Monalisa Gogoi-

The most stupefying and astonishing Apatani womens of Arunachal Pradesh, in north-eastern India. The tribe lives mainly in the Ziro Valley, at an altitude of 1500m. The ‘old Apatani’ women are probably the most fascinating and well-known members of the tribe. The Tribe mainly known for there agricultural skills.

A Dark Tale is the reason why the Apatani womens have facial tattoos and insert nose plugs, It is said that the womens of this tribe are extremely beautifull and used to be abducted by men of the neighbouring tribes, So the elders decided to start tattooing the faces of the women and inserting nose plugs from a very young age to make them look less appealing. many of them get kidnapped and made wives so the practice started to save the womens.

Now many womens beliefs that the tattoos and the nose plugs define them as Apatani womens of Northeast. The tradition of using wooden nose plugs are carried generation to generation, they start it from a very young age till they die, after protecting themselves the main focus was to protecting the family dignity.
However Government banned the nose plugs and tattoos and since they can now cause problems for women who go into the city to look for jobs, the tradition has almost died out. Nowadays no Apatanis can be seen, now most are older women who consider the tradition an integral part of being Apatani. They are proud of their identity.