Koch Rajbongshi people

Koch–Rajbongshi community (also known as Kochrajbongshi and Koch Bihari) is an indigenous community of Koch Bihar origin found in parts of present-day Nepal; the Indian states of Assam, West Bengal, and Meghalaya; and Kishanganj in the state of Bihar and certain parts of Bhutan.[1]

It is commonly believed that the Koch (Rajbansi) population forms a major detribalised group. According to Gait (1905) “In Assam proper, it (the word Koch) has become the name of a Hindu caste, into which are received the converts to Hinduism from the ranks of the Kachari, Lalung, Mikir and other tribes”. However, it is not known from which time the process of conversion started. It is viewed that major part of conversion took place following the preaching of Vaishnavite cult by Srimanta Sankardeva, a socio-cultural reformer and a religious preacher of Assam during the 15th century A.D.

Controversy of the term

The term Koch-Rajbongshi has sparked many controversies recently. Koches who identify themselves as Kocha (in Assam & West Bengal) and Kocho (in Meghalaya) have never used the term Rajbongshi to identify their tribe but by their sub-tribes such as Wanang, Harigaya, Tintikiya, Margan. They also relate themselves to other members of their tribe through clans, such as a “kama” clan in a harigaya sub-tribe is related to a “kama” clan in a titikiya sub-tribe. The children always follows the mother's clan, and if a non-koch is married and included into the family, s/he is given the father’s clan's name. None of this features are practised by the Rajbongshi communities. The language spoken by the Koches of Assam and Meghalaya are Tibeto-Burman and have similarities with the Garo, Boro and Maitri sub-tribes of the Rabha whereas the language spoken by the Rajbongshis is of Aryan origin. This has led to the controversy of whether Koches and Rajbongshis’ as being the same tribe.[2]

Language

Some speak the Koch language, which is a Sino-Tibetan language closely related to the Bodo language spoken by the Bodo people.

Some speak the Rajbangshi language, which is an Indic language spoken by five million in India, and more than 130,000 by Nepali Rajbanshi and also Tajpuria. Many are bilingual in either Bengali or Assamese.

Culture

Koch–Rajbongshi Traditional Costume

Koch–Rajbongshi wear their own traditional dress whereby they wear it in their traditional events, community events and also in general day-to-day life. Women and Men of Koch Rajbongshi have sets of traditional dress and jewellery. Patani or fota being wore by the women of this community and men wear dhoti and a yellow colour piece of cloth surrounded in the neck for men, They wear this yellow colour cloth in their neck as a mark of respect for nature, elderly people also have a tradition to wear a turban or a lengthy cloth wrapped in their head.

Women wear patani from the chest till below the knee but it does not touch the ankle, the cloth stays around 6 cm above the ground, the reason for wearing Patani not till the ground level or till the ankle because they believe that water is a sacred as it is a part of the nature so while crossing lake or river the cloth should not touch the water, it is a mark of respect to the nature and they believe that if cloth touch the water the purification of the water goes away and thus how they can not use it in their traditional ritual practice of worshiping nature.

They wear a kind of turban, in their head it is a long length cloth wrapped in the head of the elderly men or significant person in the community.

Koch Rajbongshi women get up early in the morning and clean the house with a broom made up of bamboo and coconut tree . Keeping a parrot as a pet is a tradition of Koch Rajbonshi. Whenever Koch Rajbongshi people go for hunting they take the permission from the elder and from the nature to allow them to go for hunting, it is a tradition of Koch Rajbongshi not to kill any animal for pleasure but only for consumption purpose. Koch Rajbongshi people do not eat all kinds of animal. Some of them they consider as bad for their community if they kill (e.g. crow) They don't kill DOVE or even they don't keep as pet in the house but if a dove comes and makes a nest, it is considered as good luck for the community and for the family. Seeing a peacock is considered as good luck during hunting, Koch Rajbongshi people do not kill or eat peacock, but they do catch peacock for feathers for medicinal use but they release the peacock later on after getting the one or two feather. Koch Rajbongshi people make fans out of coconut tree leaves, TAL plant leaves, and they also make fans out of bamboo.

Traditional medicinal practices by Koch Rajbongshi Tribe

Koch Rajbongshi Tribe use leaves of Mari Gold for different purpose of healing and bodily injury. Every house will have Marigold plant which is considered as a medicinal Plant for Cough and Cold Koch Rajbongshi Tribe use Tulsi Leaves, Ginger, Baska Pata (Rajbongshi word), Black Pepper to cure cough and Cold, For Dengu fever Koch Rajbonsghi People takes small Chicken with Ginger, Black Pepper, Garlic and Turmeric, onion, they make a paste of all these herbs in a Stone and Put it in a Bamboo with Banana Leaves and put it in fire. They do body message for their children and old people with spring water, morning dew from the plant leave and warm oil which is mixed with ginger.

Empirical evidence is that this community have special treatment for rematik arthritis, which modern medicine yet have not discovered.

Traditional food

The main traditional food of Rajbongshi's are Rice and Chura(Rajbanshi word).Usually they cook in a Bamboo along with Banana Leaves by putting it in fire Koch Rajbongshi people Burn Brinjal and potato in fire directly and roast it and make a paste with hand and eat. Koch Rajbgonshi people burn fish and eat. They never wash the food item that is being burned for eating purpose, because they believe that Mother Nature will get offended if they wash and eat. They don't use any utensils for eating, rather they use Banana plants Body part as a Plate And Banana Leaves as a wrapper to keep the food warm. They use Bamboo Plant as a Vessel for Cooking ( e.g. Bash Pitha) They Wrap a special kind of Rice (borni Chawel) in a Banana Leaf and tie with banana plant thread (which they make out of banana Plant leaves) and Put it in a mud vessel where water is poured and fire is given from down side for boiling ( e.g. Topla Bhat) they use bamboo plant as a Drinking Glass for drinking water. They used matured bottle Guard shell as an vessel to keep dry food. Koch Rajbongshi People use dry food a lot, they dry in the sun, cabbage, cauliflower, onion to use in the off season. Koch Rajbonsghi people dry meat and keep it and use it whenever there is no meat in the family to eat. They also put Raw Fish in a Bamboo and ferment it and use it when ever there is no fish. Koch Rajbongshi people use a special wooden block (Urun and Gain) to make the paddy into rice. Koch Rajbongshi people use a special stone to make paste for their herbal medicine. Every food Koch Rajbongshi people take have a significance for medicinal use. Koch Rajbongshi people thank nature for providing food before they eat, they sprinkle water around the Banana Plate before and after eating. Koch Rajbongshi people either eat in a community or along with Family but nobody gets up from the eating place until and unless everybody finishes eating.

Koch Rajbonshi people use shell of Coconut, dry matured shell of bottle guard as a Ladle.

Tradition

The Rajbongshi have their own tradition and culture, celebrate the Rajbongshi new year with their traditional culture, and have their own culinary tradition. Rajbongshi respect elders and follow a rich cultural life, preferring to eat traditional food in their homes and welcoming guests with betel nut and betel leaves.

Dialects

Primary dialects include Western Rajbanshi, Central Rajbanshi, Eastern Rajbanshi and the dialect of the Rajbanshi of the hills, also known as Kamta or Rajbanshi.

Daily hygiene

Koch Rajbonshi people have had been using the olive branch of Mango trees and olive branch of bamboo tree for oral Hygiene. In the modern era in civilised society, people use a tooth brush but still it been observed from years together the Koch Rajbonshi people of North East India and West Bengal still had been following the same rich cultural traditional Practice of Herbal method. For daily Tongue cleaning they use a thin layer of Bamboo piece, which can easily be bent. It is also seen that Tribal People across the globe follow similar tradition for oral hygienic practices in their day to day. Life same as Koch Rajbonshi ethnic tribe of India. Koch Rajbonshi take baths in a community in nearby lake and they use Ritah for cleaning their Hair and for cleaning their costumes, they use stone and sand to rub their body, they use riverside clay on their body as a paste and dry it in the sun then they wash it. Ladies also use to rub turmeric pieces in their skin specially before marriage and before giving birth to a child. It has also been observed that Koch Rajbonshi boys do push ups in small lake during the time of taking bath as an exercise in the water (reason is not yet discovered, a special research can be conducted for this purpose).

Religion and beliefs

Most Rajbongshis are Hindus, though some follow an animist belief-system called Khavas Tharu.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ldw2lX7u-HsC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=Koche+people+Bhutan&source=bl&ots=8oE1F_mXI6&sig=6JwPo-F_TewPtysjN5FdvDIAClQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEpeeulOLKAhVEjZQKHWbeDxwQ6AEIKzAD#v=onepage&q&f=false
  2. ↑ Choudhury, A. (2013). "Koch and Rajbongshi: Confusion or fusion". Centre for Koch Rajbanshi Studies and Development. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  3. ↑ "Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia," James B. Minahan, pp. 342, ABC-CLIO, 2012, ISBN 9781598846607, ... The majority of Rajbongshis are Hindu, though a sizeable minority adheres to an indigenous religion known as Khavas Tharu ...
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