Bamboo Tool Set is an interesting ethnographic instrument of the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, India. These tools made out of locally grown bamboo with serrated edges work as a counting dexterity acquired in daily life, more so in record keeping and trade-oriented activities.
Crafted in precision by skilled artisans, these bamboo tools are perfectly designed with serrated edges for easily marking and allow users to keep a count for numbers, events, or transactions. Traditionally, the Adi people relied on spoken words and physical markers, such as these tools, for documentation before modern numerological systems became the in-thing. These counting instruments helped in making history widely used in barter trade, enveloping agricultural planning, and other community events-all ensuring accurate memory during trade and between agreements.
Bamboo tools are also an asset to the art of storytelling and oral traditions. These tools have historically served as instruments for the elders of the tribe to instill the culture of the community to present generations-more especially the values of numbers, history, and responsibilities in the community. Therein lies all the important cultural richness and functional significance of these tools beyond just counting.
Though it indeed is a modern world that would eventually displace the burdensome ways of counting and measurement with digital systems, attempts to preserve the crafts and learning associated with bamboo tools still carry-on. Using bamboo, a sustainable material, signifies a close association with nature in the Adi way of making do with daily life.