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The Mishings 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 Mishings 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 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 Mishings 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-Aye-Leegang, in the month of February, which marks the beginning of the sowing season. Most Mishings 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 Mishing people is also known as Mishing language. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages, and is spoken by some 25,000 people.

Script:

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

Mishings 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,
• Mohying,
• Sahyang,
• Delu,
• Dambuk
• Oyan,
• Samuguria,
• Tamar, and
• Samua.

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

Mishing surnames reflect the clan (opeen) 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 (seegnam) 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.

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