The Rabha people are a
Tibeto-Burmese ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
who live mostly in the
Northeast India
Northeast India, officially the North Eastern Region (NER), is the easternmost region of India representing both a geographic and political Administrative divisions of India, administrative division of the country. It comprises eight States and ...
n state of
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 ...
, with a lesser population in the adjacent state of
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 ...
. They primarily inhabit the plains of
Lower Assam and the
Dooars, while some are found in the
Garo Hills. Outside of India, they have a presence in
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
, with communities in nine districts. Most of the Rabhas of Dooars refer to themselves as Rabha, but some of them often declare themselves as Kocha.
Language
Linguistically, Rabha has been classified in the following way: Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, JingphoKonyak-Bodo, Konyak-Rabha, Rabha-, 2009). Members of each of the nine groups of Rabha are thought to speak their own dialect. However, except Rongdani,
Maituri and kocha the rest of the Rabha groups have abandoned their mother tongue for Assamese. In their day-to-day conversation they speak a variety of Assamese mixed with some Rabha words and expressions, and it has been called by a few researchers “Rabhamese."
(Tibeto-Burman speeches and their studies, n.d., 22). The language of the Kocha-Rabhas is much more similar to that of the Koch rather than Rabha. A sociolinguistic survey conducted among the Koch (Kondakov 2010) establishes the evidence for this. According to U.V. Jose, the dialectic variations between Rongdani and Maituri are minimal. They are mutually intelligible, and the one merges almost imperceptibly into the other around the Goalpara Baida-Rongsai region. The Rongdani-Maituri dialectical differences become gradually more marked as one moves further west (Jose 2000). Rabha in many cases shows points of resemblance with Atong which is a variety traditionally considered a dialect of Garo
See also
*
Rabha language
*
Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council
The Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) was constituted by the Government of Assam in 1995. It was constituted for development in the areas of economic, educational, socio-cultural and ethnic identity of Rabha people residing in the counci ...
*
Rabha Hasong Joutha Mancha
*
Bishnuprasad Rabha
*
Assamese language
Assamese () or Asamiya ( ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It has long served as a ''lingua franca'' in parts of Northeast India."Axomiya is the major langu ...
*
Himalayan Languages Project The Himalayan Languages Project, launched in 1993, is a research collective based at Leiden University and comprising much of the world's authoritative research on the lesser-known and endangered languages of the Himalayas, in Nepal, China, Bhutan, ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
* Saha, Rebatimohon (1987) "Jalpaiguri Jelar Koch-Rabha Samaj" (in Bengali) published in Ananda Gopal Ghosh edited ''Madhuparni'', Special issue on Jalpaiguri District.
* Raha, M.K. (1974) "The Rabhas of Western Duars: Structural Analysis of a Changing Matrilineal Society", Bulletin of the Cultural Research Institute, Vol. 10 (1 & 2).
* Ghosh, Saumitra (1990) "Vanbasi Rabhara" (in Bengali) Desh, Vol 57 (12), January 20.
* Roy Choudhury, B. (1970) "Social Mobility Movement among the Rabhas of North Bengal", Man in India, Vol 50 (1).
* Gupta, Pabitra Kumar (1977) "Uttarbanger Rahba Samaj O Dharmasanskar Aandolon", (in Bengali) in Madhuparni: Special North Bengal Issue, 1977.
* Sarma, Dr. Nabin Ch (2006) "Oral Songs of Tribal Communities of Assam" a project of Assam Sahitya Sabha, Assam Institute of Research for Tribals and Scheduled Castes
{{Scheduled tribes of West Bengal
Social groups of Assam
Tribes of Assam
Tribes of West Bengal
Sino-Tibetan-speaking people
Indigenous peoples of South Asia
Hindu ethnic groups
Social groups of West Bengal
Scheduled Tribes of Meghalaya
Scheduled Tribes of Assam
Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal
Ethnic groups in Northeast India
Ethnic groups in South Asia