Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.23.4

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.