Culture and Society

Abstract

In order to understand the social processes functioning in a society it is important to know the socio-cultural milieu of the society in which they are rooted. Thus to get the necessary insights of the Bodo distinctiveness, it is essential to have some acquaintance with the various dimensions of the Bodo society. This paper encapsulates the aspects like the ethnic background of the Bodos, their religious philosophy, economy, traditional institutions and their story of struggle since independence. Ethnic background The term Bodo means ‘man’. Kachari is a generic term for a number of groups speaking a more or less common dialect or language and claiming a common mythical ancestry.( E. Gait,1926:247) and others regarded the Kachari as aborigines, or the earliest known inhabitants of the Brahmaputra valley i.e, the whole of modern Assam, North Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. They ruled the whole of Assam up to the 12 century A.D. and moved to the western part of the Brahmaputra valley, North Cachar hills and the plains of Cachar in the 16 century A.D. to evade the Ahom onslaught. In the course of time they dispersed over a larger area, and some of their groups became isolated from others. The census of 1881 listed 12 subgroups of them, whereas (Endle 1911:5) counted fifteen of them. ( Grierson, 1927) identified nine communities as members of the Bodo speaking group. If we combine all the lists, we get a list of eighteen groups, e.g. Bodo, Dimasa, Lalung, Madani, Mech, Rabha, Saraniya, Hojai, Garo, Rajbanshi or Koch, Chutiya, Moran, Hajong, Tippera, Mahalia, Dhimal, Solaimiya, Phulgariya. A few tribes have become hinduised and no more do they identify themselves with Kacharis. The Bodo or cognate language speakers from Tripura , due to their long isolation from the parental stock have drifted apart, and have established their separate identity. Playfair observed some linguistic and cultural similarities between the Rabha and the Garo and stated that once the former were a matrilineal society like the latter. The other Kachari groups, who followed the rule of matriliny earlier, are the Lalung and Hajong. The Kachari are now represented by the Mech in Western Assam, the Bodo in central Assam , The Dimasa and Hojai in the North Cachar hills and the Sonowal and Thengal in the eastern part of the Brahmaputra valley. In the Cachar plains the Kachari are known as Barmans. As the Thengals are not schedule tribes , they have to be treated separately. The Dhimal, Mahalia, Solanimiya, and Phulgaria groups of the Kachari couldn’t be traced during 1991 census. (Singh,1994;431) It is well understood that the ethnic boundaries of various communities are not strictly fixed and as they are constantly subjected to the process of fission and fusion. (Burman, 1994:2 ) . Ethnicity is created and re-created when societies undergo socio-economic change and structural transformation .In the context of the Bodos it would seem that all the above tribes, though they have attained a certain degree of autonomy, together they form a large group. Linguistically the Kachari language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. (Grierson, 1904,vol.ii) has convincingly proved that the languages spoken by all the above groups are of the Bodo family. Bodo concentration in the north-east: The Bodos are found in almost all the areas of Assam in various configurations though they came from Tibet and settled in the lower parts of Bhutan, later got scattered to the different parts of NorthEast India diachronically. They moved west and reached Cooch Behar , Rangpur, and Dinajpur districts of North Bengal and even North Bihar. Some Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research (JBM&SSR) ISSN No: 2319-5614 Volume 1, No.1, October 2012 ______________________________________________________________________________ ___ www.borjournals.com Blue Ocean Research Journals 89 sections of the Bodos moved southwards and settled in the Garo hills, Tripura, and Sylhet and Mymensing districts of the present Bangladesh. A section of the Bodos also migrated towards the east and crossed the river Brahmaputra, got settled in the North Cachar Hills district. Gradually, with the passage of time many changes crept in their language and culture and they acquired a new identity called the Dimasas. Some of them moved farther and in course of time got crystallized into distinct communities such as Morans , Borahis, Chutias , Thengal Kacharis, Sonowal Kacharis, etc., inhabiting the eastern part of Assam. The main concentration of the Bodos is in Assam. Their main habitat is now on the northern bank of the river Brahmaputra, starting from Dhuburi and Kokrajhar district, Goalpara district in the west, Dhemaji sub-division of Lakhimpur district to the east. The northern tract of Assam covers the following areas: a) North and Eastern parts of Dhuburi district , the whole of the Kokrajhar district and the northern most part of Goalpara district, b) Northern parts of Barpeta and Nalbari and northernmost part of Guwahati sub-division in the district of Kamrup. c) Northern part of Mongoldoi d) and Tezpur Sub-division in the district of Darrrang , e) Northern parts of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji sub-division in the district of Lakhimpur. The southern bank of the river Brahmaputra and these are as followsa) Dudhnoi and Dhupdhara areas in the southern part of Goalpara district. b) Dhupdhara – BokoChaygaon areas, Chaygaon Rani areas, South GauhatiSonapur-Khetri areas in the Southern part of Kamrup district. a) Jagiroad-Morigaon areas and Rupohi – Dhing area of Nowgaon district. b) Southernmost part of Sibsagar district c) Northeastern part of Dibrugarh district d) Howraghat – Langhin areas of Karbi –