Folk Cultures and Tradition of Assam’s Tiwa and Mishing Community

Folk Cultures and Tradition of Assam’s Tiwa and Mishing Community

AGRITA CHHIBBER

Folk culture refers to a culture that is practiced by a group of people in a particular area.

In the current era folk culture has partly vanished and lost the essence that was once in full bloom.

Today what we get served with, is the hybrid form of those outmoded folk cultures. Assam is known to be in possession of various cultural traditions that have deep roots in ancient culture.

Assam is a land of various cultures where there is a fusion of different tribes. Assam is called a land of hybrid culture as various aspects of culture have evolved to a great extent. Assam has a large population of tribals; some of the tribal groups are the Boro-Kacharis, the Deori, the Misings, the Dimassas, the Karbis, the Lalungs, the Rabhas, etc.

People usually reside in hilly areas and plain areas. However, the hilly areas are dominated by more or less by the tribal populace. Non tribal group resides in and around the regions of Barak Hills and Brahmaputra River and they have adapted to changing lifestyle. The main aim of this paper is to study Tiwa and Missing Community in reference to the works of literature by great writers keeping these communities as the base.

Tiwa is one of the tribes which is Mongoloid in origin. In ancient times Tiwa was mentioned as Lalung. They believed in calling them by the name Tiwa itself. ‘Ti’ means water and ‘wa’ means superior. The lalungs originally inhabited to area of Tibet, but their source of migration is untraceable, and they introduced themselves as Tiwas. Tiwa community didn’t worship idols, but they worshiped hills, rivers, and mountains.

They believed in sacrificing animals. They paid regard to the dead family members for the living members. They didn’t see vultures as auspicious but as a bad omen. Lali hillali is an important song sung by males and females in question-answer form.

Tiwas folk songs were related to various aspects like festivals, agriculture, and ballads. Wanswa Festival is a major dance festival of Tiwas, it is organized after every five years of interval from Tuesday to Thursday in the month of June-July.

Deo Langkhui (The Divine Sword) is an Assamese novel written by Rita Chowdhury. This book sheds great light on the customs and traditions of the Tiwa Society. It is based on the historical events of Tiwa Kingdom. It is a detailed account of Assam of those times.

In this work, there is also mention of an interesting Jonbeel Mela a three-day annual indigenous Tiwa community fair where the barter system takes place where they exchange their merchandise with humans.

Mishing Community is another indigenous tribal community of Assam. In old times they were mentioned by the name Miris. Mishing is derived by two words ‘Mi’ means a man and ‘Yasing’ means fair or worthy. They are not bound in any particular religious faith or worshipper of a particular God or Goddess.

They were firm believers of only one belief that there are two kinds of spirits- Benevolent and Manevolent. They were majorly influenced by the Kala Sanhiti sect of Vaishnavite Cult. Kaban is one of the oldest forms of mishing folk songs. It is a lamentation of music.

A traditional Mishing house is stilted, it has a thatched top and built with wooden posts. These villages, large in size consist of 50 to 60 households. Weaving is an exclusive art of Mishing women they get their training before they hit their teens.

Miri Jyori (The Miri Maiden) an Assamese novel written by Rajanikanta Bordoloi. It is set among the Miri in Indias Assam region.

The book unveils some important aspects of Mishing society. The story begins with Jonki and Panei, who confess their love to each other, but later has to face the norms of society. This book gives a glimpse into society and the troubles faced by young lovers. A social novel based on the love story.

The writers have nicely depicted the culture through their writing and are considered to be the greatest source of information about ancient times and to understand clearly how much culture has changed by our development.

Agrita Chhibber is from Jammu

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