Kamrupi people

    The Kamrupi people are an ethno-linguistic group that speak the Kamrupi language and are native to the Kamrup region of India.

Culture

    Kamrupi culture is known for following traditional Vedic culture in day to day life. It largely flourished in the reign of Pushya Varman (350–374), the founder of great Varman dynasty of Kamrup Kingdom which reached its zenith in the reign of Bhaskar Varman (600–650). Scholars believes Kamrupi culture had a distinctive mark in every sphere, whether it be science or literature. Astronomy is a Kamrupi science. Daka, the great Kamrupi poet flourished undoubtedly during the ancient period.¹

Festival

    Kamrupi people follow religious and community specific festivals around the year. Manasha Puja, Basanti Puja,² Durga Puja, Kali Puja and other Pujas; Diwali, Holi, Janmastami, Shivratri etc. are major religious festivals of the Kamrup region. The common popular term to designate the three festivals corresponding to Bihu of Eastern Assam, in Western Assam, except in West Goalpara, is "Domahi", e.g., "Baihagar Domahi", "Maghar Domahi" and "Katir Domahi".^{3 4} There is hardly any dance and music of the Bihu type so common in Eastern Assam, but a special springtime festival of this region is a fair usually held in the first week of Baihag or third week of April. It is known as "Bhatheli" in northern Kamrup, "Sori" or "Suanri" in southern Kamrup.² In certain areas the breakers of the "bhatheli-ghar" come from another village, resulting in a sort of mock fight between them and the local youth. In the southern part of Kamrup, where the festival is known as Sori, planting of tall bamboos is not seen, but bamboo posts,with the tuft at the top. People bow before the bamboos in northern Kamrup and they also touch them with reverence, but it does not look like any sort of bamboo worship.⁵

Religion

    Hinduism is the major religion of the region. Hinduism is further divided into Vaishnavism and Shaktism. Hindu way of life can be observed in dressing, food and lifestyle, an important aspect of cultural identity for people of the region.  

Language

    According to 2011 census of India, 60,000,00 people of Kamrup region identified themselves as speakers of Assamese language. In first half of seventh century Chinese pilgrimage Yuan Chwang visited the region and wrote about language, which convinced Upendranath Goswami and others that "Assamese entered into Kamarupa or western Assam where this speech was first characterised as Assamese. This is evident from the remarks of Hiuen Tsang who visited the Kingdom of Kamarupa in the first half of the seventh century A.D., during the reign of Bhaskaravarman." Kamrupi language is also acts as lingua franca among other groups of the region.

Music

    The folk songs of Kamrup region is known as Kamrupi Lokgeet. Kamrupi dance form has been evolved from Bhaona. Falguni, Geeta, Karna-Arjuna, Ojhapali etc are forms of Kamrupi dance.⁸

Cuisine

    The Kamrupi food homogenous to certain extent with nearby eastern Indian states. Mustard seeds is generously used in cooking, while ginger, garlic, pepper and onions are extensively used. Traditional utensils are made of bell metal though stainless steel is quite common in modern times.

Sources

1. Barua, Prafulla Chandra (1967), Fragments of a lost picture, Self published, p.viii
2. Goswami, Upendranath (1970), A Study on Kāmrūpī: A Dialect of Assamese, Department of Historical Antiquarian Studies, Assam, p.13,14 Moreover the factors for the integration of different dialects namely war, annual fair, great religious festivals etc., where people of different and adjacent places can mix together and get the chief roughness of different dialects smoothed down, were found lacking between eastern and western Assam. The important festival in eastern Assam called the Bihu festival is not observed in the same manner in western Assam. The Kamrupi word for the festival at the same period is 'dahmi'. The custom of intermarriage between eastern Assam and Kamrup was also not in vogue. Even now-a-days the number of such marriages is not great. In other cultural items also Kamrup and eastern Assam differ considerably. In Kamrup we find 'bhathli', a kind of bamboo worship held in the middle of April. Another interesting custom in Kamrup is the custom of driving mosquitoes in winter in the form of group singing which is known as 'mahoho'. The choral songs, known as 'ojapali, connected with the story of the goddess Manasa, is also confined in western Assam. Manasa even to-day "is a living and powerful cult in Assam and she is worshipped with much adoration and ceremony, particularly in the districts of Kamrup, Goalpara and Darrang". In eastern Assam no parallel is found to these festivals and worship. Thus politically, socially and culturally Kamrup formed a separate unit and its speech also was compelled to take a shape to form a distinct dialect. It is only by chance that this dialect had to lose its prestige and had to remain as a dialect. 
3. Goswami, Praphulla Dutta (1966), The Springtime Bihu of Assam: A Socio-cultural Study, Lawyer's Bookstall, Gauhati, p. 25
4. Bīrendranātha Datta, Nabīnacandra Śarmā, Prabin Chandra Das (1994), A Handbook of Folklore Material of North-East India, Anundoram Borooah Institute of Language, Art & Culture, Assam, p. 158
5. Goswami, Praphulla Dutta (1966), The Springtime Bihu of Assam: A Socio-cultural Study, Lawyer's Bookstall, Gauhati, p. 8 In Assamese the term domahi is more popular than the learned samkranti . Domahi means the junction of two months . Further , in lower Assam , this term tends to replace the use of the name Bihu : the Domahi of Bohag , of Kati , or of Magh .
6. Sarma, Nabinacandra (1988), Essays on the Folklore of North-eastern India, Bani Prokash, p.64
7. Baruah, P. N. Dutta (2007). A contrastive analysis of the morphological aspects of Assamese and Oriya. Central Institute of Indian Languages. p. 10.
8. Banerji, Projesh (1959), The folk-dance of India, Kitabistan, p.72 A new form of dance technique has been evolved from Bhaona which is a sophisticated type of dancing, known as "Kamrupi" dance. Probably this nomenclature was attributed to give a provincial touch to the technique, because it had its birth from Assam. There is a district even now in the State by that name. The famous ""Kamrupi" dances are "Phalguni", "Gita", "Karnarjuna",etc.