Garos : an indigenous people who call themselves Achik Mande or simply Achik (soil) or Mande (people). Emigrants of Tibotgre (Tibet) around 400 BC under the leadership of Jappa Jalimpa, they crossed Brahmaputra & settled in Gāro Hills. In December 1872, the tentacles of the all-mighty Octopus slithered into their land from south, east & west. Gāro spears, swords & shields confronted guns & mortars at Rongrenggre under Togan Nengminja whose heroism & courage did not save him or his warriors. Sonaram R. Sangmā tried to unify the contiguous Gāro inhabited areas to fight the invader which one of the Octopus’ ‘eye-witness’ describes: “They were bloodthirsty savages, who inhabited a tract of hills covered with almost impenetrable jungle, the climate of which was considered so deadly as to make it impossible for a white man to live there.” [Playfair, 1909:76-77]. So the benevolent Octopus ‘saved the souls & minds & bodies’ of the vulnerable with its Churches, lāthis & schools, while the stubborn few clung to their own identities, Songsarek (religion), & Dakbewal (tradition) that for centuries had ensured their all-round welfare. One of the few remaining matrilineal societies in the world, while women own the property, it is managed by the men who also govern the society & domestic affairs. Individuals take their clan titles from their mothers. Traditionally, the nokmechik (youngest daughter) inherits the property; sons leave home at puberty, are trained in the village nokpante (bachelor dormitory) where all get equal care, rights & importance; after marriage they live in the wife’s house. The Garos are the second-largest tribe in Meghalaya after the Khāsis (q.v.) & a minority in Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling & West Dinajpur of West Bengal, as well as in Nagaland.
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