Prehistory
Neolithic tools found in Arunachal Pradesh indicate that people have been living in the Himalayan region for at least eleven thousand years. The earliest inhabitants of Bhutan and adjoining Himalayan areas of South Asia were the people from Indus Valley Civilisation, whose history predates the onset of Bronze Age in South Asia around 3300BC before the coming of other ethnic groups from Tibet and South China some 2,000 years ago.
Early history
The history of pre-modern Arunachal Pradesh remains shrouded in mystery. Oral histories possessed to this day by many Arunachali tribes of Tibeto-Burman stock are much richer and point unambiguously to a northern origin in modern-day Tibet. Again corroboration remains difficult. From the point of view of material culture it is clear that most indigenous Arunachali groups align with Burma-area hill tribals, a fact that could either be explainable in terms of a northern Burmese origin or from westward cultural diffusion.
According to the Arunachal Pradesh government, the Hindu texts Kalika Purana and Mahabharata mention the region as the Prabhu Mountains of the Puranas, and where sage Parashuram washed away sins, the sage Vyasa meditated, King Bhishmakafounded his kingdom, and Lord Krishna married his consort Rukmini.[11]
Recorded history from an outside perspective only became available in the Ahom and Sutiya chronicles. The Monpa andSherdukpen do keep historical records of the existence of local chiefdoms in the northwest as well. Northwestern parts of this area came under the control of the Monpa kingdom of Monyul, which flourished between 500 B.C. and 600 A.D. This region then came under the loose control of Tibet and Bhutan, especially in the Northern areas. The remaining parts of the state, especially those bordering Myanmar, were under the control of the Sutiya Kings until the Ahom-Sutiya battle in the 16th century. The Ahoms held the areas until the annexation of India by the British in 1858. However, most Arunachali tribes remained in practice largely autonomous up until Indian independence and the formalisation of indigenous administration in 1947.
Recent excavations of ruins of Hindu temples such as the 14th century Malinithan at the foot of the Siang hills in West Siang were built during the Sutiya reign. Another notable heritage site, Bhismaknagar, has led to suggestions that the Idu (Mishmi) had an advanced culture and administration in prehistoric times. Again, however, no evidence directly associates Bhismaknagar with this or any other known culture but the Sutiya rulers held the areas around Bhismaknagar from the 12th to 16th century. The third heritage site, the 400-year-old Tawang Monastery in the extreme north-west of the state, provides some historical evidence of the Buddhist tribal people. The sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso was born in Tawang.[12]
Arunachal Pradesh /ˌɑːrəˌnɑːtʃəl prəˈdɛʃ/ (अरुणाचलप्रदेश) is one of the twenty-nine states of the Republic of India. Located innortheast India, it holds the most north-eastern position among the states in the north-east region of India. Arunachal Pradesh borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Burma in the east and China in the north. Itanagar is the capital of the state. Arunachal Pradesh has territorial disputes with both the PRC and ROC due to its cultural, ethnic and geographic proximity to Tibet.
Most of the state, formerly called the North-East Frontier Agency, was ceded to Britain by the Tibetan government with the Simla Accord (1914). China does not recognise the legality of that treaty, and claims most of the state as South Tibet. The state is seen to have major potential for hydropower development.[8]
Arunachal Pradesh (अरुणाचलप्रदेश), whose name means Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains[9] in Sanskrit, is also known as theOrchid State of India or the Paradise of the Botanists. Geographically, it is the largest among the North-east Indian states commonly known as the Seven Sister States. As in other parts of Northeast India, the people native to the state trace their origins to the Tibeto-Burman people. In recent times, large number of migrants from various parts of India and other lands have built extensive economic and cultural ties with the state’s population.
No reliable population count of the migrant population exists, and the percentage estimating the total actual population accordingly, vary. Arunachal Pradesh has the highest number of regional languages in the Indian subcontinent,[10] enriched with diverse culture and traditions.