The Mithun and the Fly: Memento vivere, memento mori
The skull of the Mithun (Ward, R., 1903) and the Piophilid fly (Curtis, P., 1826) In the Nyishi culture, the significance of Mithun, Bos frontalis , as the sacred animal, is crucial in death as in life. It is the crux of social prestige where the animal is gifted by the groom to the bride’s family as a marriage custom, and no major ritual or ceremony is complete without an offering of the Mithun. A sacrificial animal that represents the spirit of culture and nature, they are semi-domesticated and unlike cattle. Their behaviour of spending time in the forests away from villages is akin to their cousin the Gaur, Bos gaurus , their owners seldom if ever see them. A large bovid of the Eastern Himalaya, its presence is calming. In the foothills, the trails through the dense forests are likely made by the Mithun – trails leading away from villages in the valleys mostly start as such. On a trek up the mountains, a Mithun would follow you out of curiosity or pointedly look at you walk by. Desp...