Social Folk customs of the Sonowal and Thengal Kacharis

by Suravi Gohain Duwarah | 2022 | 50,902 words

This essay studies the customs and folk traditions of the Sonowal and Thengal Kacharis of Assam—both of Mongoloid origin and part of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family. These tribes possess rich customs, traditions, and oral histories. This study explores the similarities and differences between the Sonowal and Thengal Kachari tribes by emphasizin...

Glossary

Aai — Goddess

Aathmongola — A ritual of marriage

Agoli kolpaat — Plantain leaf

AhinAssamese calendrical month

Ahot paat — Peepul leaf

Akhoi guriPowder of parched rice

Akhoi phutua — Process of preparing the parched rice

Akhoi — Parched rice

Akon — Swallow wart

Alokhoni — Kind of witch/spirit which disturbs the bowl

Alua rangar kukura — Red hen

Anguli Pitha — A type of traditional rice cake of the shape of a finger

Aunipaan — Type of betel creeper

Baghdhekia — A type of fern

Bam meteka — A type of hyacinth

Banshas — Lineage

Barik — Headman among 20 household of a village

Basare basare barhi ja — As years roll on let the growth take place

Bastra — Cloth

Basumati — Mother Earth

Bati — Bowl

Batolu guti — Clay pellet/Small Earthen ball

Bator jeng bipod apod dur houk — Let the unseen hurdles in life be removed

Bei — Place of bathing the bride or the groom

Bel paat — Leaves of a wood apple

Betgaj — Cane shoot

Betupaat — Kind of leaf

Bez — A person who does magico-religious treatment

Bhakats — Devotee of God

Bhapot diya sawal — Steamed rice

Bhar — Load

Bhat dimoru guti — Seed of a tree

Bhimkol — A variety of banana

Bhoral — Barn

Bhujoni — Eatables offered on special occasions

Bihu — A traditional festival of the Assamese society celebrated by all caste and communities living in Assam

Biya naam — Marriage songs

Bogori jeng — Twigs and branches of thorny plum plant

Bohaag — First month of Assamese calendrical year

Bon Debota — God of the Jungle

Bhoot jora mantro — Magical charms for chasing ghosts

Bor tengesi — A sour plant

Bora chawal — A variety of rice (usually sticky)

Borghor — Main house in a traditional Assamese house

Borpitha — Traditional Assamese rice cake

Borsaang — A bamboo structure hang above the fireplace in the kitchen

Bos — A type of herb

Brahmi — A type of herb

Chadar — A cloth used as a dress of woman

Changi — Bamboo frame used for carrying the corpse

Cheleng Chador — A traditional piece of cloth

Choitra — An Assamese calendrical month

Choraghor — Outside sitting room

Choru — Utensil used for cooking

Da — Chopping sword

Dhari — Traditional mat

Dheki thura — Pestle

Dheki Xal — Shed where the pounding pedal is kept

Dheki — Pounding Pedal

Dhip — Earthen mound

Dhol — Traditional drum

Dhuliya bheti — An open ground where bihu dance is performed

Dhup — A type of ball made from cloth

DohaDeath ritual observed on the 10th day

Dola/Kula — Tray like rounded wicker work used for keeping paddy

Dubori bon — Kind of grass

Dul — Thread with magical charms

DulaPalanquin

Dung — Vessel made of banana sheath

Dunori — A basket made of bamboo

Dupor tenga — A kind of acidic herb

Ekhetiya — Dress of woman

Era guti — Castor seed

Gamusa — Traditional Assamese towel

Garu — Pillow

Gathiyon — A kind of aromatic medicinal plant

Gayon Bayan — A group of folk singers usually performed during rituals and special occasions

Ghai — The centre pole

Ghatuyoi — Ferryman

Ghila pitha — A variety of rice cake

Ghila — Seed of Sea Bean (disc shaped seed of a plant)

Ghoti — Brass pot

Gor — Piece of log

Gorokhiya — A boy who looks after the cowherds

Goru bihu — First day of Bihu where cow is worshipped

Goru — Cow/Bull

Gosa — A stand for placing the lamp

Guhali — Cowshed

Gur — Molasses

Guriyal — Leader

Gutung sula — Traditional shirt of Sonowal Kachari male

Gyati kharidiya — Custom of putting fire wood into the burning pyre of a dead by kith and kins and people present in the cremation ground

Gyati — Kinsman

Halodhi — Turmeric

Hamuk — Snail

Hasoti — A small piece of cloth used of tying betel nut

Hauguri Tula — Customs of marriage

Hedali — A hurdle or network of split bamboo used as a shelf

Heta — A ladle

Hetamari — A ladle

Hijua kol — Boilded banana

Hogphul — Type of flower

Juit pori nomoribi — Not to die by burning

Hukan masor hukoti — Powder of dried fish

Hukan puthimas — A variety of dried fish

Hukloti — A type of herb

Ikora — A variety of reed

Jakoi — A type of bamboo instrument used for catching fish

Jalor tukura — Piece of fishing net

Jamuk gos — Blackberry tree

Jamuk kath — Blackberry wood

Jamuk — Blackberry fruit

Janoni Diya — Information

Japi — Wicker hat serving as an umbrella

Jara-phuka — Magical charms

Jathi-jung — Spear and bamboo weapon

Jeura — Fencing made of bamboo

Joha chawal — Variety of aromatic rice

Jori paat — Banyan leaf

Jujona — Prelude of a bihu song

Jur — Lighted torch

Kaaj — Death ritual observed on the eleventh/ thirteenth/ one month

Kahi — Dish

Karmi — Workers

Kati — An Assamese calendrical month

Kehraj — A type of herb

Kerahi — Pan

Kesa mythoi — Unbaked rice flour balls

Kesa pithaguri — Unbaked rice flour

Kesheru — A type of tree

Khaji — Eatables collected from the jungle

Khar — Traditional alkaline water

Kharahi — A type of bamboo basket

Kharika — Split bamboo piece

Khel — Clan

Kheror jumuthi — Lighted braided wisp of straw

Khoniya Kapur — Traditional cloth

Khorom — Slippers made from wood

Khuba Khubuni — A ritual during marriage function

Khuliya — A person who plays the music instrument known as ‘Khul’

Khundana — Small mortar for pounding things

Koldil — Spadix of banana

Kolosi — A vessel made from brass

Kona himolu — A type of herb

Konai — A ritual in puberty ceremony

Koni Junj — A traditional game of hitting eggs of duck or hen during Bohag bihu

KopahCotton

Kopou — Dove

Korkora bhat — Rice of the previous night

Korobi — A kind of flower

Kosu jaal — Custom of feeding the mother with taro leaves, peeper, fish or meat cooked together after the birth of a child

Kosu — Taro plant

Kotari — Knife

Koupat — A type of leaf

Kukur Xuta — Kind of wood

Kukura junj — Kind of traditional game (Cock fight)

Kukura petu — Entrails of a hen

Kumura — A Gourd variety

Lakhimi ona — Custom of bringing the paddy to the house

Lakhimi Singa — Custom related to harvesting

Lakhuti — Walking stick

Lau kha benega kha — Have gourd and brinjals

Luka Luki — Hide and seek (A Folk game)

Maah Prasad — Offerings to a diety

Maan daan — Custom of gifting different items during marriage

Maar hour baper hour — Both mother and father are small in size

Maas-bhat sua — A custom related to death where meal is served with fish

Mahalaya — The day which heralds the advent of Goddess Durga to the earth

Mahudi lota — A kind of herb

Mala gatha — Process of making a garland

Manda — A sword used for sacrificing

Maral — Design made with rice powder

Maralghor — Inner apartment of a house

Mati Kanduri — A type of herb

Mejenga — A type of herb

Mekhela — Dress worn by woman in the lower part of the body

Mera bhat — Fermented rice used for making rice beer

Mesaki — A type of herb

Methoni — Piece of cloth tied around the breast of a woman

Mogu — A bean variety

Mola — Round small earthen vessel

Mridongiya — Use of a particular musical instrument called ‘Mridanga

Mukh loga mantro — Magical charms to get rid of evil eyes

Mukhagni — Custom performed during cremation of a dead

Mukhloga — Influence of evil eyes

Naam kirtan — Group of devotees of God perform naam or prayers to God

Na-guj-lua — Custom practiced before the cultivation work starts

Nai — Umbilical chord

Na-Purush — Ancestors upto ninth generation

Narji — Marigold

Nephaphu — A type of herb

Nimakh — Salt

Nolsunga — A type of reed can

Nolor sungare dusunga — Two tubes measured by reed can

Norohingho — A kind of medicinal plant

Nuai Tuloni biya — Ceremony of puberty rites of a girl child

Omora — Hog plum tree

Ou tengaElephant apple

Oza — Man who cures ailments by incantation

Panipota — Eaves drop

Panit pori nomoribi — Not to die by drowning

Patidoi — Type of reed

Patot diya pitha — A type of traditional rice cake wrapped in banana leaf

Pengeri lata — A type of creeper herb

Pepa — Traditional musical instrument

Pera — Wooden box

Petu — Entrails

Phalguna — An Assamese calendrical month

Pinda — Oblation to the deceased person

Pira — Wooden stool

Pithaguri — Rice flour

Pitika — Mashed eatables

Pokhoru tung — Lining of the cloth in which betel nut is carried

Poroli — Covering made of grass or thatch

Pota guti — A stone used for crushing eatables

Pujari — Priest

Pura kol — A banana variety usually used as vegetable

Randhoni — Cook

Randhoni ghor — Kitchen

Rans — Reed of an Assamese loom

Robab Tenga — A Citrus fruit variety

Robha — Temporary roof for celebration

Rohi mod — A variety of rice beer

Sabah — Holy rituals

Sai — Ash

Saki — Earthen lamp

Sakson — Kind of insect

Sal — Place of worship

Sandoh — Coarse powder of parched rice

Sasthi — The sixth day of Durga puja

Sati — Umbrella

Sengeli maas — A type of fish

Sesu — A sharp split piece of bamboo

Sesur — A type of tree

Sewa bhat — Steamed rice

Shakti — Power

Sua — Impurity

Suddhi Sabah — Purification ceremony

Sunga Sawal — Steamed rice made in bamboo can

Sutal — Courtyard

Tabiz — Amulet

Tamul gos — Betel nut tree

Tamul paan — Betel nut and leaf

Tang guti — A kind of folk game

Tel pitha — A variety of rice cake

Thereju — A type of fruit

Thuriya Tamul — Rolled up betel nut in betel leaf

Til — Sesame

Tilani — Death ritual observed on the 3rd day

Tiphai — Altar

Tithi — Anniversary

Toi hobi bor bor goru — You grow to be a huge cow

Tolxora mod — A variety of rice beer

Tomal — Bamboo split used for tying bundle of paddy

Tongloti paat — A type of leaf

Tora — Kind of wild cardamon plant

Tora pogha — A rope prepared from a tora plant to tie cattle

Tum — A type of bamboo basket

Tupula bondha — Custom of wrapping betel nut and leaf for a sacred purpose

Ulu kher — A type of reed

Uposthar — Male organ

Uroni — Tradition of covering the head of a woman with a cloth

Uruli — Shrilling sound made by woman in some rituals

Vijaya Dashami — Tenth Day of Durga puja

Xalita — Cotton used for lightning earthen lamp

Xanti Jal — Purified water

Xarana — Initiation into a particular religious faith

Xarkota bon — Kind of grass

Xereka — Traditional rice beer of Thengal Kacharis

Xilikha — Terminalia Chebulla fruit

Xohoya bon — Kind of grass

Xorai — Tray mounted on a base

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: