This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2022) |
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Predominately in Upper Assam,Arunachal Pradesh | |
Languages | |
Assamese, Formerly Moran | |
Religion | |
Assamese Hinduism [1] (Ekasarana Dharma) | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Dimasas, Deoris, Sonowal Kacharis |
The Moran are an ethnic group found in the northeast Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. They are of Tibeto-Burman origin and belong to the Kachari family. They speak Assamese language, though they used to speak Moran language which was alive until the early 20th century and was closely related to the Dimasa language. [2] They once shared the same allied customs with other Kachari groups, but after their conversion to Vaishnavism, the customs began to diminish, but still, those customs can be seen intermixed with Vaishnavism.
The Morans were initiated under the fold of Ekasarana Dharma in the tenure of Mayamara abbot Chaturbhujdeva. [3]
They are mainly concentrated in the districts of Upper Assam (Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Dhemaji and Lakhimpur) and adjoining districts of Arunachal Pradesh (Lohit, Namsai, Changlang district).
The Moran community is one of the aboriginal tribes of Assam. In the 13th century, they lived in the south eastern corner of the Brahmaputra valley occupying territories between the Disang and Dihing rivers. [4] The Morans have a long history in the north–eastern part of India. They had their own independent chiefdom before the advent of the Ahoms. The origin of the word Moran is still remains obscure. According to the British reports the Morans are a distinct tribe inhabiting the jungle, which is, a division of upper Assam.[ citation needed ]
They had an chiefdom led by chief Bodousa before the advent of the Ahom king Sukaphaa. Having arrived in this affluent kingdom, Sukaphaa proposed to marry princess Gondheswari- the daughter of Moran chief Bodousa. The chief Bodousa accepted his proposal and thus the Moran's became a part of the newly created Ahom polity. [5] Due to their close relation with the Ahoms, the Morans seem to have adopted many of the Ahom rites and rituals.[ citation needed ]
They were also known by the name Habungiya or Hasa where Ha means soil or Earth in Moran language and Sa means son and Habungiya or Hasa means Son of the soil. [6]
The Ahom or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local indigenous people who joined them over the course of history. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group and his 9,000 followers established the Ahom kingdom, which controlled much of the Brahmaputra Valley in modern Assam until 1826.
Dibrugarh district (Pron:ˌdɪbru:ˈgor:) is a district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located within the city of Dibrugarh.
Namrup is a small town situated close to the foothills of the Patkai Hills in the extreme southeastern part of Assam, India. The river Dihing or Disang flows through it. Namrup is situated in amidst wet-paddy fields, indigenous Assamese villages, orchards, large tea-gardens and densely forested hills. Administratively Namrup is located within Dibrugarh district and is today an important industrial town of Assam. Namrup is approximately 75 km from Dibrugarh by road towards the south-east and approximately 50 km from Tinsukia towards the south. It is also a small railway station in Dibrugarh-Guwahati broad-gauge railway line. The nearest airport is Dibrugarh located at a distance of approximately 70 km. Other urban areas close to Namrup are Naharkatiya - 18 km, Duliajan - 35 km, Sonari - 20 km, Moran - 55 km, etc. by roadways. Namrup is located around 500 km east of Guwahati, the largest city in the North East Region.
The Dimasa 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 Moamoria rebellion (1769–1805) was an 18th-century uprising in Ahom kingdom of present-day Assam that began as power struggle between the Moamorias (Mataks), the adherents of the Mayamara Sattra, and the Ahom kings. This uprising spread widely to other sections of Ahom kingdom including disgruntled elements of the Ahom aristocracy leading to two periods in which the Ahom king lost control of the capital. Retaking the capital was accompanied by a massacre of subjects, leading to a steep depopulation of large tracts. The Ahom king failed to retake the entire kingdom; a portion in the north-east, Bengmara, became known as Matak Rajya ruled by a newly created office called Borsenapati, became a tribute-paying but virtually independent territory.
Sukaphaa, also Siu-Ka-Pha, the first Ahom king in medieval Assam, was the founder of the Ahom kingdom and the architect of Assam. A prince of the Su/Tsu (Tiger) clan of the Mao-Shan sub-tribe originally from present-day Mong Mao, Yunnan Province, China, the kingdom he established in 1228 existed for nearly six hundred years and in the process unified the various ethnic groups of the region that left a deep impact on the region. In reverence to his position in Assam's history the honorific Chaolung is generally associated with his name.
Bodo–Kacharis is a name used by anthropologist and linguists to define a collection of ethnic groups living predominantly in the Northeast Indian states of Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya. These peoples are speakers of either Bodo–Garo languages or Assamese. Some Tibeto-Burman speakers who live closely in and around the Brahmaputra valley, such as the Mising people and Karbi people, are not considered Bodo–Kachari. Many of these peoples have formed early states in the late Medieval era of Indian history and came under varying degrees of Sanskritisation.
Moran Town is a census town in Dibrugarh district in the Indian state of Assam. Moran is an important industrial town in India. It is a major oil field and a major tea-producing area.
Moranhat is a town and a town area committee in Charaideo district in the Indian state of Assam.The town is divided by N.H 37 into Charaideo and Dibrugarh district.
The People of Assam inhabit a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society. They speak languages that belong to four main language groups: Tibeto-Burman, Indo-Aryan, Tai-Kadai, and Austroasiatic. 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".
Dihing or Burhi Dihing is a large tributary, about 380 kilometres (240 mi) long, of the Brahmaputra River in Upper Assam in northeastern India. The river originates at 2,375 metres (7,792 ft) above sea level in the Eastern Himalayas in Arunachal Pradesh and flows through Tinsukia and Dibrugarh Districts in Assam to its confluence with the Brahmaputra at Dihingmukh. Its watershed covers about 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi). The Dihing has created number of oxbow lakes in the area.
Upper Assam is an administrative division of the state of Assam comprising the undivided Lakhimpur and Sivasagar districts, of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley. The other divisions are: Lower Assam, North Assam and Hills and Barak Valley. The division is under the jurisdiction of a Commissioner, stationed at Jorhat.
The Chutia Kingdom was a late medieval state that developed around Sadiya in present Assam and adjoining areas in Arunachal Pradesh. It extended over almost the entire region of present districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, and some parts of Dibrugarh in Assam, as well as the plains and foothills of Arunachal Pradesh. The kingdom fell around the year 1524 to the Ahom Kingdom after a series of conflicts and the capital area ruled by the Chutia rulers became the administrative domain of the office of Sadia Khowa Gohain of the Ahom kingdom.
The Sonowal Kachari are one of the indigenous peoples of the state of Assam in Northeast India. They are of Tibeto-Burman origin, and are closely associated with the other ethnic groups of Assam, which are commonly referred to as Kachari.
Moran (Morān) is an extinct Boro-Garo language which was spoken in Assam in Northeast India and related to Dimasa language. The census returned 78 speakers in 1901, 24 in 1911 and none in 1931, and the only source of this language exists in a 1904 article by P R Gurdon. The speakers of this language have shifted to the Assamese language. The name "Moran" reportedly means 'forest dweller'.
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.
The Moamoria were the adherents of the egalitarian, proselytizing Mayamara Satra of 18th-century Assam, who initiated the Moamoria rebellion against the Ahom kingdom in the 18th century. The rebellion weakened the Ahom kingdom to such an extent that the kingdom became vulnerable to repeated Burmese invasions of Assam and the subsequent colonization by the British. The Moamorias were also called Mataks. Over time, the main groups that had supported the Ahom kingdom came to owe allegiance to the Moamara sattra: Morans, the Sonowal Kacharis (gold-washers), Chutias, professional castes such as Hiras (potters), Tantis (weavers), Kaibartas, and Ahom nobles and officers. The largest group among the Mataks were the Morans, followed by the Chutias.
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.
Matak rajya or Matak kingdom was a 19th-century autonomous region within the Ahom kingdom in Assam. It was governed by the Barsenapati.
Dimasa is section of Kachari community. It belongs to Boro-Garo language family. It is mother tongue to around 500,000 Dimasa population. Large section of Sanskritised Dimasa speak Assamese language e.g. Sonowal Kachari, Thengal Kachari, Moran Kachari, Matak Kachari.