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Removing reference to Dravidian. Full discussion here: Talk:Indo-Aryan_migration_to_Assam#Content_removal
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{{Contains Indic text}}{{Distinguish|People of Assam}}
{{Contains Indic text}}{{Distinguish|People of Assam}}


The '''Assamese people''' are a socio-[[ethnolinguistic]]<ref>"As a socio-ethnic linguistic community, Assamese culture evolved through many centuries in a melting pot syndrome." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=190}}</ref> identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic<ref>"The centrifugal force of Assamese nationalism..." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|pp=191-192}}</ref> or sub-nationalistic. Very often this identity is associated with the [[Assamese language]], though the use of the term precedes the name of the language.<ref>"Assamese language and literature played a major role in forming the Assamese cultural mind even before they came to be known as Assamese." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=192}}</ref> It has also been used retrospectively to the people of Assam before the term "Assam" came into use.<ref>"Yet once the community adopted Assamese as its name, even their ancient language started to be referred to as Assamese." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=192}}</ref> They are a physically diverse group formed after centuries of assimilation of [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]], [[Dravidian people|Dravidian]], [[Indo-Aryan people|Indo-Aryan]], [[Tibeto-Burman and Tai peoples of Assam|Tibeto-Burman and Tai]] populations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baruah, Roy Choudhury |first=Amlan, ‎S. B. |date=1999 |title=Assam state gazetteer - Volume 1 |url= |location= |publisher=Editor-in-Chief, District Gazetteers, Govt. of Assam |page= |isbn= |author-link= |quote=Thus the antiquity of human civilization in Assam has been established beyond doubt by the discovery of stone celts used by the neolithic people in various part of it. These neoliths as well as linguistic and morphological evidences prove that the ancient inhabitants of Assam were of the Austric stock and not of the Dravidian as it was once supposed to be. The next wave of migration to this country brought the Dravidians, whose history is at least as old as the Austro- Asiatics. They were cultured people belonging to the Chalcoiithic age, who, in the remote past, inhabited Northern India supplanting the Austric races. The Aryans adopted many elements of Dravidian culture and religion, including the cult of linga and yoni. The antiquity Of this cult in Assam is proved by the temple of goddess Kamakhya. The Dravidians got so mixed up with the Mongoloids, who came to the Brahmaputra Valley a little later after them that as a result of their inter-fusion, a new type called Mongoloid-Dravidian originated. The Mongoloids belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family of the Indo-Chinese group, who now predominate the indigenous population of Assam, migrated to this country from their original home in western China.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9PkFF3uq_8C&pg=PA5&d |title=Fragmented Memories |author=Yasmin Saikia}}</ref> The total population of Assamese speakers in Assam is nearly 13 million which makes up 48.38% of the population of state according to the ''Language census of 2011''.
The '''Assamese people''' are a socio-[[ethnolinguistic]]<ref>"As a socio-ethnic linguistic community, Assamese culture evolved through many centuries in a melting pot syndrome." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=190}}</ref> identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic<ref>"The centrifugal force of Assamese nationalism..." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|pp=191-192}}</ref> or sub-nationalistic. Very often this identity is associated with the [[Assamese language]], though the use of the term precedes the name of the language.<ref>"Assamese language and literature played a major role in forming the Assamese cultural mind even before they came to be known as Assamese." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=192}}</ref> It has also been used retrospectively to the people of Assam before the term "Assam" came into use.<ref>"Yet once the community adopted Assamese as its name, even their ancient language started to be referred to as Assamese." {{harvcol|Deka|2005|p=192}}</ref> They are a physically diverse group formed after centuries of assimilation of [[Austroasiatic languages|Austroasiatic]], [[Indo-Aryan people|Indo-Aryan]], [[Tibeto-Burman and Tai peoples of Assam|Tibeto-Burman and Tai]] populations.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9PkFF3uq_8C&pg=PA5&d |title=Fragmented Memories |author=Yasmin Saikia}}</ref> The total population of Assamese speakers in Assam is nearly 13 million which makes up 48.38% of the population of state according to the ''Language census of 2011''.


Though there is a political dispute over the definition of Assamese people, in general; the people belonging to the state of Assam are referred sometimes as Assamese people or more appropriately as [[People of Assam]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/assamese-people-definition-rocks-assembly/article7055297.ece|title=Assamese People” definition rocks Assembly, ''The Hindu''|work=Special Correspondent|date=1 April 2015|accessdate=15 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Meet the Axomiya Sikhs |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130324/spectrum/main4.htm |newspaper=The Tribune |location=Chandigarh |date=24 March 2013}}</ref> The lack of a definition has put stumbling blocks in implementing ''clause 6''<ref>Clause 6 of [[Assam Accord]]: "Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people."</ref> of the [[Assam Accord]], an agreement signed by the activists of the [[Assam Movement]] and the [[Government of India]] in 1985.<ref>''[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040715/asp/northeast/story_3496709.asp Assam dithers over Accord]'', The Telegraph, July 15, 2004.</ref> Since a legal definition is important to provide "constitutional, legislative and cultural" safeguards to the Assamese people, the [[Government of Assam]] had formed a ministerial committee to finalize the definition in March 2007.<ref>''[http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar2807/at01 1.40 lakh aliens deported since 1971] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529093954/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar2807%2Fat01 |date=May 29, 2007 }}'', The Assam Tribune, March 27, 2007</ref><ref>''[http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar3107/at04 Move to define Assamese people] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529093319/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar3107%2Fat04 |date=May 29, 2007 }}'', The Assam Tribune, March 31, 2007</ref> To address the ''clause 6'' issue, [[All Assam Students Union|AASU]] had announced a definition on April 10, 2000 which was based on residency with a temporal limit: ''All those whose names appeared in the 1951 National Register of Citizens and their progenies should be considered as Assamese.<ref>http://www.thehindu.com/2000/04/24/stories/05242524.htm</ref> ''<ref>''AASU joins 'Asomiya' debate'', The Sentinel, Guwahati, April 1, 2007</ref><ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043657/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=apr0107%2Fat03 AASU flays Barman, Prafulla Mahanta]'', The Assam Tribune, April 1, 2007</ref> Difficulty in definition is rooted in the heterogeneous nature of inhabitants of the Assam State.
Though there is a political dispute over the definition of Assamese people, in general; the people belonging to the state of Assam are referred sometimes as Assamese people or more appropriately as [[People of Assam]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/assamese-people-definition-rocks-assembly/article7055297.ece|title=Assamese People” definition rocks Assembly, ''The Hindu''|work=Special Correspondent|date=1 April 2015|accessdate=15 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Meet the Axomiya Sikhs |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130324/spectrum/main4.htm |newspaper=The Tribune |location=Chandigarh |date=24 March 2013}}</ref> The lack of a definition has put stumbling blocks in implementing ''clause 6''<ref>Clause 6 of [[Assam Accord]]: "Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people."</ref> of the [[Assam Accord]], an agreement signed by the activists of the [[Assam Movement]] and the [[Government of India]] in 1985.<ref>''[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040715/asp/northeast/story_3496709.asp Assam dithers over Accord]'', The Telegraph, July 15, 2004.</ref> Since a legal definition is important to provide "constitutional, legislative and cultural" safeguards to the Assamese people, the [[Government of Assam]] had formed a ministerial committee to finalize the definition in March 2007.<ref>''[http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar2807/at01 1.40 lakh aliens deported since 1971] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529093954/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar2807%2Fat01 |date=May 29, 2007 }}'', The Assam Tribune, March 27, 2007</ref><ref>''[http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar3107/at04 Move to define Assamese people] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529093319/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=mar3107%2Fat04 |date=May 29, 2007 }}'', The Assam Tribune, March 31, 2007</ref> To address the ''clause 6'' issue, [[All Assam Students Union|AASU]] had announced a definition on April 10, 2000 which was based on residency with a temporal limit: ''All those whose names appeared in the 1951 National Register of Citizens and their progenies should be considered as Assamese.<ref>http://www.thehindu.com/2000/04/24/stories/05242524.htm</ref> ''<ref>''AASU joins 'Asomiya' debate'', The Sentinel, Guwahati, April 1, 2007</ref><ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928043657/http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=apr0107%2Fat03 AASU flays Barman, Prafulla Mahanta]'', The Assam Tribune, April 1, 2007</ref> Difficulty in definition is rooted in the heterogeneous nature of inhabitants of the Assam State.

Revision as of 17:02, 22 January 2019

Assamese
Assamese youth in traditional dress
Total population
c. 15+ million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 India15,311,351[2]
Languages
Assamese (and dialects; Kamrupi • Goalpariya)
Religion
Majority: Hinduism 75.52%

( Traditional • Panentheistic)

Minority: Islam 21.34% • Christianity 2.14% • Sikhism 1%[3]
Related ethnic groups
Bengalis,[4] Tai and Sino-Tibetan-speaking peoples[5]

Template:Contains Asamiya text

Template:Contains Indic text

Not to be confused with People of Assam.

The Assamese people are a socio-ethnolinguistic[6] identity that has been described at various times as nationalistic[7] or sub-nationalistic. Very often this identity is associated with the Assamese language, though the use of the term precedes the name of the language.[8] It has also been used retrospectively to the people of Assam before the term "Assam" came into use.[9] They are a physically diverse group formed after centuries of assimilation of Austroasiatic, Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and Tai populations.[10] The total population of Assamese speakers in Assam is nearly 13 million which makes up 48.38% of the population of state according to the Language census of 2011.

Though there is a political dispute over the definition of Assamese people, in general; the people belonging to the state of Assam are referred sometimes as Assamese people or more appropriately as People of Assam.[11][12] The lack of a definition has put stumbling blocks in implementing clause 6[13] of the Assam Accord, an agreement signed by the activists of the Assam Movement and the Government of India in 1985.[14] Since a legal definition is important to provide "constitutional, legislative and cultural" safeguards to the Assamese people, the Government of Assam had formed a ministerial committee to finalize the definition in March 2007.[15][16] To address the clause 6 issue, AASU had announced a definition on April 10, 2000 which was based on residency with a temporal limit: All those whose names appeared in the 1951 National Register of Citizens and their progenies should be considered as Assamese.[17] [18][19] Difficulty in definition is rooted in the heterogeneous nature of inhabitants of the Assam State.

According to 2011 census, Out of (13,257,272) Assamese people, majority of (10,013,013) or (75.52%) Assamese people are Hindus, largest minority of (2,830,072) or (21.34%) Assamese people are Muslims, and very few (414,187) or (3.14%) Assamese people are Christians and Sikhs by religion.

History

The first usage of the English word "Assamese" is noted in colonial times; based on same principle as Sinhalese, Nepalese and Canarese, derived from the Anglicised word "Assam"[20][21] with the suffix -ese, meaning "of Assam."[22] In contrast, Western Assam from early to pre-colonial times was known as "'Kamarupa" (instead of Asama[23][24][25]) and considered a politically, socially and culturally separate unit from the rest of the state.[26]In the 16th century, the Ahom kingdom was known as the "Kingdom of Acham" to the Mughals; and later, to the British.[27] In 1682, the eastern Kamrup was annexed by Ahom kingdom[28] and the expanded kingdom continued to be called as the "Kingdom of Assam" by Europeans[29] till 1821, when the Ahom kingdom became part of the Burmese Empire.[30][31]

After Assam became part of British India, the newly constituted province came to be known by its new anglicised name Assam after its largest constituent, and the name Assamese / Asamiya came to be associated with the Assamese language which was erstwhile known as Kamrupi.[32]

Different views

According to Yasmin Saikia, "the group that now identifies as Tai–Ahom were historically seen as Assamese people. However, the term ethnic Assamese is now associated by the Indian government at Delhi with the Assamese speaking Indo-Aryan group (comprising both Hindus and Muslims) of Assam. The latter group is the majority people of Assam, while the Tai-Ahom people were a dominant minority during the Ahom Rule."[33]

Demographic changes

Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh has been a key issue in Assam. Most of the immigrants settle in Assam due to economic reasons and their population is estimated to be between 7-8 million.[citation needed] The issue of illegal influx has a 30-year-old history, starting with the anti-foreigner agitation that began in 1979 under the leadership of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU). In 1985, after hundreds of people died in course of independent India’s biggest mass uprising, the AASU, and other agitation groups signed an agreement with the Centre called the Assam Accord. It fixed 25 March 1971 as the cut-off date for detection and expulsion of illegal migrants, meaning anyone found entering India after this date were to be detected and sent back.

In the three decades that followed, a few thousand illegal Bangladeshi migrants have been expelled by successive state governments, many of these ‘expelled’ people are believed to have come back.[unreliable source?]

According to an Assam government white paper, between 1985 and 2012, 2,442 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh had been expelled from the state. The central home ministry said in 2004 that it estimated a total of five million illegal immigrants in Assam.[34]Shri Indrajit Gupta, the then Home Minister of India stated in the Parliament on 6 May 1997 that there were 10 million illegal migrants residing in India.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in Nationalencyklopedin
  2. ^ "Census of India: Comparative speaker's strength of Scheduled Languages-1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  3. ^ "Mission roots brings Assamese Sikhs to Punjab". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  4. ^ Saha N. "Blood genetic markers in Bengali Muslims of Bangladesh". Hum Hered. 37: 86–93. doi:10.1159/000153682. PMID 2953666.
  5. ^ Kang, Longli; Li, Shilin; Gupta, Sameer; Zhang, Yingang; Liu, Kai; Zhao, Jianmin; Jin, Li; Li, Hui (2010). "Genetic structures of the Tibetans and the Deng people in the Himalayas viewed from autosomal STRs". Journal of Human Genetics. pp. 270–277. doi:10.1038/jhg.2010.21. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  6. ^ "As a socio-ethnic linguistic community, Assamese culture evolved through many centuries in a melting pot syndrome." (Deka 2005:190)
  7. ^ "The centrifugal force of Assamese nationalism..." (Deka 2005:191–192)
  8. ^ "Assamese language and literature played a major role in forming the Assamese cultural mind even before they came to be known as Assamese." (Deka 2005:192)
  9. ^ "Yet once the community adopted Assamese as its name, even their ancient language started to be referred to as Assamese." (Deka 2005:192)
  10. ^ Yasmin Saikia. Fragmented Memories.
  11. ^ "Assamese People" definition rocks Assembly, The Hindu". Special Correspondent. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Meet the Axomiya Sikhs". The Tribune. Chandigarh. 24 March 2013.
  13. ^ Clause 6 of Assam Accord: "Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people."
  14. ^ Assam dithers over Accord, The Telegraph, July 15, 2004.
  15. ^ 1.40 lakh aliens deported since 1971 Archived May 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, The Assam Tribune, March 27, 2007
  16. ^ Move to define Assamese people Archived May 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, The Assam Tribune, March 31, 2007
  17. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/2000/04/24/stories/05242524.htm
  18. ^ AASU joins 'Asomiya' debate, The Sentinel, Guwahati, April 1, 2007
  19. ^ AASU flays Barman, Prafulla Mahanta, The Assam Tribune, April 1, 2007
  20. ^ Sarma, Satyendranath (1976), Assamese Literature, Page 43
  21. ^ Das, Bhuban Mohan (1987) "The Peoples of Assam" p.23 "The modern name Assam is an anglicised form of the Assamese name Asom"
  22. ^ ese definition
  23. ^ Sukalpa Bhattacharjee, C Joshua Thomas,2013,Society,Representation and Textuality:The Critical Interface It deals with the expansion of the Mughal Empire in Bengal, Kamrup and Assam.
  24. ^ Satish Chandra (2005), Medieval India:Fro Sultanate to the Mughals Part - II They had support of many Hindu Rajas of Jessore, Kamrup (Western Assam), Cachar, Tippera, etc.
  25. ^ Peter Jackson,2003,The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History,P. 141, "No body sought to emulate Mohammad b. Bakhtiar, who had returned a broken man from a disastrous campaign through the Upper Brahmaputra region, possibly into the region of Assam the Muslims called Kamrup or Kamrud
  26. ^ Goswami, Upendranath (1970),A Study on Kāmrūpī: A Dialect of Assamese, Page iii
  27. ^ Bowrey, Thomas (1663) A Geographical Account of Countries around the Bay of Bengal, ed Temple, R. C., Hakluyt Society's Publications. In this account, Bowrey describes the death of Mir Jumla, who had occupied the capital of the Ahom kingdom in the 17th century thus: "They lost the best of Nabobs, the Kingdome of Acham, and, by consequence, many large privileges."
  28. ^ "In the Battle of Itakhuli in September 1682, the Ahom forces chased the defeated Mughals nearly one hundred kilometers back to the Manas river. The Manas then became the Ahom–Mughal boundary until the British occupation." (Richards 1995, p. 247)
  29. ^ "The Kingdom of Assam, where it is entered from Bengal, commences on the north of the Berhampooter, at the Khonder Chokey, nearly opposite to the picturesque estate of the late Mr Raush at Goalpara; and at the Nagrabaree Hill on the South", Wade, Dr John Peter, (1805) "A Geographical Sketch of Assam" in Asiatic Annual Register, reprinted (Sharma 1972, p. 341)
  30. ^ Baruah, S. L. (1993), Last Days of Ahom Monarchy, P.225
  31. ^ "The Ahoms were never numerically dominant in the state they built and, at the time of 1872 and 1881 Censuses, they formed hardly one-tenth of the populations relevant to the erstwhile Ahom territory (i.e, by and large, the Brahmaputra Valley without the Goalpara district.)" (Guha 1983:9)
  32. ^ Sukumar Sen, Grammatical sketches_of Indian languages_with comparative_vocabulary and texts, P31
  33. ^ Saikia, Yasmin (2004). Fragmented Memories: Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India. Duke University Press. ISBN 082238616X. the group that now identifies as Tai–Ahom were historically seen as Assamese people. However, the term ethnic Assamese is now associated by the Indian government at Delhi with the Assamese speaking Indo-Aryan group (comprising both Hindus and Muslims) of Assam. The latter group is the majority people of Assam, while the Tai-Ahom people were a dominant minority during the Ahom Rule.
  34. ^ "Ticking time bomb in Assam: a final count of illegal immigrants". quartz. Retrieved 30 July 2017.

References

Template:Ethnic groups of India

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