Kharkhuwa or Kharkhowa ( as, খাৰখোৱা) is an Assamese term which is used to signify a person necessarily having Assamese ethnicity and a descendant of people of medieval

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

, now a territory of India. The word Kharkhuwa has found its use extensively in Assamese satirical ( but sometimes even in serious) pieces of writing and in common parlance to signify native and indigenous commoners of

, often referring to or addressing them in a derogatory manner but never being offensive in any way. In fact, this word is a privileged term, loved to be used by a person referring his or her own self with pride for being a native Assamese speaking commoner.

Meaning

The term Kharkhuwa is a composite word consisting of ''Khar'' (meaning alkali) and ''Khuwa'' ( meaning to eat or one who eats). Although ''Khar'' means alkali i.e. opposite to acid, in

Assamese cuisine Assamese cuisine is the cuisine of the Indian state of Assam. It is a style of cooking that is a confluence of cooking habits of the hills that favour fermentation and drying as forms of preservation and those from the plains that provide ext ...

''Khar'' is also the name of a dish (which is probably unique to the Indian state of Assam) prepared from natural sources of alkali like unripe papaya, ''bheem kol'' (Botanical name : ''Musa bulbasiana'' ) etc. . Thus the literal meaning of the term Kharkhuwa is ''the one who eats khar'' . Grammatically, Kharkhuwa can be used both as

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

and

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

. While using as an adjective, the word Asomiya ( i.e. Assamese) shall necessarily immediately follow. ( e.g. Kharkhuwa Asomiya).

Historical Significance of the term Kharkhuwa: Using Alkali instead of Salt

The genesis of the popular term ''kharkhowa'' in Assamese signifying native and indigenous commoners of Assam is due to the fact of extensive use of Alkaline dish of ''Khar'' by these people since medieval ages in its cuisine instead of salt because salt was very precious in

in those days. The supply of rock salt used to be coming from the

Naga Naga or NAGA may refer to: Mythology * Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions * Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata'' * Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...

and Mishimi hill tribes of eastern territories who in turn collected it from the hills there. However frequent wars in the political fronts among royalty of Assamese and Naga territories almost regularly disturbed such supply leading to crisis of this commodity. Only influential people & aristocrats could afford to possess salt. The commoners had to be satisfied with home-made crude alkaline substances instead of salt. Thus derogatory use of the term Kharkhuwa can be attributed to these circumstances separating the commoners from the aristocrats of medieval Assam. A popular Assamese adage ''"lune... sune samaan"'' meaning ''Lun'' (Salt) and ''Sun'' (Gold) are equal also signified that salt used to be very costly and thus had to be substituted with ''Khar'' by majority people in the lower strata of economy. As time changed, the kingdoms and royalty, the aristocracy disappeared; abundant supply of salt from other sources of various regions arrived and became easily available to all. However, use of ''Khar'' in the

becomes permanent and so thus the use of the term ''Kharkhuwa'' still persists signifying a characteristic food habit of native Assamese people. –Scientific reason behind for use of Alkali Assam is land of hills and rivers its environment is very pleasant. But due to the high Humidity in the air the leaf of trees, vegetable etc won't dry easily and all become perished , produce acidic substance and mixed with soil . So whatever grow in the soil all have a higher level of acidity and in the process people become acidic easily whenever agricultural product we consumed , and to reduce or flush out the acidic substance from body, people of Assam frequently uses Alkali (Khar) and various types of alkali dishes (Kharor Aanjaa) traditionally from the ancient time or from time immemorial

Use of the term Kharkhuwa to signify Assamese solidarity

The privilege of being addressed as ''Kharkhuwa'' can be claimed, due its historical significance, by a descendant of people of medieval Assam, now a territory of India. Although at present, the fact whether one's forefathers were commoners or aristocrats of medieval Assam is something of less significance and often indistinguishable, the satirical use of the term ''Kharkhuwa'' addressing a fellow native Assamese or on oneself, equating oneself with rest of fellow Assamese natives, signifies an underlying sense solidarity which is not at all derogatory or offensive in any way. Technically, recent immigrants from rest of India or outside into the territory of

, whose forefathers actually did not have to survive in the times of ordeal of being content with Khar instead of salt, are not ''Kharkhuwa'' in its true sense.

References

{{Reflist Regional nicknames খাৰখোৱা