A History of Assam c16.1

c16.1

The Kachāris may perhaps be described as the aborigines, or earliest known inhabitants, of the Brahmaputra valley. They are identical with the people called Mech in Goālpāra and North Bengal. These are the names given to them by outsiders. In the Brahmaputra valley the Kachāris call themselves Bodo or Bodo fisā (sons of the Bodo). In the North Cachar Hills they call themselves Dimāsā, a corruption of Dimā fisā or “sons of the great river.” They were known to the Ahoms as Timisā, clearly a corruption of Dimāsā, so that this name must have been in use when they were still in the Dhansiri valley.