Traditional Beliefs and Practices of the Misings of Assam (original) (raw)
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Religious Belief and Practice of Mising community of Assam: A Study
2019
Religion is a universal phenomenon of human society. It is prevalent in each and every society in one or other form throughout ages. However, it is not same everywhere and every society. Religious is an integral part of any social system. Be it tribal or modern. In every society irrespective of its level of cultural development there exists one or other type religious system, which permits every aspect of social life. As such our knowledge about a tribal society and cultural remains incomplete without understanding its religious system. The study is concerned with the religion of the Mising tribe of Assam (India). Until they came under the influence of the neo-vaisnavite movement that emerged in the last decade of the fifteenth century the Misings were totally supurnaturalists in their religious beliefs and practices. Present study is an attempt to throw light on all its aspects for understanding the whole gamut of social system and its problem of the Mising tribal community. ------...
2020
The Misings are a tribal community of Assam. They belong to Mongoloid group and linguistically they are Tibeto-Burmans. Census of 2011 records the total population of the Mising as 680,424 and most of them are settled in Upper Assam. The Mising have their own traditional religious beliefs and practices that falls within the purview of Animism. Animism is the belief that inanimate objects and natural phenomena have souls. The Misings believe in Do:nyi-Po:lo (Sun-Moon) as their eternal heavenly beings on all animistic rites, but they do not worship them as their deities. But the lesser supernatural beings viz. Benevolent and Malevolent spirits are worshipped or propitiated, in general.This is because they believe in the supernatural powers of these spirits. Another characteristic of their belief is offering prayers to their forefathers. In every ritual, they recall the name of their forefathers of up to ten or more generations. However, the Misings since the last decade of the 20 cent...
Shamanistic Songs and the Mnemocultural Insight of the Misings
Bhagawatgita asks us not to disturb, unsettle, uproot the minds of man, " Na budhi bhedom janayet ". The rites and practices of different communities are vital to them. They may be intolerable to those who do not believe in them, but to those who accept them, they are the vehicles of unspoken convictions and standard of conduct. They have for them practical and spiritual appeal-so said the greatest humanist teacher, S. Radhakrishnan. Golaghat and Jorhat districts of Assam, and a sizable number of the entire populace still dwelling in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, without any inkling of doubt, are one of the aboriginal ethnic tribes of the Northeast India, who can boast of possessing a huge cornucopia of oral narratives, which have been transmitted down from generation to generation through their collective racial memory since time immemorial. However, among the diverse genres of such narratives the folksongs of the tribe can be considered as both representation and perpetuation of their unique cultural worldview and ethnic identity that have been conditioned since the past and nurtured till the present. Like other archetypal parallels, their folksongs too record both individual as well as collective bittersweet past experiences through racial reminiscence and collective social responsibility, which function as a dynamic force for perpetuation of their rich vibrant cultural legacy. Right from the etiological narratives pertaining to the cosmogonic and origin myths of the race as recounted through prophetic shamanistic rhapsodies to the fun and frolic of common men and women, all their folksongs endeavour to capture the joys and sorrows, loss and bereavement, aspirations and disappointments, triumphs and tribulations the community shares alike through the kaleidoscope of their mnemocultural praxis. There is no denying that the vibrant and panoramic cultural legacy of the Misings which is shaped by myriad 'lived experiences' of the community spanning a long space and time, is sustained through mnemocultural tradition of which their folksongs can be considered the most active means. They bear the characteristics of 'cultural primitivism' and the folk epistemology inclining toward phenomenological pursuit in striving to discover the kernel truth and meaning of life. owever, the purview of this article will confine only into the multi-dimensional contexts of the ׃b ngs of the Mibu (the Priestly head) of the Misings and will analyze their forms and contents, the texts and contexts adopting a hermeneutic approach in order to understand the
Understanding the traditional rituals and belief system of the Tiwas of Assam
Eastern book house, 2020
Tiwa is an indigenous ethnic community of Assam. Tiwa people lives in both low land and hills of Assam and adjoining Meghalaya state of India. Though plains dwelling Tiwas at present highly assimilated in the caste Hindu Assamese society,those living in the highland and the foot hills practices their traditional rites and rituals. This paper briefly attempts to understand the ritualistic world view of the traditional Tiwa society and through lights on different dimensions related to beliefs and practices of their traditional cultural activities.
Changing Cultural Practices among the Rural and UrbanMising Tribe of Assam, India
IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2014
The colorful life of the people, their traditional customs, festivals and dances are some of the components of the rich cultural diversity of India as well as its northeastern region including Assam. Culture is not a static identity and keeps changing. The changing environmental development makes internal adaptation necessary for culture. Thus, a lot of changes have also been observed in the Mising culture too. The impact of urbanisation and modernization has brought a major eeconomic and socio-cultural transformation among the Mising tribe of Assam. Their society is changing not only in the aspects of socioeconomic and political areas butalsointraditional beliefs andcultural practices. With the above background, an attempt has been made to understand the traditional and cultural practices among the Mising Tribe of Assam in particular and ruralurban context in general.
Mortuary Rite Among the Mishing Tribe in a Rural Context of Assam
Journal of Cultural and Religious Studies, 2015
Death is one of the urgent crises event in human society that occur during the lifecycle of each individual. It has an integral relation with religion, especially with rites and rituals, through which the deceased person is appeased with the intervention of supernatural. Furthermore, the death rites, popularly known as funeral rites, which incorporate the deceased into the world of the dead are more extensively elaborated and assigned the greatest importance. Mourning is integral element related with the death and during the event social life is suspended for all those affected by it and length of the period increases with the closeness of social ties with the deceased. In every society, there are certain customs related to death, as well as disposal of the corpse which reflect the parochial belief system associated with the event. In this paper, an attempt has been made to evaluate the customs associated with disposal of the death, integral parochial religious rites and rituals among the Mishings of Upper Assam, India.
ETHNOMEDICINE AMONG THE MISING OF BOROLA AND URIAMGURI VILLAGES OF MINGMANG, DHEMAJI DISTRICT, ASSAM
Pratibha Spandan, 70, Long View, Jutogh, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, INDIA, 2019
Ethnomedicine helps in bridging the gap between society and socialized views towards medicine and healing. The study helps wrap their head around the numerous and varied concepts of medicine, health, disease, that exist in different societies and their cultures around the world. This paper is an account based on an anthropological fieldwork conducted among the Mising community of the villages of Borola and Uriamguri, Mingmang, Dhemaji District of Assam. The Mising(pronounced mishing) were a hill dwelling Indo-Mongoloid group largely associated with the Adis of Arunachal Pradesh who migrated to Assam. This study is concerned with the traditional healing practices of the Mising, the healers, their concept of disease causation and health.
Witchcraft Practices in the Plantations of Upper Assam: A Case of the Santhals
Black Magic, Witchcraft and Occultism: Secret Cultural Practices in India, 2022
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Folk Groups and Genna among the Ao Nagas of North-East India: Silent Values and Functioning
South Asian Anthropologist, 2023
A strict conscious and deliberate restriction when a person is consecrated can be called Genna. Genna is a manifold layer that act both as a prefix as well as a suffix to numerous events. Generally explained as a 'curious and special form of taboo' (as quarantine) and 'as obligatory holiday', they are general markers of traditional knowledge that requires a performer, the affected/follower and the curser/giver. This paper attempts to understand this meticulous and deliberated complex that purposes as something for 'more than habit'. Despite the blurred distinction of the folk group associated, the motive and the severity of the belief system is observed to be remained intact. While, it is inadequate to enquire whether equating of the misfortunes is due to the inadequacy or improper following, the salient-covert role is still found to hold its function. The representation of correct performer, his lineage and the institution he belonged conceivably maintained the traditional values or the cultural values of the clan system. Genna, therefore, for this paper is understood as a system that forms the mould into which a new mind is cast as it grows up. Taking flight from this, the paper argues that it purposes as a 'nervous exaltation' where the interaction of the folk groups is freed and also restricted to achieve certain silent values.
RELIGION, FOLKLORE AND ORAL TRADITIONS: SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EASTERN INDIA
Acme International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 2017
A large number of folklore related to religious groups, cults, personality based cults, exists these days in every region of the Indian sub continent. In India religious diversity is respected and encouraged. People from diverse cultures and backgrounds have always accommodated and amalgamated in Indian society. The growth of the folklore provides an interesting window to study the mixing of the legends, oral traditions, religious beliefs, culture and the actual history of the region. For instance in Eastern India there exists variety of folklore , folk literature, Mangal-Kavyas (Panchali) that deals generally with the religious cults, sects, traditions and stories of gods and goddesses , various forms of worship, it's beliefs, rituals and variety of practices etc. The folklore also shows how and why we worship Trees, Sacred Animals, Birds, Emblems, Pictures, Signs, and Motifs etc. The main reason to worship these manifestations is to show devotions to god and goddesses. It symbolizes the religious and cultural practices of both Aryan and non-Aryan traditions. It shows cultural synthesis and ongoing process of socio-anthropological development of the society. Therefore an assessment of Indian culture is possible through a careful study of the religion and folklore .