Bodo–Kachari People

Bodo–Kacharis (also Kacharis or Bodos) is a name used by anthropologist and linguists to define a collection of ethnic groups living predominantly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya. These peoples are speakers of either Boro–Garo a subbranch of Tibeto-Burman languages or Assamese of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages and some of them possibly share ancestries. Some Tibeto-Burman speakers who live closely in and around the Brahmaputra valley, such as the Mising people and Karbi people, are not considered Bodo–Kachari. Many of these peoples have formed early states in the late Medieval era of Indian history (Chutia Kingdom, Dimasa Kingdom, Koch dynasty, Twipra Kingdom) and came under varying degrees of Sanskritisation.

The speakers of Tibeto–Burman are considered to have reached the Brahmaputra valley via Tibet and settled in the foothills of the eastern Himalayan range which includes the whole of Assam, Tripura, North Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. It has been suggested by different linguists that the ''proto''-Boro–Garo language emerged as the lingua franca of the region to which Austroasiatic and other non-Tibeto-Burman speakers had language shift, shifted. Among these ethnic groups, Garo, Rabha, Tiwa, and some Koch peoples might have been either influenced by Austroasiatic cultures, or were themselves originally Austroasiatic speakers. Boro language, one of the languages in the Boro–Garo group, has been recognised as an eighth scheduled Indian language in 2004.

The belief that Bodo–Kacharis were early settlers of the river valleys is taken from the fact that most of the rivers in the Brahmaputra valley today carry Tibeto–Burman names— Dibang, Dihang, Dikhou, Dihing, Doiyang, Doigrung etc.—where ''Di/Doi-'' means water in Boroic languages, and many of these names end in ''-ong'', which is ''water'' in Austroasiatic. The Kacharis were also some of the first people to rear silkworms and produce silk material and were considered to be associated with ''ahu'' rice culture in Assam before the advent of ''sali'' (transplanted rice) was introduced from the Gangetic plains.

Some of the groups, such as Moran and Saraniya consider themselves as Hindus under Ekasarana Dharma. The Garo and the Koch peoples follow rules of matrilineal society.

Etymologies

Bodo

The term ''Bodo'' finds its first mention in the book by Hodgson in 1847, to refer to the Mech and ''Kachari'' peoples."As (Hodgson) admits in the end, his way of seeing the "Bodos" is twofold: he starts by using "Bodo" to designate a wide range of people (“a numerous race”), then wonders if some others are not "Bodos in disguise". He ends on a cautionary note and refrains from unmasking the dubious tribes, registering only the Mechs and Kacharis,..." Grierson took this term ''Bodo'' to denote a section of the Assam-Burma group of the Tibeto-Burman languages of the Sino-Tibetan family, which included the languages of (1) Mech; (2) Rabha; (3) Lalung (Tiwa); (4) Dimasa (Hills Kachari); (5) Garo (6) Tiprasa and (7) Chutiya (Deuri). Subsequently ''Bodo'' emerged as an umbrella term both in anthropological and linguistic usage." seems that the term Bodo is used particularly to denote sections of people having an agnatic relationship in terms of speech practices and a strong sense of shared ancestry. This term the Bodo is more anthropological in its usage." This umbrella-group includes such sub-groups as Mech in Bengal and Nepal; Boros, Dimasa, Chutia, Sonowal, Moran, Rabha, Tiwa in Assam, and the Kokborok people in Tripura and Bangladesh."The term Bodo is also used to denote a large number of tribes-the Garos of Meghalaya, Tippera of Tripura, and Boro Kachari, Koch, Rabha, Lalung, Dimasa, Hajong, Chutia, Deuri, and Moran of Assam and other parts of the Northeast. (M N Brahma, "The Bodo-Kacharis of Assam---A brief Introduction" in ''Bulletin of the Tribal Research Institute'' auhati 1:1 983 p.52)" This is in contrast to popular and socio-political usage, where ''Bodo'' denotes the politically dominant sub-group—the ''Boros''—in the Bodoland Territorial Region.

The term ''Bodo'' generally stands for ''man'' in some of the cognate languages (Boro:''Boro''; Tripuri:''Borok'') but not in others (Garo:''Mande''; Karbi:''Arlen''). According to historians, the word "Bodo" is derived from the Tibetan ''Hbrogpa''. The umbrella name "Bodo", denoting the umbrella group, is resisted by numerically smaller groups such as the Dimasas."While all the sub-groups in this section of people reiterate their kindred affinities, a tendency is witnessed amongst them to establish their separate identities. In recent times, there has been an effort from a section of the Boros in resolving this ambivalence in nomenclature by adopting the common name of ‘Bodo’. This has been viewed with contempt by several sections of the groups as a design by the Boros to establish their pre-dominance over numerically and otherwise weaker sections of the group. Most of the resistance has come from the Dimasas, who often accuse the Boros of appropriating the history and language of the Dimasas." Unlike Hodgson's assumption, Boro is no longer considered as the "core" of the Boro–Garo languages. Therefore, it has been suggested that the whole group should not be called "Bodo".

Kachari

The term ''Kachari'' has been used through much of history to denote the same people who came to be termed as Bodo. One of the earliest usage can be found in the 16th century Assamese language Bhagavata. In Buranjis and colonial documents Boro–Garo speakers who were from the plains were collectively called ''Kachari''. Endle's 1911 ethnographic work, ''The Kacharis'', explain that there were plains Kacharis and hills Kacharis and a host of other ethnic groups that fall under the Kachari umbrella. Eventually the appellation ''kachari'' was retained only by those groups that have been fully integrated into Assamese society, such as ''Sarania Kachari'', ''Sonowal Kachari'', whereas others who were formerly called Kacharis have assumed ethnonyms, such as ''Boro'' or '' Dimasa''.

Kachari is pronounced as Kachhāri or Kossāri. The origin of the name is most likely a self-designation ''korosa aris'' that is found in a very old Boro song:

''Pra Ari, Korasa Ari''
''Jong pari lari lari''
(We are Korosa Aris, first-born sea race
Our line is continuous)

Origins

Today the peoples included in the Bodo-Kacharis speak either one of the languages from the Boro–Garo branch of Tibeto-Burman or an Indo-Aryan language such as Assamese or Bengali. It is generally believed that when the first Tibeto-Burman speakers entered the Brahmaputra valley, it was already populated by people speaking Austroasiatic and probably other language. Bodo-Kachari community traditions as well as scholars agree that they came from the north or the east; and current phylogenetic studies suggest that the Boro–Garo language descended from Proto-Tibeto-Burman in Northern China near the Yellow River. Linguists suggest that the initial ingress took place 3000 years before present or earlier, and that the immigrant proto-Boro–Garo speakers were not as numerous as the natives. Linguists find the Boro–Garo languages remarkable in two aspects—they have a highly creolised grammar, and they extend over a vast region that radiates out into Nepal and Tripura from the Brahmaputra valley.

Emergence of creolised Boro–Garo as ''lingua franca''

, giving the examples of Nagamese, Jingpho, and Garo today, has suggested that they are in different stages in the development of ''lingua francas'', a cycle which leads to mixed and creolised languages, language shifts, linguistic discontinuities and ethnic mixing. It is estimated that Austroasiatic languages were present even as late as 4th-5th centuries CE, which is also supported by paleographic evidence from the Kamarupa inscriptions. The heavy creolisation occurred when Boro–Garo emerged as the ''lingua franca'' of the Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic populations of pre-Kamarupa, Kamarupa and post-Kamarupa kingdoms and polities of Assam, a proposition that other linguists find compelling, and that the prevalence of the Boro–Garo is attributed to language shifts, not population replacement. Some of the Boro–Garo speaking communities such as the matrilineal and uxorilocal Garo, Rabha, and to some extent Koch still retain cultural features that are found among Austroasiatic speakers and which are not found among other Tibeto-Burman speakers. Genetic studies too have shown that the Tibeto-Burman communities of Northeast India harbour significant population that were originally Austroasiatic speaking—for example, genetic studies show presence of O2a-M95, a haplogroup associated with AA populations, among the Garos.

Groups

Boro

The Boro people, also called Bodo, are found concentrated in the duars regions, north of Goalpara and Kamrup. The origin of Kachari term was unknown to Boro themselves, but known to others. They call themselves as Boro, Bada, Bodo, Barafisa. Barafisa translated as Children of the Bara (the great one).

Mech

The Mech are found in both Assam and Bengal. Hodgson (1847) wrote as "Mech is name imposed by strangers. This people call themselves as Bodo. Thus, Bodo is their proper designation" They speak mainly the Boro language J.D Anderson wrote, "In Assam proper Hindus call them Kacharis, In Bengal they are known as Meches. Their own name for the race is Boro or Bodo."

Dimasa

Dimasas have a ruling clan among themselves who are termed as Hasnusa. Some Dimasa scholars opined that they were also known as Hasnusa at some point of time in History.

Chutia

Among Chutias, Burok means noble/great men. The Chutias who were thought to be healthy and strong was termed as Burok and took up the administrative and military roles in the Chutia kingdom. Even the Matak king Sarbananda Singha belonged to the Burok Chutia clan. Surnames like Bora, Borha, Borua have their origins in the Chutia kingdom and are related to Bara/Bodo/Buruk. There is mention of Manik Chandra Barua, Dhela Bora, Borhuloi Barua as commanders of Chutia army.

Moran

The Morans called their leader/chief as Bodousa (great son) where 'sa' means child or son in Moran language.

Deori

The Deoris (who were priests by profession) also have the Burok clan among them.

Tiwa (Lalung)

Tiwa (Lalung) is an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the states of Assam and Meghalaya in northeastern India. They were known as Lalungs in the Assamese Buranjis, though members of the group prefer to call themselves Tiwa (meaning "the people who were lifted from below"). Some of their neighbors still call them Lalung. A striking peculiarity of the Tiwa is their division into two sub-groups, Hill Tiwa and Plains Tiwas, displaying contrasting cultural features. The hill Tiwas speak Tiwa and follows matrilineality while the plain Tiwa who are more numerous in number speak Assamese and adhere to a patrilineal form of society.

Tripuri

The Tripuris are the inhabitants of the Tripura Kingdom. The Tripuri people through Manikya dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Tripura.http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/69486/9/09_chapter%202.pdf

History

The Tripuri, Chutia, Koch, and Dimasa had established powerful kingdoms in the past. The Tripuri kings had even defeated the Mughals and the Burmese kingdoms in the past. Today, the Boros, the Tripuris, and the Garos have established a strong political and ethnic identity and are developing their language and literature. The Sonowal Kachari is also a branch of greater Kachari. They live in the districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Golaghat and Jorhat.

Notes

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kachari
Social groups of Assam
Tribes of Assam
Ethnic groups in Northeast India
Scheduled Tribes of Meghalaya
Scheduled Tribes of Assam
Scheduled Tribes of Nagaland
Ethnic groups in South Asia