The Rabha are a Tibeto-Burman community to the Indian states of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. They primarily inhabit the plains of

Lower Assam Lower Assam division is one of the 5 administrative divisions of Assam. It was formed in 1874, comprising Undivided Kamrup district of Western Assam, undivided Darrang and Nagoan districts of Central Assam and Khasi & Jaintia hills of Meghalaya ...

and the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars ( as, দুৱাৰ, duar, rkt, দুৱাৰ, duar, bn, দুয়ার, duyar) () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the ...

, while some are found in the

Garo Hills The Garo Hills (Pron: ˈgɑ:rəʊ) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion. De ...

. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha. 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 Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burmese culture. The Rabha society is

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

. The village economy is based on agriculture and both men and women work in the fields. The women wear colorful clothes that they weave themselves and wear a lot of beads and silver ornaments. The Rabhas are non-vegetarians and rice is their staple food. 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. The Rabhas are mostly found in Lower Assam on the south bank of the Brahmaputra, in the districts of

Goalpara Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati. Etymology The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The villa ...

and Kamrup. Some are found in the north bank districts of Baksa,

Udalguri Odalguri (; also spelt Udalguri) is a town and the headquarters of Udalguri district under the jurisdiction of Bodoland Territorial Council which controls the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts in the state of Assam. Geography Odalguri is l ...

and

Kokrajhar Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an autonomous territory in Assam, one of the North Eastern states of India. Kokrajhar town is located along the bank of the river Gaurang. The North East Indian Railways divides the ci ...

. In Meghalaya, the Rabhas mainly live in West Garo Hills, East Garo Hills,

North Garo Hills North Garo Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India. The district headquarters are located at Resubelpara. The district occupies an area of 1,113 km2 and has a population of 1,18,325 (as of 2001). History T ...

and

South Garo Hills South Garo Hills is an administrative district in the state of Meghalaya in India. As of 2011 it is the least populous district of Meghalaya (out of 7). The district was established in 1992. Geography The district headquarters are located at ...

. In West Bengal, the Rabha inhabit the district of

Alipurduar Alipurduar is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Alipurduar district. Situated on the east bank of Kaljani River on the foothills of the Himalayas, the city is a gateway to Bhutan and ...

Language

The

Rabha language Rabha is a Sino-Tibetan language of India. The two dialects, Maituri and Rongdani, are divergent enough to cause problems in communication. According to U.V. Joseph, there are three dialects, viz. Róngdani or Róngdania, Mayturi or Mayturia and ...

is closely related to neighbouring Boro and Garo, as well as many other Sino-Tibetan languages of Assam. They have 11 dialects: ''Maithori'', ''Rongdani'', ''Pati'', ''Dahori'', ''Dotla'', ''Halua'', ''Betolia'', ''Hanna'', ''Sunga'', ''Modahi'', ''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 ''Kocha'' dialects are still used by Koch-Rabhas."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." The Rabha language is only spoken by a minority of the Rabhas, most of whom speak Assamese in Assam and Kamtapuri and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

in West Bengal.

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