CHAPTER 9 SOCIO-CULTURAL LIFE OF THE BARO PEOPLE OF NORTH GUWAHATI 9.1 Introduction Assam is a developing state of North East India comprising numerous caste and communities, varieties of religion and multilingual people with different cultures. In the long history of the formation of Assamese society, both the tribal and non tribal people have played a very significant role. It is seen that the tribal people have formed a very important section of the society and they have contributed considerably to the growth of the civilization of Assam. Among the plain tribes of Assam the Baro community is worth mentioning. The Baro-Kacharies are the largest tribe of Assam. There were various types of interactions between Baro-Kachari Society and Assamese Hindu society which incorporated a section of the tribe into the fold of the local Hindu society. 1 At the time of formation of the tribal states and chiefdoms, the Baro-Kachari rulers adopted Hinduism. The Common people also came in contact with the Hindu population and culture through the socio-economic transactions and political system. Occasionally they were also sent by the chiefs as envoys or soldiers in the medieval period to the Ahom rulers. 2 But inspite of the tribal transformation in this long stretch of time a large section of them remained affiliated to their tribal system and religion. Therefore, a pressure was created on the socio-cultural identity of the tribe. 3 Edward Gait the renowned historian says that the major part of Assam and the North East Bengal formed a great Baro kingdom.
The Baros living in and around North Guwahati have contributed to the formation of socio-cultural life of the whole region. They have been living in the different pockets of the area since the 13 th century. Though they do not live in separate revenue villages independently, yet the villages, suburies, are under North Guwahati revenue circle. Such suburies constituing the entire social life of North Guwahati are Katabazar, Rahdhala, Lothia Bagicha, No 1 Bamuni gaon, Sila Mohekhati, Koroibari, Katamur, Chandra gaon, Phulung gaon, Gela Pukhuri, Rangmahal and so on. Other villages of the surrounding area are Tangani, Baka, Kharadol, Halguri Chauk, Balaibil, Outala, Ambari supa, Sindurighopa and so on. 9.2 Socio economic condition The Baro women are hard working. They play an important role in the economic life of the family by working in the agricultural fields, doing paddy transplantation, harvesting crops supplementing family income by rearing hens, ducks, goats etc. Their usual activities at home are cooking, cleaning, washing, child care and especially weaving. Most of the women engage themselves in preparing rice bear. At present, many of the Baro women are found to be engaged themselves in services in different departments of Assam. The girls are not so much interested in weaving. Their mothers, grandmothers only hold on this weaving tradition. Their traditional clothes are colourful. They like different bright colours like yellow, green, red, blue, orange, black and so on. Generally the Baro women in the North Guwahati area do not wear Dakhana. They wear general dresses like mekhela sadar. But some older women at home wear long colourful mekhela without sadar. 9.3 Puja Worship
Since the Baros belong to the Hindu religion, they celebrate all the religious rites and rituals of the Assamese society. Bathou is the chief among the Gods and Goddess of the Baros. To worship Bathou they celebrate kherai and Bathou puja in the month of May June for two days. On the first day the people of Katabazar village offer puja at the Siva Than situated at the east of North Guwahati college. They worship Kamakhya, Dirgheswari and Jagannath so that bad elements may vanish from the society. On the first day of Bathau Puja the women in the evening make idols of Shiva-Parvati with straw and thread and place on a boat of banana tree called vel. Puja is performed at night and after puja cultural show is held. On the second day the devotees visit lord Shiva and Parvati. At 7.30-8.30 with a procession of gayan bayan the idols are thrown into the Brahmaputra. It is called Devi Bisarjan. Earlier, Bathou puja was celebrated in a limited area. But at present the puja is observed at the different corners of the area. On the second day, at Ajarguri than situated at the north of the village, Bisahari (Manasa)puja is celebrated for the whole day. In this puja also various communities from different parts of the area participate with great devotion. They offer naibedya to Goddess Manasa. 4 Puja is also observed at the Namghors of the Baro people. The puja observed at the Namghors of Rangmahal is Ai puja. Bapor puja is celebrated at 8-9pm. This is the last of all pujas celebrated in the year. In this puja the aged people with certain rules seize the devil from the front of their houses and leave it at the mid field by offering puja. The main purpose of this puja is to restore the village from grasp of the devil and to cast away ailments from the village. The most significant aspect of this religious rite is that the celebration arouses in the minds of the villagers a feeling of brotherhood. They believe that if the Bathou puja is
not performed, God will be angry and it will bring harm to the entire village. Once, as they believe, such event occurred. On a certain year the villagers did not perform puja. But later it was seen that in that year, the village was attacked by fatal disease and there occurred death of many people in the area. Then the villagers organized meeting and decided to perform puja again. 5 9.4 The Baros living in the village of North Guwahati 9.4.1 Rahdhala The Baro community living in Rahdhala village contributes to the entire sociocultural life of the area. The name Rahdhala has a historical implication. When a pond is dug, water comes out. Earlier, people dug ponds and pour Ras a kind of mercury like liquid. The purpose of pouring this kind of liquid is to make the bottom of the pond clear so that water of the Pond never dry out. In Assam, there were many such ponds and the places where such ponds are located were called Rahdhola. In North Guwahati, there is also a pond called Rahdhala pukhuri. The village is called Rahdhala village. During the Ahom rule a few people were engaged to pour Ras or liquid in the ponds. Instead of Ras they pronounced as Rah and there by the place became Rahdhala. There is another legend regarding the name Rahdhala. During Ahom rule, the king and the commanders selected the place for carrying war as the place was convenient for communication by boat. Moreover there was wider space and high lands to hide the soldiers. The king found it easy to construct ramparts and deep canals to obstruct the enemies. In the place the soldier constructed camps to attack the enemies at Guwahati. According to the historians the Mugal attacked Assam during rainy season. Water in the rainy season flows very forcefully. The two words water flow metaphorically refers to panir dhol. When
Assam was attacked,the Ahom soldiers forcefully entered into the camps like panir dhol. They stopped in the camps. The word stopped means roisil. The word roisil was transformed into rah and the word dhol became dhola. Both the words were combined to draw a new word Rahdhola. 9.4.2 Lothia Bagicha It is an ancient village situated at a distance of 3 k.m. from North Guwahati college. The origin of the name Lothia Bagicha is significant. During the British Rule in 1823 in Assam Robert Brush invented tea plant. He planted tea in different places of Assam. He choosed the sloping hill areas for tea plantation. The Britisher planted tea in the Lothia pahar ( Lothia hill) adjascent to Citapahar. Since a vast area was taken for tea plantation, the government transformed the area into revenue village. At present, this area is known as Cilagrant Revenue village. Since Lothia pahar was taken for tea plantation the village is named as Lothia Bagicha. The main religion of the people is Bathou religion. Their main occupation is service. Some people are related to business. 6 9.4.3 No 1 Bamunigaon It is situated at the west of Amingaon Saraighat bridge and adjascent to Cila pahar. Since the village is situated at the high surface land of Cila pahar, it is called Bamunigaon. In Assamese language Bam means high. There are almost 25 or 30 families living here. All the people are the follower of Bathou religion. 9.4.4 Sila Mahekhati Sila Mahekhati is a village inhabited by 30 nos of families of Baro people. The name of the village comes from sil (rock). The hill adjescent to the village is composed of rocks. The word Mahekhati is a compound word refering to mahe (mosquito) and
khati (bite). The word sila (rock)combining with these two words forms a new word Sila Mahekhati. The people living here follow Bathou religion. 9.4.5 Koroibari About 20 nos of families of Baro people live in the village Koroibari. The name of the village comes from the two words corang or carai of Baro language. The term carai refers to noiseless. Once the village was very peaceful and solemn since it is situated at the hill side. So the village was named as caroibari. In course of time it became Koroibari. The people of the village also worship Bathou. 9. 4.6 Katamur Many legendary references are to be heard regarding the name of the village Katamur. Many people say that in the battle of Saraighat the Ahom Soldiers behaded the Mugal soldiers and kept here. At the time of Narakasur, to communicate with the western countries a road was constructed from North guwahati (Gauripur) to Gaur (North west Bengal). The road was known as Kharagaria Ali and certain portion of it is known as Narakasur ali (road). The ruins of this road is still visible. During the construction of this road, the extended portion of a hill was cut. So the name of the village became Katamur. Almost 35 nos of families live here. They also follow Bathou religion. 7 9.4.7 Chandragaon The name of the village Chandra comes from the word Chan denoting barren. Once the plots of lands of the village remained barren. To the east of the village Citachal hill and Dirgheswari temple is situated. To the west Natuanaca hill and Puspabhadra beel, to the north Mandakata army camp and to the South, Bargarh, the villages Phulung
and Rangmahal are situated. There are almost 80 to 90 nos of families live here. The people are the worshiper of Bathou religion. 9.4.8 Phulung gaon The village Phulung is situated at the middle surrounded by three historical ramparts. Phulung village under Rudreswar gaon panchayat is an adjascent village of North Guwahati town. To the east, old rampart Phulung garh or Bargarh ; to the north, Hemlai garh and to the west, Tangani garh are situated. Moreover to the north west corner old Sitachal hill and to the east Dirgheswari hill and Dirgheswari temple are situated. To the west there is Tangani hill and the north is marked by Chandra village and Natuanaca hill and to the South, Rangmahal, Nazirakhat, Athgaon villages are situated. All the people of the village are of Baro community. Almost 70 nos of families live here. Their main occupation is cultivation. 9.4.9 Gelapukhuri village The village Gelapukhuri is situated at a distance of 3 k.m. from North Guwahati college. There was a large tank covering 3 puras of land, very deep in this place. The tank was full of different kinds of fishes. There is a legend of the name Gelapukhuri. Once, for certain reasons all the fishes of the tank died and were rotten. The rotten fishes smelt abominably and it was impossible for people to live there. They abandoned the place and shifted to a place keeping distance from the tank. They named the tank as Gelapukhuri, gela means rotten and pukhuri means tank. So Gelapukhuri refers to rotten tank. Since people shifted from the place of gelapukhuri, so the name of the village became Gelapukhuri. At present 50-60 nos of families live here. Their main god of
worship is Bathou (Lord Shiva). In the month of Ahar all the villagers celebrate bathou puja. 8 9.5 Bathou of the Baros The baro people living in Assam and the North Eastern part of India are originally from China. They belong to the Chino-Tibetan Mongoloid group. Their religious beliefs are similar to those of mongoloid people. 9 According to a Baro legend Bathou along with his wife, Sibury created the universe and the first man Monsinsin. As Monsinsin remained a lifelong celibate, Bathou and Sibury created Dirimba, the male and Sirind Dowba, the female in order to propogate the human population. It is said that Bathou created the siju plant (Euphorbia), the first tree that stands as an emblam of their Supreme God. 10 The baro people plant a siju plant in the north eastern corner of their courtyard. Every evening they light an earthen lamp (chaki) facing the plant. In the North Guwahati area this kind of religious attitude of the baro people is obviously found. Notes and References 1. Gait, Edward : A History of Assam, Assam, 1992, pp. 1-2 2. Ibid., pp. 123, 177 3. Bhattacharjee, Kishore : Bulletin of the Department of Folklore Research, Gauhati University, 1996, p. 127 4. Informant : Kamal Baro, 62 yrs, Retd. Serviceman, Rangmahal 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid. 7. Informant : Paresh Bora, 75 yrs, Retd. Prof, College Nagar, North Guwahati 8. Informant : Bipul Baishya, 54 yrs, Employee, Guwahati High Court. 9. Chittattukalam, Kuriala : Culture and Religions of Assam, New Delhi, 2002, p. 142 10. Ibid., p. 142