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WHO ARE THE BOROS ?


kNOW YOUR BODO RELIGION
SIJOU TREE
The Boros are one of the composite parts of the greater Assamese society forms a major tribe of Kokrajhar district. Suniti Kr.Chatterjee writes, " The Bodes who spread over the whole Brahmaputra valley and North Bengal as well as East Bengal forming a solid block in eastern India and they form one of the main bases of the present day population of this tracts. Judging from the wide range of extension of their language, the Bodos appear to have settled over the entire Brahmaputra valley and extended into North Bengal."? The Boros, also known as Bodo, isone of the major communities of Assam belonging to the Indo-Mongoloid ethnic group of the TibetoBurman language-family. The generiC name of 'Bodo' was first given by Hodgson to this group of languages. The Mech or the Kocharies call themselves as Bodo or Boro.!' The neighbouring Assamese speakers call these people and their speech as Kochari or Kosari. Boros, who lived in Jalpaiguri district of west Bengal are known to their neighbour as Mech. "this word is probably a corruption of the Sanskrit 'mlechcha' .... "12 The Boros have their own language and literature, which are known as Boro language and literature. The Boro women still wear their traditional dress known as dokhna and sadri. They have their own culture, tradition, belief and customs. They are originally worshipper of Bathou (the traditional religion of the Boros) the supreme god of the Boros. The sijou plant (euphorbia splenden) stands as an emblem of the supreme god at the altar: But gradually a great section of people came into the fold of mainstream Hinduism, and with the advent of Christian Missionaries a considerable section of people converted to Christianity. An upward mobility of Bodo society, without losing their basic value and identity has been taking place as a result of the appearance of different religions in their society. The Boros now call and consider themselves as Hindu (excepting Christians) and follow Hindu rituals.


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