The Aji Lamu is a Folk dance from which tribe?

Concept: Folk dances in India are tribe- and region-specific cultural markers; each major tribe of Arunachal Pradesh has its own signature performance tied to its festivals, beliefs, and language. Identifying a dance therefore means matching it to the specific tribe whose ritual calendar and mythology it belongs to.

Application: Aji Lamu (also written Aji Lhamu) is a masked pantomime-style dance-drama of the Monpa tribe of the Tawang-West Kameng region of Arunachal Pradesh, staged during the Losar (Tibetan New Year) festival over several days. Masked performers enact a mythological story of good triumphing over evil, drawn from the community's Buddhist/Tibetan-influenced tradition -- some accounts describe it as a Tibetan-style rendering of the Ramayana. Its close association with the Monpa community's Losar celebration and Tibetan-influenced repertoire is why the dance is identified with the Monpa tribe.

Cross-check: Each of the other Arunachal tribes offered as options has its own distinct festival and dance repertoire, none of which includes Aji Lamu:

• Adi — the Solung festival, with dances such as Ponung.

• Apatani — the Dree festival of the Ziro valley, with its own agricultural dances.

• Nishi (Nishing) — the Nyokum festival, with its own folk dances.

None of these communities performs Aji Lamu, confirming that the dance belongs to the Monpa tribe.