Traditional Dress of 7 North East Sisters

North East of India : A captivating land wearing a veil of mystery,  through whose chest the mighty Brahmaputra is relentlessly flowing, carrying the charm of Kanchenjunga from the hill to the plains. The mysterious beauty of this land is yet to be realized by the outside world,  and yes,  most of the places are still Virgin luckily or unluckily!

This part of  India spreads over 2,62,379 sq km and consists of seven states, which are commonly  called as  ‘Seven Sisters’. So, the Seven Sisters in Northeast India include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

Till the early 17th century, the North East was consisted of several kingdoms ruled by princes or chieftains. Most of the part of Assam was reigned by the Ahoms, while Manipur and Tripura were princely states, and the Naga tribes were ruled by chieftains. But with the invade of the British during the 18th century, all these kingdoms came under British reign. Once it got independence from the British ruling system, with the rolling of time, the region was divided into seven states based on the history and ethnicity of the various tribes it hosts.

So,  what’s the charm ?

North East India is the second largest diversity hotspot in terms of size and number of species in the world. This land represents the intermediary zone between the Indian, Indo- Burmese, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese bio-geographic regions being it the geographical ‘gateway’ to India. So, this makes  the area one of the richest in biological values, hosting a large number of rare species. 

The land  is home to approximately 175 different tribes,  from the Bodo,  Kachari, Rabhas, Mikir, Karbi hailing from the plains of Assam to the Khasis, Rema,  Mishmis from the hills of Meghalaya, Tripuri, Reang, Jamatia, Noatia, Lusai, Uchoi, Halam etc. from Tripura, Angami, Ao, Chang, Chirr etc. from Nagaland and Adis, Apatanis, Singpho, Buguns etc. from Arunachal Pradesh,  Mara, Lai, Hmar etc. from Mizoram,  Aimol, Chiru, Koirao, Thangal etc. from Manipur.  Each tribe has its own unique customs and traditions, traditional costumes and  festivals. Major festivals like Bihu, Ke Pemblang, Nongkrem, Durga Puja and Karchi Puja mirror the rich cultural life of this region. People are very fun loving and jovial with dance and song forming an inherent part of their lives. Every tribe is god gifted with excellent craftsmanship too.

Here are few traditional dresses from all the seven states:

Traditional Dresses from Arunachal Pradesh :

 

Traditional Dresses of Assam :

  

 

Traditional Dresses of Manipur:

Courtesy : Lakshmi Hijam

 

Traditional Dresses of Mizoram :

Traditional Dress of Meghalaya :

 

Traditional Dresses of Nagaland

 

Traditional Dress of Tripura

Disclaimer: It carries the photographs mostly collected from Google Image.