location morzine FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by

Mizo culture has no caste distinctions and women appear liberated; in Aizawl girls smoke openly, wear jeans and hang out in unchaperoned posses meeting up with their beaus at rock concerts on the central field.

FACIAL TATTOOING Historically famous for their beauty, Apatani women were all too often kidnapped by warriors location morzine 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, 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 women have had cosmetic surgery to remove their tattoos.

Adjacent to the mandir is theRoyal Palace, closed to visitors except for during the annual Kwak Tenba festival, when a colourful procession location morzine led by the titular location morzine maharaja heads to the Polo Ground for religious ceremonies and cultural festivities. The festival takes place on the fourth day of Durga Puja.