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Bodo race is the largest race of the Northeastern India. If we united no one can stop us. 1971 census report of India shows that Bodos are 8th largest tribe of India.1991 census report of India says that there were 1.2 million Bodo speakers in Assam which makes for 5.3 of the total population in the state. They are lying scattered in different provinces especially in the Northestern parts of the country and neighbouring foreign countries.
B.K. Baruah renowed Scholar of Assam also mentioned about the Bodos in his book entitled “A Cultural History of Assam” in the same away that ‘ The Bodos built strong kingdom and with various fortunes and under various tribal names – Mlechcha, Chutiya, Kachari, koch etc.
The Boro (Bodo) is the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Assam state of India. They are a part of the greater Bodo-Kachari family of ethnolinguistic groups.
Bodo kachari, is a generic term applied to a number of ethnic groups predominantly in Assam, speaking Tibeto-Burman language or claiming a common ancestry. Bodo language , one of the language spokes by this group, has recognised as an Eight scheduled Indian language in the year 2004.
It is also one of twenty two languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Since 1975 the language has been written using the Devanagari script. Some scholars have suggested that the language used to have its own now lost script known as Deodhai.
In 1985 , Bodo has been recognized as a associated state official language of Assam.
Today, the Boro language serves as a medium of instruction up to the secondary level and it is an associated official language in the state of Assam. Boro language and literature have been offered as a post-graduate course the University of Guwahati since 1996. It’s studying and teaching work at post graduate level as a language subject is being coducted at four universities of Assam – Bodoland University, Guwahati University, Dibrugarh University and North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) Shillong, Meghalaya.
Moreover, under the aeges of the commission for Scientific and Technical terminology, HRD Ministry, the govt. of India, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha is preparing more than forty thousand Scientific and technical terms in Bodo language. Further, it is promised, the Sahitya Academy would accord “Bhasa Sonman” (Respect for language) to the Bodo language and literature as an initial token of full – fledged recognition to it. Furthermore, the govt. of India, in principle, has recognized the necessity of inclusion of the Bodo language and literature in the Eight Schedule of the Constitutional of India.
The term “Bodo was first used by BH Hodgson in 1847, to denote a group of languages, Grierson took this term to denote a section of the Assam-Burma group of the Tibeto-Burman speakers of the Sino-Tibetan speech family, which included the languages of Mech, Rabha, Lalung, Dimasa, Garo, Triprasa and Sutiya.
The term “Bodo” is used to denote a large number of tribes. In recent times, the tribe that was originally called bodo kachari are now being called Bodo. This contraction , from bodo kachari to bodo is widely accepted now.
According to Hodgson, since the people who were known as Kacharis and Mech to others called themselves Boro, and also the Kachari chief deities, Siju, Mairong, and Agrang, are also Mech deities, the term Boro is the proper designation for the tribes. The exonym Mech originated from the Sanskrit word Mleccha. Boros were repeatedly called as Mleccha or Mech. According to Alamgirnamah, Cooch Behar was inhabited by Koch and Mech. In ancient Sanskrit literatures, Boros were called as Kiratas and Mlecchas. Copperplate land grant inscription related to Ramca and Mahalia Kacharis were found.
They were first classified by S. Endle as the kacharis. Here, Bodo is derived from Bod which means Tibet and kachari is derived from kachar meaning area near the river. They are considered to have reached the Brahmaputra valley via Tibet and settled in the foothills of the eastern Himalayan range which includes the whole of Assam, Tripura, North Bengol and parts of Bangladesh and Nepal. That the bodo kacharis where early colonizers of the river valleys is taken from the fact that most of the river in the Brahmaputra valley today carry Tibeto-Burman names- Dibang, Dihang. Dikhou, Dining etc. – where Di- means water in Dimasa language (“Ti/Twi”- Tripuri language, “DWI” Boro & “Chi” in Garo).
Based on an 1881 census, there were 17 groups within the kachari classification:
Bodo-Mech, Dimasa, Dhimal, Garo, Hajong, koch, lalung, Moran, phulgaria, sutiya, rabha, sonowal, thengal, triprasa (jamatia, bru, reangs, mogs, uchai, noatia, debbarma, kalai, halam, rupini, murasing, rouza, hrangkhawl, kaipeng etc.)
Some of the group, such as Moran and Saraniya consider themselves as lower caste Hindus. Other groups , such as the Garo, Rabha, Lalung and Hajong having been isolated from the parental stock, have the exception of the Garo, which is Still a matrilineal society, the other groups have given up the rules of matrilineal society.
The Mech in western Assam (West Bengal and Nepal) , the Bodo in central Assam, the Dimasa in Dima Hasao district formerly North Cachar Hills, Nagaon, Cachar district and the Sonowal and Thengal in the Eastern part of the Brahmaputra now present the Kachari.
As mentioned above, the Bodos are the original settlers of the Brahmaputra valley and they ruled the North-eastern part of India with their powerful kingdoms since time immemorial. There is no doubt that they do have a glorious past with the kingdoms over Brahmaputra valley, down to North Bengal, Cachar Hills, Syllet and Tripura (Prakash, 2008:262). Due to their settlement in different places, their different kingdoms were identified with different names. For example, Kachari Kingdom, Koch Kingdom, Dimasa Kingdom, Chutiya Kingdom, Moran Kingdom, Borahi Kingdom and so on was some of prominent Kingdoms of the Bodos (Sonowal, 2013:8). But the Bodos lacked cohesion among themselves hence they had not a single unified kingdom under the Bodos. As per the works epic Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas and others have also referred that Assam was a land of
Mlechchas (uncivilized people) like Kiratas, Asuras (inhuman beings), Danavas (giants) and Rakshashas (demons). The ethnographical studies have also proved that Assam was a land of non-Arya people or mongoloid people (Mosahari, 2011). Most of the scholars are also agreed upon that the Mongoloids once practically occupied the whole of the north-eastern region as was mentioned as the Kiratas in ancient Sanskrit literature. The early rulers from the period of fifth to mid eleventh century were from Indo-Mongoloids of various dynasties in the plains of Assam (Basumatary, 2012). This land of Assam was called Pragjyotispura (it was called in
the age of Mahabharata, latter on it was known as Kamrupa as mentioned in „Puranas‟ i.g., „Kalika Purana‟ and „Vishnu Purana‟) and the Kingdom of Pragjyotisha was mentioned in the epics Mahabharata and the Ramayana and which is generally accepted by the scholars with the view that the Western Assam along with some portion of North Bengal were the core parts of this Kingdom (Choudhury, 2007). Grierson in this regard mentioned that the Mech people it ruled Pragjyotishpura for over 4000 years (Prakash, 2008:262).
As mentioned in the great ancient works, the legendary kings like Mahiranga, Narakasura, Bhagadutta, Banasura, Bhaskar Barman etc. are described to have been the Bodos (Mosahari, 2011). Among those, Narakasura was the first king of the ancient Brahmaputra Valley in the real sense though some historians believe Mahiranga Danava as the first king of Pragjyotishpura but he was not a king in real sense (Sonowal, 2013:9). It was Narakasura, who first established a kingdom in real sense after Mahiranga dynasty. This dynasty was forwarded by his son Bhagadatta who was also known as the chief of Kiratas or Mlechas and registered his name in the ancient epics of Bhagabata Purana, Bishnu Purana, Kalika Purana, the Mahabharata and so on (Sonowal, 2013:9). These texts have mentioned that these legendary kings are Kiratas and the Kiratas are the major component of the population of Pragjyotispura. The Mahabharata in its Sabhaparvan, the Kiratas are described as very rich in supplying gold, silver and gems which they obtained from the mountains and also the experts in making cloth of various kinds. Some of them served as the army of the king Bhagadutta. The Ramayana also describes the Kiratas as fearless as a tiger (Choudhury, 2007). Again, the Kalikapurana and the Yoginitantra describe the Kiratas as the original inhabitants of Kamrupa (Kakoti, 1967). However, King Bhagadatta was a very strong and powerful king of Pragjyotishpura as was praised in the epic of Mahabharata. He died in the great Kurukshetra War.
EARLY HISTORY OF KAMRUP (Page no.-14)
Kanaklal Boruah.
This Mongolians belong to the Tiboto Barman family of the Indo-Chinese group and their representatives of the present day are kacharis, koches, Rabhas, kukis andchutias of these, the tribes speaking bodo languages seem to have occupied the plains of Assam for a very long time. These Bodo people were no doubt the kiratas and Mlechhas spoken of the Mohabharata. The Meches of Assam still preserve traces of the name Mlechha, applied to their forefathers by the early. Aryans coming in to Pragjyotisha………
LANGUISTIC SURVEY OF INDIA
( Vol. III, part – II, 1903),
G. A. Grearson.
Mech is corruption of Mlechhas. They ruled Pragjyotishpur for four thousand years and began to decline from the eleventh century. The Bodos of Jalpaiguri and Terai call themselves Mech………!
HISTORY OF ASSAM.
Sir. Edward Gait. ( page no- 247)
The kacharis may perhaps be described as the aborigine or earliest known inhabitants, of the Brahmaputra valley. They are identical with the people called Mech in Goalpara and North-Bengal. These are the names given to them by the outsiders. In the Brahmaputa valley the kacharis call themselves Bodo or Bodofisa (Sons of Bodo or mankind). In the north-kachar hill they call themselves Dimasa or Dimafisa (Sons of the great river).
EARLY HISTORY OF ASSAM
Rai Bahadur Kanak Lal Borua (page no. – 18)
The earliest mention king of kamrupa or Pragjyotisha (Old Assam) , ad it was known in more ancient times, was a non-Aryan named Mairang Danava. The name Mairong was Sanskritized into Mahiranga. It is clearly a Bodo name and the people of this race who then inhabited the country were called kirata and Mlechhas has as they were Mongalians.
Dr. T. C. SHARMA
The culture and civilization of Assam: in Assam and Assamese mind 1980, (page no. – 5)
From the records in the Epics – The Ramayana and the Mahabharata (Dated 1000 BC – 800BC) it is known that the north – eastern frontier kingdom of India, a Mlechha territory ruled by the Bodo kings referred to as Danavas and Asuras by the Aryans og the Ganga valley, was known as Pragjyotisa and later known as Kamrupa with its centr shrine of Mother Goddess Kamakhya on the Nilachal hill overlooking the mighty Brahmaputra (Burlungbutur) within present metropolitan complex of city Gauhati.
Dr. S. K. Chetterjee.
Kirata Janakriti: (page no. – 63)
The Aryans before coming to eastern India, North Bengal and Assam, they used to call modern Assam and Lohit by the name of Mlechha Desh or the country if Mlech or Mech or Bodo people.
The historian H. K. Barpujari says, “The Kacharis who belong
to the great Bodo race were perhaps one of the earliest aboriginal tribes of the Brahmaputra
valley” (Bhuyan, 2007). According to Rev. S. Endle the Boro Kachari race is the original
inhabitants of Assam. There is of course no historical evidence of its early immigration and
settlements (Chaklader, 2004). History says, the Bodos are the aboriginals of Assam. They
once ruled Assam till around 1854 A.D. (Brahma, [et al.], 2001).
BODO= Mech + Dimasa + Koch + Rabha + Barman + Sonowal + Tipera + Garo + Deuri + Tiwa + Thengal + Sarania + Dhimal + Hajong + Riang + Bru + Moran + Sutiya + Borahi (Extinct) etc…..!
Today only some part of Bodo who call themselves as Bodo nationalist.
We are the earliest, largest, oldest community. We are everywhere……… Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal, Bengal, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh etc.
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