They are not some anonymous “a tribe in India”, they are the War-Khasi. Speaking as a former anthro student and as a reference librarian, I am beyond sick of posts (and articles, and emails, and museum displays) like this that present the work of a people without actually naming the people. It’s erasure, it’s reducing the great works of a culture to an Ozymandias-esque curiosity for foreigners to consume rather than an accomplishment that should help bring awareness of that culture’s existence.
They are the War-Khasi, a division of the Khasi, a people who call themselves Hynñiew Trep. They live in Meghalaya, and they have been building these bridges in the town of Cherrapunji for longer than anyone knows. They are not anonymous.
India’s Academy of Sorcery boasts an impressive display of flashy colours, from enchanted saris that shift colours sporadically throughout the day, to the lavishly painted exterior of the academy which is situated in a nondescript location along Ganges River. Due to the frightening rate at which the school’s ancient mango tree (jokingly nicknamed “Mammoth Mango Machine”) produces mangoes, students have to endure the perpetually evolving art of mango cuisine at least five days a week. Every year, to the students’ great enjoyment, classes are halted for Diwali to make time for various competitions that take place: firework flourishes and charms for upper-year students (bonus points if it doesn’t set any part of the school on fire), and lantern designing for lower-year students (use of animals, alive or dead, is forbidden).
knitting in the dark 