History of Social Change among the Bodo-Kachari Tribes of Assam During the Pre-Independence Period

Asha Basumatary

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.63598

History of Social Change among the Bodo-Kachari Tribes of Assam During the Pre-Independence Period

Author(s)	Dr. Asha Basumatary
Country	India
Abstract	The paper explores the historical context of social change that occurred through religious conversion among the Bodo-Kacharis of Assam during India’s pre-independence period. The Bodo-Kacharis were once one of the most powerful tribes of Assam, who preserved their unique cultures, traditions and customs along with the traditional Bathou religion for ages. Before independence, they faced new ideas and values from many institutionalized religions, such as Neo-Vaishnavism, Christianity and Brahma dharma as well as other minor sects, which made inroads into their society. The advent of these religions among them is so significant that it made immense contributions to the socio-cultural, economic and political changes in their society. The Bodo-Kacharis, popularly known as Boros or Bodos are the primitive tribes of India’s Northeast, particularly of Assam. To many scholars, they are very simple-minded people and fond of natural life. Accordingly, they worshipped nature God for ages. However, during the pre-independence period, a section of them adopted many new norms and values from other institutionalised religions, such as Neo-Vaishnavism of Srimanta Sankardeva, Christianity, Brahma dharma, a Hindu denomination, and other sects, instead of the Bathou religion. Besides this, after independence, many sects of the Hindu religion, like Satsang Vihar, Krishna guru and Joy guru also came into contact with Bodo-Kacharis, which brought about some changes in the socio-economic, cultural and religious doings. The entire process of change usually continued in the form of assimilation and acculturation among the Bodo-Kacharis, probably from the mid-17th century onwards, when they firstly faced a new religion, Neo-Vaishnavism as per the evidence found in some historical texts.
Keywords	Social Change, Religion, Conversion, Acculturation, Bodo-Kacharis, Assam
Field	Sociology > Archaeology / History
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 6, November-December 2025
Published On	2025-12-17
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i06.63598

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History of Social Change among the Bodo-Kachari Tribes of Assam During the Pre-Independence Period

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