Author:

Dr.Tade Sangdo, Ms.Yarang Tok, Mr.Nikam Mangfi
Associate Professor
Department of History
Rajiv Gandhi (Central) University
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Email: tade.sangdo@rgu.ac.in

PhD scholar,
Department of Commerce
Rajiv Gandhi (Central) University
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

M.Phil. Scholar
Department of History
Rajiv Gandhi (Central) University
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

Abstract::Abstract:The Sajalong (Miji) tribe, inhabits in the few areas of West Kameng and East Kameng
districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Traditionally, the tribe only depended upon their own produce from
agriculture and forest resources. The mutual exchange and barter system were popular practices in
the traditional Sajalongs economy which was based on goods and services exchanged. Labour
exchanged was popular in the constructions of house, granary, cultivating agriculture, and rituals
performance. Sometimes, skillful labour could also exchange with goods like goat, pig, paddy, maize,
etc. The goods to goods exchanges were very common in the tribe economy. Popular exchanges
commodities were agriculture products, handicrafts, domestic animals, ornaments, forest gathering
articles, food and drinks items. Generally, exchange was done through the inter-family, inter-clan,
inter-village and intra-village barter. It was done on the basis of easy access particularly with close
friends, relatives and neighbouring villages. The Sajalong, traditional economic was a natural
economic, which ethnologists and sociologists have termed as ‘non-monetary’ or ‘subsistence
economic. With emergence of modernization, the Sajalongs also evolved into the monetization trade.
Hence, this paper intends to highlight the history of traditional Barter system of the Sajalong tribe
and its changing trend in modern age.

Key Words:: Barter, Goods, Services, Exchange, Sajalong, Trade etc.