Population Dynamics and Gorkha Community in Assam

Dr. CHAVAN K. SARMAH

Assistant Professor

B. H. College, Howly, Barpeta, Assam

Assam is one of the beautiful and attractive tourist and settlement destinations of the nation. The state of Assam is rich in its natural beauty, resources and in ethnic cultural diversities. Varieties of ethnic communities, integrated cultural and religious diversities are the essence of the richness and beauty of the state. The census 2011 reveals that nearly forty languages are being spoken in the state. Ten of themare specified in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution and the rest are non scheduled languages. According to the census 2011, the percentage distribution of the population of Assam on the basis of the languages they speak is shown in the following table.

A sharp decline in the percentage of Assamese and Nepali speaking population in the state has been noticed as compared to the census 2001. On the other hand Bengali and Hindi speaking percentage has enhanced during last decade.
Above tableclears that Nepalese also known as Gorkhali or Gorkhas is one of the largest communities of Assam. It is a very diverse community that includes people of Aryan, Mongolian and Tibetan origin. There are number of sub-communities namely Brahmans, Chetry, Rai, Limbo, Newar, Magar, Sherpa, Gurungs, Tamang, Kami, Domai, Dhami etc. which have distinct culture, customs and different languages but they all identify themselves as Nepali or Gorkhali. Though the Gorkhas speak Nepali, a language of Indo-Aryan family they, use Assamese as a lingua franca.
The Gorkhasare found in the land of Assam since ancient time but limited during the pre-British period. According to Grierson[1968], ‘The Tibeto-Burmis speaking Mongoloids with yellow complexion came to be known among Vedic Aryan as Kiratas. Their presence is attested through literacy evidence by about 1000 B.C’. On the basis of Mahabharata, Devi [2011] argues that these Sino-Tibetans as Kiratas belong to the Brahmaputra Valley of ancient Assam. Sinha[2003] mention that Nepalese of Assam as Kiratas were Hindu whose original home was in the Himalayan slopes and in the mountains of the east, in Assam particularly yellow complexion presented distinct type of culture and spread over the plains of Bengal up to the sea. According to Subba [1998], ‘The ancient Kamrupa Kingdom is, for instance, known to have its boundaries extended right upto eastern Nepal as late as 1520, the two Kamrupa Kings- Nidhwaj and Narayan had married the princes of Nepal.’ A number of studies in this direction established the fact that there were matrimonial and cultural relationship between Kamrupa and Nepal from the time of King Harsabardhana and BiswaSingha the founder of Koch Dynasty. According to Upadhyaya [2002], ‘RatikantaUpadhyaya’ the first ‘Satradhikar’ in Nepali satra, Teok of Jorhat district, was of Nepali origin which reveals that the religious settlement of Nepalese in Assam began since the era of ‘Sankardeva’. In the Linguistic Survey of India, Grierson [1968] argued that in 18th century Nepali language was among the Indian Languages. The all studies discussed above established the argument that Nepalese were in India or in Assam since ancient time.
The actual immigration of the Nepalese to north east India began in early 19th century especially after the treaty of Sugauli (1816) between British India and Nepal. According to this treaty, Nepal had to transfer some of its bordering areas like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Shimla, Nainital, Almora, Dehradun etc to the British India and therefore Nepalese residing in these areas become automatically the subjects of the British India and now India. Social scientists have long attributed the Nepalese settled in northeast India particularly in Assam since 1820 with a migratory nature, either in search of economic opportunities or grazing lands for cattle crucial for their primary business of milk production, which finds them constantly moving not only across the open India-Nepal border but also across the seven states that constitutes northeast India [Nath, 2005]. Recruitment of Gorkha soldiers to the British Indian Army after the treaty of Sugauli was one of the important causes of Nepalese settlement in Assam. Further the British recruited civilian Gorkhas from different parts of India as well as Nepal in non-military services as chowkidar, peons, labourers in various organizations and factories in Assam.The growth of the Gorkhalese in Assam is deeply embedded in the history of the region but showed a marked growth in the 20th century actively encouraged by the British who sought an increased revenue collection through the settlement of Gorkhas in this region [Devi, 2007].  Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty 1950, which ensures open border transportation, equal rights and privileges of both the Nationalities, reinforces the settlement of Nepalese in Assam in post independence period.
Hunter [1879] reports on census of India that 1872the Nepalese have been considered as a migratory group. The total number of Nepali population enumerated in 1872 in the Brahmaputra Valley was 983. The Census of India 1901 accounts the importance of Gorkha community in Assam with 21,347 persons sharing 0.35 percent of total population of the state.

                                                                              *Interpolated value
In recent years, Assam has seen number of insurgencies against foreigners specially the Bangladeshi immigrants. Interestingly the Gorkhas actively participated in the movement and a number of martyred has been from the community. The native Assamese have accepted the Gorkhas as Assamese because Gorkhas prefer to get integrated and assimilated with the Assamese culture, custom and language.Gorkhas in Assam usually call themselves as Assamese-Nepali, a new ethnic community in Assamese society maintaining individual language, culture and custom. The Gorkhas have been able to cope up with the Assamese, both socially and culturally to a great extent in Assam and being the unavoidable part of this state.

(Research Papers of Lopita Nath, Monimala Devi, G.A. Grierson, T.BSubba, A.C. Sinha, W.W. Hunter and BishnulalUpadhyaya are acknowledged. Email: sarmahchavan@rediffmail.com)