Tibeto-Burman and Tai peoples of Assam

The Sino-Tibetan and Tai people of Assam are the different groups of people who migrated from East Asia and Southeast Asia into the Brahmaputra Valley during the ancient and medieval period. Today, they represent a major portion of the population of Assam and have made a strong impact on the social, cultural and political aspects of the state.

History

There were several waves of migration of Sino-Tibetan and Tai people into Assam.

Pre-Historic

The first Sino-Tibetan language speakers migrated at least 3000 years ago from Yellow or Yangtze river valley. These people are today identified as the Bodo-Kachari people scattered over Assam which includes Boros, Dimasas, Hajongs, Chutias, Rabhas, Sonowals, Lalung (Tiwas), and many such groups. These Tibeto-Burman groups probably arrived after Austro-Asiatic people in the region represented by the Khasi and Jaintia ethnic groups who were the first inhabitants of the region. As there are no Austro-Asiatic speaking people in Assam, it can be well stated that the Tibeto-Burman speakers probably absorbed the earlier settlers. This is well evident in the culture of the Kacharis which is a blend of Sino-Tibetan and Austro-Asiatic customs.

.Bing Su, Chunjie Xiao, Ranjan Deka, Mark T. Seielstad, Daoroong Kangwanpong, Junhua Xiao, Daru Lu, Peter Underhill, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Ranajit Chakraborty, Li Jin, "Y chromosome haplotypes reveal prehistorical migrations to the Himalayas." ''Hum. Genet.'' (2000) 107:582-590. DOI 10.1007/s004390000406 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225570045_Y_chromosome_haplotypes_reveal_prehistorical_migrations_to_the_Himalayas

Medieval

The second wave were the Tai speakers led by a Shan group called Tai-Ahom when Sukaphaa lead his group into Assam via the Pangsau pass in the Patkai from present-day South China. The Ahoms were followed by other Tai people who were Buddhists: Khamti, Khamyang, Aiton, Phake and Turung who settled in Upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

State formation

Mleccha dynasty is a Tibeto-Burman dynasty which ruled almost the entire Brahmaputra Valley from 655-900.

Varman and Pala dynasty are highly controversial. According to Sunit Kumar Chatterjee these two dynasties are also Tibeto-Burman. Hugh B. Urban (2011) too infers that the Varmans descended from non-Aryan tribes."Virtually all of Assam's kings, from the fourth-century Varmans down to the eighteenth-century Ahoms, came from non-Aryan tribes that were only gradually Sanskritised."

During the medieval period, most of the state formations were done by the these people. The most prominent of them were the Ahom, Chutia, Kachari Kingdom and the Koch dynasty.

The Ahom kingdom was located in what is now Sivasagar district, Assam, and later on, it expanded to control the entire Assam valley. The Chutia had their center of power on the north bank of Brahmaputra in eastern Assam from Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh to Vishwanath in Sonitpur district of Assam. The Kachari rulers controlled the areas of south Assam, while the Koch dynasty held their power in present western Assam districts. Among other dynasties, Borahi and Moran had their vassal-chiefdoms in eastern Assam. Matak state was formed in the late 18th century. They are composed of various strata spread across entire eastern Assam.

Groups

This is a list of groups of Sino-Tibetan and Tai people living in Assam:

References

Bibliography

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{{Tai-Kadai languages

Sino-Tibetan languages
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Social groups of Assam