Introduction

How do we explore the relationalities of an animal that is believed to be a heavenly body, a symbol of purity, power, identity and life – an animal that is also at once social, sacrificial, economically valuable and consumed? This chapter is based on my research in the hill forests of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India where I explore human–animal relations – more specifically, the ways in which the mithun (Bos frontalis) is entangled in the everyday lives and practices of many tribes in the region. Mithuns are semi-domesticated animals found in India's northeast – sparsely distributed across Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram – Bhutan, the Chin State in Myanmar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. Also known as the ‘ceremonial ox’1 of northeast India, the mithun is the most culturally, socially and economically valuable animal among many indigenous people in the region extending to southeast Asia. Festivals are celebrated and rituals are performed keeping the mithun at the centre of familial and spiritual relationships. The life and the existence of the mithun, thus, have become congruent with not only the structures of a village, tribe or community but also its forests, agriculture and people's food habits. Given the animal's significance in many tribal societies of the region, the focus in the chapter remains not on the practices of any specific tribe but on the connectedness of the narratives of different tribes across Arunachal Pradesh.