Rabha people

Last updated
Rabha
Rabha Tribal lady.jpg
Total population
c. 357,000 (2011)
Regions with significant populations
Flag of India.svg  India
Assam 296,189 [1]
Meghalaya32,662 [2]
West Bengal27,820 [3]
Languages
Assamese, Rabha, Bengali
Religion
Majority
Om.svg Hinduism (94.36%)
Minority
Christian cross.svg Christianity (5.17%)

The Rabha people are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group who live mostly in the Northeast Indian state of Assam, with a lesser population in the adjacent state of West Bengal. [4] They primarily inhabit the plains of Lower Assam and the Dooars, while some are found in the Garo Hills. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha. [5]

Contents

The Rabha community have a rich, multi-faceted and distinct culture of their own. The Rabha society is matrilineal . The village economy is based on agriculture and both men and women work in the fields. The women wear colorful clothes that they weave themselves and wear a lot of beads and silver ornaments. The Rabhas are non-vegetarians and rice is their staple food.

The traditional economy of the Rabhas in general, is based on agriculture, forest based activities and weaving. In the past, the Rabhas used to practice shifting cultivation. They continued to cultivate the land with Gogo or bill-hook. Later they took up the job of settled cultivation and started cultivation with plough. Besides cultivation, hunting was also an old practice of Rabha people. Weaving was a traditional occupation of the Rabha women.

Rabha Tribal Lady Rabha Tribal Lady.jpg
Rabha Tribal Lady

The Rabhas are mostly found in Lower Assam on the left bank of the Brahmaputra, in the districts of Goalpara and Kamrup. Some are found in the right bank districts of Baksa, Udalguri and Kokrajhar. In Meghalaya, the Rabhas mainly live in West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, and Ribhoi districts. In West Bengal, the Rabha mainly inhabit the districts of Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Uttar Dinajpur.

Language

The Rabha language is closely related to neighbouring Boro and Garo, as well as many other Sino-Tibetan languages of Assam. The language was formerly spoken by all 11 Rabha clans: Maithori, Rongdani, Pati, Dahori, Dotla, Halua, Betolia, Hanna, Sunga, Modahi, Kocha Rabhas. Only the Rongdani, Maithori and Kocha clans still speak Rabha, although its usage is declining among them as well. [6] The Rabha language is only spoken by a minority of the Rabhas, most of whom speak Assamese in Assam and Meghalaya and Bengali in West Bengal.

See also

Notes

  1. "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India . Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  2. "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India . Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  3. "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India . Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  4. "Rabha, Bodo and Garo, all of which belong to a close-knit group of Tibeto-Burman languages."( Joseph 2006 :1)
  5. "There stills exist another group of Rabhas called the Kocha or Koch"( Joseph 2006 :2)
  6. "There are eight sub-branches of the Rabhas. Among them Maitori, Rangdani and Koch or Kocha are the major sub-divisions of the Rabhas. They have been maintaining language and culture."( Basumatārī 2010 :8)

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References

Further reading