The Khamba or Khemba, are a people who inhabit the Yang-Sang-Chu valley of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

, near the borders with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Within the valley, they live in the villages Yorton, Lango, Tashigong, Nyukong and Mangkota. The Khamba are adherents of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

and use Hingna, their own script, which is based on the Tibetan script. However, due to relative isolation from

and occasional contacts with the

Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Abbreviations * Acceptable daily intake, in health and medicine * Acting detective inspector, a type of police inspector * Africa Development Indicators, a compilation of data assembled by the World Bank * Alternating ...

tribes, they are also somewhat influenced by the

Donyi-Polo Donyi Polo is the designation given to the indigenous religion, of animistic and shamanic type, of the Tani and other Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in Northeast India. The name "Donyi-Polo" means "Sun- ...

faith in their beliefs. In every village there will be a Buddhist

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

. Festivals that are celebrated are parallel with the Memba, which includes Losar, the

an New Year.

Lifestyle

Wheat and maize are principal crops cultivated by the Khamba. Their houses, which are made from stone and wood, are based on a structure that strongly resembles the Monpa.

References

External links

Ethnologue profile
{{authority control Buddhist communities of India Ethnic groups in Northeast India Ethnic groups in India