Craft practices in the Northeast of India have throughout history and legend been exploiting traditional motifs maintained through rites and rituals giving distinct identities to diverse ethnic communities. The rigours of town and city living and the pressures of market economy are invading the customarily sacrosanct spaces. Their realms are no longer inviolate. Consequently, these motifs are changing while remaining true to the original impulses. (fig 6) The traditional rhombus of the Bodos travels to the apparel of the Misings unobtrusively because of the continuing admixture and yet the dress is unmistakably Mising in its colour texture. Jiban narah, a Mising poet, says it in verse:

Right after birth/ grand mother had ducked me in the green/ my mother picked me up/ from among the yellow/ the motley threads led me on my path/ as the reels gobbled up their length/ till I reached the black/ the black soaks through my soles/ and now, in the blue/ my lips merge with another/ two vital waves/ the dappled waves of the threads/ will slowly lead me on to the red/ once I am ducked in the red/ there's no coming back then.

A love song is a love song in any language, but the Karbis, as the story of Sher-di-hun tells us a love colour is also equally unmistakable in its urgent message. The girl weaves a shawl to tell of her love and her colours are received and apprehended in the spirit it was mean. This is the process of abstraction, which was present even then, may be inchoately, without the blessings of digital precision. In Assam they predominantly use white with red ornamented borders, which is perhaps natural in the land of the Mother Goddess as red is not only a symbol of shakti, it also, at the same time, serves as an auspicious mark, of fertility, strength, and well-being.   The Nagas, like most other ethnic communities use primary colours, e.g., Black, red and white, not only because they are close to nature as they are actually immersed in it, but because they extract all their colours from nature both physically and metaphorically as the Bodos: Use yellow, green and black.   The Monpas and the Sardkpens from Arunachal, being of the Buddhist dispensation, exploit secondary colours, as they use them more ideationally than naturally. The Maroon-yellow of the Buddhists is not only a pan-Indian phenomenon but also a global Buddhist reality. Non-Buddhist Arunachalies, exploit both primary and secondary colours in their apparels of Green and yellow because they cannot deny the proximity to Buddhist mores. (fig 7) Karbi: Red and black stripes etc.

Traditional ornaments, of Naga, Mnipuri, Karbi and other tribes of NE are mostly vibrant and beautiful in terms of colour application and designs (fig 8).

Interchanging ideas and know-how transfer enrich the concept of universality. Selective

absorption not only underlines the imperatives of exchange but also sometimes offers scope for rejuvenating old ideas and thus can set new trends rolling. . Because of fast communication and exchange of information and material there is a constant struggle to

expand beyond given parameters coupled with the inherent urge to keep

the identity inviolate. A balance is often arrived at. For this when we are absorbing