUNACHAL PRADESH

In a recent article by Allison C. Meier ,”Fear of being Buried Alive” it was stated, ‘Anxiety over being buried alive dates back centuries. Roman author Pliny the Elder remarked: “Such is the condition of humanity, and so uncertain is men’s judgment, that they cannot determine even death itself.” Declaring if someone is dead has not always been easy. There is still debate today over when “legal death” occurs, as the brain can stop functioning while the body remains on life support. The fear of waking up in a mortuary or, worse, a casket, endures. It even has a name: Taphophobia.’

However, I have a story to tell exactly on the same subject. In india there is a national level highly  competitive recruitment into various government services by the Union Public Service Commission. Once recruited one is allotted various services like the Indian Administrative Service, Foreign Service , Customs or Police etc. in 1971 I was selected into the elite Indian Administrative Service in which the young officers are trained in the Himalayan hill station of Mussoorie and then sent to one of the 700 districts of India for general administration . After my training I was sent off to North-East Frontier Agency(NEFA) (now a full state of India called Arunachal Pradesh) a very difficult region  of the country which is 83,743 sq Km in area consisting of inhospitable terrain between the plains of Assam and the Indo-Tibetan border and habitated by over 50 different tribes.While there were some roads into the hills, there were many places which had no road connectivity and were supported with the help of Indian Air Force, both by aircrafts and helicopter sorties.

I was posted to a dreaded location called Anini in remote  Dibang Valley. At that time the road was only upto the town of Roing in the foothills and my place of posting was in a place called Anini , which was officially 14 days walk up a treacherous mountain foot track. This Valley from foothills right up to Tibet border was inhabited by a tribe called ‘Idu Mishimi’. NEFA being a Union Territory was controlled directly by the federal government bypassing the federal structure. The 50 odd tribes described above resided in this region, each having their own peculiar dialect, dress and traditions. Unlike the tribal policy followed in many countries like the United States of partial annihilation of their tribes, the Indian Government followed a policy of enlightened integration. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister was a believer in this policy. This policy also stated that while Indian laws will apply to this region also, they should accommodate and respect  its the tribal customs. As a policy it was certainly enlighten and has resulted proper integration of all these 50 odd tribes into a full State or Province of Arunachal Pradesh with independent State legislature and its own Chief Minister with a Cabinet.

Idu Mishim of Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, India

However, the conflict with tribal customary laws and Indian Penal code was striking. On my joining the NEFA Administration I had my briefing session with the Chief Secretary before proceeding for Anini. Among other things the Chief Secretary told me was a peculiar tradition of Idu Mishimis of burying people alive. In a recent case, he told me, the matter had reached the Indian Parliament when an Member of Indian Parliament had raised this question of Indu Mishimi burying their people alive. When the Parliament Question was sent to my predecessor for a suitable draft reply, he answered in a simple manner that this was an acceptable tribal custom done in cases of very old or sick persons and as  tribal customs have to honoured he had not taken any action in that particular case as otherwise it will have to treated as a murder case under the Indian Penal Code. The Chief  Secretary was was quite upset with the answer of my predecessor. He told me that while tribal customs are to be respected and accommodated within Indian laws, this is a case amounting to murder and cannot be treated in the same spirit.

Subsequently, I reached Anini with the help of an Indian Air Force Helicopter and started to settle down in the small hamlet. It was a beautiful Valley. The Indu Mishmi are friendly and hospitable people who meet and greet with with affection. I decided not to waste my time and went off on a foot tour of a week to a village called Mipi towards the Tibet border. It was great fun because you were not only having a great time holidaying but also getting paid for it.

However, my so called work-holiday was short lived. On return from this trip I received a message from our local tribal ‘Interpreter’ -a Government appointee, that there is going to live burial in a nearby village. Recalling my briefing from the Chief Secretary before leaving for this posting with reference to the practice, I suddenly froze in my chair. I took it as my duty and mission to stop it. So I collected a few officers present at Anini along with the government Interpreter and held a meeting. The Interpreter told us that the village is presently having a feast and the burial will take place in a few hours. As the village was luckily only about two hours walk from Anini, so we decided that we will all go together to the village along with our Doctor and explain to them that what they were doing is wrong and not acceptable to the Government.

After two hours of walk we reached the village. We found the village had a festive air. There were people moving around. On inquiry I was told that there was ‘Bara Khanna’ or feast being held in honour of the person who is to be buried alive. The had already cut a ‘Mithun’- a large Bull like animal found in that area and which was partially domesticated and was owned by individuals, even though it was not living in their house or compound. In fact it was a statement of wealth of a person and would be a major part of dowry during say a marriage. Cutting of a Mithun for a party signified the importance of the occasion. We were told that as was customary all respect has been given to the person who is being buried alive. His wife had agreed, all his relatives from nearby villages have been called and the farewell party was in full swing. We wanted to see the person who was to be buried alive. The villagers without hesitation took us to him who was lying on a stretcher well clothed.

As we approached the person the doctor in our group immediately recognised him and stated that he has examined this person himself  earlier and stated that he is in a coma and  not curable. He confirmed that he is a vegetable and even if he is taken to his small 10 bed hospital at Anini, he will not be able to do anything to him. He further said that since he has only 10 beds and more patients who need treatment he would rather admit a person who can be cured. He was, in this way, making it clear to me that he will not be able to keep him in his small hospital.

I then spoke to the local tribals through the interpreters as I didn’t know the Mishimi dialect, although quite a few could speak and understand Hindi/ Assamese. They all agreed that the person had some incurable disease which has made him into a vegetable. They also stated that neither their witch Doctor nor the government hospital Doctor could cure him. Therefore, they have decided collectively, as per their local custom, to give him a traditional farewell with full rights and bury him alive.

I then went to see his wife who was sitting in one corner. I asked her if she agreed to her husband being buried alive and she also confirmed in affirmative. She also said that he has been in coma for a long time and there is no hope of his recovery.

After all the discussion with the villagers who were very very cooperative it fell upon me as the Administrator of the area to take the final call. So I gathered all the villagers and told them that while we respect there local customs I have a problem with this particular custom. I further said that as a part of India we also need to respect the laws of the country. This particular act which they are about to do of burying a person alive is not permitted in the laws of India and amounts to wilful murder, punishable by law. I also mentioned that in a previous burial alive of another Idu Mishmi person inquired into  by the Indian Parliament and they were not satisfied with this local custom. Since the villagers are used to local assemblies or ‘Kebangs’ they appeared satisfied with the fact that this matter has been discussed in a much bigger Kebang. So I told them, most politely, that we cannot allow such a burial of a living body.  They  were appreciative but helpless and stated that they have already given the person full honours by local traditions with all his relatives and friends present for the burial ceremony. Therefore, they added, as far as they are concerned they have already bid him goodbye by the local customary law and there is no dispute about it. However, as I, a functionary of the government, has not agreed to their custom of burying alive, they have com to a compromise and said that in that case we should take the camotosed body with us to Anini. I had no option in face of this offer but to accept it. However, as our doctor had already told me that his small 10 bed hospital is full and he will not be able to give him a bed, left with no choice, I was forced to arranged to carry the person on a stretcher back to Anini and arranged a shack to keep him, put someone on duty to feed him and clean him.

The poor person, without any help from his relatives died peacefully after 10 days. I sent word to his wife and the villagers that he has passed away and that they should come and collect his body. Promptly came their reply that since they have already given him full departing rights as per their custom, they are not willing to have his body back. So we landed up with a corpse who had no claimant. We then got him buried quietly but no one from his village came. Mercy killing or euthanasia was practiced by Idu Mishmi’s but our modern day laws do not allow it.

Sanat Kaul is a writer and be contacted at sanatkaul@gmail.com