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{{short description|Major tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Monpa
| image = Monpa dress.jpg
| caption = A Monpa man and woman in traditional attire
| population = 75,000{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
| region1 = {{flag|India}} ([[Arunachal Pradesh]])
| pop1 = 60,545 (2011 census)
| ref1 = <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/ST.html |title=A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix |publisher=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India |website=www.censusindia.gov.in |access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>
| region2 = {{flag|China}} ([[Tibet Autonomous Region|Tibet]])
| pop2 = 10,561 (2010 census)<ref name=census2010>{{cite web|url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/pcsj/rkpc/6rp/indexch.htm/|title=国家统计局：《2010年第六次人口普查数据》|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525090549/http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/pcsj/rkpc/6rp/indexch.htm|archive-date=2013-05-25}}</ref>
| region3 = {{flag|Bhutan}}
| pop3 = 3,000{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
| langs = [[East Bodish languages]], [[Tshangla language]], [[Kho-Bwa languages]]
| rels = [[Tibetan Buddhism]]
| related = [[Sherdukpen people|Sherdukpen]], [[Sharchops]], [[Memba people|Memba]], [[Limbu people|Limbu]]|
}}

The '''Monpa'''{{efn|Alternative spellings include '''Mönpa''', '''Monba''', and '''Memba'''.}} ({{bo|t=མོན་པ་|w=mon pa|s=mön pa}}) is a major tribe of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] in northeastern [[India]]. The [[Tawang]] Monpas have a migration history from Changrelung. The Monpa are believed to be the only nomadic tribe in Northeast India – they are totally dependent on animals like sheep, cow, yak, goats and horses. The Monpa have a very close affinity with the [[Sharchops]] of [[Bhutan]].

==Name==
Tibetan Buddhists texts present "Monyul" (literally, "low land") as the territory immediately to the south of Tibet below the Himalayan crest line. Its borders were imprecise, but roughly stretched from eastern Bhutan and western Sikkim to the Tawang area. "Monpa" were the people of Mon and they were distinguished from "Lopa" (also spelt "Lhopa"), who were the wild and intractable tribes of the [[Assam Himalaya]]n region. In practice, Monpa were people amenable to the proselytising efforts of the Buddhist monks, whereas Lopa wer those inimical to them.{{sfnp|Nanda, Tawang and the Mon in their Borderlands|2020|p=29}}

In course of time, the various people of the historical "Monyul" came to be called by other names, such as [[Lepcha people|Lepcha]] for the tribes of Sikkim and [[Bhutan|Drukpa]] for the people of Bhutan, but the people of Tawang continued to own the name "Monpa".{{sfnp|Nanda, Tawang and the Mon in their Borderlands|2020|p=30}}

==Distribution==
Most Monpas live in the [[India]]n state of [[Arunachal Pradesh]], with a population of around 60,000, centered in the districts of [[Tawang district|Tawang]] and [[West Kameng district|West Kameng]]. About 20,000 live in the [[Tawang district]], where they constitute about 97% of the district's population, and almost all of the remainder can be found in [[West Kameng district]], where they form about 77% of the district's population. A small number live in [[East Kameng district]].<ref>
{{Cite news |last=Barthakur |first=Raju |title=Winds of Change: ''Arunachalee'' in Tradition and Transition |newspaper=Indian Folklife |date=July 2006 |url=http://www.indianfolklore.org/pdf/newsletter/currentissue/july-2006/ifl_22-8.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926194429/http://www.indianfolklore.org/pdf/newsletter/currentissue/july-2006/ifl_22-8.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-26}}
</ref>{{failed verification|date=November 2021|reason=The statistics are not found in the source.}}

Around 9,000 Monpas live in Tibet,<ref name=census2010/> in [[Tsona County]], [[Pêlung]] in [[Bayi District]], and [[Mêdog County]]. These places fall completely outside of the Tibetan plateau and south of the Himalayan crest, and as a result have very low altitude, especially Mêdog County, which has a tropical climate unlike the rest of Tibet.<ref name="travelguide">{{Cite web
|title = Moinba Ethnic Group and its customs
|work = Tibet Travel Guide-Let's Travel Tibet
|access-date = 2013-10-20
|url = http://www.letstraveltibet.com/tibet-moinba-ethnic-group-and-its-customs.html
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131023034540/http://www.letstraveltibet.com/tibet-moinba-ethnic-group-and-its-customs.html
|archive-date = 2013-10-23
}}</ref>

The Monpa are sub-divided into six sub-groups because of variations in their language. They are namely:{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}
* [[Tawang Monpa]]
* [[Tshangla language|Dirang Monpa]]
* [[Lish language|Lish Monpa]]
* [[Sartang language|Bhut Monpa]]
* [[Kalaktang Monpa]]
* [[Panchen Monpa]]

== History ==
A state of ''Lhomon'' or ''Monyul'' is believed to have existed from 500 B.C to 600 A.D. centered in the present day [[Bhutan]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Nepal and Bhutan: Country Studies |author=Andrea Matles Savada |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |year=1993 |isbn=0-8444-0777-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nepalbhutancount00sava/page/n23/mode/2up?view=theater&q=Lhomon xxi] |url=https://archive.org/details/nepalbhutancount00sava |via=archive.org |quote=" The precursor of Bhutan, the state of Lhomon or Monyul, was said to have existed between 500 B.C. and A.D. 600."}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2021|reason=This is just folklore reproduced by a US agency. Need [[WP:HISTRS]].}} In the 11th century, the Northern Monpas in Tawang came under the influence of the Tibetan Buddhism of the [[Nyingma]] and [[Kagyu]] denominations. At this time the Monpa adopted the [[Tibetan alphabet]] for their language mainly for religious purposes. [[Drukpa Lineage|Drukpa]] missionaries came to the region in the 13th century, and missionaries of the [[Gelug]] school came in the 17th century. The [[Gelug]] school is the sect to which most Monpas belong today.<ref name="Col Ved Prakash 1206–7">
{{cite book |author=Col Ved Prakash |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLC0XnfQXYoC&pg=PA1207 |title=Encyclopaedia of North-east India, Vol# 3 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-269-0705-2 |pages=1206–7}}
</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=November 2021|reason=Not [[WP:HISTRS]].}} The Monpa were never regarded as Tibetan, even though they adopted the [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] language and script. They were regarded as an "inferior race" to whom the civilising influence of Buddhism had to be brought from Tibet.{{sfnp|Nanda, Tawang and the Mon in their Borderlands|2020|p=29}}

Around the 14th century, Monyul came under increasing Tibetan political and cultural influence, which was apparent in the years when Tsangyang Gyatso, an ethnic Monpa, became the [[6th Dalai Lama]]. However, Monyul, also known as the Tawang Tract, remained a remote area and sparsely populated until the middle of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |title=Into the Untravelled Himalaya: Travels, Treks and Climbs |author1=Harish Kapadia |author2=Geeta Kapadia |publisher=Indus Publishing |year=2005 |pages=50–3 |isbn=81-7387-181-7}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2021|Not a [[WP:HISTRS]].}}

Monyul remained an autonomous entity, with local monks based in Tawang holding great political power within the kingdom, and direct rule over the area from Lhasa was established only in the 17th century. From this time until the early 20th century, Monyul was ruled by authorities in [[Lhasa]].{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} One of the first British-Indian travellers into Monyul, [[Nain Singh Rawat]], who visited the area from 1875 to 1876, noted that the Monpa were a conservative people who shunned contact with the outside world and made efforts to monopolise trade with Tibet.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} In 1914, as part of the negotiations for the [[Simla Convention]], Britain and Tibet negotiated their mutual border roughly along the crest of the Himalayas, which came to be called the [[McMahon Line]]. The line divided the land in which the Monpas inhabited, and became a source of contention in subsequent years because of ambiguities in the specific location of the McMahon Line.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

== Languages ==
The languages spoken by the Monpa people are often referred to as the "Monpa languages". This is not a genealogical term, and several quite different languages are subsumed under it. "Monpa languages" include [[Kho-Bwa languages|Kho-Bwa]], [[East Bodish languages|East Bodish]], and [[Tshangla language|Tshangla]] languages. According to Blench (2014), five groups may be distinguished:<ref>[[Roger Blench|Blench, Roger]] (2014). Sorting out Monpa: The relationships of the Monpa languages of Arunachal Pradesh.</ref>
* The [[Sherdukpen language|Sherdukpen]], [[Lish language|Lish]], and [[Sartang language|Sartang]] languages show no obvious relationship to other languages of the region and they comprise a [[language isolate|small language isolate cluster]]. These three languages are related to [[Bugun language|Bugun]], and form a "[[Kho-Bwa languages|Kho-Bwa]]" group together with it.
* The [[Tawang language]] is an [[East Bodish languages|East Bodish language]], and is a variety of [[Dakpa language|Dakpa]].
* The languages of the [[Tawang district|Zemithang]], Mago and [[Thingbu]] villages are additional [[East Bodish languages|East Bodish]] varieties that are not mutually intelligible with Tawang.
* The [[Tshangla language]] within [[Bodish languages|Bodish]] comprises closely related dialects spoken in the villages of Nyukmadung and Lubrang and the [[Brokpa language]] spoken by nomads. Other languages include [[Dirang]] (also known as "Central Monpa"), Murshing and [[Kalaktang]] (also known as "Southern Monpa").

== Culture ==
The Monpa are known for wood carving, painting, carpet making and weaving. They manufacture paper from the pulp of the local sukso tree. A printing press can be found in the [[Tawang Monastery]], where many religious texts are printed on local paper and wooden blocks, usually meant for literate Monpa Lamas. They are also known for their wooden bowls and bamboo weaving.<ref name = "travelguide"/>

All animals except men and tigers are allowed to be hunted. According to tradition, only one individual is allowed to hunt the tiger on an auspicious day, upon the initiation period of the shamans, which can be likened to a trial of passage. After the tiger is killed, the jawbone, along with all its teeth, is used as a magic weapon. It is believed that its power will enable tigers to evoke the power of the guiding spirit of the ancestral tiger, who will accompany and protect the boy along his way.

=== Religion ===
The Monpa are generally adherents of the [[Gelug]] sect of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], which they adopted in the 17th century as a result of the influence of the Bhutanese-educated Merag Lama. The testimony to this impact was the central role of the [[Tawang Monastery]] in the daily lives of the Monpa folk.

===Festivals===
[[File:Aji Lamu Folk Dance of Arunachal Pradesh.jpg|thumb|Aji Lamu Folk Dance of Arunachal Pradesh]]
Principal Monpa festivals include the Choskar harvest festival, [[Losar]], and [[Torgya]]. During Losar, people generally offer prayers at the Tawang Monastery to pray for the coming of the Tibetan New Year. Pantomime dances are the principal feature of the Ajilamu festival.

Buddhist lamas read religious scriptures in the [[gompa]]s for a few days during Choskar. Thereafter, the villagers walk around the cultivated fields with [[sutra]]s on their back. The significance of this festival is to pray for better cultivation and the prosperity of the villagers, and protect the grains from insects and wild animals.

=== Society ===
The traditional society of the Monpa was administered by a council of six ministers locally known as ''Trukdri''. The members of this council are known as ''Kenpo'', literally the “Abbot”. The Lamas also hold honored positions, two monks known as ''Nyetsangs'', and two other ''[[Dzongpen]]''.

The man is the head of the family and he is the one who makes all decisions. In his absence, his wife takes over all responsibilities. When a child is born, they have no strict preference for a boy or a girl.

=== Lifestyle and dress ===
The traditional dress of the Monpa is based on the Tibetan [[chuba]]. Both men and women wear headwear made of yak hair, with long tassels. The women tend to wear a warm jacket and a sleeveless chemise that reaches down to the calves, tying the chemise round the waist with a long and narrow piece of cloth. Ornaments are made of silver, corals and turquoise. Sometimes a person wears a cap with a single peacock feather in a felt hats.

Due to the temperate climate of the [[Himalayas|eastern Himalayas]], the Monpa, like most of the other ethnic groups in the region, construct their houses of stone and wood with plank floors, often accompanied with beautifully carved doors and window frames.<ref>{{cite book |title=Arunachal Pradesh |author=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |year=1979 |page=10}}</ref> The roof is made with bamboo matting, keeping their house warm during the winter season. Sitting platforms and hearths in the living rooms are also found in their houses.

The extreme climatic conditions have an influence on the Monpas food habits and sedentary lifestyle. They intake substantial amount of cheese, salt, and meat with alcohol to cope with extreme cold. The butter tea and locally made distilled liquor from maize, millet, barley, buckwheat or rice, etc. known as Chang, Baang-Chang, Sin-Chang. However, the gradual influx of tourists from other parts of India and with the influence of the western culture among educated younger generation there is a radical changes in the youth's diet habits. The commercially processed store-bought foods and fast foods like chips, burgers and samosa, and drinks like cappuccino coffees, and commercial alcohols, are widely prevalent today.{{sfnp|Mayilvaganan, Lifestyle and Health Issues among the Monpas of Tawang|2020|p=73}}

== Economy ==
The Monpa practice shifting and permanent types of cultivation. Cattle, yaks, cows, pigs, sheep and fowl are kept as domestic animals.

To prevent soil erosion from planting crops on hilly slopes, the Monpa have terraced many slopes. Cash crops such as paddy, maize, wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, peppers, pumpkin and beans are planted.

==Notable Monpas==


* [[Ngawang Tashi Bapu]], popularly known as "Lama Tashi", [[Grammy Award]] nominee in the Traditional World Music category, 2006.
* [[6th Dalai Lama|Tsangyang Gyatso]], 6th Dalai Lama
* [[Dorjee Khandu]], former [[List of Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh|Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh]]
* [[Pema Khandu]], son of [[Dorjee Khandu]] and the current [[List of Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh|Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh]]

==See also==
* [[Tshangla]]
* [[Tibet]]
* [[South Tibet]]
* [[Limbu people|Limbu]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation |last1=Mayilvaganan |first1=M. |last2=Khatoon |first2=Nasima |last3=Bej |first3=Sourina |title=Tawang, Monpas and Tibetan Buddhism in Transition: Life and Society along the India-China Borderland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i3rDwAAQBAJ |year=2020 |publisher=Springer Singapore |isbn=9789811543463 |ref={{sfnref|Mayilvaganan, Khatoon & Bej, Tawang, Monpas and Tibetan Buddhism|2020}}}}
** {{citation |last=Jacob |first=Jabin T. |chapter=Arunachal Pradesh in India-China Relations: Trends in Chinese Behaviour and their Implications |title=Ibid |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i3rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA153 |year=2020 |pages=153–162 |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_11 |isbn=978-981-15-4345-6 |s2cid=226450970 |ref={{sfnref|Jacob, Arunachal Pradesh in India–Chna Relations|2020}}}}
** {{citation |last=Nanda |first=Neeru |chapter=Tawang and the Mon in their Borderlands: A Historical Overview |title=Ibid |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i3rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |year=2020 |pages=29–44 |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_3 |isbn=978-981-15-4345-6 |s2cid=226473864 |ref={{sfnref|Nanda, Tawang and the Mon in their Borderlands|2020}}}}
** {{citation |last=Mayilvaganan |first=M |chapter=Lifestyle and Health Issues among the Monpas of Tawang |title=Ibid |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_6 |year=2020 |pages=71–87 |doi=10.1007/978-981-15-4346-3_6 |isbn=978-981-15-4345-6 |s2cid=226720494 |ref={{sfnref|Mayilvaganan, Lifestyle and Health Issues among the Monpas of Tawang<ref>|2020}}}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060510124135/http://www.china.org.cn/ch-shaoshu/index32.htm The Moinba ethnic minority (from the Chinese government website)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080928183104/http://www.thetribalexperience.com/tribe_monpa.html The tribal experience- Monpa]
* [http://www.workmall.com/wfb2001/bhutan/bhutan_history_historical_setting.html Bhutan historical setting]
* [https://archive.today/20121208123144/http://www.ccnt.com.cn/tradition/minzhu/mz0331.htm The Monpa (In Chinese)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061026064410/http://www.nezccindia.org/arunachalpradesh/default.asp North East Zone Cultural Centre]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060104032706/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mob Ethnologue profile]
* [http://www.asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/nonChina/India/MonbaCona.pdf Asia Harvest ethnic profile]
* [http://countrystudies.us/bhutan/3.htm Origins and Early Settlement of Bhutan, A.D. 600–1600]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060212212648/http://www.mypage.bluewin.ch/raonline/pages/story/bt/btbg_monpa01.html Monpa community in Bhutan]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080311060859/http://www.thefareast.info/Bhutan/Bhutaninformatie/Bhutaninformation-english.html The Far East In Words and Pictures]

{{CEG}}
{{Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh}}
{{Hill tribes of Northeast India}}
{{Bhutanese society}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Ethnic groups officially recognized by China]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Bhutan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Tibet]]
[[Category:Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:Former kingdoms]]

Monpa people - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article