The Rabha are a Tibeto-Burman community to the Indian states of
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 ...
,
Meghalaya
Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...
and
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
. They primarily inhabit the plains of
Lower Assam
Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalaya ...
and the
Dooars
The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...
, while some are found in the
Garo Hills
The Garo Hills (Pron: ˈgɑ:rəʊ) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.
De ...
. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha.
The Rabha community have a rich, multi-faceted and distinct culture of their own. The agricultural practices, food habit and belief systems of the Rabhas reflect a conglomeration of features from both the Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burmese culture. The Rabha society is
patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
. The village economy is based on agriculture and both men and women work in the fields. The women wear colorful clothes that they weave themselves and wear a lot of beads and silver ornaments. The Rabhas are non-vegetarians and rice is their staple food.
The traditional economy of the Rabhas in general, is based on agriculture, forest based activities and weaving. In the past, the Rabhas used to practice shifting cultivation. They continued to cultivate the land with Gogo or bill-hook. Later they took up the job of settled cultivation and started cultivation with plough. Besides cultivation, hunting was also an old practice of Rabha people. Weaving was a traditional occupation of the Rabha women.
The Rabhas are mostly found in Lower Assam on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, in the districts of
Goalpara and
Kamrup. Some are found in the north bank districts of
Baksa,
Udalguri and
Kokrajhar. In Meghalaya, the Rabhas mainly live in
West Garo Hills
West Garo Hills is an administrative district in Garo Hills of the state of Meghalaya in India. Tura town is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district occupies an area of 3714 km². In 2011 its population was 643,291. As ...
,
East Garo Hills
East Garo Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India.
History
The East Garo Hills district was formed in 1976, after the erstwhile Garo Hills district of Meghalaya was re-organised with a view to bring the administrati ...
,
North Garo Hills and
South Garo Hills. In West Bengal, the Rabha inhabit the district of
Alipurduar
Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan and no ...
.
Language
The
Rabha language
Rabha is a Sino-Tibetan language of India. The two dialects, Maituri and Rongdani, are divergent enough to cause problems in communication. According to U.V. Joseph, there are three dialects, viz. Róngdani or Róngdania, Mayturi or Mayturia and ...
is closely related to neighbouring Boro and Garo, as well as many other Sino-Tibetan languages of Assam. They have 11 dialects: ''Maithori'', ''Rongdani'', ''Pati'', ''Dahori'', ''Dotla'', ''Halua'', ''Betolia'', ''Hanna'', ''Sunga'', ''Modahi'', ''Kocha Rabhas''. These all are Rabhas but some of them have loss their mother tongues. Some of them have totally died out. But the ''Rongdani'', ''Maithori'' and ''Kocha'' dialects are still used by Koch-Rabhas.
["There are eight sub-branches of the Rabhas. Among them Maitori, Rangdani and Koch or Kocha are the major sub-divisions of the Rabhas. They have been maintaining language and culture."] The Rabha language is only spoken by a minority of the Rabhas, most of whom speak
Assamese
Assamese may refer to:
* Assamese people, a socio-ethnolinguistic identity of north-eastern India
* People of Assam, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious people of Assam
* Assamese language, one of the easternmost Indo-Aryan language ...
in Assam and
Kamtapuri and
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
in West Bengal.
See also
*
Rabha language
Rabha is a Sino-Tibetan language of India. The two dialects, Maituri and Rongdani, are divergent enough to cause problems in communication. According to U.V. Joseph, there are three dialects, viz. Róngdani or Róngdania, Mayturi or Mayturia and ...
*
Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council
The Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) was constituted by the Government of Assam in 1995. It was constituted for development in the areas of economic, educational, socio-cultural and ethnic identity of Rabha people residing in the council ...
*
Bishnuprasad Rabha
*
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, ...
*
Himalayan Languages Project
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Saha, Rebatimohon (1987) "Jalpaiguri Jelar Koch-Rabha Samaj" (in Bengali) published in Ananda Gopal Ghosh edited ''Madhuparni'', Special issue on Jalpaiguri District.
* Raha, M.K. (1974) "The Rabhas of Western Duars: Structural Analysis of a Changing Matrilineal Society", Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 10 (1 & 2).
* Ghosh, Saumitra (1990) "Vanbasi Rabhara" (in Bengali) Desh, Vol 57 (12), January 20.
* Roy Choudhury, B. (1970) "Social Mobility Movement among the Rabhas of North Bengal", Man in India, Vol 50 (1).
* Gupta, Pabitra Kumar (1977) "Uttarbanger Rahba Samaj O Dharmasanskar Aandolon", (in Bengali) in Madhuparni: Special North Bengal Issue, 1977.
* Sarma, Dr. Nabin Ch (2006) "Oral Songs of Tribal Communities of Assam" a project of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Assam Institute of Research for Tribals and Scheduled Castes
{{Scheduled tribes of West Bengal
Social groups of Assam
Tribes of Assam
Tribes of West Bengal
Sino-Tibetan-speaking people
Indigenous peoples of South Asia
Hindu ethnic groups
Social groups of West Bengal
Scheduled Tribes of Meghalaya
Scheduled Tribes of Assam
Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal
Ethnic groups in Northeast India
Ethnic groups in South Asia