Indigenous Beliefs and Practices among the Galos of Arunachal Pradesh

Abstract

This fieldwork-based article provides an ethnographic overview of surviving traditional ritual practices and underlying belief systems among the Galos of Arunachal Pradesh. Since most of this community recently converted to Christianity, many of the details outlined here may soon be forgotten and no longer practised, or will be only used when other patterns of recourse to remedies for distress have shown no results. The evidence presented indicates the continued presence of ancient holistic worldviews that may be dismissed by others as ‘primitive’ but whose followers seek to fall in line and clearly connect themselves with locally grounded forces beyond immediate human control.