History of the Hajongs

The Hajong people are an ethnic minority of India. They belong to the Kachari group of tribes. The Hajongs share a lot of cultural and physical features with the Bodo, Garo and Dimasa people. They are spread out across North East India, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. The majority of the Hajongs are settled in India. They are the fourth largest ethnicity in Meghalaya, after the Khasis, Jaintias and Garos. They are said to have brought wet-field cultivation to Garo Hills, where the Garo people used slash and burn method of agriculture. Hajong have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India.

The Hajongs belong to the Indo-Tibetan group of the main mongoloid race. Dalton, in 1872, considered the Hajongs to be a part of the Kachari group of tribes. The Kachari group of tribes includes tribes like Bodos, Dimasas, Garos, Lalungs, Dhimals, Rabhas and Sonowals. These tribes moreover share the same pre-history, how they migrated from Tibet and parts of China to the Southern Himalayas, present day North-east India. The Hajongs once spoke a language that was of the Sino-Tibetan family, similar to the Bodo-Garo languages. But now, the Hajongs speak a mixed language that has a lot of Indo Aryan vocabulary and Sino Tibetan verb endings and case markings. This language has not yet been studied properly and is considered a mixture of other eastern Indo Aryan languages. In fact, Hajongs are the least studied group of Kachari tribe. The Hajong language still has numerous evidences which prove that Hajong language had once been a Sino-Tibetan Language. They still call grandparents ‘Ajo and Abu’, which is similar to how Bodos and Garos refer to their grandparents; Hajongs call babies or Children ‘sawa’ which is akin to Bodo and Dimasa ‘sa’ and Garo ‘bisa’; and lastly the vowel /ɯ/ is still present in the language which is not present in other Indo-Aryan languages, but is typical for the Tibeto-Burman family. The deity ‘Bastu’ of the traditional religion of Hajongs might have developed from the Bodo deity bathou.

The Hajongs had come from Tibet along with other Kachari tribes to North-east India along the Brahmaputra and Tista; and their tributaries and had spread over in the Sankush Valley. The Kacharis then spread across North-east India and established small kingdoms. The Kacharis that inhabited Hajo, in the Northern bank of Brahmaputra River, came to be known as the Hajongs. The clothing of Hajong people substantiate their Tibetan origin. ‘Pathin’, the wrap skirt that Hajong women wear, whose patterns are similar to the Tibetan ‘Pangden’; is also akin to skirts of other Himalayan people like the Tamang and Bhutanese people. During winters, Hajong people use a shawl called ‘Argon’, whose patterns are very similar to Bhutanese brocade patterns.

Hajo was a very fertile land, and was very suitable for a civilization to flourish. The Hajongs had a lot of cultural exchange with the neighboring Prakrit speaking Indo Aryans of the west, probably present day Bihar and its neighboring parts. This paved the way for Shaivite Hinduism to flourish among Hajongs and mixing of Magadhi Prakrit with old Hajong language. Magadhi Prakrit, a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, was the first Indic language to influence and mix with old Hajong language which was similar to Bodo language. This can be seen in the numerous Prakrit vocabularies in the present language, whose pronunciation differs from Bengali-Assamaese languages. The schwa sound /ə/ present in Magadhi Prakrit was very similar to the Bodo-Garo /ɯ/ so the Hajongs replaced the /ə/ sound with the /ɯ/ sound. For example, the Prakrit word for time, समय् [səmə:j] is still pronounced in Hajong as [sumɯj], and similarly नियम [nijəm] is [njɯm] in Hajong. Both /ə/ and /ɯ/ are absent in Bengali and Assamese.

With the influence of Hinduism, the Hajongs started to believe that they are Kshatriyas. The Hajongs developed a rich culture in Hajo. Ethnic Hajong priests, known as Udikɯri, made up the priest class of the Hajongs; and people of the aristocrat class were called Giri. Shakta Hindu traditions had largely impacted the rituals performed by the Hajongs. Both traditional and Hindu deities were worships by them. Similar to the Hindu Meitei people of Manipur, who believed that they were descendants of Arjuna of Mahabharata, who married a Manipuri princess; there was a popular tale was admired among the Hajongs that they are the descendants of Kartavirya Arjuna, one of the greatest Kshatriya Kings of the Mahabharata era. The saint Parashurama who enacted genocide on the Kshatriyas throughout the world for the next twenty-one generations since his father was stabbed by a Kshatriya twenty-one times. The widowed Kshatriya Queen Swarupa Devi was next in the family line at that time. The queen fled away from the capital and took refuge in the hermitage of the Sage Kamdatta in ancient Kamrup. She gave birth to a son who came to be known as Padangksu or Padanku who occupied the ancient Kingdom of Hajo. His people became devout worshipers of the Goddess Kamakhya; and even today, the Goddess, as Kamakkha Dyao, remains an important deity of the Hajong pantheon. According to this mythology, King Bhaskaravarman was the last king of this lineage, who ruled the kingdom of Hajo.

During the reign of the last King of this dynasty, around 650 AD, Hajo was destroyed and about twelve thousand people abandoned Hajo and fled to different directions. The place in Garo Hills where they established their first settlement was called Hajari or Baro Hajari. From that place they, in course of time, spread to different places in Garo Hills and Goalpara in Assam. Some of the people fled to Nokrek and adjoining plain areas of River Kospa (Kalogang) of western Garo Hills. Some settled in Doskani or Sherpur, Mymensingh  and Susong. Some of these people settled in river bank areas of the River Simsang. They spread across the plain belt of Garo Hills and started cultivating the lands. The Hajongs practiced wet-field cultivation, which was something new for the Garos, who practiced jhum cultivation in the hill slopes by cutting forests, burning them and then planting vegetables, paddy and maize. For this reason, the Garos started to call the Hajongs as ‘aˑa joˑong’ meaning earth worm. To the Garos, Hajongs who practiced wet-field cultivation resembled the insects digging the earth.  After settling in the plain belt of Garo Hills, which includes parts of present day Meghalaya, Assam and Bangladesh, the Hajongs established various clans with respect to the geographical area they resided in. These Clans were Korebari, Doskinɯ, Susungyɯ, Barohajari and Mespɯryɯ. They became endogamous and only married within the same clan, but it was strictly prohibited to marry within the same matrilineal sub-clan, called ‘nikni’. This resulted in the different Dialects of Hajong language. Even their culture slightly differs from one clan to the other.

During this period, another group of Indo-Aryan speaking people influenced the language and Culture of the Hajongs. These people were the Bengalis. This led to the development of the modern Hajong language. Hajongs use a lot of Bengali loan words which are in the corrupt form.
For example, most of the Bengali vowels like /ɔ/ are pronounced as /u/ in Hajong, /a/ as /ɯ/ and; /ɛ/ and /e/ as /i/. Hajongs started to follow Bengali Hinduism, which led to drastic change in their culture. The Bengali Brahmins slowly began to replace the Hajong Udikɯris. Gaudiya Vaishnavism also started being practiced by the Hajongs. This Divided the Hajongs into two groups, the Hajongs and the Khutris. The Hajongs worshiped the traditional deities along with Shakta nd Shaivate Hindu gods and used rice beer as a ritual offering; the Khutris, on the other hand were Vaisnavas and prohibited the use of rice beer as an offering to the gods. Rice beer was an important part of Hajong Culture. The Hajongs used shamans called ‘Dyushi or Dyaoshi or Nungtang’; they also accepted Bengali Brahmins to initiate ritual worships. The Khutris would seek the help of Udikɯris to perform religious services. The Khutris would paint Urdhva Pundra mark on the forehead, hang basil wood rosary around the neck, and would keep their hair long uncut.
With time both these sects co-influenced each other which gave rise to the contemporary religion practiced by the Hajongs.

In  the 19th century, during the Burmese invasion in Assam many Hajong people left Assam and fled to secured lower areas like Sylhet and  Cachar etc. According to the Census Report of 1891 the Hajongs were classified as a Hill tribe. Hajong population was very small. Many Hajongs started taking Bengali surnames and assimilated with the Bengalis, this led to the fall in the population of Hajongs. During the British rule, they led various revolts against the British and the oppressive Bengali Hindu landlords. After the partition of the Indian sub-continent into two separate sovereign states India and Pakistan in 1947, many areas inhabited by the Doskinɯ and Susungyɯ Hajongs became a part of East Pakistan. The Garo Hills lies next to the international border, north of Mymensing District, and immediately East of the Goalpara district, through which the immense stretch of Brahmaputra and its tributaries flow into Bangladesh. Many Hajongs and Garos were left in East Pakistan, in a situation like this after the partition of India, large numbers of Garos and Hajongs crossed over the borders and took refuge in Garo Hills where they meet and merged with their own community.

During 1960s, the Muslims ill-treated the minorities like Garos, Hajongs and Koches. Most of the time victims were women. Houses were set on fire by the Muslims. The Muslims of East Pakistan wanted only Muslim Community to live in the newly created country. Even political leaders indirectly supported them in their acts of persecution. In January 1964, there was a mass killing of minority group in East Pakistan. The Muslims molested minority girls, tried to marry them forcibly and convert them into Islam. Sometime young men were arrested and tortured. They harassed the uneducated tribals. Many times they were asked to leave their places. They were repeatedly threatened that if they would not vacate their lands and homes they would be killed. Women and girls were abducted by the Muslims. Hajong and Garo villages were set to fire by Muslims with the help of the East Pakistan Rifles. Although lawful complaints filed by them for these in the court of law or in the police station, no legal action was taken by the authorities concerned against the culprits. For these inhuman elements, which were causing deep apprehension, compelled the Hajongd to leave their country. Among the minorities the Hajongs, Garos and Koches were the first to flee. Main causes of this persecution were the political movement among the Hajongs and Koches. These two communities joined the communist party and they threatened the Muslims, for this reason the Muslims threatened to arrest them in return. The Muslims were of the opinion that if they tolerated the aggressive behaviours of the Hajong and Koches, some day they might harm the Muslim community. Due to this feeling of insecurity they drove out Hajongs and Koches.

In January 1964, due to these socio-political and communal unrest, many minority groups from Sylhet and Mymensing districts steamed into the eastern tip of India like Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya, where they were settled in refugee camps. Many Garo refugees and other communities including Hajongs were shifted to Goalpara and other districts of Assam. These Hajongs were later rehabilitated in different districts like Goalpara, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Darrang, Tinsukia, Changlang district and Garo Hills of undivided Assam. At present in Assam the Hajongs are found in Goalpara, Darrang, North Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Dhubri, Chirang, Nagaon, Kamrup, Dhemaji and Tinsukia districts. A small number of Hajongs along with the Chakmas of Chittagong Hill Tracts of East Pakistan, that have been rehabilitated to North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA), present day Arunachal Pradesh, are still considered to be refugees.

The Hajong people are now spread out across northeast India and Bangladesh with the majority of the population on the India side of the border. In India, Hajongs are found in both the Garo and Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, largely along the South-West Garohills District of Meghalaya and Bangladesh border. They also live in the Dhubri and Goalpara districts of lower Assam, Dhemaji and other districts of upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. In Bangladesh, Hajongs are found in the northern Dhaka division, although there are unconfirmed reports of some Hajong living in Chittagong division. The narrow strip of borderland that stretches from Sherpur district in the west as far Sunamganj district in the east can be considered the southern outpost of the greater Hajong community. Their language, now, has much more Indic words than before, due to large contact with the Indo-Aryan speaking communities. The rich culture of the past is gradually fading away. Modern day Hajongs still follow traditional customs and practice the traditional religion under the Umbrella of Hinduism.