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