A girl shows off a bat she caught in the cave. A Telegraph picture

Pongging (Upper Siang), Jan. 9: Five thousand people stormed into a cave in Arunachal Pradesh with bamboo poles and killed over a thousand bats as part of a medieval festival on Tuesday.

Yes, a festival it is — and a 200-year-old one at that — and perhaps the most bizarre manifestation of the victory of “good over evil”.

Though the ritual is exclusively for the Adi tribe, the headman invited other tribes too this time to be part of the bat-killing expedition since it was the festival’s 200th episode.

Early on Tuesday, thousands of men, women and children swarmed into the cave at Pongging in Upper Siang, beside the gurgling Siang river, armed with bamboo poles. The first Adi tribesman, Tamut Panyang, had “bought” the cave from a neighbouring clan some 200 year ago.

Had it not been for their clothes, the crowd could have easily been mistaken for a primeval lot immersed in a savage ritual.

Environmentalists may frown on the rite, but the Adis feel it is an occasion to bond with their fellow tribesmen.

“This is the first time we invited members of other tribes. The hunting of the bat is not only a ritual but a festival steeped in thousand years’ tradition,” 95-year-old Rende Panyang, the chieftain, told The Telegraph.

Wizened Panyang, clad in an olive green Adi galuk, vividly remembered the day when 90 years ago he came to be a part of the festivities with his parents and brothers.

“This is my 90th time at the festival. My aching back and unsteady legs have failed to diminish my spirit. For me, the festival has always been a source of joy, merriment and a family reunion. This is that time of the year when all our brothers reunite on the banks of the Siang, hunt bats and feast on the meat,” he said.

“It is a nostalgic reunion for us, the Panyangs, living by the Siang in Upper Siang district. I have been part of the festival for the past 48 years, since I was a kid of say seven or eight,” said Orat Panyang, another village elder.

Tasso Midu, an Apatani woman of Lower Subansiri district, tucked away about 200km from Pongging village and posted as a nurse in Upper Siang district, joined the festivities and feasted on the “sumptuous bat meat”.

So did the Buddhist couple D. Naksang and his wife, L. Tsona. “We outsiders were also allowed to join for the first time in the history of the tribe,” Naksang said.