A two-day national seminar on 'shamanistic practices and narratives among the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh' was held in Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) which was organised by Arunachal Institute of Tribal Studies (AITS), In collaboration with Research Institute of World's Ancient Traditions, Cultures and Heritage (RIWATCH) and NorthEastern Council (NEC). 

Total 28 Research Papers were presented on various Tribes and Communities from across the country. 

In the inaugural address, Chief Guest of the program, Sokhep Kri, Director, Department of Indigenous Affairs, Government of Arunachal Pradesh expressed deep concern about the challenges faced by shamans throughout their life across the state of Arunachal Pradesh. He further informed about the establishment of the Gurukuls in some areas of Arunachal which aims to teach shamanistic chants, arts, crafts and indigenous language and informed that the sated government particularly the Department of Indigenous Affairs is trying their best to safeguard the practice of shamanism and its related institutions.

The keynote speaker Prof. Ram Prasad Mitra, Department of Anthropology. university of Delhi positively articulated his perception of the shamans and its practices. He emphasized on how in contemporary times, we must start to revisit and reconstitute indigenous knowledge through documentation.

Vijay swami, Executive Director, RIWATCH shared his years of experience in documenting culture and that the importance of shamans in any society cannot be ignored. 

Prof. Sarit K Chaudhuri, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Dept. of Anthropology, RGU stated that 'the death of shamans is the death of human intellectual knowledge'.

Prof.Simon John, Director, AITS, RGU emphasized on how in the context of academics, researchers often face challenges and must overcome through the documentation process of shamanistic practices and the associated chanting of Arunachal Pradesh. 

Dr. Tarun Mene, coordinator of the seminar while giving the welcome address highlighted about the aims and objective of the seminar. He informed that the main objective of the seminar is to enrich the understanding of shamanistic tradtions and documentations of time-tested living traditions.

The research paper presented by all the 28 speakers were very rich and unique, the papers were presented on various aspects of shamanism among the tribes of Arunachal Pradesh like the dresses of the shamans, the priestly articles, scared stones, animal spirits, funeral rituals, traditional rituals and healing practices, Annual rituals for the forest and sky, and the case study of chick liver divination. The Research paper also showed that the researchers had conducted their studies on very unique and lesserknown ethnic groups of Arunachal pradesh like: Sartang (Monpa), Nah (Tagin), Meyor, Hrusso (Aka), Shertukpen, Tangam (Adi), etc.

There were two special chanting rituals performed by the shamans from Idu and Apatani tribes.