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The Misings are an ethnic group inhabiting the districts of Dhemaji, North Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sibsagar, Jorhat and Golaghat of Assam. Nearly 20,000 live in and around Pasighat of East Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. They are the second largest tribe in Assam and one of the largest tribal group in North-East India. They were earlier called Miris. However the Constitution of India still refers them as Miris. Further steps are been taken for amending the nomenclature from 'Miri' to 'Mishing' in the Indian Constitution by the students of Cotton College, a premier college of North East India.

The Misings belong to a mixture of East Asian as well as Southeast Asian subrace of the Mongoloid race, similar to the mixture of the Mongoloid subraces inside political China as people from Southern China may look more like the South East Asian brown-skinned Mongoloids and more towards the Northern China more fair skinned Mongoloids dwell. It's not known exactly where they migrated from, but it is popularly believed that they were dwellers of the hills of present day Arunachal Pradesh. This explains the cultural and linguistic similarities they have with the people of the Adi (erstwhile Abor) tribe, and to some extent of the Hill Miri and Dafla tribes of Arunachal Pradesh. Somewhere around the 13th century, they started migrating towards the plains of Assam, most probably in search of fertile land. This exodus continued for at least 2-3 centuries.

As fate would have it, they found one of the most fertile river-beds (that of the mighty Brahmaputra) and settled on both banks along the length of the river, starting right from Sadiya in the east, to Jorhat in the west. They continued their practice of living in thatched houses raised on bamboo stilts, known as Taleng Ukum (Chang ghar). It was a protection against flood waters during the rainy season, although the original logic behind raised houses was protection from wild beasts.

The yearly floods ensured that the Misings lived a life of abject poverty and misery. Agriculture being their main occupation, floods affect them in more ways than one. Moreover, due to their affinity towards living close to river banks brings about Malaria and water-borne diseases. But 94% of them still continue to live along the banks of Brahmaputra and its tributaries, unfazed by the disasters striking them.

Their chief festival is Ali-A:ye-Ligang, in the month of February, which marks the beginning of the sowing season. Most Misings follow both the Donyi-Polo and Hinduism religions, and there are a few Christians who follow the Catholic or Baptist faith.

Language

The language of the Mising people is also known as Mising language. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages, and is spoken by some 25,000 people.

Script:

Mising language is written in modified Roman script (Govt. of Assam recognition on 30 October 1985).

Misings are broadly divided into:

• Dagdung (belonging to the North), and
• Daktok (belonging to the South).

Typically, it is easy to identify if a person is Dagdung or Daktok from his surname. A further classification can be based on the "dialect" of the language. These groups are:

• Pagro,
• Mo:ying,
• Sa:yang,
• Delu,
• Dambuk
• Oyan,
• Samuguria,
• Tamar, and
• Samua.

The variations of Mising spoken by these groups differ from each other in intonation, sentence formation, word usage etc., with the exception of Samugurias, who do not speak Mising at all. They use Assamese instead.

Mising surnames reflect the clan (opín) they belong to. Over 51 clans have been identified so far.

This is a social setup that has been followed since time immemorial. Other clans (people having surnames besides Doley and Pegu) claim brotherhood (sígnam) alongside either Pegu or Doley. For example, Patirs,Pathori and Lagachus (among others) are regarded as brothers to Pegus, and to each other. Similarly, Kutums and Kulis (among others) and regarded as brothers to Doley.

This classification of "brotherhood" was made primarily for marital reasons. Clans belonging to the same brotherhood of Pegu are not to marry within the clan, and the same applies for the Doley brotherhood. However, there is yet another group of clans that can freely marry within either Pegu or Doley. Surnames like Morang, Payeng, Pangging,Taye, Mili etc. belong to this group. Marriage between two people having the same surname is taboo. It would amount to sacrilege if a Pegu were to marry another Pegu, or if a Doley another Doley.

Mising Marriage

The Mising regard marriage as a sacred union of a man and a woman for life. According to them getting marriage is a moral duty for both man and woman. For marriage is the only legitimate means of satisfying natural instinct of sexual desire, coupled with desire for having offspring. Further marriage helps in establishing a stable family which is indispensable for formation a society and for its survival. Misings like any other ethnic groups are cultural group. They have their own cultural system according to which the social institutions are developed. As such their marriage system has its own characteristics constituted by set of norms. The Misings call marriage Midang which means wedding ceremony but as a matter of fact it is a series of procedures which must be followed. First, to select an appropriate girl from a family with which matrimonial relationship is permissible by the rule of exogamous. According to the rule one cannot marry one belonging to the same clan. One must get life partner from another clan. It means the Misings follow clan exogamy. Violation of exogamy rule is viewed as serious offence inviting punishment of ex-communication – even death. As a community the Misings maintain the rule of tribe endogamy. In principles, they do not marry with non-Mising boy or girl. If a girl is married she is practically she is treated as lost from the community. No social relationship is maintained any longer with her. On the other hand if a boy marriages a non-Misings he is considered as non-member of the community. She is treated more or less as outsider. Until recent past Misings prefer cross-cousin marriage. That is, the first choice is boy’s mother’s brother’s daughter or father’s sister’s daughter. If such daughter is not available, a girl from mother’s clan family is sought. It is, however, not a hard and fast rule. The boy may select any girl from any clan family outside that of his clan, the parents would not object unless there are some other reasons. Once a girl is chosen the parents send proposal to the girl’s parent. The proposal is taken by the boy’s mother and two or three more relatives. They carry a jar of po:ro apong (a kind of rice beer) 100 pieces of areca nuts, two / three kgs of fresh fish and some other food stuffs, place them before the girl’s parents and close relatives and explain the purpose of the offer. The process is called yamné tadnam – asking for a bride, on receiving information that the party would be coming for asking their girl for marriage. The parents invite their senior relatives to the occasion and ask for their view and consent. The relative make queries about the clan, family background and interest of the boy and is found satisfactory the proposal is declared accepted. The consent must be a group decision by the relatives of the girl’s parents. After the ritual of proposal the boy is sent to the girl’s family for his acquaintance with the prospective bride, her parents and relatives. The boy stays in the village of the girl for a couple of days during which he works with the members of the girl’s parent’s family. This is called magbo-dugnam meaning groom’s service for the bride. This is another important part of the Mising marriage system. The prospective groom must be well known to the village folk so that he is not mistakenly addressed in terms of kinship relation. It may be noted that Misings address each other by kinship terminologies like ba:bu (father), ba:batta (father’s elder brother) ato (father-in-law), ma:mo (elder brother’s wife), Yigné (younger girl belonging to ego’s exogamous clan) etc. So, whenever a person meets another of the community his first enquiry is about the clan of the person and then addresses each other by appropriate kinship terminologies. If the person belongs to the same clan he/she would be addressed by terminology of paternal relationship. So, the prospective groom must be properly introduced to families of the village so that neither he would nor other addresses him by wrong terminology. Wrong address is considered offence in Mising society. (Doley: 2008: 61) As such, magbo-dugnam is necessary for maintaining proper kinship behavior. In the past parents in general used to search for a girl for their son when he attained the marriageable age which was above 15 years. The first preference was cousin — that is, either mother’s brother’s or father’s sister’s daughter. In those days prior consent of the boy or the girl was not necessary. The parents would consider primarily the family background of the girl such as clan, earlier matrimonial relationship, hereditary disease, economic status, character of the girl herself etc. If everything found satisfactory, the girl’s parents are approached and proposal is put forward and if it is accepted marriage is finalized without consent of the boy and the girl. The boy and the girl might not be acquainted with each other earlier. The girl’s parents might not have seen the face of the boy. It becomes, therefore, necessary for the boy to come to the girl’s family for his introduction to the girl, her parents and their other relatives. It is not necessarily for pre-marriage service for obtaining the girl but to get acquainted with the girl and her parents and her other relatives and also with the village folk. If the boy or the girl does not like the other he or she elopes with another girl or boy breaking the proposed marriage. The third step is called ya:mné tatpír, which means finalizing marriage proposal. If there is no objection from any one of the party marriages is finalized and negotiation on requirements of materials for the wedding ceremony is settled. According to Mising custom boy’s family should carry some food and drink materials including some (ngosan) smoked fish and a matured hog. These food materials are necessary for entertaining the relatives of the bride’s family and the distinguished invitees. To finalize these entire matters boy’s mother and some close relatives come to the girl’s family and hold discussion in details. On the occasion a small ritual is also performed praying for smooth holding of the marriage ceremony. The wedding date is fixed by consulting astrology.

Famous Mising Personalities

1. Indira Miri: Educationist and education reformer.
2. Mahichandra Miri: First Forest Conservator Officer of Assam, a naturist, served in Kaziranga National Park. He was the first person who surveyed the forest. He is the first person who made the world aware of the dangers to Assam's famous one horned Rhino.
3. Jatin Mipun.
4. Dr Jatin Mipun served in the Indian Police Service. Known in the North East India community for his publication of the novel "Mixijili" written in the Assamese language of Assam.
5. Sonadhar Doley is Mising community's first IFS.
6. Mrinal Miri as Mising's first doctorate degree holder.
7. Sakuntala Doley, Mising's first ladies IAS office.
8. Nomal Pangging, retird IPS, First Mising's Bachelors In Commerce pass.
9. Gopinath Pegu - Mising's first IAS officer.
10. Dr Nomal Pegu - Mising's first MBBS.
11. Dr Bina Doley, retird professor and head, department of medicine, Assam Medical College, first Mising's ladies MBBS, MD, and Royal College Of Physician
12. Dutirani Doley, Mising's first Ladies IPS Officer
13. Kulodhar Kutum - Mising's first ACS officer and deputy commissioner.
14. Utpal Miri - Mising's first BE and ME.
15. Rajendra Mili - Mising's first world champion in Arm Wrestling.
16. Tabu Taid is an eminent educationist in North East India and among the native East Asian (including South East Asian) community of India. He is also a forerunner in the development of the Mising language specially using the Roman language as a script for modern usage.

References

• Kashyap, Samudra Gupta (2000-07-10), More reconversion stories, this time from Assam "More reconversion stories, this time from Assam", The Indian Express, retrieved 2007-12-07 {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help)

1. M. Narimattam (1988). The Valley in Blossom: Neo-Vaishnavism and the Peoples of the Brahmaputra Valley. Spectrum Publications. p. 77.

External links

• Indigenous Communities from India
• The Mishings of Assam by Jatin Mipun
• Native Planet profile
• Ethnologue profile, old profile
• ST Status for the Mising Community
• Assamese people
• The Hindu: Flood of trouble

• Tribes of Arunachal Pradesh
• Tribes of Assam
• Hindu communities
• Social groups of Assam