Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.23
Indische Paläographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.23
- Language
- German
c48.s6.23.1
§ 92. (a) **Bōdo** (817,300). Dealing first with the Brahmaputra valley, the principal tribe still in occupation is the Bōdo, or Kacārī. It is now chiefly found along the northern bank, from the western limit of the Province to the Darrang district. Formerly, however, it possessed territory far to the east and south, and in the latter direction it is still the principal population of the Hill Kacār tract, received, it is said, as a dowry from Tipparah, in the palmy days of Bōdo dominion. The Bōdo are undoubtedly of trans-Himālayan origin, but it is uncertain by what route and stages they reached the valley. It is said that they first rose into power in the north-east of the latter tract, and spread down the river and across it as they approached the plains. They have no traditions, and belong to the peoples of whom it has been said «their languages are their history». Upon that basis, they are allied to the Gāro, Mēc, Rābhā, Lālung and Tipparah tribes, and also to the Kōc. In the present day the Bōdo are a sturdy, independent, and remarkably clannish community of labourers. They have none of the objections of the hill tribes to seasonal migration, and frequent in large numbers the teagardens of the upper valley. Their tribal subdivision seems to be different in the Hill country from what it is in the valley.
c48.s6.23.2
In the former exogamous sections are strictly maintained, but in the latter, such as there are seem to be weakening in vigour, and though nominally kept up, and the clan name still descending in the male line, marriages are no longer regulated in accordance with them, nor is the totemistic prohibition regarded, except, perhaps, to the extent that the tiger clan are not allowed to abuse that animal when shot, as the rest do. The number of the tribal population is considerably more than the figure here quoted, since many of the converts to Brāhmanism, as above stated, do not retain their tribal name, and whole villages in Upper Assam are inhabited by pure Bōdo, though that title is not returned by a single family. Across the Brahmaputra, mainly in the range bearing their name, are the Gāro. These claim to be autochthonous, but their tongue and customs indicate a close relationship to the Bōdo and to the Lālung, a neighbouring tribe on the east, of the same race. The Gāro are not found far from their hills, but a few thousands have made their way into the adjacent district of Bengal and across the river into Goālpāra. The tribe is much subdivided. There are four main clans, each of which has its numerous exogamous sections. In religion the Gāro resemble the Bōdo, and have the same system of propitiating the malignant deities through the Kamāl, a non-hereditary priest, corresponding to the Dēōrī of the others.
c48.s6.23.3
The Lālung are now found on the north slope of the Jaintyā hills, spreading into the valley bordering the Mikir country, with apparently a tendency to advance still more to the eastwards. Traditions differ as to their original home. Some clans say they came from the south bank of the Brahmaputra, others that they are wholly Jaintyā, and have never lived anywhere else. They do not appear to have been in the low country when the Āhōm invasion took place, in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is said that they are succumbing to the influence of Brāhmanism, but if this be so, they must either change their name on conversion or the enumerators at the Census must ignore their tendencies, as they are recorded as wholly Animistic in their beliefs. There is no doubt, however, that they are dropping their tribal language in favour of that of the lowlands. The number of exogamous subdivisions into which the tribe is split up is very large, and it does not appear that they are usually totemistic as a rule, but are named after some peculiarity of the founder. The Rābhā is a tribe certainly of Bōdo blood but whether a distinct community, allied to the Gāro, or merely a branch of the Bōdo, alongside of whom it is chiefly found, is not determined.
c48.s6.23.4
Some have thought that the Rābhā was a name given to a half-converted Gāro or Kacārī, and it is certain that there are Gāro who have become Rābhā without passing into Brāhmanists, just as the Kacārī passes into the same community without proceeding to the grade of Kōc. The converts constitute a sub-tribe by themselves. On the whole, the Rābhā hold themselves to be above the Bōdo, but marry girls from the latter. The Bōdo, on the other hand, does not marry a Rābhā without some purificatory rites. The special dialect of the Rābhā is said to be dying out in favour of Assamese, and the people who join the Brāhmanists call themselves Kōc, so the tribe is on the way to extinction. The Mēc live mostly in the Tarāi on the west of the Brahmaputra, partly in Assam, partly in Bengal. From their comparatively fair complexion and Mongoloidic features they are affiliated to the Bōdo, though they have no tradition of ever having lived out of the Tarāi. They intermarried with the Kōc Chiefs, a fact which seems to support the theory of Bōdo relationship. Towards the west, in Bengal, they are chiefly Brāhmanists, and divided into two endogamous sub-tribes, one of which intermarries with the Dhimāl, a tribe of different race, possibly Kōl or sub-Himālayan Nēpālī. The Assam Mēc have kept up customs much resembling those of the Lālung. A small tribe, akin to the Gāro and Bōdo, called Hājong, inhabits the southern slopes of the Gāro hills, and has made its way into the Sūrma valley.
c48.s6.23.5
This descent into the plain appears to have resulted in the formation of two clans, the upper, which remains true to its tribal ways of life, and the Brāhmanised community of the valley. The latter have also abandoned their tribal dialect in favour of a corrupt form of Bengali, the others speaking one of the varieties of Gāro. Detached from the main body of the Bōdo is the Mrūng, called Tipparah by the Bengali, and now inhabiting the hills near the little State called by the latter name. A few of them are found in the Sūrma valley, but most of these are said to be immigrants of quite recent arrival. Formerly the connection between the tribes was closer, as the Chiefs of Kacār and Tipparah intermarried. Now, the only link is that of language, as the bulk of the Mrūng are Brāhmanised, the Chief claiming to be a Rājput, and the nobles to belong to the Rājbansī order. The tribe is much subdivided, some clans holding an position far above that of the labourers and rude cultivators of the interior. Many of them are much fairer than any of their neighbours, and this, with their Mongoloidic features and Bōdo speech, seems to connect them with the Brahmaputra rather than with the hills of Arakan. Last of the tribes coming within this group is the formerly dominant community of the Cūtiyā, which, however, repudiates the connection with the Bōdo indicated by their language.
c48.s6.23.6
They are said in the ancient Assam histories to have come down from the north-east, and to have founded a kingdom in that corner of the valley afterwards expanding southwards into Sibsāgar and Nowgong. They came into contact with the Āhōm, and were dethroned in 1500. Before that date they were in part Brahmanised, and their community is now divided into the Brahmanic, the Āhōm, the Borāhī, or porkeaters, and the Dēōrī, or Levitical body. The two first have been for some time almost completely converted to Brāhmanism, and the fourth, though standing out for some generations, has now succumbed, on social considerations, it is said, rather than by religious conviction. The Borāhī are a lower class and were the first to fall before the Āhōm, who reduced them to a servile condition. They are now apparently almost extinct as a separate community. The Cūtiyā have lost, along with their religion, their tribal language, which is closely allied to that of the Bōdo. They are no doubt of the same origin, but have long been separated politically as well as geographically, and occupied in upper Assam the same dominant position which the Bōdo held lower down the river. At present the majority of the Cūtiyā are found to the south of the Brahmaputra, in Sibsāgar, Nowgong, and Lakhimpur. The Dēōrī have remained in and about their original seat in the extreme north-east.
c48.s6.23.7
The principal object of their worship is Durgā, who was enthroned in place of the numerous evil spirits to whom the tribe paid homage before their conversion. Even now, the services of Brāhmans are not called for, and the sacrifices are performed by the Dēōrī and his assistants. The more Mongoloidic appearance of the remnants of the Dēōrī clan seem to indicate that they have kept themselves freer from intercourse with the Bōdo and Āhōm than the rest of the Cūtiyā. One of their social peculiarities worth mentioning is the habit of lodging a whole family under one roof, enlarging the building as the numbers increase, until sometimes more than a hundred persons are thus sheltered. Their professed Brāhmanism sits very lightly upon both priest and layman, and is almost confined indeed to the observance of the initiatory injunction of offering prayers, keeping secret the instructions of the Gōsāī and paying their annual fee to that functionary.