Regions with significant populations | |
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Assam, India | |
Languages | |
Assamese, Bengali | |
Religion | |
Hinduism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Brahmin groups: |
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Culture of Assam |
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Assamese Brahmins are the Brahmin community present in the Assamese society. There they promoted learning, Vedic religion, astrology, ayurveda and as well as imparting general vedic knowledge to the public. [4] The Brahmins migrated to Assam from Videha (Mithila), Kannauj, Bengal and many other places. [5]
The earliest historical evidence of settlement of Brahmins in Assam comes from epigraphic sources of the Varman dynasty (350–650). [6] In the late medieval period beginning with the early 16th century, a number of Brahmins from Mithila, Benaras, Kanauj, Bengal and Puri (Srikshetra), were settled in western Assam by the Koch kings for performing Brahminical rites. [7] [8] [9] During the reign of Nara Narayan (1554-1587) of the Koch dynasty, two Brahmins named Siddhantavagisa and Vidyavagisa were brought from Gauda and Siddhantavagisa was responsible for the spread of Hinduism in the Koch kingdom [10] Even during the reign of Koch king Prannarayana (1633-1655), Brahmins were brought from Mithilia to serve in the Koch kingdom [11] and this process was later continued by the Ahom state especially under the Tungkhungia Ahom kings with Siva Singha donating 19 out of the 48 landgrants by the Ahom kings to Brahmins. [12] The migration of Brahmins into Assam took place from Central Himalayas as well. [13] Most of these migration took place due to the foreign invasions in North India and on the invitation by the local rulers. [14] Traditionally these Brahmins held the highest positions in society. [15]
Traditionally, the ceremony of Lagundeoni – one of the samskaras or rites of passage marking acceptance of a student by a guru, is a quite prevalent ritual within the community. [16]
Brahmins of the Assam valley follow a different death ritual as opposed to the other indigenous communities in Assam. A religious rite, known as Caturthā is performed on the 4th day of a person's demise unlike Tiloni, performed on the 3rd day of person's demise by non–Brahmin indigenous communities. [17]
Although in general Brahmins observe all the customary rituals, they appear usually less rigid [18] in some of their traditional lifestyle choices, such as they may eat meat, fish, unlike their counterparts in other parts of India like the North and the South. [19] [20]
The Brahmins constitute one of the Forward classes of Assam based on the classifications of Government of India, although the recent trend on economic condition has not been very well within the community. Assam's former Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi announced setting up of development councils for several communities in the state, including Brahmins. [21]
Ahom [aho]
Census Data Finder/C Series/Population by Religious Communities
2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01 MDDS.XLS
Assamese Brahmins are not vegetarians, but they are very judgmental about other peoples' food and eating habits. Brahmins else- where in India consider the Assamese Brahmins polluted and impure
The Ahom dynasty (1228–1826) ruled the Ahom Kingdom in present-day Assam, India for nearly 598 years. The dynasty was established by Sukaphaa, a Shan prince of Mong Mao who came to Assam after crossing the Patkai mountains. The rule of this dynasty ended with the Burmese invasion of Assam and the subsequent annexation by the British East India Company following the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826.
Kamarupa, an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was the first historical kingdom of Assam. The Kamrupa word first appeared in the Samudragupta Allahabad Edict before that there is no mention of existence of this word.
The history of Assam is the history of a confluence of people from the east, west, south and the north; the confluence of the Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman (Sino-Tibetan), Tai and Indo-Aryan cultures. Although invaded over the centuries, it was never a vassal or a colony to an external power until the third Burmese invasion in 1821, and, subsequently, the British ingress into Assam in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
The Koch dynasty ruled parts of eastern Indian subcontinent in present-day Assam and Bengal. Biswa Singha established power in the erstwhile Kamata Kingdom which had emerged from the decaying Kamarupa Kingdom. The dynasty came to power by removing the Baro-Bhuyans, who had earlier removed the short-lived rule established by Alauddin Hussain Shah.
The Kamata Kingdom emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, and since it covered most of the western parts of it, the kingdom is also sometimes called as Kamarupa-Kamata.
The Dimasa Kingdom also known as Kachari kingdom was a late medieval/early modern kingdom in Assam, Northeast India ruled by Dimasa kings. The Dimasa kingdom and others that developed in the wake of the Kamarupa kingdom were examples of new states that emerged from indigenous communities in medieval Assam as a result of socio-political transformations in these communities. The British finally annexed the kingdom: the plains in 1832 and the hills in 1834. This kingdom gave its name to undivided Cachar district of colonial Assam. And after independence the undivided Cachar district was split into three districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district, Cachar district, Hailakandi district. The Ahom Buranjis called this kingdom Timisa.
The Ahom kingdom, or the Kingdom of Assam was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley that retained its independence for nearly 600 years despite encountering Mughal expansion in Northeast India. Established by Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Mong Mao, it began as a mong in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra based on wet rice agriculture. It expanded suddenly under Suhungmung in the 16th century and became multi-ethnic in character, casting a profound effect on the political and social life of the entire Brahmaputra valley. The kingdom became weaker with the rise of the Moamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to repeated Burmese invasions of Assam. With the defeat of the Burmese after the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into East India Company hands.
Biswa Singha (1515–1540) was the progenitor king of the Koch dynasty of the Kamata kingdom. He was able to unify different Bodo tribes, replace the Baro-Bhuyans of Kamata kingdom, and establish a dynasty the remnant of which still exists today.
The Assamese people are a socio-ethnic linguistic identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic or micro-nationalistic. This group is often associated with the Assamese language, the easternmost Indo-Aryan language, and Assamese people mostly live in the Brahmaputra Valley region of Assam, where they are native and constitute around 56% of the Valley's population. The use of the term precedes the name of the language or the people. It has also been used retrospectively to the people of Assam before the term "Assamese" came into use. They are an ethnically diverse group formed after centuries of assimilation of Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Aryan and Tai populations, and constitute a tribal-caste continuum—though not all Assamese people are Hindus and ethnic Assamese Muslims numbering around 42 lakh (4,200,000) constitute a significant part of this identity. The total population of Assamese speakers in Assam is nearly 15.09 million which makes up 48.38% of the population of state according to the Language census of 2011.
Satra are institutional centers associated with the Ekasarana tradition of Vaishnavism, largely found in the Indian state of Assam and neighboring regions. Numbering in the hundreds, these centers are generally independent of each other and under the control of individual adhikara, though they can be grouped into four different Sanghati (orders).
Naranarayan was the last ruler of the undivided Koch dynasty of the Kamata Kingdom. He succeeded his father, Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. Under his rule, and under the military command of his brother Chilarai, he was able to subjugate the entire Brahmaputra valley, including the Ahom kingdom; besides the Kachari, Tripura kingdoms, as well as the Khyrem, Jaintia and others. This influence was halted when he faced Suleman Karranni, the Sultan of Bengal.
Kalita is an ethnic group or a caste of Assamese Hindus belonging to the state of Assam in North East India. Kalita is a forward caste and belongs to General or Unreserved category. Kalita represents a category in the tribe-caste continuum of Assamese society that is placed between the Keot on one side and Ganak and Brahmin on the other. According to historians like S.L.Barua, Kalitas started migrating from North and East India to Assam during the 11th century rule of Dharmapal.
The Rajbanshi, also Rajbongshi and Koch-Rajbongshi, are peoples from Lower Assam, North Bengal, eastern Bihar, Terai region of eastern Nepal, Rangpur division of North Bangladesh and Bhutan who have in the past sought an association with the Koch dynasty. Koch-Rajbanshi people speak Kamatapuri, an Indo-Aryan language, likely due to language shift, and in the past they might have spoken Tibeto-Burman languages. The community is categorised as OBC in Assam and Bihar, and SC in West Bengal. In Nepal they are considered part of the Plains Janjati. In Bangladesh the community is classified as Plains ethnic group under 'Barman'. They are the largest Scheduled Caste community of West Bengal.
Kamrupi Brahmins, also known as Kamarupi Brahmana and Kamrupi Bamon; are those brahmins who claimed their descent from the Kanauji Brahmins and Maithili Brahmins who settled in Kamarupa. They brought with them different Hindu epics and became the torch-bearers of Indo-Aryan culture in the region.
The earliest Indo-Aryan migration to Assam is estimated to have occurred between the 2nd century BCE and 1st century CE—not earlier than 500 BCE. The earliest epigraphic record suggests that the Indo-Aryan migration began latest by the middle of the 4th century CE. They came from the Gangetic Plains into a region already inhabited by people who spoke Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages.
Kamarupa was a kingdom in Northeast India that was ruled by three dynasties from their capitals in Pragjyotishpura, Haruppeshwara, and Durjaya. The kingdom was known for its power and influence in the region.
The Chutia people are an ethnic group that are native to Assam and historically associated with the Chutia kingdom. However, after the kingdom was absorbed into the Ahom kingdom in 1523–24, the Chutia population was widely displaced and dispersed in other parts of Upper Assam as well as Central Assam. They constitute one of the core groups that form the Assamese people.
Ahomisation was an assimilation process in the former Ahom kingdom of Assam by which the people from different ethnic groups in the region became a part of what is now considered as the Ahom population.
Kecaikhati is a prominent goddess from Northeast India. Her shrine is considered to be the Tamreswari Temple, near Paya in Arunachal Pradesh; and she is referred to as Dikkaravasini in the 9th century Kalika Purana whose temple formed the eastern limit of Kamarupa. But unlike Kamakhya and Kamakhya Temple, which acquired Brahmin priests and became associated with the legendary Narakasura and the historical Kamarupa kings, Kecaikhati continued to remain outside the ambit of Brahminical influence and remained under the control of Deori priests during the time of the Chutia kingdom and after up to the present time.
Sri Sri Auniati Satra is a satra or monastery located in the Majuli river island in Assam, India, that adheres to the Brahma Sanghati of the Ekasarana Dharma, a socio-religious and cultural movement initiated by Srimanta Sankaradeva, who was born in 1449 CE. It is one of the four "raj satras" or royal satras associated with the Ahom dynasty. It is the first satra patronised by the kingdom. It is usually believed that this satra was established in the year 1653 CE, with the initiative of Ahom king Jayadhwaj Singha, the first head monk or satradhikar being Sri Sri Niranjana Deva Goswami, even though different opinions exist.