Life Cycle and Folk Beliefs of the Bodos A Study with Special Reference to Chirang District of Assam

Name of Author : Jwngdaw Basumatary

Abstract:  Assam is one of the states of Northeast India that has been inhabited by many indigenous tribes since ancient times. The Bodo is one of the ethnic groups and early settlers of Assam. The word Bodo or Boro means both the language and the community, and it is an associate official language of Assam. Racially, the Bodos belong to Mongoloid stock of the Indo-Mongoloids and linguistically to the Tibeto Burman branch of the Sino Tibetan language family. They are called different names in different places by neighboring non-Bodo people like- Kachari or Boro Kachari or Boro or Bodo in Assam, Mech or Meche in West Bengal, and Meche in Nepal. But it is sure that whatever name their neighbors may call them and wherever they may live, they are the same people, and everywhere they speak their Bodo language with few local variations. The Bodo speech population is now spread across Assam, North Bengal, and in some parts of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar, and some of the neighboring areas of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Keywords : Life Cycle, Folk Beliefs, Bodos, Chirang, Assam

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