The Mech (spelled ''Meche'' in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

; pronounced /mes/ or /meʃ/) is an ethnic group belonging to the Bodo-Kachari group of peoples. It is one of the scheduled tribes of India, listed both in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They inhabit West Bengal, Nepal, Assam and Nagaland."Mech Kachari community of Nagaland celebrates post-harvest festival"
''ANI News''

Language

Meche or Mech language is spoken in Jhapa district of Nepal and it belongs to Boro-Garo subgroup of Tibeto-Burman family. It is usually considered to be same language as Boro language spoken in Assam. However, it along with Boro language of northern West Bengal form western dialects of Boro language.

Etymology

It has been suggested that ''mech'' is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit word ''

mlechchha Mleccha () is a Sanskrit term referring to those of an incomprehensible speech, foreigners or invaders deemed distinct and separate from the List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes, Vedic tribes. In Vedic Brahmanical discourse, the term i ...

''. Nevertheless, Stuart N. Wolfenden observed that some people do self-designate as Mech, So, he reconstructed ''Mech'' from Tibeto-Burman root "mi" means "man". Other authors have speculated that ''Meche'' is derived from the

Mechi river The Mechi River is a trans-boundary river flowing through Nepal and India. It is a tributary of the Mahananda River. Course The Mechi originates in the Mahabharat Range in Nepal. It flows through Nepal, forms the boundary between India and Nepal ...

because the Bodo-Kachari peoples in Nepal had settled around it; ''Mecha'' a region of the '' Bod'' country; and descendants of Mechel a legendary figure of Nepal.

Origin

The Bodo-Kachari peoples migrated into present-day India and gradually spread themselves throughout

North Bengal North Bengal ( , Uttar Banga) is a cross-border cultural–geographic region consisting of the north-western areas of Bangladesh as well as the northern part of the West Bengal state of India. Bounded to the east by the Jamuna and in the south ...

and parts of

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

. It is said that during their migration to India, they marched towards different directions. One group went along the river

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, and ...

and established themselves in the whole of Assam up to

Goalpara district Goalpara district is an administrative districts of Assam, district of the Indian state of Assam. History It was a princely state ruled by the Koch dynasty, Koch kings and the then ruler of the undivided kingdom. Today the erstwhile Goalpara d ...

as well as parts of

Jalpaiguri district Jalpaiguri district () is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. The district was established in 1869 during British Raj. The headquarters of the district are in the city of Jalpaiguri, which is also the divisional headquarters of Ja ...

and

Cooch Behar district Cooch Behar district (), also known as Koch Bihar district, is one of the List of districts of West Bengal, 23 districts of the state of West Bengal in India. The district is the part of Jalpaiguri division, Jalpaiguri Division. Cooch Behar ci ...

under the name of Bodo or Boro. Another group went towards the West along the foot of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

up to the river Mechi, bordering

and

and settled on the North bank of the river known as Mechi or Mechia. Later they spread to

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in parts of southern Nepal and northern India that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by ...

, Baikanthpur in

again marched further East and settled in the

Dooars The Dooars or Duars () are the alluvial floodplains in eastern-northeastern India and southern Bhutan that lie south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas and north of the Brahmaputra River basin. This region is about wide and stretches ov ...

. It is said that, a group of Mech people, again moved further East, crossed the

Sankosh river Sankosh (also Puna Thsang Chu, and Svarnakosha) is a river that rises in northern Bhutan and empties into the Brahmaputra in the state of Assam in India. In Bhutan, it is known as the Puna Tsang Chu below the confluences of several tributaries ...

, and went towards

Goalpara Goalpara ) is a city and 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 ...

in Assam. Due to repeated floods in

and eastern bank of

Teesta river Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal and subsequently enters Bangladesh through Rangpur division. In Bangladesh, it merges with Jamu ...

, many families migrated towards

History

The first record is found from the year 1205 A.D in Tabaqat-i Nasiri, where they are mentioned along with the Koch and Tharu and are found to inhabit between the country of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

and Lakhanawati (Gauda). In Persian history, these three groups of people, the Koch, Mech and Tharu, possessed the physiognomy of the Turks and the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

and their speech was different from the rest of the subcontinent. It is recorded that one Ali Mech, Mech chieftain, guided Bakhtiyar Khalji's army in his invasion of Tibet via Kamrup. 16th/17th century's

Yogini Tantra The ''Yogini Tantra'' is a 16th- or 17th-century tantric text by an unknown author from either Assam or Cooch Behar: "One of the most explicit descriptions of Tantric sexual rites occurs in Yogini tantra, a sixteenth-century text from Cooch Beha ...

states that Kuvacas were born of a Mech woman. According to Darrang Rajvamsavali of Koch kings and MS Chronicle collected by Buchanon Hamilton, Biswa Singha's father was a Mech and mother was a Koch. 19th and 20th century's scholars state that designation Mech is name applied to western section of Bodos by others and also to some extent by the people themselves.

Distribution

Mechs are found in

and

in India, and in

Demand of Mech-Kachari Autonomous Council

The Mech-Kacharis want to preserve their language, culture and uplift their economic status; and so they have been demanding a Mech-Kachari autonomous council for some time."Mech-Kachari demands autonomous council"
''Assam Times''

Mech people in Nepal

The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Mech (called Meche in the Nepal census) as a subgroup within the broader social group of

Janajati The Nepalese caste system is the traditional system of social stratification of Nepal. The Nepalese caste system broadly borrows the classical Hindu ''Chaturvarnashram'' model, consisting of four broad social classes or varna: Brahmin, Kshatriya, ...

. At the time of the

2011 Nepal census Nepal conducted a widespread national census in 2011 by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Working in cooperation with the 58 municipalities and the 3,915 Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the m ...

, 4,867 people (0.0% of the population of Nepal) were Mech. The frequency of Mech people by province was as follows: *

Koshi Province Koshi Province () is an autonomous Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal adopted by the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. It covers an area of , about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its cap ...

(0.1%) *

Bagmati Province Bagmati Province (, ''Bāgmatī pradēśa'') is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. Bagmati is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest province by area. It is bordered ...

(0.0%) *

Madhesh Province Madhesh Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal in the Terai region with an area of covering about 6.5% of the country's total area. It has a population of 6,126,288 as per the 2021 Nepal census, making it Nepal's most densely po ...

(0.0%) *

Sudurpashchim Province Sudurpashchim Province () is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces established by the Constitution of Nepal, new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, ...

(0.0%) *

Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region in Southw ...

(0.0%) *

Karnali Province Karnali Province () is one of the seven federal provinces of Nepal formed by the new constitution, which was adopted on 20 September 2015. The total area of the province is , making it the largest province in Nepal with 18.97% of the country's ...

(0.0%) *

Lumbini Province Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...

(0.0%) The frequency of Mech people was higher than national average (0.0%) in one district only:2011 Nepal Census, District Level Detail Report
/ref> *

Jhapa Jhapa District (; ) is a district of Koshi Province in eastern Nepal named after a Rajbanshi Surjapuri language word "Jhapa", meaning "to cover" (verb). The 2021 Nepal Census, puts the total population of the district at 994,090. The total a ...

(0.5%)

Notable people

* Ali Mech * Kalicharan Brahma

Notes

References

Printed sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Web-sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mech Tribe Ethnic groups in India Sino-Tibetan-speaking people Scheduled Tribes of Assam Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal Indigenous peoples of South Asia Social groups of Assam Social groups of West Bengal Ethnic groups in Nepal