People of Assam

The people of Assam inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. They speak languages that belong to three main language groups: Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman and Indo-Aryan. The large number of ethnic and linguistic groups, the population composition and the peopling process in the state has led to it being called an "India in miniature".Taher 1993]

Peopling of Assam

Geographically Assam contains fertile river valleys surrounded by mountains. It is accessible from Tibet in the north (via Bum La, Tse La, Tunga), across the Patkai (via Diphu, Kumjawng, Hpungan, Chaukam, Pangsau, More-Tamu) and from Myanmar across the Arakan Yoma (via An, Taungup). In the west both the Brahmaputra valley and the Barak valley open widely to the Gangetic plains. It has been estimated that there were eleven major waves and streams [Taher 1993. Waves are migrations at a particular point of time, whereas streams were continuous migrations over time, at albeit different rates] of ethnolinguistic migrations across these points over time.

Pre-historic

The earliest settlers were the Mon-Khmer speakers (Khasi, Synteng) (1) people from Southeast Asia. These people settled in the foothills but were pushed up into the hills (Khasi/Garo Hills, Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills) by the second group of people that spoke Tibeto-Burmese (2) of the Eastern Himalayan, North Assam, Bodo and Naga groups of languages. These people are today identified as Monpas and Sherdukpens of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh; Mishings and Deuris of Upper Assam; the Bodo-Kachari groups scattered all over Assam and the Nagas of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills.

Proto-historic and ancient

The third major ingress into Assam are attributed to the Hindu Indo-Aryans (3) from North India into the Brahmaputra valley after 500 BC, [Guha 1984, p75. The Indo-Aryans brought with them a system of wet rice cultivation ("sali"), iron, plough and cattle. The later myths on Parashurama, Bashistha and Narakasura attest to this colonization.] and around the same time, from the Gangetic Delta of Bengal into the Barak valley. This signaled the dawn of the proto-Historic period and the immigration continued into the Ancient period, at the end of which the first Muslims (4), captive soldiers of the defeated Bakhtiar Khilji (in 1205), settled in the Hajo area.

Medieval

In the medieval times, the first Muslims (4), captive soldiers of the defeated Bakhtiar Khilji (in 1205), settled in the Hajo area. This was followed by the Ahoms (5) when Sukaphaa lead his group into Assam via the Pangsau pass in the Patkai from South China. The Ahoms were followed by the same ethnic people, but who were Buddhists (6), a stream that continued well into the colonial period. They are today the Khamti, Khamyang, Aiton, Phake and Turung peoples settled in Upper Assam.

Colonial and post-independence

In the beginning of the colonial period in Assam after the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandaboo (1826), the political instability led to the immigration of Kachin and Kuki-Chin people (7) into the region across the Patkai and Arakan Yoma. They constitute the Singphos in Upper Assam, and the Kuki-Chin tribes in Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills. The beginning of tea plantations in Assam (1835) by the British led to settlements of Mundari speaking people (8) (Munda, Santal, Savara, Oraon, Gond etc. tribes). The beginning of British administration also led to a large influx of service holders and professionals from Bengal, Rajasthan, Nepal, etc. (9). To increase land productivity, the British encouraged Muslim peasants (10) from Mymensingh district of present-day Bangladesh to settle in Assam that began in 1901. The last major group to immigrate are the Bengali Hindu refugees (11) especially from the Sylhet district of Bangladesh following the Partition of India.

Inputs from these and other smaller groups have gone towards the building of a unique multi-ethnic socio-cultural situation.

ocial Formations

The process of social formation in Assam has been marked by simultaneous sanskritization and tribalization (de-sanskritization) of the different groups of people that have settled in Assam at different times, and this process of social formation is best studied in three periods: (1) Pre-colonial, (2) Colonial and (3) Post-colonial periods. [Bhagawati 2002]

References

* Bhagawati, A C (2002) " [http://ignca.gov.in/nl002003.htm Ethnic Identities in North-East India] ", N K Bose Memorial Lectures. Vihangama, IGNCA Newsletter, Vol II, March-April 2002
* Taher, Mohammad (1993) "The Peopling of Assam and contemporary social structure" in Ahmad, Aijazuddin (ed) Social Structure and Regional Development, Rawat Publications, New Delhi
* Guha, Amalendu (1984) "Pre-Ahom Roots and the Medieval State in Assam: A Reply", Social Scientist, Vol 12, No. 6, pp70-77