Rabha people: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group in northeast India}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{original research|date=April 2021}}
{{original research|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Rabha
| group            = Rabha
| image            = Rabha Tribal lady.jpg
| image            = Rabha Tribal lady.jpg
| population      = c. 3,57,000
| caption          =
| regions          = {{flag|India}}
| population      = c. 359,000
| total_year      = 2011
| regions          = Population in [[India]] and [[Bhutan]]
| region1          = [[Assam]]
| region1          = [[Assam]]
| pop1            = 2,96,189
| pop1            = 296,189
| region2          = Meghalaya
| ref1            = <ref name="assampop">{{Cite web |title=Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/12521/download/15634/ST-18-00-014A-DDW-2011.XLS |website=[[2011 census of India|2011 Census of India]] |publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]]}}</ref>
| region2          = [[Meghalaya]]
| pop2            = 32,662
| pop2            = 32,662
| region3          = West Bengal
| ref2            = <ref name="meghapop">{{Cite web |title=Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/12520/download/15633/ST-17-00-014A-DDW-2011.XLS |website=[[2011 census of India|2011 Census of India]] |publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]]}}</ref>
| region3          = [[West Bengal]]
| pop3            = 27,820
| pop3            = 27,820
| languages        = [[Assamese language|Assamese]]{{*}}[[Rabha language|Rabha]] (Native){{*}}[[Bengali language|Bengali]]
| ref3            = <ref name="bengalpop">{{Cite web |title=Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/nada/index.php/catalog/12522/download/15635/ST-19-00-014A-DDW-2011.XLS |website=[[2011 census of India|2011 Census of India]] |publisher=[[Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India]]}}</ref>
| religions        =  
| region4          = [[Bhutan]]
| related          = [[Bodo-Kachari people|Boro-Kachari peoples]]  
| pop4            = 1,600
| ref4            = <ref>{{Cite web |last=Project |first=Joshua |title=Rabha in Bhutan |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/17922/BT |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Joshua Project |language=en}}</ref>
| languages        = [[Assamese language|Assamese]], [[Rabha language|Rabha]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Project |first=Joshua |title=Rabha in India |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/17922/IN |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=joshuaproject.net |language=en}}</ref>
| religions        = [[File:Om.svg|15px]] [[Hinduism]] (40%)<br/>[[Animism]] (30%)<br/>[[File:Christian cross.svg|12px]] [[Christianity]] (15.34%)<br/>[[File:Star and Crescent.svg|12px]] [[Islam]] (0.43%){{citation needed|date=February 2025}}
| related          = [[Bodo-Kachari]]
| footnotes        =  
| footnotes        =  
| website          =  
| website          =  
Line 19: Line 29:
| native_name_lang =  
| native_name_lang =  
}}
}}
The '''Rabha''' are a Tibeto-Burman community indigenous to the Indian states of [[Assam]], [[Meghalaya]] and [[West Bengal]].<ref>"Rabha, Bodo and Garo, all of which belong to a close-knit group of Tibeto-Burman languages."{{harvcol|Joseph|2006|p=1}}</ref> They primarily inhabit the plains of [[Lower Assam]] and the [[Dooars]], while some are found in the [[Garo Hills]]. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha.<ref>"There stills exist another group of Rabhas called the Kocha or Koch"{{harvcol|Joseph|2006|p=2}}</ref>
The '''Rabha people''' are a [[Tibeto-Burmese]] [[ethnic group]] who live mostly in the [[Northeast India]]n state of [[Assam]], with a lesser population in the adjacent state of [[West Bengal]].<ref>"Rabha, Bodo and Garo, all of which belong to a close-knit group of Tibeto-Burman languages."{{harvcol|Joseph|2006|p=1}}</ref> They primarily inhabit the plains of [[Lower Assam]] and the [[Dooars]], while some are found in the [[Garo Hills]]. Outside of India, they have a presence in [[Bhutan]], with communities in nine districts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Project |first=Joshua |title=Rabha in Bhutan |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/17922/BT |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=joshuaproject.net |language=en}}</ref> Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha.<ref>"There stills exist another group of Rabhas called the Kocha or Koch"{{harvcol|Joseph|2006|p=2}}</ref>


The Rabha community have a rich, multi-faceted and distinct culture of their own. The agricultural practices, food habit and belief systems of the Rabhas reflect a conglomeration of features from both the Aryan and Mongoloid culture. The Rabha society is matrilineal. The village economy is based on agriculture and both men and women work in the fields. The women love to wear colorful clothes that they weave themselves and they wear a lot of beads and silver ornaments. The Rabhas are non-vegetarians and rice is their staple food.
== Groups ==
The Rabha community is divided into several subgroups or clans, each with distinct dialects, traditions, and cultural practices. According to linguistic and ethnographic studies, there are eleven dialectal groups of Rabhas: Rongdani, Maituri, Pati, Dahori, Dotla, Halua, Betolia, Hanna, Sunga, Modahi, and Kocha.<ref>{{cite book |last=Joseph |first=U. V. |title=Rabha Grammar |year=2006b |publisher=CIIL |location=Mysore |page=2}}</ref>


The traditional economy of the Rabhas in general, is based on agriculture, forest based activities and weaving. In the past, the Rabhas used to practice shifting cultivation. They continued to cultivate the land with Gogo or bill-hook. Later they took up the job of settled cultivation and started cultivation with plough. Besides cultivation, hunting was also an old practice of Rabha people. Weaving was a traditional occupation of the Rabha women.
Among these, the '''Rongdani''', '''Maituri''', and '''Kocha Rabha''' dialects are still actively spoken, while others have become endangered or have completely died out.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rabha in Bhutan |last=Project |first=Joshua |website=Joshua Project |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/17922/BT |access-date=2025-01-07 |language=en}}</ref>


The Rabhas are mostly found in Lower Assam on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, in the districts of [[Goalpara district|Goalpara]] and [[Kamrup district|Kamrup]]. Some are found in the north bank districts of [[Baksa district|Baksa]], [[Udalguri district|Udalguri]] and [[Kokrajhar district|Kokrajhar]]. In Meghalaya, the Rabhas mainly live in [[West Garo Hills district|West Garo Hills]] and [[East Garo Hills district|East Garo Hills]] districts. In West Bengal, the Rabha inhabit the district of [[Alipurduar district|Alipurduar]].
These groups share close linguistic and cultural similarities with other members of the Bodo-Kachari ethnolinguistic family, including the Garo, Kachari, Mech, and Hajong communities.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kondakov |first=A. |title=Sociolinguistic Survey among the Koch |year=2010 |publisher=Anthropos Institute |page=22}}</ref>
 
The Rabhas belong to the Indo-Mongoloid group of people and are among the nine plains tribes and fourteen hill tribes of Assam.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Tribes of Assam |publisher=Government of Assam |year=2018}}</ref> 
<ref>{{cite web |title=Rabha Baptist Convention |url=https://www.rabhabaptistconvention.org |website=Rabha Baptist Convention |access-date=2025-01-07}}</ref>


[[File:Rabha Tribal Lady.jpg|thumb|Rabha Tribal Lady]]
== Language ==
== Language ==
The [[Rabha language]] is closely related to neighbouring Boro and Garo, as well as many other Sino-Tibetan languages of Assam. They have 11 dialects: 1) Maithori, 2) Rongdani,3) Pati, 4) Dahori, 5) Dotla, 6) Halua, 7) Betolia, 8) Hanna, 9) Sunga, 10) Modahi, 11) Kocha Rabhas. These all are Rabhas but some of them have loss their mother tongues. Some of them have totally died out. But the Rongdani, Maithori and Kochas dialects are still used by Koch-Rabhas.<ref>"There are eight sub-branches of the Rabhas. Among them Maitori, Rangdani and Koch or Kocha are the major sub-divisions of the Rabhas. They have been maintaining language and culture."{{harvcol|Basumatārī|2010|p=8}}</ref> The Rabha language is only spoken by a minority of the Rabhas, most of whom speak [[Assamese language|Assamese]] in Assam and [[Bengali language|Bengali]] in West Bengal.
{{see|Boro-Garo languages}}
 
Linguistically, Rabha has been classified in the following way: Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, JingphoKonyak-Bodo, Konyak-Rabha, Rabha-, 2009). Members of each of the nine groups of Rabha are thought to speak their own dialect. However, except Rongdani, Maituri and Kocha the rest of the Rabha groups have abandoned their mother tongue for Assamese. In their day-to-day conversation they speak a variety of Assamese mixed with some Rabha words and expressions, and it has been called by a few researchers “Rabhamese." (Tibeto-Burman speeches and their studies, n.d., 22). The language of the Kocha-Rabhas is much more similar to that of the Koch rather than Rabha. A sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Koch (Kondakov 2010) establishes the evidence for this. According to U.V. Jose, the dialectic variations between Rongdani and Maituri are minimal. They are mutually intelligible, and the one merges almost imperceptibly into the other around the Goalpara Baida-Rongsai region. The Rongdani-Maituri dialectical differences become gradually more marked as one moves further west (Jose 2000). Rabha in many cases shows points of resemblance with Atong which is a variety traditionally considered a dialect of Garo.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kondakov |first=Alexander |date=2023 |title=A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Rabha Dialects of Meghalaya and Assam |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/54680 |journal=Journal of Language Survey Reports |issue=2013 |pages=7 |via=SIL International}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-09-15 |title=A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Rabha Dialects of Meghalaya and Assam |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/54680 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240724125329/https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/54680 |archive-date=2024-07-24 |access-date=2024-12-31 |work=SIL International |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Rabha language]]
* [[Rabha language]]
* [[Rabha Baptist Church Union]]
* [[Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council]]
* [[Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council]]
* [[Bishnuprasad Rabha]]
* [[Rabha Hasong Joutha Mancha]]
* [[Bishnu Prasad Rabha|Bishnuprasad Rabha]]
* [[Assamese language]]
* [[Assamese language]]
* [[Himalayan Languages Project]]
* [[Himalayan Languages Project]]
* [[Birubala Rabha]]
* [[Abhijit Rabha]]


==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
==References==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist}}
'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{Citation
* {{Citation
|surname1 = Mitra
|surname1 = Mitra
Line 50: Line 67:
|title = West Bengal: District Handbooks: Jalpaiguri
|title = West Bengal: District Handbooks: Jalpaiguri
|publisher = Govt. of West Bengal
|publisher = Govt. of West Bengal
|ISBN = <!--Not available-->
|isbn = <!--Not available-->
}}
}}
*{{Cite book|last=Basumatārī|first=Phukana Candra|title=The Rabha Tribe of North-East India, Bengal and Bangladesh|year=2010|publisher= Mittal Publications}}
*{{Cite book|last=Basumatārī|first=Phukana Candra|title=The Rabha Tribe of North-East India, Bengal and Bangladesh|year=2010|publisher= Mittal Publications}}
Line 60: Line 77:
* Raha, M.K. (1974) "The Rabhas of Western Duars: Structural Analysis of a Changing Matrilineal Society", Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 10 (1 & 2).
* Raha, M.K. (1974) "The Rabhas of Western Duars: Structural Analysis of a Changing Matrilineal Society", Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 10 (1 & 2).
* Ghosh, Saumitra (1990) "Vanbasi Rabhara" (in Bengali) Desh, Vol 57 (12), January 20.
* Ghosh, Saumitra (1990) "Vanbasi Rabhara" (in Bengali) Desh, Vol 57 (12), January 20.
* {{cite thesis |title=Constructing cultural identity of the kocha rabhas: a study on kokrajhar district of btad, assam |last=Lokobok |first=Romeo Rwtin |publisher=Gauhati University |date=2022 |hdl=10603/376628 |type=Doctor of Philosophy |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/376628}}
* Roy Choudhury, B. (1970) "Social Mobility Movement among the Rabhas of North Bengal", Man in India, Vol 50 (1).
* Roy Choudhury, B. (1970) "Social Mobility Movement among the Rabhas of North Bengal", Man in India, Vol 50 (1).
* Gupta, Pabitra Kumar (1977) "Uttarbanger Rahba Samaj O Dharmasanskar Aandolon", (in Bengali) in Madhuparni: Special North Bengal Issue, 1977.
* Gupta, Pabitra Kumar (1977) "Uttarbanger Rahba Samaj O Dharmasanskar Aandolon", (in Bengali) in Madhuparni: Special North Bengal Issue, 1977.

Latest revision as of 17:35, 21 January 2026

Rabha
Total population
c. 359,000 (2011)
Regions with significant populations
Population in India and Bhutan
Assam296,189[1]
Meghalaya32,662[2]
West Bengal27,820[3]
Bhutan1,600[4]
Languages
Assamese, Rabha[5]
Religion
Hinduism (40%)
Animism (30%)
Christianity (15.34%)
Islam (0.43%)[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
Bodo-Kachari

The Rabha people are a Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group who live mostly in the Northeast Indian state of Assam, with a lesser population in the adjacent state of West Bengal.[6] They primarily inhabit the plains of Lower Assam and the Dooars, while some are found in the Garo Hills. Outside of India, they have a presence in Bhutan, with communities in nine districts.[7] Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha.[8]

Groups[edit | edit source]

The Rabha community is divided into several subgroups or clans, each with distinct dialects, traditions, and cultural practices. According to linguistic and ethnographic studies, there are eleven dialectal groups of Rabhas: Rongdani, Maituri, Pati, Dahori, Dotla, Halua, Betolia, Hanna, Sunga, Modahi, and Kocha.[9]

Among these, the Rongdani, Maituri, and Kocha Rabha dialects are still actively spoken, while others have become endangered or have completely died out.[10]

These groups share close linguistic and cultural similarities with other members of the Bodo-Kachari ethnolinguistic family, including the Garo, Kachari, Mech, and Hajong communities.[11]

The Rabhas belong to the Indo-Mongoloid group of people and are among the nine plains tribes and fourteen hill tribes of Assam.[12] [13]

Language[edit | edit source]

Further information: Boro-Garo languages

Linguistically, Rabha has been classified in the following way: Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, JingphoKonyak-Bodo, Konyak-Rabha, Rabha-, 2009). Members of each of the nine groups of Rabha are thought to speak their own dialect. However, except Rongdani, Maituri and Kocha the rest of the Rabha groups have abandoned their mother tongue for Assamese. In their day-to-day conversation they speak a variety of Assamese mixed with some Rabha words and expressions, and it has been called by a few researchers “Rabhamese." (Tibeto-Burman speeches and their studies, n.d., 22). The language of the Kocha-Rabhas is much more similar to that of the Koch rather than Rabha. A sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Koch (Kondakov 2010) establishes the evidence for this. According to U.V. Jose, the dialectic variations between Rongdani and Maituri are minimal. They are mutually intelligible, and the one merges almost imperceptibly into the other around the Goalpara Baida-Rongsai region. The Rongdani-Maituri dialectical differences become gradually more marked as one moves further west (Jose 2000). Rabha in many cases shows points of resemblance with Atong which is a variety traditionally considered a dialect of Garo.[14][15]

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  2. ↑ "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  3. ↑ "Table ST-14 A: Scheduled tribe population by religious community". 2011 Census of India. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
  4. ↑ Project, Joshua. "Rabha in Bhutan". Joshua Project. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  5. ↑ Project, Joshua. "Rabha in India". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  6. ↑ "Rabha, Bodo and Garo, all of which belong to a close-knit group of Tibeto-Burman languages."(Joseph 2006:1)
  7. ↑ Project, Joshua. "Rabha in Bhutan". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  8. ↑ "There stills exist another group of Rabhas called the Kocha or Koch"(Joseph 2006:2)
  9. ↑ Joseph, U. V. (2006b). Rabha Grammar. Mysore: CIIL. p. 2.
  10. ↑ Project, Joshua. "Rabha in Bhutan". Joshua Project. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  11. ↑ Kondakov, A. (2010). Sociolinguistic Survey among the Koch. Anthropos Institute. p. 22.
  12. ↑ The Tribes of Assam. Government of Assam. 2018.
  13. ↑ "Rabha Baptist Convention". Rabha Baptist Convention. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
  14. ↑ Kondakov, Alexander (2023). "A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Rabha Dialects of Meghalaya and Assam". Journal of Language Survey Reports (2013): 7 – via SIL International.
  15. ↑ "A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Rabha Dialects of Meghalaya and Assam". SIL International. 2022-09-15. Archived from the original on 2024-07-24. Retrieved 2024-12-31.

References[edit | edit source]

  • Mitra, A. (1953), West Bengal: District Handbooks: Jalpaiguri, Govt. of West Bengal
  • Basumatārī, Phukana Candra (2010). The Rabha Tribe of North-East India, Bengal and Bangladesh. Mittal Publications.
  • Joseph, Umbavu (2006). Languages of the Greater Himalayan Region, Volume 1 Rabha. Brill.

Further reading[edit | edit source]

  • Saha, Rebatimohon (1987) "Jalpaiguri Jelar Koch-Rabha Samaj" (in Bengali) published in Ananda Gopal Ghosh edited Madhuparni, Special issue on Jalpaiguri District.
  • Raha, M.K. (1974) "The Rabhas of Western Duars: Structural Analysis of a Changing Matrilineal Society", Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 10 (1 & 2).
  • Ghosh, Saumitra (1990) "Vanbasi Rabhara" (in Bengali) Desh, Vol 57 (12), January 20.
  • Lokobok, Romeo Rwtin (2022). Constructing cultural identity of the kocha rabhas: a study on kokrajhar district of btad, assam (Doctor of Philosophy). Gauhati University. hdl:10603/376628.
  • Roy Choudhury, B. (1970) "Social Mobility Movement among the Rabhas of North Bengal", Man in India, Vol 50 (1).
  • Gupta, Pabitra Kumar (1977) "Uttarbanger Rahba Samaj O Dharmasanskar Aandolon", (in Bengali) in Madhuparni: Special North Bengal Issue, 1977.
  • Sarma, Dr. Nabin Ch (2006) "Oral Songs of Tribal Communities of Assam" a project of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Assam Institute of Research for Tribals and Scheduled Castes
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