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An ideal meeting ground for diverse races, Assam gave shelter to streams
of human waves carrying with them distinct cultures and trends of civilization.
Austro-Asiatics, Negritos, Dravidians, Alpines, Indo-mongoloids, Tibeto-Burmese
and Aryans penetrated into Assam through different routes and contributed
in their own way towards the unique fusion of a new community which came
to be known in later history as the Assamese. Assam, however, remained
predominantly a land of the Tibeto-Burmese. The vast section of the people
of Assam belong to either to this stock or owe their origin to the fusion
of this stock with other racial groups. In Assam (excluding the Surma
valley) and north-east Bengal, the Dravidian type has, to a great
extent, been replaced by the Mongolian, while in the Surma valley and
the rest of Bengal a mixture of races has taken place in which the recognizable
Mongolian element diminishes towards the west and disappears altogether
before Bihar is reached.
There has been racial intermixture among the population of
Assam. The Mongoloid racial stock have large number of tribes. Their physical
features are described as "a short head, a broad nose, a flat and
comparatively hairless face, a short but muscular figure and a yellow
skin." But there are numerous other races also. Traces of the Negroid
are to be found among the Nagas. The Khasis who speak Austric language
belong to the proto-australoids. The Kaibartas and the Banias of Assam
are said to be descendants of the Dravidians. They are distinguished by
"a long head, large and dark eyes, a fairly strong beard, a black
or nearly black colour and a very broad nose, depressed at the base, but
not so as to make the face look flat". Then there are the Aryans,
with a long head, tall and well-built, having a fine, long and prominent
nose and a fair complexion, who came to Assam from across Bihar and Bengal.
All these peculiarities of physiognomy one will encounter in Assam.
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Mongoloid races
 Numerous
mongoloid races inhabit the hills and plains of Assam. One among them
is the Nagas, who now have their own state, Nagaland. Another race is
the Mikirs, who live in the Karbi Anglong (formerly the Mikir hills) district
of Assam. The Bodos or Boros are the most noteworthy Mongoloid people
in eastern India. The Bodo language which falls under the Tibeto-Burman
Sub-family of the Sino-Tibetan languages has greatly influenced the Assamese
language in its development. They first settled in the Brahmaputra valley
and then slowly spread to various other places. The Mizos or Lushais of
Mizoram, formerly a district of the state are migrants from the chin hills
and speak a Kuki-Chin tongue of the Tibeto-Burman sub-family of the Sino-Tibetan
languages. The Lalungs are another Mongoloid group that live in the Nowgong
district.
The Chutiyas, a tribe later Hindus and speaking a Bodo tongue,
are mainly confined to the extreme north-east of the state, above the
Subansiri river and in the Sadiya area just below the Arunachal (NEFA)
hills. The Miris or Mishings, are another colourful Mongoloid tribe who,
like the Chutiyas inhabit the riverine areas of Lakhimpur, Sibsagar and
Darrang districts. The Koches ,whose dynasties ruled north Bengal and
west Assamese till the 17th century, are described as western Bodos of
Mongoloid stock as against Eastern Bodos, the Chutiyas and the Kacharis.
They have adopted Hinduism and the Assamese language. The Koches are scattered
all over the Brahmaputra valley. The Morans or Mataks are another
mongoloid people who ruled in the extreme east prior to the Ahoms. They
are largely concentrated in the eastern most parts of Lakhimpur district,
in the territory lying between Dilrugarh and Saikhowaghat, south of the
Brahmaputra, near Sadiya. The Morans are to be found in part of the districts
of Darrang and the Sibsagar also.
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Ahoms
The Ahoms are the only Mongoloid race whose
arrival in Assam is historically recorded. This is because they came very
late, viz, in 1228 AD. and they recorded their own activities in the chronicles
called 'Buranjis', meaning 'store -house of unknown things'. The Ahoms
spoke Chinese-Siamese. In upper Burma and western Yunnan, they had styled
themselves as Shans. The Ahoms, though scattered all over the valley,
are concentrated in Sibsagar district, the seat of their administration.
Assam, the present name of the state, is in all probability an Ahom contribution.
The other Shan tribes who followed the Ahoms along the same Patksi Range
route are the Khamtis, Naras, Phakials, Aitaniyas,Turungs and Khamjangs,
all Buddhists. The Ahoms were the only non-Buddhists. The Aryan Hindus
of Assam are numerous with their sub-sects. Principal castes or
classes of people of Assam, excluding the tribes are: Brahmana, Kayastha,
Kalita, Koch, Keot, Ganaka or Daivajna, Kaibarta, Kumara Hari, the
last two being potters. This classification is based on old records and
present social conditions. They inhabit every nook and corner of the plains.
They originally came to Assam from the west like other Aryan
descendants of northern India, they are also tall and fair. The Kalitas
are agriculturists by profession, though during Ahom rule they proved
their might as soldiers also. The Brahmanas and Kayasthas are generally
given to intellectual pursuits such as learning, diplomacy, statecraft
and religious teaching. It is they who are largely responsible for propagating
the scriptures, building up literature and developing the Assamese language.
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