Garo (people)

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Young Garo woman in festival clothing (2011)
Young Garo man in festival clothing (2011)

The Garo - their own name A'chik ("mountain people"), in Bangladesh also Mandi - are an indigenous people in the border area between northeast India and Bangladesh. Most of the approximately 1 million Indian Garo live in the state of Meghalaya (as of 2011), in the neighboring Bangladesh in 2005 around 120,000 Garo were counted, especially in the Maimansingh district . The designation as "Garo" is used more by members of other ethnic groups. The speakers of the Garo language are estimated to be around 1.1 million.

population

In 6  Indian states , the resident Garo are recognized as Scheduled Tribe (ST: "registered tribal community"), to which state protection and support measures are entitled according to the Indian constitution . A total of 1,000,500 Garo members determined the census in India 2011 in the 7 ST.

The largest ST is in Meghalaya (821,000 members). In Assam there is a small Garo-ST (25,300) within the autonomous district ( autonomous district) and a large Garo ST outside (136100). In Tripura (13,000) the ST is called "Garoo", in Mizoram 756 Garo are recognized as a separate Scheduled Tribe (part of the following overall calculations , but not listed separately).

The following list compares social indicators of the resident Garo tribal communities in 5 out of 6 states:

  • Population of the state (see comparison list of Indian states )
  • Garo: a total of 1 million in India (+ 120,000 in neighboring Bangladesh in 2005)
  • Population development from 2001: India-wide growth of 38% (from 725,500; population growth in India: + 17.6%)
  • Share of the respective population - all Garo groups together make up 0.08% of the population of India (1,210,855,000)
  • rural areas - only 10% of all Garo live in cities (India-wide: 31%)
  • Gender distribution : number of female to 1000 male persons (balanced would be 1000: 1000) - with 988 the Garo are well above the Indian average (943)
  • Under 7: Children from 0 to 6 years and their gender distribution from girls to 1000 boys - here too the Garo are higher than India (919: 1000) with 972
  • Reading ability (from 7 years), also for men (♂) and women (♀), as well as the gap between the two - the Garo with almost 73% alphabets are just below the average values ​​of India (74%: 82% ♂ and 65% ♀ = 17% gap)
  • ST (Scheduled Tribes): the registration as a "tribal community" only applies to the residents of a state (see ST list ) - the 7 ST of the Garo (out of 705 ST) make up almost 1% of all ST members in India (compare the 33 largest indigenous peoples of India )
State Peoples Garo From 2001 onwards proportion of rural Female under 7 Female read ♂ ♀ gap ST proportion of
36 IndiaIndia India 1,210.9 million 01,000,511 + 37.9% 0.08% 89.63% 988  : 1000 18.45% 972  : 1000 72.55% 76.56% 68.51% 8.0  % 7th 0.96%
1 Meghalaya 3.0 million 821.026 + 19.1% 27.70%0 88.36% 988: 1000 18.85% 976: 1000 71.85% 76.04% 67.62% 8.4% 1 82.06%
2 Assam 31.2 million 136.077 New 0.44% 96.27% 984: 1000 16.65% 947: 1000 76.57% 79.44% 73.67% 5.8% 1 13.60%
3 Assam (Aut. District) 31.2 million 25,315 + 19.9% 0.08% 96.88% 996: 1000 17.61% 956: 1000 64.23% 68.07% 60.40% 7.7% 1 2.53%
4th Tripura 3.7 million 12,952 + 15.8% 0.35% 90.86% 1021: 10000 14.85% 951: 1000 88.10% 92.35% 84.00% 8.4% 1 1.29%
5 Nagaland 2.0 million 2,346 + 48.3% 0.12% 77.96% 898: 1000 15.17% 924: 1000 78.19% 83.25% 72.52% 10.7% 1 0.23%
6th West Bengal 91.4 million 2,039 + 6.5% 0.002% 83.67% 1045: 10000 11.72% 975: 1000 77.78% 81.85% 73.92% 7.9% 1 0.20%

language

The Garo language belongs to the Bodo branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages . Garo has been written in Latin script since the 19th century. Customs , traditions and beliefs are transmitted orally.

The 2011 census in India indicates 1,145,300 Garo speakers, of which 1,125,300 are Garo members and 20,000 others. The language lexicon Ethnologue states: 1,270,000 Garo speakers, 1,150,000 of them in India (2011) and 120,000 in Bangladesh (2005).

Matrilinearity

The Garo follow a matrilineal rule of descent , often combined with a matrilocal rule of succession for married couples, with the husband moving to the wife or their mother. Customs had developed within the matrilineal social order, but they lost their importance with the introduction of Christianity and are hardly to be found today. This includes the "groom kidnapping", in which bachelors were kidnapped by women willing to marry and held until the day of the wedding. Occasionally there are still cases of mother-daughter polygyny , mostly for economic reasons. If a woman widows early and cannot farm her land on her own, she has the right to seek a replacement from her deceased husband's clan. The condition is occasionally made that the marriage also includes a daughter of the widow.

Indigenous religion "Songsarek"

The traditional religion of the Garo was animistic (belief in the universal soul). Most Garo were from the late 19th century by Catholic missionaries Christian missionary . Yet many still practice the rituals of their old religion. In Bangladesh, the Garo are a small religious minority in a predominantly Islamic country.

music

The musical instruments of the Garo are classified according to their use in entertaining or ceremonial music. The best-known instrument, which, due to a religious prohibition, may only be used ritually, is the double-headed tubular drum dama , and the kettle drum dimdima also belongs to this category . Its body used to be made of wood, but today it is usually replaced by a clay drum called nagra , belonging to the group of naqqaras . The gong rang is a symbol for wealthy families. The percussive tubular zither chigring is used to accompany songs and entertainment dances . Simple natural trumpets are the buffalo horn adil with an attached long bamboo tube and the same horn called singga with a short piece of bamboo. The sarinda is a one- to two-stringed representative of the stringed lute that is widespread in northern India.

literature

  • 1999: Sankar Kumar Roy: Culture summary: Garo. HRAF Press, New Haven CT, USA 1999 (English; detailed ethnographic overview from the HRAF research project, with literature; overview ; 1996 version on encyclopedia.com).
  • 2009: Barbara A. West: A'chik (Garo). In: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-8160-7109-8 , pp. 21/22 ( page views on Google).

Documentation

  • 2001: Uschi Madeisky , Klaus Werner: Drumming of Love - Groom robbery among the Garo in India. (Documentation, 60 min.) Colorama film for NDR television, Germany 2001 ( info ).

Web links

Commons : Garo  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Sankar Kumar Roy: Garo. In: Encyclopedia of World Cultures. USA 1996 (English; detailed ethnographic overview from the HRAF research project, with literature).
  • State Information: The People: Garos. In: West Garo Hills District, State of Meghalaya. National Informatics Center, Tura, Meghalaya 2019 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Numbers of 1,000,511 Garo recognized as 7 ST in 6 states (2011): Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Statistics Division: Statistical Profile of Scheduled Tribes in India 2013. Government of India, New Delhi 2013, p. 142 and 152–158 (English; PDF: 18.1 MB, 448 pages on tribal.nic.in).
  2. ^ A b c Ethnologue entry: Garo: A language of India. 2018, accessed June 21, 2019; Quote: “Population: 1,150,000 in India (2011 census). Total users in all countries: 1,270,000. […] 120,000 in Bangladesh (2005). "
  3. ↑ Robbins Burling: The Language of the Modhupur Mandi (Garo), Volume 1. Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor 2003, p. 9 (English; overview: doi: 10.3998 / spobooks.bbv9808.0001.001 ; side view or full text PDF: 1.5 MB; 407 pages on umich.edu).
  4. ↑ a b 1.145.323 Garo spokesman according to Census of India 2011: Paper 1 of 2018: Language - India, States and Union Territories (Table C-16). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2018, p. 8: Table Statement 1, Part-B: Languages ​​not Specified in the Eighth Schedule (Non-Scheduled Languages) (English; PDF: 945 kB, 52 p . on censusindia.gov.in);
    Quote: "Garo [-speaker]: 11,45,323 - Garo [-relatives]: 11,25,359 - Others: 19,964".
  5. ↑ Numbers of the individual Garo-ST per country (2011): Census of India 2011: A-11: Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2019 (English; download overview );
    → 6 national Excel tables: Meghalaya , Assam , Tripura , Nagaland , West Bengal , Mizoram
  6. ↑ There were 689,639 Garo in the 2001 census - for the numbers of the individual Garo-ST per state, see Census of India 2001: ST-14: Scheduled Tribe Population by Religious Community (for each tribe separately). The Registrar General & Census Commissioner India, New Delhi 2014 (English);
    → 6 national Excel tables: Census Digital Library. Instructions: First, select the census year "2001", then on the screen where Tabulations plan of Census Year - 2011 below the point Special Tables for Scheduled Tribes (ST Series) click, from ST 9 to ST-16 Select then ST-14: Click     Scheduled tribe population by religious community and select the desired state from the long list that appears or from the pull-down menu: Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, West Bengal, Mizoram - there the members of the individual Scheduled Tribes per state in detailed XLS Excel tables listed alphabetically, including the Garo.
    Important: Only "ST.htm" is offered as the download name - here the name must be adapted to "ST state name .xls" before each saving in order to avoid overwriting and to be able to load it as an Excel table.
  7. ↑ a b Abigail Haworth: The Observer Bangladesh: "My mother and I are married to the same man": matrilineal marriage in Bangladesh. In TheGuardian.com. London, June 2, 2013, accessed June 21, 2019.
    Haworth reports here on a case in Bangladesh in which the Garo marriage of a widow in her mid-twenties to a 17-year-old also included her then three-year-old daughter.
  8. ^ Sankar Kumar Roy: Garo. In: Encyclopedia of World Cultures. USA 1996, accessed on June 21, 2019 (English; detailed ethnographic overview from the HRAF research project, with literature).
  9. ^ Government information: The People: Garos. In: West Garo Hills District, State of Meghalaya. National Informatics Center, Tura, Meghalaya 2019, accessed June 21, 2019.
  10. ↑ Barbara A. West: A'chik (Garo). In: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-8160-7109-8 , pp. 21/22 ( page views on Google).
  11. ↑ Lexicon entry: Garo Musical Instruments. In: Nikhil Ghosh (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India. Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī. Volume 1: A-G. Oxford University Press, New Delhi 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-565098-3 , pp. 335-339.