My Tribe....
A Brief Introduction of Rabha Tribe..............
Rabha
tribal community is one of the Scheduled tribes of the Indian
Territory. Apart from Assam, these Rabha tribes also are found in other
state of India like West Bengal,Meghalaya, etc. In the state of Assam itself, the
concentration of these Rabha tribes are namely Goalpara, Kamrup,Udalguri,Baska,Sirang,Bongaigaon and Darrang
districts. In West Bengal the tribal group is scattered in and around
Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri district and in Meghalaya the tribe is found in Assam-Meghalaya border villages. The whole locale of the Eastern and
Western Dooars, can be considered to be the hub of the Rabha tribal
community. A major part of the Rabha tribes are centred around in
several parts of Dooars region. However, there are some who more often
proclaim themselves as Kocha tribes.
Most people of the Rabha tribal community speak the beautiful language
of the same name. Apart from these the people of the community residing
in and around West Bengal, Meghalaya and Assam are well conversant in Assamese and
Bengali languages. Another interesting aspect is that since these Rabha
tribes have a belonging to the famous Indo-Mongoloid tribal group, these
Rabha tribes also bear similarities with all the other members of Bodo
tribes like Kachari, Mech , Hajong Garo, Tiwa, Koch, and also some others.
As far as the occupations are concerned, over the years, this Rabha
tribal community has taken up diverse occupations. The Rabha people earn
their livelihood by agriculture, and weaving. Basically the Rabha women
are engaged in weaving since the early ages. In the ancient period
when these Rabha tribes used to dwell in the forests, maximum of them
practice shifting cultivation. Instances are cited where these Rabha
tribes have been seen to plough in the land they continued to cultivate
the land with Gogo or bill-hook. However in the later period, these
Rabha tribes chose `settled` farming and began doing farming with
plough.
Today their economy is also agrarian based. However, in the recent times
there are quite a few of Rabha tribal community who take gathering and
also weaving as their main occupations. Apart from these, the Rabha
people are also engaged in government jobs and other occupations.
Fairs and festivals are part and parcel of the exuberant culture of the
Rabha tribal community. These Rabha tribes celebrate all the main
festivals of the Indian Territory. These include Janmashtami, Durga
Puja, Diwali, the birth and death
anniversaries of the Vaishnavite saints Shrimanta Sankardev and Shri
Madhabdev. Apart from these, the Rabha people celebrate the Farkhanthi
Festival and the Baikhu Festival. The people of Rabha community
celebrate the festive occasions with dance, music and songs with great
merriment. These people have a distinct form of dance namely `Nakchung
Reni` which they perform when they celebrate the fishing.
Baikho Dance of Rabha Tribe, Assam Kongali or Kati Bihu (October),
Bihu-Bhogali or Magh Bihu (January), Rongali or Bohag Bihu (April).
Apart from these, there are some of the local festivals, which these
Rabha tribes fete, in great festivity. During the spring season, all the
Rabha tribal community fetes the Baikho festival in commemoration of
the worship of the goddess of wealth, locally known as Baikho. What is
to be noted that the famous personality Bishnuprasad Rabha also belongs
to the Rabha tribal community.
The main deity of the Rabha people is the Rishi aka Mahakal. Moreover,
some other deities who are worshipped by the people of Rabha group are
Basek, Rungtuk who are the household deities. Though the Rabha people
do not follow any particular Hindu method of worship, the practice of
sacrificing in front of the God and Goddesses are prevalent among them
as they consider the blood of the sacrifice as an important part to
propitiate the God. Now a days Rabha people are the followers of Christianity
and Hinduism.
Like each tribal group, Rabha tribal community has a distinctness that
makes them separate from others. Their way of leading life, their
costumes, their festivals, their religions may have some similarities
with some other tribal groups but their own heritage is amalgamated in
such a way that their distinctness appears more than anything in the
world of human beings.
Opinions are numerous about the relation of these Rabha tribes with
other tribes of Indian subcontinent. As per scholars, all the
socio-religious elements and all the aspects of the day to day living
the Rabha tribes have `similarities` with that of the `Pani-Koch`. Again
it has also been claimed that the Rabha and the Hajong tribal
communities are the sub groups of Kachari race and also has got
connection with Garo tribe. In the nineteenth century also in the year 1909,
A. Playfair also has cited some lingual and ethnical similarities
between the Rabha tribes and the Garo tribes. It needs no mentioning
that maximum of these Rabha tribes speak in the language of the same
name.
The Rabha tribe has excelled in the cultural heritage, as has been
displayed in its various aspects. Apart from practicing animistic
rituals, the Rabha people follow a distinct belief which is an
amalgamation of the Hindu and animistic rituals and customs. Differences
are found among the ritual practices of the village and forest Rabha
groups. These include festivals, clothes etc.
