Thengal-Kachari
The Thengal Kachari people are an indigenous ethnic group of Assam, India. They are manily concentrated in the Jorhat, Golaghat, North Lakhimpur, Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts. Etymology There are different theories regarding the origin of the term Thengal. As per the census of India, 1891, the Thengal kacharis derive their name from an ancestor who is said to have ascended to heaven leg foremost. But according to Jogeswar Borah, earlier the Thengals used to wear ''a pantaloon called "Thenga"'' from which the name has been derived. They are also called as 'Rupowal' from their traditional occupation as silver washers. However, some people in recent time don't prefer this term. History Historical accounts on Thengals are very scarce. According to Hiteswar Borbaruah, some Sonowals used to procure silver in the Dhansiri river and were called Thengals or Rupowal. But earlier they were known by the name "Rupiya thakur". Culture Thengal kachari is a functional group th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jorhat District
Jorhat (pron: ˈʤɔ:(r)ˌhɑ:t) is an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam situated in the central part of the Brahmaputra Valley. The district is bounded by Majuli on north, Nagaland state on the south, Charaideo on the east and Golaghat on the west. On the north of the district, the river Brahmaputra forms the largest riverine island of the world. The administrative seat is at Jorhat city. Jorhat was previously a sub-division of undivided Sibsagar district. In 1983, Jorhat was carved out of Sibsagar District and was made a separate district. Etymology "Jorhat" (যোৰহাট) or "Jorehaut" means tween "hats" (Bazar) or "mandis"- "Macharhat" (মাছৰহাট) and "Chowkihat" (চকীহাট) which existed on the two different banks of the river Bhogdoi during the 18th century. History The northernmost area of the present district was a part of the Chutiya Kingdom before the Ahom-Chutiya war in the 16th century. In 1794 the Ahom king Gaurinath S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonowal Kacharis
The Sonowal Kachari ( as, Xonowāl Kosāree) are one of the indigenous peoples of the state of Assam in Northeast India. They are of Tibeto-Burman origin, and are closely associated with the other ethnic groups of Assam which are commonly referred to as Kachari. The name Sonowal comes from the word 'Son' ( as, Xon) which means gold in Assamese.The traditional occupation of the Sonowal kacharis was gold panning, that is extracting gold from the riverbeds. The Kacharis those were appointed as gold-washers by the Ahom kings were organised into Sonowal Khel. These Kacharis came to be known as Sonowal Kacharis."The Kacharis were, therefore, proficient in extracting gold by washing sands of the rivers. When they became subjects of the Ahom kingdom, they were, therefore, appointed as gold-washers and organized into a Sonowal Khel. These Kacharis came to be known as Sonowol Kacharis." They are predominantly inhabitants of Dhemaji, North Lakhimpur, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonowal Khel
''Sonowa''l is a designation of the gold-washers of Assam. They were previously addressed as Xunia thakur. Etymology The name ''Sonowa''l comes from the word 'Son' ( as, Xon) which means gold in Assamese. ''Hindustan Times'' History Sonowal was a multicaste 'khel' (guild) of the many khels that existed in the Ahom Kingdom of the period. This khel was involved in the gold-washing business and it consisted paiks from different communities viz,[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Assamese Language
Assamese (), also Asamiya ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-east Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language, and it serves as a ''lingua franca'' of the wider region. The easternmost Indo-Iranian language, it has over 23 million speakers. Nefamese, an Assamese-based pidgin, is used in Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language, is widely used in Nagaland. The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur division of Bangladesh and the Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of India are linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language. In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century. Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit. Its sister languages include Angika, Bengali, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Chakma, Chittagonian, Hajong, Rajbangsi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tibeto-Burman Languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, Burmese and the Tibetic languages, which also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. Though the division of Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches (e.g. Benedict, Matisoff) is widely used, some historical linguists criticize this classification, as the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages lack any shared innovations in phonology or morphology to show that they comprise a clade of the phylogenetic tree. History During the 18th century, several scholars noticed parallels ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tribes Of Assam
According to the 2001 census, the Scheduled Tribes population as in percentage of the total population of Assam was 12.4 percent. The Assam Tribune reported in 2009 that the tribal communities of Assam now officially account for 15.64 percent of the total population. The Constitution of India categorizes the tribes of Assam into two groups: Scheduled Tribes (Hills) and Scheduled Tribes (Plains). Since hills tribes living in the plains and plains tribes living in the hills in large numbers are not recognised as scheduled tribes in the respective places, the census data may not reflect the correct figures. The Assam Tribune has claimed that if these categories of tribes are counted the actual population. Assamese language is used as the lingua franca by almost all the tribes. Groups The main Scheduled Tribes (Plains) are Bodo , Deori, Sonowal, Mising, Hajong, etc and Karbi, Dimasa etc has Scheduled Tribes (hills) status. List of tribes * In the autonomous Districts of Karbi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Social Groups Of Assam
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from the Latin word ''socii'' ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian ''Socii'' states, historical allies of the Roman Republic (although they rebelled against Rome in the Social War of 91–87 BC). Social theorists In the view of Karl MarxMorrison, Ken. ''Marx, Durkheim, Weber. Formations of modern social thought'', human beings are intrinsically, necessarily and by definition social beings who, beyond being "gregarious creatures", cannot survive and meet their needs other than through social co-operation and association. Their social characteristics are therefore to a large extent an objectively given fact, stamped on them from birth and affirmed by socialization processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Rock (geology), rocks, River, rivers, Weather, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even Word, words—as animated and alive. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion, as a term for the Belief, belief system of many Indigenous peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organized religions. Animism focuses on the Metaphysics, metaphysical universe, with a specific focus on the concept of the immaterial soul. Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most indigenous peoples, that they ofte ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha
The Srimanta Sankaradeva Sangha, established in 1930, is the largest socio-religious organization in Assam. History The beginning of the twentieth century saw the onset of different types of movements in Assam. It was a movement of the search for truth, where some revolutionary intellectuals took the lead. These people participated in the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. In the true Gandhian spirit they initiated a reform movement in this region. They tried to remove superstitions prevalent in society. They realized that the message of Sankardev and Madhavdev, two medieval saints, was the only path to redeem the society from the domination of high caste people as well regressive practices. Though Srimanta Sankaradeva (1449-1568 AD) had preached an egalitarian ideology in the fifteenth century itself, some people with vested interests had infiltrated into the Satra institution and entrenched themselves as sole custodians of the order. They even introduced the caste barri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brahma Samhita
The ''Brahma Samhita'' () is a Sanskrit ''Pancharatra'' text, composed of verses of prayer spoken by Brahma glorifying the Lord Vishnu, as well as his avatars such as Krishna, at the beginning of creation. It is revered within Gaudiya Vaishnavism, whose 16th-century founder, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534), rediscovered a part of the work, the 62 verses of chapter five, which had previously been lost for a few centuries, at the Adikesava Perumal Temple, Kanyakumari in South India. Mitsunori Matsubara, in his ''Pañcarātra Saṁhitās and Early Vaisṇava Theology'' dates the text at c. 1300 CE. The text contains a highly esoteric description of Krishna in His abode, Goloka. In 1970, George Harrison produced a modern recording of these prayers performed by devotees of the Radha Krsna Temple in London. Titled "Govinda", the song took its title from the main chorus line of the prayer ''"govindam ādi-puruṣam tam ahaṁ bhajāmi"'', meaning "I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord" ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Satra (Ekasarana Dharma)
Satras are institutional centers associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam and neighboring regions. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and under the control of individual ''adhikaras'' (or ''satradhikars''), though they can be grouped into four different ''Sanghatis'' (orders). These centers, in the minimum, maintain a prayer house (''Namghar'', or '' Kirtan-ghar''), initiate lay people into the Ekasarana tradition and include them as disciples of the Satra from whom taxes and other religious duties are extracted. The Neo-Vaishnavite satra culture started in the 16th century. They grew rapidly in the 17th century and patronage extended to them by first the Koch kingdom and later the Ahom kingdom was crucial in the spread the Ekasarana religion. Many of the larger Satras house hundreds of celibate and non-celibate ''bhakats'' (monks), hold vast lands and are repositories of re ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the sole Para Brahman, supreme being leading all other Hindu deities, i.e. ''Mahavishnu''. Its followers are called Vaishnavites or ''Vaishnava''s (), and it includes sub-sects like Krishnaism and Ramaism, which consider Krishna and Rama as the supreme beings respectively. According to a 2010 estimate by Johnson and Grim, Vaishnavism is the largest Hindu sect, constituting about 641 million or 67.6% of Hindus. The ancient emergence of Vaishnavism is unclear, and broadly hypothesized as a History of Hinduism, fusion of various regional non-Vedic religions with Vishnu. A merger of several popular non-Vedic theistic traditions, particularly the Bhagavata cults of Vāsudeva, Vāsudeva-krishna and ''Gopala-Krishna, Gopala-Krishna'', and Narayana, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |