Women and Their Identity: Reflection on Socio- Cultural Paradigm of Women Among the Deori Tribe in Madhupur Deori Village of Assam

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 8, ISSUE 11, NOVEMBER 2019 ISSN 2277-8616

Women And Their Identity: Reflection On Socio- Cultural Paradigm Of Women Among The Deori Tribe In Madhupur Deori Village Of Assam

Rashmi Baruah

Abstract: Assam is the habitation of various tribal groups since time immemorial. All of them have their own culture and tradition which have a great contribution towards the making and well being of Assamese culture. Some of the major tribal inhabitants of the land are Deori, Kachari, Bodo, Mishing, Rabha etc. Deori tribe is one of the major and indigenous ethnic tribes of Assam. The Deori tribe has its own culture and traditions which able to keep their identity in a unique way. The women belong to the Deori community have their own culture and traditions that make them unique from other tribal communities. It has been generally seen that tribal women face noteworthy challenges in their day to day life which manifold in the forms of discrimination, lack access to education, health issues etc. and the Deori women are not also apart from these challenges. Thus, it is important to keep their identity and to establish and realize political, economic, cultural, personal and social rights for women. Deori women have great value in their indigenous society. This paper is an effort to emphasize Deori women and their identity as well as try to analyze the socio-cultural paradigm of women among the Deori tribe in Madhupur Deori Village of Assam.

Keywords: Deori, Tribe, Women, Identity, Social Change, Socio-Cultural Paradigm. ——————————  ——————————

1. INTRODUCTION Statement of the Research Problem Assam is recognized as a place of unification of diverse ethnic The Deori tribe is one of the indigenous ethnic tribes of groups. It is the ethnic groups that people recognized with or Assam. The women belong to this community have unique feel they belong to. The Deori tribe constitutes a distinct social culture and traditions which help them to make their identity. group of Assam who was traditionally engaged in priestly But there has a paradigm shift among the people of the Deori activities. They were considered as the priestly section and tribe regarding their social life as well as their cultural life due one of the major sub-divisions of the Chutia, a very old and to the continuous affecting of different factors. The present numerically dominant Mongoloid of the upper Assam. study will cover hitherto uncovered areas of the socio-cultural According to Kakati (1967), ‗the word Deori originated from the paradigm of Deori women of Assam. Sanskrit word ‗Deva Grihika'. Thus the word Deori means in- charge of a temple or the priest. Nowadays they like to identify Objective of the Study themselves as ‗Gimasaya‘, meaning ‗the children of the Sun  To highlights the Deori women and their identity. and Moon‘. Ethnically the Deori are affiliated to the Tibeto-  To explore the socio-cultural paradigm of women Mongoloid tribal group of Assam. The original habitats of the among the Deori tribe. Deori were in the Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh, on the bank of the river Kundil and also in Sadiya, Assam. They Field and Methodology migrated to Brahmaputra valley, Assam to escape from The study was conducted in Madhupur Deori village of frequent troubles created by the Mishmis and the Adis. There Dibrugarh district of Assam. The study mainly focuses on the are four sub-divisions or territorial groups of the Deori i.e. socio-cultural paradigm of women among the Deori tribe of Tengaponiya, Borgonya, Dibongiya and Patorgonya. The Madhupur village. In this study, purposive sampling was used name of each sub-division owes its origin from a particular as a sample which is part of non-probability sampling. In this river of their original homeland. In Assam, the Deori are mainly sampling, the respondents were selected based on research scattered in Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sibsagar, Jorhat purpose which is also judgmental in nature. The study and Shonitpur districts. Among all of them, half of the selected 50 respondents as a sample unit from the universe. population consist of women and they have contributions The information, which required for the present study was towards their socio-economic life. Deori women are the assets collected from the primary and secondary sources. Primary and strengths of the character of the community. They have a Sources such as interview schedule, interview guide, greater role in their cultural life as well. observation, focus group discussion, case study, photographs etc. The secondary sources are books, magazines, newspapers, paper-clips, journals, published works made by the scholars, different statistical reports, internet, website etc. In this study, the design of research work is exploratory research design.

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 Rashmi Baruah Analysis and Interpretation  M.A, M.phil, Department of Sociology  Dibrugarh University, Assam, India Socio-Economic Profile of the Respondents  PH -6000650997 The analysis of the socio-economic background of the  E-mail: [email protected] respondents is very important because it facilitates and helps to understand the social and economic condition of the respondents and help to study the personality pattern of the

individuals. In this study, it was found that out of 50 (made of silver and gold) are some of beautiful earings wear respondents, total no. of respondents belong to the women by the Deori women. category. The highest numbers of respondents are from the age group of 29-39 years. This group consists of 26(52%) of Sujen – A Natural based Element respondents of the total respondents. As many as 13(26%) Deori women play a significant role in preparing Sujen. respondents belong to the age group of 18-28 years. Again, Preparation of Sujen consists of two parts, Mod Pitha (natural 7(14%) respondents belong to the age group of above 50 starter) preparation, and Sujen preparing (brewing). Sujen is a years. Only a rest of respondents i.e. 4(8%) belong to the age well-liked local rice beer which plays an important role in their group of 40-50 years. It has been revealed that all the socio-cultural life. Sujen is drunk by Deori people in all their respondents 50(100%) belong to the caste group of Schedule cheerful and auspicious occasions. tribe (ST). Regarding the income of the respondents, the study Festivals revealed that out of a total of 50 respondents 25(50%) The cultural festivals of Deori tribe are mainly associated with respondents income 8001-12000 and 11(22%) respondents priestly activities. They celebrate different festivals in different income level 5001-8000. As many as 8(16%) respondents period of time in their social life. The Deories follow some have below 5000 income and only 6(12%) respondents have special rules for their festivals. They mainly celebrate two above 12000 income. major festivals during a year. One of the festivals is ‗Ebaku . Bisu'(Bohag Bihu) which is observed in the month of April. Socio-Cultural Paradigm of Deori Women Another festival is ‗Magiyo Bisu'(Magh Bihu) which is observed The socio-cultural life of the Deori tribe is very spiritual in in the month of January. In this study, it has been explored that nature. They have faith and worship on their ancestors such both the Bisu festivals are connected with the agricultural as – Kundi-Mama, Boliya Baba (pisadema) and Tameshwari activities. Therefore, it has been observed that the festivals are (pisasi). Deori women enjoyed their socio-cultural life. The started exactly before starting the agricultural and allied Deori women work more in comparison to their male activities in the fields. The Joydam festivals have a significant counterparts. They performed all the household activities like role in harmonizing the cultural greetings in Bisuyu time after a cooking, collecting fuel and fodder, harvesting etc. They are crop or before putting the grains to earth. The Deodhani dance more expert in spinning and weaving as well. The making of is also a crucial part of Bohag Bihu where a holy female dance rice beer is the most essential duty of Deori women. or a god‘s women. Male member are not allowed to go into the ‗Than‘ wearing colourful cloths during the time of Bohagiyo Social Life Bisu. Deori women live in a simple life with a natural environment. They work harder than their male counterparts. They live in Socio-Cultural Changes typical "Change Ghor". The lower part of the house is used as Change is the everpresent phenomena in the world. Though an enclosed space for animals. For building their traditional the society is traditional and conservative, changes may occur house they use bamboos, woods, canes, reeds etc. ‗Dudepati' in every society which is inevitable in nature. With the impact is the fireplace attached with the ‗Chang' and the people cooks of different factors such as- industrialization, urbanization, various meals around this place and eat them. Among the modernization, sanskritization, globalization, some changes Deori women, marriage is highly prohibited within the same taken place in the life style and life chances of the Deori clans or prevalence of clan exogamy marriage. The means of community in general and women in specific. The acquiring mates are Machidecha (negotiations), Jonengna development of modern education and technology leads to (elopement), and Miloni or Hankia (love). The present study changes in their tradition and culture as well. The impact of explores that Deori people are mostly preferred to live in a sanskritiztion has been touched the religious aspect of Deori joint family and live in a patriarchal structure. The female community. During the period of time Deori people have member of the family is not getting equal status as their male changed their religion to the Chiristianity, the religion of Anukul counterpart. The livelihood of the Deori community is mainly Thakur, the region of Vaishnave etc. The process of based on agriculture. Most of the Deori women engaged in a westernization has great impact on the costumes and paddy field as well as animal husbandry through which they ornaments of the Deori women. Nowadays they more prefer can contribute something to their family. on contemporary dress as well as ornaments. The traditional treatment almost outdated in the Deori community in the Costumes and Ornaments present day. The Deori costumes wearing women are now can The Deori women wrap up a kind of skirt (called ‗Ujaduba be seen throw the photo albums. Globalization has great Igoon‘, which hangs loosely down wrapping tightly the breast) impact on the livelihood of the Deori people. Globalization along with a sheet called ―Jokuchhiba‖ which is enclosed in refers to combind the whole world into a single global villagfe. the waist. They also wear ‗Riha‘ which is called ‗Tegihra‘. The With the passage of time, Deori women have contact with Deori women use a towel (Gamucha) to cover their head larger society. They are become more able to getting more which is called as ―Gathiki‖. The Deori women are happy to knowledge in different field. Changes occur in some wear different traditional ornaments. They wear a ring called significant rituals such as ‗Bohua Nas‘ and ‗Deodhani Nas‘ etc. ‗Gema‘ and use bangles called ‗Uchoon‘ in their wrist. They Different ritual related to their festivals has been changed due wear a necklace which is known as ‗Igawa‘. They wear many to different causes. Development of modern thoughts and beautiful ornaments while performing bihu such as Lee, Kota, introducing modern education leads some changes in terms of Madoli, Joonbiri, Dugdugi etc. they wear some hand cultural values; rituals etc. Increasing rate of literacy creates ornaments i.e. Dirbuigo Usu (Silver Bangles), Pikiti Usung more modern thought among the mind of present generation. (Small Bangles), Pujio Demasi Usung etc. Amiri Kotung Adopting the process of westernization leads to adopt western (earing made of tree twigs), Jang nai Kurtung, Kunti Kutung culture, food habits, dress pattern etc. and therefore it‘s have

an impact on festivals. Mass media and communication replaced the entertainment activities of the festivals which kills individual tastes and leads to cultural homogenization. Scientific thought of young generation have impacts on cultural festivals of Deori tribe and their ideology totally different from old generation. They thought some rules and regulations as superstitious beliefs related to cultural festivals and therefore, they are not ready to support the rituals and cultural festivals. Moreover, the connection between different tribe also leads to change the values related to their socio-cultural life. With the changing scenario, the Deories have unique characters that able them to rich cultural heritage and social life.

CONCLUSION The Deories are known for their strong ties to tradition and culture, which can be seen by the relatively unchanged way of life through the centuries and their cultural heritage. Their socio-cultural life is very unique. Deori women play a crucial role in their day to day life to maintain and proceedings socio- economic and cultural aspects. It is evident from the changes we observed that the Deori community is in a halfway between tradition and modernity. Though, different factors have a great impact on the life of the Deori women but still they maintain the glory of the traditional culture.

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