The North-Eastern region of India originally comprised the composite Assam or old Kamarupa and the two native states of Manipur and Tripura Assam alone as it exists at present, no longer comprises the North-East region. The other constituents are Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.
Although Assam of the past or the North-East region as it is called at present, had been known fron its own civilization, its geographical position was not known to many people With her diverse population, speaking different languages and professing different faiths, may be regarded as an epitome of India It is the land where waves of unmigrants from Tibeto-Burman and Mongoloid stocks have met and woven with aboriginals, a pattern of common culture, custom and tradition. The people of the hills and of the plains have lived long side by side and followed common pursuits of life undisturbed. No part of India other than the North-East region has boundaries which are clearly vulnerable to outside powers. The area is surrounded by four foreign countries, viz., Bhutan, China, Burma and Bangladesh, touching 4825 km in length.
There are several tribes in these North-Eastern states. Each has its own culture, tradition, customs and beliefs The Zemi Nagas, the Mikirs, the Dimasa Kacharıs and the Manipur are the most important and believed to be among the earliest people of this region
The present work is a successful attempt to study these four peoples with a general survey of the tribes of the region. The work is based on earlier works on the subject as well as on first hand knowledge derived from field studies It incorporates up-to-date information on various developmental processes and progresses so far made.
Dr. S.T. Das, FRGS (London), FAGS (New York), MIBC (Cambridge), is a distinguished social scientist and has so far authored thirtysıx books to his credit.
He was educated at the Banaras Hindu University and did research work at the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is one of the pioneer writers on Ethnology and Military Science He has travelled widely in India and abroad and has done much work of great importance to the specialist, he has as it were, personally added many bricks to the edifice, of ethnological sciences, geography and military science He has received international fellowships from U.SA, And Great Britain and actively associated with I.BC., Cambridge He served the Department of Geography, University of Ottawa and was invited by the Universities of Montreal and McGill to deliver lectures on India He was also invited in the Fifth I.B C International Congress on Arts and Communication at San Francisco to deliver lectures. For his distinguished academic services, the IBC, Cambridge has included his name in their several volumes to honour him as an international author.
He is also a prolific science writer and has written several books for children on variety of subjects and received several academic awards.
The north eastern area originally comprised the composite Assam or old Kamarupa and the two native states of Manipur and Tripura. Assam alone, as it exists at present, no longer comprises the north-east region, is only one of the constituents forming the region. The other constituents are Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal. Pradesh.
Although Assam of the past or the north-east region as it is called to day, had been known for its own civilization, its geo-graphical position was not known to many people. According to the Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang, Assam had attained a fairly high degree of civilization under the region of the Hindu King Bhaskara Varman in the 7th century. However, apart from a few copper plates and rock inscriptions, little is known about the Kingdom of Assam after Huen Tsang's visit until the arrival of the Ahoms in the 13th century.
The Ahoms were a tribe of Shans from a land called Pong. lying between Old Assam and Burma, who originally belong to north China. They entered the north-east region for the first time through the Patkai Hills as a small raiding party in 1215 A.D. Taking advantage of the political instability in the country, they gradually became the masters of the whole region and ruled over the land for nearly six centuries.
The Ahoms named the land Meung-dun-chun-khan or the ""Country of Gold' and later changed it to the Burmese name of Sham or Shan. The invaders pronounced it as 'Asham' or 'Abam' from which, it is believed, the Old State of Assam derives its name. The descendants of the Shan invaders were called Ahoms.
Since the Ahoms had a highly developed sense of history, they chronicled their stories on the dried barks of trees. They gradually subjugated the indigenous rulers-the Kochs, Kacharis and Chutiyas-and organised a feudal system peculiar to themselves.
The north eastern region is very sensitive and important from the strategic point of view. No other part of India than the north-east region has boundaries which are clearly vulnerable to outside powers. The area is surrounded by four foreign countries, viz., Bhutan, China, Burma and Bangladesh. With her diverse population, speaking different languages and pro-fessing divergent faiths, may be regarded as an epitome of India. It is the land where waves of immigrants from Tibeto-Burman and Mongoloid stock have met and woven with the aboriginals a pattern of common condition and tradition. The people of hills and the plains have lived long side by side and followed common pursuits of life undisturbed.
The composition of population of the north-east and the Immigration to this land throughout history offer a subject for worthwhile academic study. In the composition of its population, there are the Austric or the Austro-Asiatic elements, the Dravidian elements, the Indo-Aryan and the Indo-Mongoloid elements. The people of north-east India are composed of different races, speaking various languages, like Austric or Mon Khmer (one of which is Khasi), Sino-Tibetan representing the Bodo or the Kachari Tongue, and the Rai or the Ahom. These languages have influenced the phonological and morphological characteristic of the Assamese language which has developed out of the Sanskrit language from as early as the 7th century A.D.
India is the home of some 23 million naturvolker, who have lived through centuries their own life in the remote parts of the country and it is these people who still afford opportunities to social geographers and anthropologists to assess the influence of immediate environment on the culture, tradition and the mode of life.
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