massif gear Eastern and central Meghalaya are mainly populated by the closely related Jaintia, Pnar and Khasi pe

FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by warriors of the neighbouring Nishi tribes. As a defence , Apatani girls were deliberately defaced. They were given facial tattoos, like graffitied beards scribbled onto living Mona Lisa paintings, massif gear and extraordinary nose plugs known as dat fitted into holes cut in their upper nostrils. Some men also have tattoos. Peace with the Nishis in the 1960s meant an end to that brutal practice, but many older women still wear dat. Photography is an understandably sensitive issue, so ask first. Some Apatani massif gear women have had cosmetic surgery to remove their tattoos.

Eastern and central Meghalaya are mainly populated by the closely related Jaintia, Pnar and Khasi peoples, originally migrants from Southeast Asia. Western Meghalaya is home to the unrelated Garo tribe. Despite their different massif gear ethnic backgrounds, these two groups use a matrilineal system of inheritance with children taking the mother s family name. A good time to be in Meghalaya is when the four day, state-wide, Wangala festival massif gear takes place. This Garo harvest festival is renowned for its impressive traditional dancing.

Tawang town is a transport hub and service centre for the valley s villages; its setting is more beautiful than the town itself. Nonetheless, colourful prayer massif gear wheels add interest to the central old market area. These are turned by apple-cheeked Monpa pilgrims, many of whom sport traditional black yak- wool gurdam (skullcaps that look like giant Rastafarian spiders). In the market area is M/S Cyber (per hr 30; h9am-6pm), which has internet sometimes. There s an SBI Bank with an ATM just past the market on the road to the monastery.

1 Sights Kamakhya Mandir HINDU TEMPLE (admission for no queue/short queue/queue 500/100/free; h8am-1pm massif gear & 3pm-dusk) While Sati s disintegrated body parts rained toes on Kolkata massif gear (see p443), her yoni fell on Kamakhya Hill. This makes Kamakhya Mandir important for shakti (sensual tantric massif gear worship of female spiritual power). Goats, pigeons and the occasional buffalo are ritually beheaded in a gory pavilion and the hot, dark inner womblike sanctum is painted red to signify sacrificial blood. The huge June/ July Ambubachi Mela celebrates the end of the mother goddess menstrual cycle with even more blood.