Ritual Landscapes and Living Memory: Ethnography, Orality, and Indigenous Cosmology among the Highlander Tiwas of Assam

Author(s)	Dr. Manas Jyoti Bordoloi, Dr. Silpi Rani Baruah
Country	India
Abstract	Conventional historiography privileges textual archives, often marginalizing communities like the highlander Tiwa of Northeast India and reducing their complex worldviews to simplified outsider categories like ‘tribal animism’ or ‘folk Hinduism.’ This paper examines Tiwa ritual life through an ethnographic framework centering oral traditions, lived experiences, and ancestral institutions like the phoit, shamadi, and pinung-krai. Focusing on major rituals (e.g., Sokra Misawa, Wanchuwa) and megalithic practices, it has been argued that Tiwa ritualism forms a coherent, independent cosmology rather than a derivative of mainstream traditions. By de-centering colonial and Sanskritizing interpretations, this study demonstrates how ethnography serves as a vital rescue mechanism and ethical intervention. For a community lacking written historical archives, prioritizing indigenous epistemologies preserves a fragile cultural system against external distortion, restoring dignity to marginalized histories and establishing oral and ritual knowledge as legitimate historical archives.
Keywords	phoit, shamadi, pinung-krai, mindai, pamari
Field	Sociology > Archaeology / History
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2026
Published On	2026-07-13
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i04.83623

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research