TheKoch are a small trans-border ethnic group ofAssam andMeghalaya inIndia and northernBangladesh.[8] The group consists of nine matrilineal and strictly exogamous clans, with some of them preserving a hitherto sparsely documentedBoro-Garo language calledKoch, whereas others have switched to local varieties ofIndo-Aryan languages.[9] It is aScheduled Tribe inMeghalaya,India.[10][a] Koches want to preserve their language, culture and heritage.[12]
The Koch people in this group are those who have preserved their languages, their animistic religions and follow non-Hindu customs and traditions.[6] They are related but distinguished from the empire building Koch (theRajbongshi people) and the Hindu caste calledKoch inUpper Assam which receives converts from different tribes.[13]
Etymology ofKoch
According to Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, western Kamrud (Kamrup) was inhabited by theKoch,Mech &Tharu.[14] InYogini Tantra, Koches were called as Kuvachas.[15] According to the Fatiyah-i-Ibriah written between 1661 and 1663,Cooch Behar was inhabited by Koch.[16]
Groups and clans
The Koch people consist of nine ethno-linguistic groups:Tintekiya,Wanang,Koch-Rabha/Kocha,Harigaya,Margan,Chapra,Satpari,Sankar andBanai. These groups are generally endogamous, with very little intermarriages till recently. Each of these nine groups havematrilineal and strictly exogamous clans callednikini.[17] The matrilineal rules of the Koch are not as rigid as theGaro and theKhasi peoples.[18]
The group that is known asKocha in Assam'sDhubri andKokrajhar districts, identify with theRabha people, and are also known asKoch-Rabha. Since the nameKoch in Assam is associated with the casteKoch, this identity allows the Kocha people to benefit from state support that are open to the Rabha but not to the Koch.[19] Advisor of Koch Development Council, writer and social worker Indramohan Koch said that the government of Meghalaya accorded ST status to Koch People while the Assam Government had not recognised them as Koch but ST status had been given in the name of Rabha.[20]
TheUNESCO report mentions Koch language as "Definitely Endangered".[21] The Koch language is spoken in the states of Assam (Goalpara,Nagoan,Dhubri,Kokrajhar,Chirang,Bongaigaon,Barpeta,Baksa,Udalguri,Karbi Anglong,Golaghat districts) and Meghalaya (West Garo Hills,South-West Garo Hills,South Garo Hills andEast Khasi Hills districts). It is also spoken in some parts of North Bengal and in Bangladesh.[21] The different Koch groups are associated with different varieties of the Koch language[22]—at home and within their own group they use their own mother tongues; within the Koch groups they usually use theHarigaya variety which is understood by many other Koch groups; and outside the community they useHajong,Assamese,Bengali,Garo,Hindi, andEnglish.[23] The relationship between the six Koch speech varieties are rather complex. They represent a dialect chain that stretches out from Koch-Rabha in the north to Tintekiya Koch in the south. This is diagrammatically represented as — Koch-Rabha (Kocha)→ Wanang→ Harigaya→ Margan→ Chapra→ Tintekiya, where the adjacent dialects exhibit more lexical similarity than those at the ends.[21] Among the nine endogamous groups, six have retained their own language; whereas theSatpari,Sankar andBanai speak either an Indo-Aryan variety calledJharua, orHajong (which is also sometimes referred to asJharua).[24]
History
InTakabat-i-Nasiri, which contain records ofMuhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji's expedition intoKamrup in 1205 A.D, there is mention that the people inhabiting between the country ofLakhanawati (Gauda) andTibet were the Kunch (Koch), Mej/Meg (Mech) and Tiharu (Taru).[25][26] In Persian history, these population (Koch, Mech, Tharu) possessed the physiognomy of theTurks and theMongols and their language was different from the rest of the subcontinent.[27]
Notes and references
^In Meghalaya, Koches are government notified scheduled tribe.[11]
^ab"The Koch included in this report are those who preserved their tribaldialects, animistic religion and non-Hindu cultures and traditions." (Kondakov 2013, p. 5)
^"Koch is a people group mainly found in the Indian states of Meghalaya and Assam and in northern Bangladesh. The Koch people call themselves Kocho (in Meghalaya) or Kocha (in Lower Assam). The number of Koch in Meghalaya is about 25,000 people (Census 2011). (Kondakov 2020, p. 1)
^"The clans are matrilineal and strictly exogamous (Koch 1984:180), i.e. marriages are not permitted within the same clan. The first six groups have preserved their original Tibeto-Burman forms of speech while the remaining three have long switched to local Indo-Aryan varieties." (Kondakov 2020, p. 1)
^"The Koch of western Meghalaya also claim relationship with those empire-building Koch. On the other hand, Koch is known as a Hindu caste found all over the Brahmaputra Valley (Majumdar 1984: 147), and receives converts to Hinduism from different tribes (Gait 1933: 43)." (Kondakov 2013, p. 4)
^"Even at the time of Grierson's work early in the twentieth century it was noted that each group of the Koch spoke a different dialect (Grierson 1903: 96). The fact was later documented by D.N. Majumdar and S.N. Koch, and is now supported by the findings of this survey." (Kondakov 2013, pp. 7–8)
^"From there, he [Bakhtiyar Khalji] was tempted to invade “Bhutan and Tibet” and went against Assam, calle Kamrud (sic, with a “d”). The description of his disastrous campaign provides us with some information about the populations (Siraj 1881: 560-1): In the different parts of those mountains which lie between Tibbat and the country of Lakhanawati are three races of peoples, one called the Kūnch [N66], the second the Mej (Meg), and the third the Tihārū; and all have Turk countenances.They have a different idiom, too, between the languages of Hind and Turk [N77]." (Jacquesson 2008, p. 16)
^"(A)n account of the two expeditions of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji to the kingdom of Kamarupa (ancient assam) in the first part of the 13th century, noted that during that time this region..Kamarupa was inhabited by Kunch(Koch), Mej/Meg (Mech), Tiharu (Taru) tribes of Turks countenance.S.K Chatterji in this connection rightly observes that their Mongoloid features and speech made a distinct impression upon the Turks, who were also members of the same race" (Nath 1989, p. 3)
^"(W)e read in Persian history that these races [Koch, Mech, Taru] had Turki countenances (i.e slanting eyes, snub nose, high cheek-bones and yellow complexion of the Mongols), and they spoke a 'different idiom' from the language of India proper" (Chatterji 1951, p. 101)
Bibliography
Chatterji, S.K (1951).Kirata-Jana-Krti. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.
Jacquesson, François (2008)."Discovering Boro-Garo"(PDF).History of an Analytical and Descriptive Linguistic Category.
Kondakov, Alexander (2013). Hyslop, Gwendolyn; Morey, Stephen; Post, Mark W (eds.). "Koch dialects of Meghalaya and Assam: A sociolinguistic survey".North East Indian Linguistics.5. Cambridge University Press India:3–59.doi:10.1017/9789382993285.003.ISBN9789382993285.
Kondakov, Alexander (2020)."Outline of Harigaya Koch Grammar"(PDF).Language and Culture Documentation and Description. Retrieved9 June 2021.
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