Abstract

Identity has many faces. Identity can refer to a social category defined by being a part of a certain community and its characteristics, in which an individual takes pride in being associated with or biological features that an individual takes, which might be naturally endowed, having social consequences. The identities of tribal communities in India have been determined through a historical course of successive change in conceptions related to economic, socio-cultural, ideological and political life. While many identities are forced upon them, many are also developed by the communities indigenously, while articulating their relation with other communities. These forced and self conceived identities play a significant role in formation of solidarities, thereby impacting the entire course of autonomy struggles. The Misings, the second largest tribal community in Assam, have over the years been in constant struggle for autonomy (being granted to tribes) under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, while the community in itself has been battling with various concepts of identity. These identities derived from various processes of assimilation and religious transformations; have impacted the ‘identity struggle’ of the Mising(s) in a major way. This paper seeks to illustrate the various conceptions of Mising identity and changes it has undergone; thereby explaining the role it has played in the Mising autonomy struggle

Introduction

An individual’s self-identity plays a very important role in society. It is through this conception that a person associates oneself with society. In the ongoing process of social transformation, new identities are often constructed while existing identities may mutate or transform, and some might even be rendered obsolete. Erikson, in his theory on personality imagines identity as an internal concept wherein an individual views itself in reference to the outer world. Michael Foucault, while discussing identity, mentions that people do not have a ‘real’ identity within themselves; that is just a way of talking about the self – a discourse. For him, an ‘identity’ is communicated to others in your interactions with them, but this is not a fixed thing within a person. It is a shifting, temporary construction. On the same line, Hoggs and Abrams define, ‘Identity as people’s concepts of who they are, of what sort of people they are, and how they relate to others’ (Hogg and Abrams 1988, 2 reproduced in ‘What Is Identity?).

The tribes in India have undergone major processes of identity transformation and these changes have played a major role in the system of articulation and hence the language of social movements in North-East India. According to Xaxa, “The initial discourse on tribal identity was shaped by those who advocate integration of tribes as citizens of a nation state and others who sought their assimilation into the Hindu fold. But identity definition for tribes in the early post-independent years has been largely a process from without. While the state made efforts to draw tribes into the national sphere, other elements, chiefly, right wing groups, advocated measures that would restore to the tribes their ancient heritage. It is in more recent times, with the advent of education, threats posed to tribal ways of living by other dominant groups and by demands imposed by development that tribal identity articulation is becoming a process directed from within the tribal community, spearheaded by a growing middle class. Such articulation has not merely been in the form of demands for some degree of political autonomy but has also seen initiatives to ensure the protection and development of tribal language, customs and culture”.

Every tribe in North East India has had their own distinct history, culture and language, which have formed very important factors in the formation of their identity and a sense of ethnicity different from others. T.K. Oomen, while defining ethnicity mentions that the crucial attributes of an ethnic group is shared culture, uprooted from homeland, but that of a ‘nation’ is common territory. But an ethnic group may become a nation by developing psychological identification with and having successful moral and political claim over a territory. In North East India, those groups which evoke ‘ethnic consciousness’ or shared cultural traits are not necessarily uprooted from or unattached to their ancestral homeland. In constant engagement with other larger communities, the ethnic consciousness among the northeastern tribes increased, thereby leading to articulation into demands for separate territory of their own. Today the tribes in Assam demand for territorial and administrative autonomy within the institution of state. In the later sections, I talk about the various phases of identity formation in Assam, thereby tracing changes in the cultural identity of the Misings and outlining its impact on their autonomy movement.

Formation of Tribal Identity in Assam

Assam since its formation and division into various other states has seen quite a few tribal movements for autonomy. Some of the important ones have been the Bodo movement for territorial autonomy and the Mising movement for autonomy. While the Bodo movement has been militant in nature, the Misings are yet to resort to a violent form. If put under the framework of the Indian Constitution, both these movements (and others like Koch, Deoris and Tai-Ahoms demand for autonomy) can be categorized under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which promises protection and provisions for self administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Tribal identity has passed through various phases over changing circumstances and times. In order to understand the nature of contemporary social formations, it is helpful to do so on the basis of three definable phases or periods: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial or post-Independence period. As will be evident, in each of these periods conditions proved to be rather different for emergent social formations. Historically speaking, the hill tribes of northeastern India were neither a part of India nor Assam prior to British colonization of the region. However, different tribes living in the northeastern hill region had some trade relations with the neighboring people of the Brahmaputra valley. They maintained their own distinct tribal culture, tradition, taboos and social systems which were quite different from those of the people of the valley. The major hill tribes of undivided Assam were the Nagas, Mizos, Khasis, Garos, Karbis and Dimasa Kacharis. They had their own small states which were perpetuated without significant interference from outside. This was due to their location in the areas geographically isolated and different from the Brahmaputra valley. Almost all the tribes are held to be the remnants of primitive or ancient Mongolian migrants to this region. They established themselves in their present homeland in the remotest past. Needless to say, the tribals are undoubtedly the original natives of Assam. Even in the non-tribal dominated Brahmaputra valley today, it was the Bodo-Kachari tribals who created the first culture and civilization and in a real sense they are the first natives of the valley (Hossain, 2002). Also during the Ahom Rule, the tribes had a cordial relationship with the kings and chiefs and often engaged in trade with the Ahoms. Post the breakdown of the Ahom Kingdom; many princely states were formed with each fighting against one another. The state was in chaos and major unrest was seen among communities fighting each other. It was at this time that Srimanta Sankardeva, an Assamese Vaishnavite socio-religious reformer and saint, decided to take up the initiative of integrating all the ‘conflicting communities’, especially the Ahoms and the Koch under a single thread of unity, creating a religion that gave shape to a new set of values and social synthesis. Thus, he introduced Vaishnavism, which later formed the bedrock of Assamese culture. It can be safely assumed here, that this was the first institutionalized approach to Assamese Nationalism and the formation of a larger Assamese Nationality.

Post the annexation of Assam in 1826 during the Anglo Burmese war, the people of the state were brought in to contact with other parts of India. Immediately after annexation, Assam was brought under the Bengal Presidency and the British began to make administrative arrangements for communities living in Assam. The entry of Christian missionaries into the North East region also marked the religious and cultural reorganization of various communities in Assam. With regards to tribes, the impact of British administration became manifest through various means and measures such as the introduction of the Inner Line Regulation in 1873 and the declaration of most hill areas as ‘Excluded Areas’ under the provision of Government of India Act, 1935. Most tribal communities of the hills thus remained cut off from social and political developments taking place elsewhere. Mention must also be made of impressive population movements into the region during the British period, unleashed by the imperatives of colonial administration and economy. In the context of an organized colonial economy with fairly strict monitoring of exploitable resources, coupled with immigration of diverse groups within a short period, the earlier resilience of the regional social system was lost forever. Each community tended to become a rigid social formation and this was to the utmost advantage of the colonial rulers. The accentuation of tribal – non-tribal differences and the formation of rigid social blocks out of indigenous castes and communities as well as recent migrants were important developments in the colonial period.

The Mising Fight for Autonomy

The Misings are the second largest tribe in Assam with a population of more than 1.2 million. The Misings are identified as ‘Miri’ in the Indian Constitution- a name that the Misings consider derogatory as it is an exonym and a label given by non-Mising Assamese communities. There have been efforts made by the community to change the name given in the Constitution. However, this will not be elaborated here.

The Misings today find themselves at crossroads owing to a rapid process of acculturation and ‘modernization’. According to Dr. Basanta Doley, “The Misings are undergoing a stage of social transition as a consequence of their co-habitation with non-Mising communities in the plains for centuries now. Caught up between the waves of modernity and traditionalism, they are in a dilemma where to move – i.e. towards the challenges that are brought about by technological advancement and rapid socio economic development or retreat backwards to be preserved in a museum as specimen of an antique piece. A fear-psychosis of being vanished is creeping in the minds of the people of the tribe. Their distinctive language and rich cultural heritage that needs to be fostered has not been adequately safeguarded by the Governments on the one hand and new challenges resulting from globalization are emerging in every walk of life on the other”.

The Misings, originally a hill tribe inhabiting the Himalayan region of North East India were believed to have migrated to the plains of Assam during the 13th and the 14th century. They lived in distinct isolation and were intact to their own traditional ways of life. Thus, very less can be known about their origin and most of their history has been traced from folk tales and oral folklore. None of the epigraphs so far discovered in this region and those discovered outside, but containing reference to the history of ancient and medieval Assam, possess any information about the tribe (Kuli,1998). The Mising’s do not even find mention in the Vedas and the other Aryan scriptures. There are descriptions of certain tribes inhabiting the northern Brahmaputra who had traits similar to that of the modern day Misings. The Kalika Purana mentions a tribe with shaven heads and yellow skin. They were strong, ferocious, ignorant and addicted to meat and drink, which are but genuinely indicative of the Mising culture.

Literary writings of the medieval period, mainly the Vaishnavite and Ahom chronicles, make frequent mention of the Miris and their relations with Vaishnavite saints and Ahom kings. During the Chutiya kingdom, the Misings were called Chutiya Miris. The Chutiyas were the rulers of Assam before they were defeated by the Ahom king Suhungmung Dihingia Raja (1497-1539) in 1523 A.D. The Chutiyas were devastated and were also chased away which marked the beginning of the Misings Plain life. All records mention the Misings as the residents of the hills and it is believed that the Misings started to reside during the time of Sankardeva and the Vaishnavite movement. Sankardeva, the great reformer and saint of medieval times found Paramananda who was converted into Vaishanvism. Many of the followers of Vaishanvism among the modern Misings are the followers of Paramananda. The Ahoms came into contact with the Misings through trade and political affairs. The Misings also formed a vital part of the Ahom army and also were recruited in various important positions. The Persian historian Shihabuddin Talish who accompanied the Nawab Mir Jumla when he invaded Assam in 1662 describes that though the Misings did not pay tribute to the Ahoms they accepted their sovereignty and also followed their order. (Kuli, J.J. 1998 pp.15).

Doley further mentions that the Misings, owing to reasons like forced assimilation into Assamese culture, deceitful land policy, erroneous implementation of the Tribal Sub plan, deprivation etc., led to the growth of the Autonomy movement among the Misings. The Misings were also a part of the demand for tribal land as early as 1933, which also coincided with the formation of ‘The Asom Miri Chatra Sanmilon’. It was renamed Northbank Mising Students Union (Northbank implies the north bank of the river Brahmaputra in Assam) during the post independence period. In the year 1951 the organization was renamed as Murkongchelek Transferred Area Mising Student Union. The Southerbank Mising Student Union was formed in 1959.

Collaborating with the NEFA (present day Arunachal) the Assam-NEFA Mising Student Union was formed in 1971. These organizations together formed the All Assam Mising Student Union in 1978. The contribution of the organization during this period was significant in the sense that it could give recognition to Mising nationality by allocating a fixed date every year for celebration of their main festival Ali-Aye-Li’gang. The organization in consultation with several other Mising entities fixed the first Wednesday of the Assamese month Phagun as the day for celebration of the festival. Prior to this, the festival was celebrated at different times depending on the onset of rain and condition of cultivable land. After they fixed the date, the organization insisted and facilitated the community to celebrate the festival in an extensive manner with extensive community participation. Likewise, another festival Do:bur Puja was also treated with the same spirit. This act of revivalism had a great impact on Mising solidarity formation as people of different places and regions came in contact with each other, creating a feeling of oneness among them. Along with this, the organization used electronic media (audio and video facilities) to record and propagates Mising oral traditions, performing arts, dance forms and other traditional ritualistic practices to a great extent.

In association with the Mising Agom Kebang (Mising Sahitya Sabha), the student organizations also tried to spread Mising language in a refined and scientific way. They also demanded the Roman script as the script for the Mising language. The demand for inclusion of the Mising community under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution was raised at the Conference of Student Union on 14 and 15 th September 1982. The organization handed over a Memorandum to the Chief Minister of Assam demanding that the Mising language be recognized as one of the state languages and the medium of instruction in primary schools in Mising dominated areas of the state. At the 22nd to 24th February 1985 meet, student union was renamed Takam Mising Parin Kebang (TMPK).

May 5th was designated as Demand Day for the community. After a lot of agitation, passing of demands and memorandums, the Government of Assam allowed Mising language to be taught in primary schools in the Mising dominated areas. Prior to that, a new organization named Agom Miming Kebang was formed at the behest of the students’ union and other organizations of the community. The organization also demanded that the All India Radio broadcast news in the Mising language and increase the time slot for the Mising program. Takam Mising Mime’ Kebang, a Mising women’s organization was also formed to propagate and to look into the cultural aspects of Mising nationality.

The 1990s brought immense conflict due to vested political interests amongst Mising organizations. In the latter half of 1994 (August and September), the Assam Government invited and presented a modified proposal for autonomy to the Mising organizations. The TMPK disagreed with the clauses put forth. First, inclusion of villages having 50 percent and above Mising population into the council – TMPK felt that these could be treated as Core Areas of the Mising Autonomous Council (MAC) and the villages outside as Satellite Areas. Second, instead of a boundary-less council, TMPK proposed a territorial council which would include all areas. Third that the MAC to be included in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and for it to be removed from the purview of the Panchayat (Doley, 2010).

The demands were not met, instead the Government of Assam under Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia, created a new organization called “Mising Autonomy Demand Committee” in March 1995. In April 1995, thousands of Mising people participated in a protest rally against this organization. The people chose to boycott the annual conference of the Mising Bane Ke’bang, the apex organization of the Misings. On 21st April an Assam Bandh was declared for 60 hours, nearly ten thousand people marched towards Bilmukh, where the Chief Minister was to announce the creation of Mising Autonomy against the consent of Mising parent organizations. In a scuffle Congress workers attacked some of the marchers, the police opened fire and two TMPK activists were killed, while several wounded.

Torture and arrest of members of the TMPK were initiated by the disgruntled government as they were not able to form the Council. Seizing this opportunity, amidst the chaos and political turmoil members of the MADC and the Bane Kebang signed a MoU on 14th June 1995 for the Mising Autonomous Council. An ad-hoc committee to the MAC was formed with Laksminath Panging as its Chairman. Despite the Congress losing the General Assembly elections in 1996, this committee continued.

In 2001 the Congress party came into power once again, by this time the Mising Bane Kebang was restricted and new members had taken charge. On July 21st 2002, meetings were held between the Plain Tribal Welfare Department of Assam and the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK), Mising Mimag Kebang (MMK), Mising Bane Kebang (MBK) and Mising Autonomous Council (MAC), who agreed to identify core areas and Satellite areas as proposed by the Assam Gana Parishad (AGP) government.

Today, the community still continues to fight for protection under the Sixth Schedule through non-violent means. The TMPK still leads the struggle. Owing to increasing globalization and adoption of a neo-liberal mode of development, the TMPK today not only leads the Mising autonomy movement, but also collaborates with other student organizations in Assam to fight against the ‘capitalistic mode of development’. For instance, the Misings today are an integral part of the movement against the construction of dams in North East as it is displacing millions of people in the region. Thus, the entry of a capitalistic mode of development is also altering the characteristics of the movement itself. Currently the TMPK – the leading organization in the fight for Mising autonomy finds itself partnering with various other student organizations like the All Assam Students Unions (AASU), Krishak Mukti Shramik Sangathan (KMSS), Rabha Students Organizations etc. to fight against the constructions of dams in Assam. Issues like displacement, flood control etc. gain the same amount of importance as self – rule and territorial protection in the movement now.

Changing Conceptions of Mising Identity and its Impact on the Fight for Autonomy

While the Misings continue to struggle for Sixth Schedule status; fragmentations based on social, political and religious affiliations plague the movement itself. Various factors like acculturation, assimilation, conversion and neo-liberal development has impacted the conceptions of identity among the Misings in a very large way. These changing conceptions hitherto have itself shaped the course and mobilization strategy of the Mising autonomy movement over the years.

As mentioned in the preceding sections, the Mising migrated from the hills to the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley due to harsh living conditions in the hills. Soon after migrating, the Mising people adopted various practices of the plains to ‘blend well’ with the people of the plains and be accepted. One of the first attempts of nation building in Assam began with the introduction of neo-Vaishnavism by Sri Manta Sankardeva. Sankardeva used a mobilization strategy of uniting all the tribes and communities in Assam under one religion – Ek Sharan Naam Dharma which can be equated with the Hindu religion. The acceptance of Vaishnavism brought in considerable changes in the animistic nature and practices of the tribes, leading to considerable refinement of food and other cultural habits to adhere to the norms of Vaishnavism. Interestingly, the Misings did not try to leave their identity as a tribe; yet they were attracted towards the liberal policies and relatively easy norms and practices of neo-Vaishnavism. Also there was the pressure to blend well and be accepted in the community. Thus, the Misings evolved a structure which was a blend of traditional rituals and the norms of Vaishnavism, thereby being accepted into the larger Assamese society. In fact a reformer named Paramananda, who was one of the favorite disciples of Srimanta Sankardeva, was from the Mising Community.

During the British period, Christian missionaries started engaging with the tribes in the North East. The Misings too were impacted, though not on a larger scale. Today, a considerable number of Misings have converted into Christianity. Interesting to note is that such conversions have led to an identity crisis as many of those who converted are not yet mentally ready to totally discard traditional practices and belief systems. Also, the classification of Misings as different from the larger Assamese society and creation of different administrative categories led to an emergence of a different kind of ‘self conception’ among the Misings. Thus it led to the creation of student organizations that started to fight to lead their own course of development and protection of their culture. When we trace the course of the Mising autonomy movement, most of it has been intertwined with issues of protection of culture and territory within the institutions of the larger Assam state.

Post independence and reorganization of Assam, the aggressive process of nation building under the aegis of Assamese language, left the tribes threatened. Tribals, in most cases could not find a proper place in the rapidly changing socio-cultural situation. Deprivation in the political, economic and socio-cultural sphere led them to a problem of self-identity. A keen desire to regain their social status and group solidarity united the tribal people to get involved in a movement – which was sometimes socio-cultural or sometimes political, in varying magnitude.

Moreover, owing to threats to their culture and language (as mentioned above) the Misings started fighting for the protection of their indigenous language and introduction of their language within academic curriculum. The Bodos were successful in their attempt and were able to make Bodo a language included in the academic curriculum in Assam. The Misings have been constantly fighting for the same and after considerable efforts a few schools have introduced Mising till the primary level.

Post independence the tribes were classified into Hill tribes and Plain tribes. While the hill tribes were granted protections, the plain tribes were not. Thus, plain tribes like the Misings and Bodos started fighting for protection of their identity. The Misings who were actually a Hill tribe were to be integrated into NEFA (presently Arunachal Pradesh) and given protection of territory and their distinct culture. But post independence, the Misings were integrated into Assam with a promise that they will be ‘eventually’ granted Sixth Schedule status. The promise is yet to be fulfilled and the community continues to fight for it.

A clear analysis of mobilization strategies of the Misings highlights a very strong linkage with cultural identity and the autonomy movement. The TMPK has undertaken strategies like demand for inclusion of Mising language in academic curriculum and observation of community rituals and festivals to develop solidarity among the Misings. These strategies have played a significant role in redefining Mising nationality and solidarity formation. This has also helped mobilize people for their much expected political space in the contemporary democratic process of the country. The autonomous status was sought to develop the community it in every sphere of life – politically, economically, socially and morally. Whether they have achieved their goal is another issue; their traditional beliefs and practices, attachment to their traditional language and life ways has helped them escape a total collapse in the contemporary age of assimilation, detribalization and globalization. It is to be stated that while their traditional attachment helped them in solidarity formation, their inclination towards Vaishnavism and Christianity has served the purpose of adaptability with the non-traditional domain.

Current Trends and Consequences of the Mising Autonomy Movement

While the fight for autonomy continues, it has created large scale impacts, both internal and external to the community. Often other communities residing within Mising Autonomous areas feel threatened about their existence and view the Misings as antagonistic to their interests, thereby creating a situation of turmoil and tension. Even collaborations with the other communities like formation of the ‘Gana Shakti Party’ – a political party coalition between Misings and other communities – has not been able to allay the fears of ‘other communities’. Thus, constant calling of bandhs against the Mising movement are on the increase. The Misings are also constantly re-shaping their autonomy struggle and find themselves in a perplexing situation. Questions on ‘how much do they exactly assimilate?’ and ‘to what extent do they enjoy the fruits of modernity?’ are being asked among themselves.

Cultural protection immensely impacts the autonomy struggle, as the movement itself is contextualized on the concept of protection of culture and territory. Thus, the Misings are experiencing a strong wave of revivalism of tribal norms and tradition. Re-establishment of age-old traditions and customs, propagation of traditional cultural activities, cultural heritage and ethnic sentiments are some of the ways in which the concerned persons and organizations of the Misings are reviving the tribal identity and morale. These aspects are to a great extent more political in nature. They have understood that in the contemporary form of democracy, political space is vital to existence with dignity.

When discussing the revivalist movement among the Mising, two schools of thought come into play. The modernist approach justifies the entry of globalization and does not see it as a threat to the indigenous culture. They accept that mutations are a fact of life and maintaining a completely exclusive way of identity in the modern global age is purely impossible. Thus, for them the re-shaping of Mising culture is nothing but natural and one cannot necessarily keep holding on to age-old beliefs which might not necessarily have any scientific value in the modern day. On the other hand, the conservationist approach is wary of too much proximity to the globalized world. According to them this proximity has led young Misings to blatantly discard age-old beliefs as ‘unscientific’ and convert into various religions, putting the future of the indigenous culture in danger. In fact, the huge number of conversions of Misings to Christianity in the river island of Majuli has not gone down well among the conservationists.

It is interesting to note that the Misings are neither totally modernist nor entirely conservationist. They seek to adopt a middle path. While, conservationists found themselves too obsessed in maintaining the purity of the Mising belief system; modernists found themselves lost in the rat race. Thus they felt the need to revive its roots. This gave rise to the revivalist movement with the fundamental aim of reviving age-old traditions with minor modifications and changes, so that it can adapt to the changing environment. One very important aspect of these revivalist movements is that they are led by young and educated people who have understood the religion objectively and tried to modify it to the erstwhile existing circumstances. They believe that cultural revivalism would provide solidarity among the communities thereby giving impetus to the fight for autonomy.

Concluding Remarks

Socio-cultural and political assertion is very much possible by means of solidarity formation with the help of such traditional entities. The idea of ‘self through other’, can become an enabling cultural quality of self assertion and one can see in the above examples how it is through an internalization of dominant categories that subsequent recasting occurs. Constant inter-linkages need to be drawn between the dynamics of identity formation and the demand for autonomy.

The radical re-arrangement and re-aligning trends in many parts of the North East depict the various realities of linguistic oppression, unequal development and marginalization, which are leading to transformation created through ethno political encounters, as witnessed in Mising and Bodo culture. This is leading to the formation of a need for new identities and further demands being re-articulated. The quest for cultural separateness and political self-determination is thus being revisited by communities themselves through their localized movements.

Though one cannot deny that there is a need to bargain for political representation and political space of smaller communities in the mainstream political domain at the moment, its vibrancy can only perhaps be achieved by means of social mobilization. As Sonowal (2009) mentions, their aspirations should be seen rather as prerequisites for distributive justice, to which no nation state can neglect. Indian path of institutional adjustments aimed at winning over and changing the opinion of hostile ethnic groups and extending special safeguards to hill states have helped solve ethnic problems to a great extent. These need to be extended even to the plain tribes like the Misings.

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The Ahoms are people of Assam who are the descendants of the ethnic Tai people that accompanied the Tai prince Sukaphaa into the Brahmaputra valley in 1228 and ruled the area for six centuries. Sukaphaa and his followers established the Ahom kingdom (1228-1826) and the Ahom dynasty ruled and expanded the kingdom until the British gained control of the region through the Treaty of Yandabo upon winning the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1826. The kingdom established by the Ahom people gave Assam its name

http://ignca.nic.in/nl002003.htm accessed on the 4th of March, 2013 at 22.00 P.M.

Pegu M, 2013: The Misings need a Cultural Revolution.

Weblink: http://www.voiceoftheoppressed.in/from-the-margins/the-misings-need-a-cultural-revolution/