Garo, The once a nomadic tribe of the Bodo
group of Mongoloids now living in different areas of Bangladesh
and in the
adjacent states of India. Their faces are round, hair and eyes black,
foreheads extended to eye area, eyebrows deep, eyes small, noses flat and
jaws high. Beards rarely grow on their cheeks and they almost have no hair
on their body. Garos are short but usually have stout bodies with
wide chests and bulky arms, legs and muscles. Their skin is yellowish and
smooth. Garos are said to have an ancestral relationship with China. There
are some similarities between the Chinese and Garos in language as well as
folk culture.
Historical Background:
According to some anthropologists, Garos descended from
the northeast bank of Koknar Lake of the northwestern Chinese province of
Chinghai about 3-5 thousand years ago and were first settled in Tura
province of Tibet and in Nakalbari area of Bhutan. But being forced to quit
these areas, they moved to different places of Cooch Bihar and Assam and to
Rangamati area of
rangpur in Bengal. Goal
Para, the abode of the Garos in Rangpur, had communication facilities that
connected it with Assam during British rule. Due to internal conflicts, a
group of Garos had to leave the place and started settling in the
inaccessible forest areas of the Garo hills, and the tribe permanently got
the name Garo. The Garo hills cover an area of 3,000 square miles. In the
past, the territory was a part of Bengal but British rulers had included it
in Assam.
Annoyed with the difficulties of living in the hills,
many Garos have abandoned their houses there and started to live in forest
zones in downhill areas. These Garos are known as Lamdani. Garos
continuing to live in the hills call themselves the Achchik and to
the Acchiks, Lamdanis are the Mindaya, a name derived from the
Chinese word mandai, which means man. The Achchiks do not like
Lamdanis. Garos live mainly in areas under old
mymensingh district and in
its bordering areas of the Indian State of Meghalaya. Gradually, they have
spread to
nalitabbari,
kalmakanda,
durgapur,
sreebardi,
barhatta,
dhobaura,
haluaghat,
purbadhala,
phulpur,
fulbaria,
bhaluka,
madhupur and other places
of Mymensingh,
netrokona,
sherpur and
tangail districts. Many
Garos left Bhaluka after the erosion of the hills and the extinction of
forests. Some Garos live in
sunamganj of
sylhet,
sreepur and Kawraid of
gazipur and
raumari of
kurigram. Many Goros, once
living in the Bangladesh territory, migrated to the Indian State of
Meghalaya. A significant number did so during the
war of liberation.
According to the estimates of the Birisiri Cultural
Academy, the number of Garos in Bangladesh was more than 100,000 in the
1990s. Of them, about 40,000 lived in the Mymensingh region. Garos do not
practice family planning and the reproduction rate among them is higher than
the national average. Thanks to the efforts of Christian missionaries, the
rate of literacy among the Garos is also higher than the national average.
But only a very small number of them acquire higher education. Some educated
Garo women work as expert nurses in different hospitals at home and abroad.
Some young men and women work in junior positions in Christian NGOs. Some of
them teach in educational institutions in the Garo region. The social
system, tastes, behaviour and dress of Garos are now undergoing changes as a
result of their constant interaction with the people of the plains. However,
the women of this matriarchal tribe are not in favour of accepting these
changes.
Socio Economic Aspects:
Livelihood: Garos historically did not own land. Whatever land they
hold in possession, they do so without any ownership documents. They also do
not pay rents for land. In the beginning of this century, the density of
Garo population in the areas bordering with India was 44 persons per square
mile. The pressure on land in the areas around Garo habitats has increased
manifold with increase in population, especially because the jhum
cultivation, which they practice, requires large land areas. A sample survey
of 1979 concluded that in Bangladesh, 20% of Garos do not possess any land,
30% have only homestead land, 30% work as hired laborers and 20% cultivate
mortgaged land.
Social System:
Lifestyle: The natural habitats of the Garo people are the hills,
hillocks, deep forests and places near fountains, springs, and other water
bodies. Animals, reptiles and bird are their closest neighbours and animals
that they come in contact with include rhinoceros, tigers, elephants, wild
buffaloes, goyals (wild cow), dogs, deer, porcupines and rabbits. Their main
professions are
jhum cultivation in the
slopes of the hills, livestock farming and hunting. Handicrafts and the
cottage industries are recent additions to their profession.
mirza nathan, a Mughal
army commander, remarked that Garos eat everything except iron. There is
some exaggeration in this statement but in fact, they eat all animals except
cats, which is their totem. They live in an isolated world and within their
own geographic, economic and cultural boundaries and follow their own
customary norms. They do not have any king but are ruled by the tribal
chief.
In the past, Garos used to put on barks of trees. The
common dress of modern day Garo males is jana or nengti (a
narrow piece of cloth around the waist), although the Garo people of a
relatively higher status wear short skirts woven by themselves. The women
cover their breasts by knotting a piece of short cloth on their backs. The
males also wear gamcha or dhuti and many women put on saris,
shirts and trousers. Garos burn the barks of banana trunks and use their
ashes for making soap and salt. Many also use the ashes as a special
ingredient in making food. Fruits comprise the staple food of Garos and
therefore, they hardly suffered from any shortage in food supply in the
past. This contributed to their fast growth. Garos cook their food in bamboo
pipes. They drink plenty of wine and entertain guests invariably with meat.
On festive occasions, guests bring cocks or pigs while visiting someone's
house.
The Garo language is called Achchik Katha (spoken
language of the hill people). It does not have any alphabet. It is rich in
proverbs, legends, rhymes and folk tales. The Garo songs are similar in
melody to Bangla folk songs. Garos dance and sing in groups and have their
own musical instruments. Garo dances and songs are very similar to those of
the Malaysian hill tribe Orang Achlis. Like the Mymensingh ballads,
the Garo language has narrative operas. According to a Garo legend, they had
their scriptures written on rhinoceros skin. These scripts were lost during
a journey. While hunting, a
zamindar of Mymensingh
found a few torn pages of the manuscript in a cave of the Garo hills and
published them in the newspaper Saurav. But the reproduction was hazy
and the words illegible. Outwardly, they look like the Chinese pictogram.
Garos speak in both Garo and Bangla. Christian missionaries tried to
introduce Roman letters into the Garo language, but the effort proved
unsuccessful. However, the Garo language can now easily be written in Bangla
alphabet. Many Garos perform Bangla dances very well and are good at singing
Bangla songs.
Garos have their own sports and games. They build houses
on elevated platforms and decorate the jadaps (rooms) with the horns
of buffalos and deer. In the past, they used to decorate the houses with
human skulls also. These skulls were of men attacked and slain in the plains
and were symbols of power, aristocracy and heroism. Garos also traded in
human skulls. Garo houses have separate cowsheds and granaries. Almost every
big Garo village has a big decorated house or nakpanthe at its
centre. This is used for residence and recreation of the young men of the
village. However, girls are not allowed to enter the house.
Social Structure: Primitive Garo community had no social classes but the
British introduced a feudal system amongst them based on land ownership. The
British also introduced the notion of business in the Garo society. The
British replaced the barter system of exchange that they had with
transactions through money. Christian missionaries converted Garos into
Christians and those who accepted the new religion were given blocks of land
areas with ownership, while in the past, the land belonged to the tribe as a
collective property and was cultivated under a cooperative system.
According to a Garo legend, a woman named Nantanupanta
created the earth from a handful of soil taken from the unfathomable bottoms
of the sea. The version is well accepted in the Garo community. Garos are
matriarchal. Husbands live in the houses of wives and are engaged in
household work. The mother is the owner of all the property of a household.
After her death, the youngest daughter or any daughter nominated by the
mother becomes the heir and is called Nakma. The wife of a husband
acquires ownership of the assets earned by him. The children are also
treated as assets and are owned by the mother. They are known after the
family of their mother. The mother is responsible for rearing the children.
After the death of the wife, the husband has no moral right to stay in that
house. However, the custom is rarely applied in practice. Daughters are more
cared and loved in a family because the sons are to leave the home after
marriage and are not treated well in the family if they do not marry in
time. They wail at the time of leaving the home and in their new residence,
they remain down-hearted in the initial days. The wife consoles him by love
and care. Often, a newly married husband runs away, but is caught and
brought back. Because the husbands do not own property, they care little
about the family. But their wives scold them and sometimes even threaten
them by the warning that they will be driven out of the house.
Polygamy is not forbidden in the Garo community. After
the death of the husband, the wife can claim anybody without a wife in the
husband's clan to become her new husband. In such a marriage, the bride and
the bridegroom may often not match in age. After the death of the husband, a
woman can have her son-in-law as her own husband, too and the daughter and
the mother may live peacefully as co-wives. If, on consideration of any
special situation in a clan, someone marries a minor girl, he can have
sexual relationship with his mother-in-law during the period until his wife
attains maturity. In the past, there was a practice of group marriage and
free sex in Garo society. Now, however, extramarital sexual relationship in
Garo society is seen as a crime and is liable to punishment. In case of any
such event, the khamal (informal clan leader) identifies the criminal
through some complex tests. The punishment for adultery is confiscation of
property.
Rituals: Garos are very conservative in their outlook. In the
first hundred years of their campaign, Christian missionaries found them
very reluctant in accepting the new religion. Later, the missionary process
was geared up and according to a survey conducted in late 1970s, about 80%
of the Garos of Bangladesh have become Christians. At present, almost all
Garos are Christians and only a few are Muslims. One of the major reasons
why Garos have adopted
christianity is their
immediate economic gain in the form of direct financial assistance offered
to the newly baptised Christians. However, Garos have retained their
traditional culture and customs even after being converted into Christians.
Besides traditional beliefs, Garos follow their own
religion Sangshareq, which has roots in
agriculture. They are not
concerned about worshipping idols and do not bother about sin and virtue,
gods and goddesses and heaven and hell. They observe thirteen or more
brata (vows) and festivals in a year and pray for the fertility of the
soil, safety of the harvests and protection from evil spirits, diseases and
epidemics. The Sangshareq religion has elements of mantra-tantra and
magic. Garos are animists and believe in dual existence of matters. They
ascribe life to nature and inanimate objects and consider snakes and tigers
as personised forms of dead souls. According to their belief, some men
remain men at daytime, but become tigers at night. Garos name such men the
Matsadu Matsabed. They believe that some trees, stones and hills are
the abodes of the spirits and therefore, it is better to keep away from
them. Among Garos, the people who arrange festivals, organise vows, and
treat and cure patients by
folk medicines are persons
with supernatural power and therefore, enjoy respect and honour in the
community. These persons are named khamal or kamal. Garos do
not give their children any sweet names because, they believe, such names
may attract evil spirits and cause harm to them.
When someone dies, Garos sacrifice animals, offer food to
the guests and observe different vows before and after the funeral rituals,
so that the soul of the dead person cannot do them any harm. In the past,
Garos captured people from the plains and burnt them with the body of the
dead person as sacrifice. They believe that the soul of a dead man stays for
some time at Chick Sung, the highest peak of the Aro mountain. Then it moves
round unknown places of the vast world and at last, returns back as a spirit
or gets rebirth as a human being or animal. People who commit suicide or are
killed by a ferocious animal are reborn as animals. Their funeral ceremonies
are observed in prolonged rituals, of which mimangkham is the most
important. In that ritual, the dead body is bathed and then thoroughly
anointed with oil by a woman while other women sing traditional wailing
songs. Then the men wrap it in a cloth sheet. People attending the ceremony
pray for the departed soul and offer gifts. The body is then shifted to the
funeral pyre and while still in fire, a piece of half burnt bone is
collected for burial in the house, where the deceased had lived. The spot is
called khatik. A portion of the ashes collected from the pyre is
spread in the field. For seven days after death, members of the family take
only vegetables and offer food to the dead person. Then they celebrate
shraddha
with rice, chicken and hem. In the evening of the day of sraddha,
they hold a mourning procession. The last offering of food to the dead is
marked by a feast with plenty of wine the celebrations include dances,
songs, and rhythmic beating of drums.
Festivals: The moon, sun, rain, rivers and crops are like gods to
Garos. In the Bangla month of Chaitra, Garos clear jungles, burn
woods and leaves to ashes, and sow paddy. Then they observe Asiroka
(the New Year festival) and pray for safety and security throughout the
year. They believe that evil spirits may steal away ripe and harvested crops
from the field and storehouses. To protect themselves against spirits, they
perform religious rituals in the form of festivals under different names
while sowing seeds and harvesting crops. The largest among these festivals
is the Wangala. This is celebrated in the whole Garo area in full
fanfare. Adults drink homemade wine, young boys and girls wear specially
designed dresses, colour their skin and sing and dance wildly. They also
entertain each other with drinks and in their celebrations, chose their
husbands or wives. The musical instruments used in the festival include
buffalo horns and drums of different size. Strong and young boys dance
vigorously with shields and swords in hands to frighten evil spirits. These
performances are part of the Sangshareq religion and aim at neutralising
spirits, ghosts, and demons in two ways, by offering rogala
(oblation) to them and by frightening them.
Literacy: The rate of literacy in the Garo community is higher
among the women than among the men. The reason is the matriarchal system.
This makes it difficult for a girl to find a husband with equal standing.
While in work or in movement, mothers hold their babies on their backs with
a piece of cloth. In the Garo community, marriage within the same clan is
not allowed since the boys and girls of a clan are considered as brothers
and sisters. The Garo tribe is divided into ten clans. In case someone
violates the principle of not marrying within the clan, he is deprived of
all property rights and ousted from the village. On many occasions, if a
young man of a suitable clan is liked by a girl, he is forcibly made to
marry her. The clan of the bridegroom does not oppose the match. [Ali Nawaz]
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