The Bodos in the Brahmaputra Valley: People, Language, and Culture

Abstract

The Boros of the Sino-Tibetan language family belong to the Mongoloid group of people, drawing their tribal element from the Bodo-Garo group forming distinct tribes of northeast India by themselves with different cultural traits. Of these tribal groups of people, Boro forms an important section of the population in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam whose identity and culture are little known to the outside people. If traced thoroughly, they are found within the entire states of the national boundary as well as across the state boundary such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. At present, the Bodo speakers are found in the Bodoland Territorial Region (henceforth BTR) of Assam. These groups of people call themselves Boro and are known as Kachari by outsiders. The article briefly presents Boros from an ethnolinguistic perspective focusing on the various aspects of Boro society such as people, language, culture, tradition, and so on.