Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology ISSN No : 1006-7930

TRIBAL CULTURE AND LIFE STYLE OF MISHING COMMUNITY IN

Maghali Chetia Research Scholar Dept. of Assamese Gauhati University, Assam,

Abstract : Assam is a multilingual state including with different castes and tribes. The Mishings are the second large tribe of Assam. Anthropologically, they are under the Indo- Mongoloid. From the view of linguistic point, they are a stream of Tibeto-Burman group. Earlier, they were known as Miri. Long ago, most of their people lived in the hill-sides and river banks. Like other tribes in Assam, they have also the unique characteristics in the Oral Literature, Material Culture, Performing Arts and Social Rituals. There has always been socio-cultural as well as biological interaction among the population of both tribal and non-tribal groups of Assam. It has also been noticed in the Mishing Community. Acculturation, Assimilation, Sanskritisation and Modernisation has played a major role in the changing of their culture and life-style in the Mishing Community.

Keywords : Mishing, Tribal, Culture, Life-style, Change, Assam.

Introduction : India is a country of various tribal community. There are more than 400 tribal communities in India. The constitution of India has provided more importance to these communities and listed them as tribal under the constitution. Assam is a major state of India. There are various tribes inhabited in Assam namely, Ahom, Bodo, Kachari, Mishing, Dimasa, Khasia, Rabha etc. They are bounded with their own rituals and customs. Among them, the Mishing tribe are highly populated in various region in Assam. Besides it, Assam is the homeland of large number of population including both tribal and non-tribal. They have different ethnic origins linguistic affiliation and having varied socio-cultural tradition since long past. The Mishings are an aboriginal inhabitant of Assam and the second large tribal group in the state. They are Indo-mongoloid tribe settled in the plains of Assam. Originally, they were hill dwellers and lived along with the Adis in Arunachal Pradesh. On the basis of legends of the tribe and available historical records, they moved to the plains of Assam around the 13th Century A.D. Still, they retain their mythological, linguistic and institutional affinity with the Adis and the Nisis of Arunachal Pradesh. The tribe is settled mostly in the districts of Sibsagar, , Lakhimpur, Darrang, Dhemaji, , , Sonitpur and in Assam. They also live in Lohit, Siang, Subansiri area of Arunachal Pradesh. The Mishings were popularly known as Miris in the plains of Assam. This name was given to them by the non tribal .

Objectives of the study : The objective of the study as follows : (a) To study about traditional lifestyle of the Mishing community in Assam. (b) To study about their traditional culture. (c) To study about the impacts of Modernization and Globalization on their traditional culture and lifestyle. (d) To study about the changes in their traditional culture and lifestyle.

Significance of the study : The Mishing folklife is full of their own colorful art and culture. They have deviated from its original source and has acquired a modern form today. Yet, the different sides of their folk-culture is changing in the stream of time. As a result of the spread of science and development, like other tribes, the Mishing folk-belief and folk-life are also changing. Due to this effect, social and mantel changes of common life are taking place in all directions. It is very important to collect and compile the past the Mishing community way of life before it becomes completely dissected. Culture provides the introduction of a caste or a tribe. The ethnic image of a tribe or caste is clearly reflects through their cultural features. Therefore it is very important to study, preserve and spread of the culture and folk-life of the Mishing tribe.

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Area of study : The study will conducted in the culture and folk-life of the Mishing tribe. It also, the study will conducted about the impacts of Modernization and Globalization on their traditional culture and lifestyle and the changes in it. The study area is selected purposively. Purposive selection of the area is due to the fact that no deep studies have been conducted in this area on this topic.

Methods of analysis : The study is based on the observation and descriptive methodology. The dada includes secondary sources such as the Mishing culture and lifestyle related books, journals, articles, soft copies included web pages, pdf files downloaded from websites.

Discussion and Results : The term of Mishing means ‘the people of same blood and ethnic origin’. ‘Abotani’(the father of mankind) is the first ancestor of all Mishing trace. Maximum tribes has their own clan system. Like other tribe of Assam, the Mishing tribe also followed their clan system. Mainly they are divided into nine parts : Oyan, Mo:ying, Délu, Pagro, Sa:yang, Samuguriya, Tamaria, Bongkowal, Bihia. Tamaria, Samuguriya, Bongkowal and Bihia has forgotten their origin language and they are using the in their day today life. The Mishings are culturally very rich. Below, we have discussed about various points of view of the lifestyle and culture of the Mishing tribe in details.

Social Life : Socially, the Mishings are beloved community. They like to live in a society. They also love peace. Traditionally, they have been living in the river-sides because of availability of water, facilities of animals husbandry, more production by a little labor etc. the social life of the Mishing community is very simple. Collectivism, unity and cooperation are the basic characteristics of their common life. Actually, the family is the primary level of social organization in Mishing community. Collective labor donation is prevalent in their society. In any social work, it is necessary to have one member from each family. There is an organization of youths in a village to perform various works of their society. Such organization is called ‘Mimbir-Ya:me:’. This institute play a major role to fulfill the social works such as marriage, festivals, funeral in the village. Besides it, they also provide justice for the youths who have held minor crimes. In the same way, the elders have also have a social organization called ‘Kébang’. Usually, there was a Kébang in every traditional Mishing village. It works like a social political ritual. It also plays a major role as administration and judiciary in the village. Every Kébang of the villages are independent and sovereign itself. For the protection of village, enforcing the law, hearing the cases of culprits and punishing the offenders are the main duties of a Kébang. The head of this institute is called Ga:m. The membership for the woman is not allowed in this institute. Therefore, it is seen that Kébang and Mimbir-Ya:me: plays an important role in operating their society properly. The Mishing society is male centered. The male member is the head of the family. In their society, only sons become the successor of his family’s wealth. The Mishings prefer to live in joint family. The Mishing women are more hardworker than their men. They remain engaged in household and agricultural activities, and look after cattle breeding like pig, chicken, duck, goat for extra income. From morning to evening they works hard. The Mishing men and women works equally in their farmland. They also carry out the responsibilities of their family equally. A society or family needs equal role of men and women to operate well and this is also seen in the Mishing society.

Religious Belief : By religion though, their worshipped god is the Sun and the Moon. Therefore they calling the Sun as mother and the Moon as father. They regard the Moon (Abu po:lo) and the Sun (Ané do:nyi) as their ancestor. ‘Sedi-Melo’ are the another gods of their community. They believe that ‘Sedi ba:bu’ (the father) and ‘Melo Nane’ (the mother) are the descendent of the ‘Do:nyi-Po:lo’. On every religious and social function they mention the names of their deities and sacrifice themselves to those deities. According to them these gods are always kind to them because they are infinite and almighty in this universe. Dobur puja : Dobur puja is the only religious function among this community. In this function some souls are sacrificed to the father Moon and the mother Sun. Mibu Dagnam : In the Mishing community the priests are called as ‘Mibu’. Mibu Dagnam is is performed by the Mibu ( priest) himself with some young boys and girls. Here, the Mibu performs a dance with his sacred sword (yoksa).

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Marriage System : Marriage system is a social and legal permission to live a man and women together as husband and wife. The Mishing has its own and unique style. They used their local language term ‘Midang’ instead of ‘Marriage’. In the Mishing society the marriage within the same clan and Non-Mishing will never be allowed. The practice of widow marriage and re-marriage is prevalent in their society. According to a Mishing scholar named Bidyeswar Doley, pointed out three traditional systems of Midang (marriage) as : (a) Da:ro Midang: the most popular marriage system among the Mishing tribe is Da:ro Midang. In this system the parents or guardians of a bachelor play a major role complete the marriage. They send a proposal of marriage to bride’s family; if the proposal accepted, the groom has to performed in bride’s home for few days. Then the both family finally fixed the date or day of the marriage. (b) Dugla La:nam Midang : The marriage that occurs when the bride and groom escaping from their houses and hiding from parents or family members is called Dugla La:nam Midang. This marriage is not under the recognized system. (c) Kumsu-Jo:su Midang : This marriage system is popular among the poor Mishing families. Even after getting acceotance of the maaiage from both sides, people who cannot get married due to financial problem, they adopt this marriage system. Nowadays it is seen that the taboo of the Mishing marriage system has became flexible due to close contact with the Assamese people and the influences of acculturation and modernization. Now, they allowed to marry with Non- Mishings.

Traditional Food : The geographical environment and climate of a place influences in the food habits of the residents of that place. When the Mishing tribe was residents of the hills, they used various fruits, roots of green seeds, fish, meats collected from haunting were as their main foods. After coming to the plains area, their food habits became changed; along with fruits, meats and fish, rice also added as a main food. Boiled foods, dried meat and fish is popular among the Mishing tribe. There are different kinds of traditional dishes and drinks like Apong, Purang, Namsing etc. available in their community. Apong : It is a type of rice beer made by Mishing women.. It is a popular drink among Mishing people. They offers it to their guests as an honor. There are two types of Apong as it Po:ro Apong (black color beer) and Nagin Apong (white colored beer). Namsing : The powder of dried fish is called Namsing. At first, fishes are dried on the kitchen’s fireplace. Then the dried fishes are grinded at their wooden grinder (ki:par). After that, the fish powder are kept in a bamboo container with full tight cover. They mix the fish powder for making different type of vegetable dishes. Purang: It is a boiled rice dumpling popular among the Mishing people. To prepare this item, first a good variety of rice is soaked in water. After that, it is packed with Tara Paat (Alpinia Nigra- a kind of wild leaves belonging to the ginger family) into small pieces. Then, it is cocked by steaming or boiling. Nowadays, the food habits of the Mishing community have changed by the influences of and regional culture. In earlier, they used to eat beef, but inspired by the influence of Hinduism, they gave up eating beef. They always took only an oil-free diet and didn’t eat egg, milk. But nowadays, they included it to their food list. Today, the Mishing people use betel nut (tamol-pan) to their guests instead of Apong. The betel nut is a popular part of regional . Therefore it seen that, traditionally a lot of food habits is abandoned by the Mishing after they embracing Hinduism.

Dress : The Mishing tribal people wear two types of clothes. One is for regular uses and another is for festivals, marriage rituals and worships. It is noticed that the dresses for their regular uses is very simple and the dress for men is very similar as other non-tribe people. Ugon (a simple white dhoti), Gongro, Gonbor (a long loin cloth), Lingkab (a type of muffler), dumer (a colorful towel), galuk (a shirt) etc. are the dresses for men. But the Mishing women wears traditional dresses in their regular life. The dresses for women is divided into two types of garments. One is covering the part from the waist to the knee. Mosanam (a skirt), Gapagare, Gale, Kegreg or Segreg, Ege are such garments. Another is covering the upper part of the body. Ri:bi gasong, Gero, Gaseng, Bimbung (a type of shawl) are the such types of garments. Mirijim, Tapum gasor, Mibugaluk, are famous Mishing traditional dresses. The Mishing women prepare their dresses the combine delicate tastes of color and designs. The sources of their design are taken from the colorful nature and some geometrical figures. Nowadays, the Mishing educated women are dressed like the Assamese women as it is the impact of acculturation and modernization. In present time, the dresses which are available in market are the most common dresses of male and female. Except special occasions like festivals, marriage rituals, worships the Mishing people do

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not use traditional dresses. They preserve their traditional dresses like a valuable property and worn with carefully whenever needed.

Traditional House : The Mishing people lives in Chung-Ghar (Okum). Even when they were in hills area, they had Chung-Ghar so that they could get relief from wild animals. Now, they lives in the riverside and have Chung-Ghar to get relief from the flood. Therefore, they believed that Chung-Ghar is more secure from some natural challenges than other houses. Generally, the Mishing house is built facing to the river. That is why, their house is North-South direction. Chung-Ghar is made out of bamboo, wood and thatch. The floor of the house is about 3 to 5 ft. high from the ground and it is formed with thick bamboo splits. One has to climb a ladder to reach the floor. The roof of the house is covered by thatches. Usually, the houses are about 30 to 100 ft. length and 10 to 15 ft. in breadth. Meram (the fire place) is situated in central part of the house. It is noticed that the house has only two doors, tupak yabgo (front door) and yapkur yabgo (back door). Windows are not available and no division for rooms. Acculturation and Mordernization is also visible in regard to the housing pattern of Mishing. The changing pattern of their house is one of the most significant impact of their close contact with the non-tribal Assamese. Nowadays most of the Mishing people like to have modern houses instead of their unhygienic traditional houses. The Mishing people who are not financially strong they have traditional houses.

Festivals, Dances and Songs : Like other tribes of Assam, the society of the Mishing is also an agrarian society. Therefore, their main festivals are related to agrarian. The most considerable agrarian festivals among the Mishings are- a) Ali-A:ye-Lígang : It is the most significant festival among the Mishing community of Assam. Ali-A:ye-Lígang is a spring festival, which is associated with agriculture, specially When the ‘Ahu’ paddy cultivation is began. The festival celebration is started on the first Wednessday of ‘Falgun’ month of Assamese calendar. The main objective of the festival is to pray to ‘Mother-Earth’ for the food production and paddy. In the festival, all young and old join in festal making. b) Po:rang : The another most significant agrarian festival among the Mishing is Po:rang. The festival is celebrated in the harvesting time of paddy. The objective of the festival is all getting together with feasts and prayers. In the Ali-A:ye-Lígang festival, all boys, girls, men and women are dressed colorful cloths, performed a dance named Gumrag So:nam. Paksong momam is also a common dance to all festive celebrations. It is a group dance both by boys and girls performed at the yard of their house (Ukum). Raktub So:man is a another typical ridiculous dance perform by the adult people of the community inside their houses. In the Mishing society,there are different types of songs, from their aims and subject matter the Mishing folk songs are different. In Mishing language, the songs are called Ni:tom. There are many types of Ni:tom. They are- a) A:bang: The A:bang songs are generally used by the Mibu (the Mishing priest) of their society. b) Kabang: This songs is a type of ballad. The Mishing people express their sorrows of past and present by this songs. c) Bi:rik: this songs is singing in their seasonal festivals like Ali-ai-Ligang and Po:rag. d) Midang: The song to be sung at the wedding is called Midang Nitom. e) Oi-Nitom : The love songs is called Oi-Nitom. This type of songs is the most popular songs among the Mishing people. f) Ko-ninam: The song to be sung for children are called Ko:ninam. Nowadays, due to the close and continuous contact with the Assamese people, they enjoy not only their festivals,dances but also Assamese , bihu dances and songs.

Language : The Mishing language is a member of the family of Tibeto-Burman language. It has some similarities with the languages of Adis, Nishi and Garo tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The similarity is seen because the Mishings were once a tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. But nowadays, the impact of Hinduism which is the main source of acculturation among the Mishing is found in their language also. Today, they are used Assamese and Hindi language also. The process of acculturation in the field of language among the ‘Samugurias’, ‘Bongkowal’ and ‘Bihia’ are so deep that they have forgotten their own Mishing language.

Findings : After studying the Mishing people life style and culture, we came to these findings :

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a) This study has found that the procedure of modernization, acculturation are clearly seen among the Mishing community. The processes have helped in the new construction of the Mishing society. Under the influence of this forces, now the Mishing community are no longer separate. b) They have lost the basic of their characteristics like homogeneity, simplicity, self-sufficiency . c) To the interaction with Hinduism, Vaishnava religious institutions, Assamese language, communication networks and marketing centers, they able to linked with the peasant regional culture, through which they linked with the main stream of the nation. d) The Mishing community have been trying to adjust tribal institutions and practices with the growing impact of Hinduism. They are still practicing their tribal rituals along with Hinduism. e) The study has found that two distinct groups opposing each other have emerged among them. The illiterates and elders try to retain their traditional practices, norms and institutes, whereas the educated and younger are more prone to modern ideas and values.

Conclusion : The Mishing community is one of the plain tribes of the and recognized as Scheduled Tribe (S/C) under the constitution of India. They have a well organized social structure with tribal characteristics. But as they living with the non-tribal Assamese communities, the changes have naturally been taking place in the tribal social structure. Therefore it is our responsibility to protect their traditional cultures and should help to get a place in the great traditional culture of the world. Finally, the research done by us is not the only and completed research. ‘‘TRIBAL CULTURE AND LIFE STYLE OF MISHING COMMUNITY IN ASSAM’’ is a vast subject in research. There is every possibility of study in this subject in future also.

References : Books : 1. Doley, Dipak. Glimpses of Mishing Folk Culture . Dhemaji : Migang Publication. 2014. Print. 2. Hakacham, Upen Rabha. Asomor Janajatiya Sanskriti. : Bani Mandir. 2010. Print. 3. Kagyum, Bhrigumuni (Ed.). Mishing Sanskritir Aalekhya. Guwahati : Loyer’s Book Stall. 1970. Print. 4. Kuli, Jawahar Jyoti. Mishing Folklore. Dibrugarh : Kaustubh Prakashan. 1992. Print. 5. --- . The Mishing and their History and Culture. Guwahati : Ayin Publication. 1998. Print. 6. Payeng, Sadananda. Mishing Janajati Samaj Sanskriti. Guwahati : Jagaran Sahitya Prakashan. 2011. Print. 7. Pegu, Indeswar. Mishing Samaj aru Sampriti. Guwahati : Assam Institute of Research For Tribal and Scheduled Castes. 2003. Print. 8. Pegu, ganesh. Mishing Jana Sahitya. Dhemaji : Kakali Prakashan. 1996. Print. 9. Pegu, Khageswar. Asomor Jati Gathanat Mishing Janagusthi aru Nadipariya Mishing Samaj. Dhemaji : Dhemaji Book Stall. 2003. Print. 10. Pegu, Nomal. Mishingsakalar Itibritta aru Sanskriti. Guwahati : Bharati Prakashan. 2000. Print.

Magazines and Journals : 1. Boro, Bijon, (2020), ‘a Brief Analysis of “Bathou and Kherai”- The Deities of Bathouism’, Journal of XI’an University of Architecture & Technology. Vol XII. No 107.

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