People of Assam
Encyclopedia
| Population: | 31,169,272 (2011) |
|---|---|
| Sex Ratio: | 935/1000 |
| Rural: | 87% |
| Literacy rate: | 63.3% |
| Religions: | Hinduism Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions... (65%) Islam Islam Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~... (31%) Christianity Christianity in India Christianity is India's third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers, constituting 2.3% of India's population. The works of scholars and Eastern Christian writings and 14th century Portuguese missionaries created an illusion to convert Indians that Christianity was introduced to... (4%) Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th... (<1%) Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing... (<1%) Others (<1%) |
| Official languages: | Assamese Assamese language Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in... (57.81%), Bengali Bengali language Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script... (21.67%), Bodo Bodo language Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal... (5.28%), Hindi (4.62%) |
| Other languages: | Mishing Mishing language Mishing is a Tibetan–Burman language spoken by the Mishing people. There are over 500,000 speakers of the language. It is also known as Plains Miri or Takam.... (1.7%), Karbi Karbi language The Karbí language, also known as Mikir or Arleng, is spoken by the Karbi people of Assam. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, but its position is unclear... (1.58%), Dimasa Dimasa language Dimasa language is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Dimasa people in the state of Assam in North East India.-Phrases:English / Dimasa1)Where are you? = Ning baraha dong?2)I am here. = Ang eraha dong?... (0.38%) |
| Source: Census of India (2001) | |
The people of Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. They speak languages that belong to three main language groups: Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...
, Austro-Asiatic
Austro-Asiatic languages
The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"...
, and Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
. 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
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in miniature".
Populating Assam and social formations
Geographically Assam contains fertile river valleys surrounded and interspersed by mountains and hills. It is accessible from TibetTibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
in the north (via Bum La, Tse La, Tunga), across the Patkai
Patkai
The Pat-kai meaning to Cut Chicken in Tai Ahom language are the hills on India's North Eastern border with Burma. They were created by the same tectonic processes that resulted in the formation of the Himalayain the Mesozoic . They are not as rugged as the Himalayas and its peaks are much lower...
in the Southeast (via Diphu, Kumjawng, Hpungan, Chaukam, Pangsau
Pangsau pass
Pangsau Pass, in altitude, lies on the crest of the Patkai Hills on the India-Burma border. The reputed route of the 13th century invasion of Assam in India by the Ahoms, a Shan tribe, the pass offers one of the easiest routes into Burma from the Assam plains...
, More-Tamu) and from Burma across the Arakan Yoma
Arakan Yoma
The Arakan Mountains is a mountain range in western Burma , between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Burma Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River...
(via An, Taungup). In the west both the Brahmaputra valley and the Barak valley open widely to the Gangetic
Ganges River
The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...
plains. Assam has been populated via all these accessible points in the past. It has been estimated that there were eleven major waves and streams of ethnolinguistic
Ethnolinguistics
Ethnolinguistics is a field of linguistics which studies the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive the world. It is the combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the way of life of an entire community i.e...
migrations across these points over time.
Pre-historic
The earliest settlers were the Mon–Khmer speakers (currently identified with Khasi, SyntengSynteng
The Jaintias or Pnars are a tribal group in Meghalaya, India. The Jaintias are matrilineal.They believe that their religion, known as Niamtre, is God-given and comes to this world by God's decree. The three cardinal principles dictated by God are kamai yei hok, tipbru tipblai and tipkur tipkha...
groups) (1) with their origin in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. These people settled in the foothills but were pushed up into the hills (Khasi
Khasi Hills
The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in the Indian state of Meghalaya, and is part of the Patkai range and of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion...
/Garo Hills
Garo Hills
The Garo Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited mainly by tribal dwellers. Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, is located in this range. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.Garo Hills...
, Karbi Anglong) by the second group of people migrating from Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and southern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
who spoke Tibeto-Burmese
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
(2) of the Eastern Himalayan, North Assam, Bodo and Naga groups of languages. These people are today identified as Monpas and Sherdukpen
Sherdukpen
The Sherdukpen are an ethnic group related to both the Aka and Monpa. Their population of 4,200 is centered in West Kameng in the villages of Rupa, Jigaon, Thongri, Shergaon, in Bomdila. All of these are at elevations between 5000–6000 feet above sea level...
s of Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
and Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
; Mishing
Mishing
The Mishings are an ethnic group inhabiting the districts ofDhemaji, North Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat and Golaghat of Assam. Nearly 20,000 live in and around Pasighat of East Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. They are the second...
s and Deuris of Upper Assam; the Bodo-Kachari
Bodo-Kachari
Bodo-Kachari is a generic term applied to a number of ethnic groups predominantly in Assam speaking Tibeto-Burman languages or claiming a common ancestry.-Origins:...
groups scattered all over Assam and the karbi
Karbi
The Karbis, mentioned as the Mikir in the Constitution Order of the Government of India, are one of the major ethnic groups in North-east India and especially in the hill areas of Assam. They prefer to call themselves Karbi, and sometimes Arleng . The term Mikir is now not preferred and is...
s of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao.
Proto-historic and ancient
The third major ingress into Assam are attributed to the HinduHindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryan is an ethno-linguistic term referring to the wide collection of peoples united as native speakers of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian family of Indo-European languages...
(3) from North India
North India
North India, known natively as Uttar Bhārat or Shumālī Hindustān , is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage...
into the Brahmaputra valley after 500 BC, and around the same time, from the Gangetic Delta of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
into the Barak Valley
Barak Valley
Barak Valley is situated in the southern part of the Indian state of Assam.It's another name is East Bengal or Northeast Bengal The main city of the valley is Silchar. The place is named after the Barak river. Barak valley mainly consists of three districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi...
. 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 Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar 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 SukaphaaSukaphaa
Chaolung Sukaphaa , also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom. A Tai prince originally from Mong Mao, the kingdom he established in 1228 existed for nearly six hundred years and in the process unified the various tribal and non-tribal peoples of...
lead his group into Assam via the Pangsau pass
Pangsau pass
Pangsau Pass, in altitude, lies on the crest of the Patkai Hills on the India-Burma border. The reputed route of the 13th century invasion of Assam in India by the Ahoms, a Shan tribe, the pass offers one of the easiest routes into Burma from the Assam plains...
in the Patkai
Patkai
The Pat-kai meaning to Cut Chicken in Tai Ahom language are the hills on India's North Eastern border with Burma. They were created by the same tectonic processes that resulted in the formation of the Himalayain the Mesozoic . They are not as rugged as the Himalayas and its peaks are much lower...
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
Khamti
The Khamti, whose name is also spelled as Hkamti by the Burmese and Khampti by the Assamese, is a sub-group of the Shan people found in the Sagaing Division, Hkamti District in northwestern Burma as well as Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh in India. Smaller numbers can be found in parts of Assam...
, Khamyang
Khamyang
Khamyang, also known as Shyam, is a tribal group found primarily in Tinsukia, Jorhat and Sivasagar districts of Assam as well as adjacent parts of Arunachal Pradesh. They have a population of 35,000, of which only a small minority speak the native Tai-based language...
, Aiton, Phake
Phake
Tai Phake, also known as Phakial or simply Phake belong to the Tai-speaking tribal group living in Dibrugarh district and Tinsukia district of Assam, principally along the areas of Dihing river as well as adjacent parts of Lohit and Changlang districts in Arunachal Pradesh...
and Turung peoples settled in Upper Assam. At the end of the Medieval period a small contingent of Sikhs gave rise to a minuscule but prominent group.
Colonial and post-independence
In the beginning of the colonial periodBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in Assam after the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandaboo (1826), the political instability led to the immigration of Kachin
Kachin people
The Kachin people are a group of ethnic groups who largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State and neighbouring areas of China and India. More than half of the Kachin people identify themselves as Christians - while a significant minority follow Buddhism and some also adhere...
and Kuki-Chin people (7) into the region across the Patkai and Arakan Yoma. They constitute the Singpho
Singpho
The Singpho people of Arunachal Pradesh inhabit in the district of Lohit and Changlang and the Kachin State of Burma. Some are also found in the Tinsukia district of Assam. Comprising a population of at least 7,200 in India, they live in 13 villages, namely Bordumsa, Dibang, Ketetong, Pangna, Ulup,...
s in Upper Assam, and the Kuki-Chin tribes in Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. The beginning of tea plantations in Assam (1835) by the British led to settlements of Mundari speaking people (8) (Munda
Munda people
The Munda are tribal people of the Chota Nagpur Plateau region.They are found across Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Assam states of India, and into parts of Bangladesh...
, Santal, Savara
Savara
Savara may refer to:*Sora people*Sora language, a Munda language spoken in India*Savara language, a Dravidian language spoken in India*Savara , a Noctuidae genus...
, Oraon
Oraon
The Oraon उरांव or Kurukh कुड़ुख tribe , also spelled Uraon, Oran, or Oram, are tribal aborigines inhabiting various states across central and eastern India as well as Bangladesh...
, Gond
Gondi people
The Gondi, Goindi or Gond people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra , Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.The Gondi language is related to...
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
Mymensingh
Mymensingh , pronounced moy-mon-shing-haw, is a city of Bangladesh situated on the river Brahmaputra. It is the headquarters of the administrative unit Mymensingh District. Mymensingh is the anglicized pronunciation of the original name Momenshahi, referring to a ruler called Momen Shah. The cadet...
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
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
district of Bangladesh following the Partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
.
Inputs from these and other smaller groups have gone towards the building of a unique multi-ethnic socio-cultural situation.
| Austro-Asiatic Austro-Asiatic languages The Austro-Asiatic languages, in recent classifications synonymous with Mon–Khmer, are a large language family of Southeast Asia, also scattered throughout India and Bangladesh. The name Austro-Asiatic comes from the Latin words for "south" and "Asia", hence "South Asia"... |
Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan languages The Sino-Tibetan languages are a language family comprising, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They are second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers... |
Indo-Aryan Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Tibeto-Burman Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma .... |
Siamese-Chinese | ||
| Pre-historic | (1) Mon–Khmer - Khasi Khasi language Khasi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. Khasi is part of the Austroasiatic family of languages, and is fairly closely related to the Munda branch of that family, which is spoken in east&endash;central India.Although most of the 865,000... - Synteng Synteng The Jaintias or Pnars are a tribal group in Meghalaya, India. The Jaintias are matrilineal.They believe that their religion, known as Niamtre, is God-given and comes to this world by God's decree. The three cardinal principles dictated by God are kamai yei hok, tipbru tipblai and tipkur tipkha... |
(2) Tibeto-Burman - Eastern Himalayan - North Assam - Bodo-Kachari Bodo-Kachari Bodo-Kachari is a generic term applied to a number of ethnic groups predominantly in Assam speaking Tibeto-Burman languages or claiming a common ancestry.-Origins:... - karbi Karbi The Karbis, mentioned as the Mikir in the Constitution Order of the Government of India, are one of the major ethnic groups in North-east India and especially in the hill areas of Assam. They prefer to call themselves Karbi, and sometimes Arleng . The term Mikir is now not preferred and is... |
||
| Proto-Historic | (3) Hindus | |||
| Ancient | ||||
| Medieval | (5) Ahom (6) Later day (Buddhist) Tai |
(4) Muslim Muslim A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable... s |
||
| Colonial | (8) Munda Munda languages -Anderson :Gregory Anderson's 1999 proposal is as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in italics.*North Munda **Korku**Kherwarian***Santhali***Mundari*South Munda **Kharia–Juang***Juang***Kharia... |
(7) Kuki-Chin, Kachin | (9) Hindus - Bengali Bengali people The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী... - Rajasthani traders Marwaris Marwari or Marwadi or Rajasthani people are Indian ethnic group, that inhabit the Rajasthan region of India. Their language Rajasthani is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages.... - Nepal Nepal Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India... i (10) Bengali Muslim peasants |
|
| Post Independence | (11) Bengali Hindu Refugees | |||
Social 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.Ethnic groups
Assam is acknowledged as the settling land for a lot of civilizations. A number of tribal grouping have landed in the soils of Assam in the course of diverse directions as the territory was linked to a number of states and many different countries. Negritos, Dravidians, Tibeto-Burmans as well as Aryans had been the most important traditional groups that arrived at the site and lived in the very old Assam. They were well thought-out as the ‘aborigines’ of Assam and yet at the moment they are an essential elements of the “Assamese Diaspora”.Tai-Ahoms were historically the dominant group of Assam and were the ethnic group associated with the term "Assamese". More recently, the Assamese language
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...
speaking ethnic group has been associated with the term "Assamese". Bengalis are another major group of Assam and are a majority in the Barak Valley
Barak Valley
Barak Valley is situated in the southern part of the Indian state of Assam.It's another name is East Bengal or Northeast Bengal The main city of the valley is Silchar. The place is named after the Barak river. Barak valley mainly consists of three districts namely Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi...
. Bodos are the dominant group in Bodoland
Bodoland
Bodoland is an area located in the north bank of Brahmaputra river in the state of Assam in north east region of India, by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh; inhabited predominantly by the Bodo people. Currently the map of Bodoland includes the Bodoland Territorial Areas District ...
. They mostly speak the Tibeto-Burman Bodo language
Bodo language
Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal...
and live in Bodoland
Bodoland
Bodoland is an area located in the north bank of Brahmaputra river in the state of Assam in north east region of India, by the foothills of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh; inhabited predominantly by the Bodo people. Currently the map of Bodoland includes the Bodoland Territorial Areas District ...
. Many Bodos want to politically separate from Assam and want the creation of a separate state.