I got acquainted with members of the Garo community in mid-seventies of the last century. It was a dream-like experience at my young age. The experience I gathered from Garo village at Haluaghat near the Indian border hypnotised me as fairy tales do.
I got the chance to know more about Garo and other small ethnic minority communities when I began a study on the Chattogram Hill Tracts. I discussed my experiences in my book titled ‘Bidrohi Parbatya Chattogram and Shanti Chukti (Rebellious Chattogram Hill Tracts and Peace Accord)’ which was published in 1997.
I recollected my old memories on Friday (Nov 15) when newsmen of Barta24.com family joined an event with the Garo community people at Birishiri village in Netrakona. Barta24.com has discovered the feelings inside the mind of the colourful Garo community through the participation in the event and direct observation. It has brought to the fore the feelings of Garo people of different classes and professions in the mainstream media.
Barta24.com, the country’s first multimedia news portal, is playing pioneering role in finding the roots of different community people and their cultures. Earlier, the news portal highlighted the music talents of Garo people visually for the first time in the country’s history and ran several reports on the Santal community. It has unveiled the talents of different neglected and marginalised communities before the larger section of the people.
Barta24.com Editor-in-Chief Alamgir Hossain, who is the pioneer in online and online multimedia journalism in Bangladesh, has always given greater importance to the positive aspects of the people, society, culture and environment. He has been encouraging highlighting the rich heritage and uniqueness of the pluralist Bangladesh society and Barta24.com’s participation in the Garo event is a clear manifestation of his efforts. Through the event, firsthand information or information gathered from primary sources were presented before the readers.
Barta24.com has played the role of bridge between the greater reader community and Garo people. Anthropological studies in social science follow observation-participation method to collect undistorted information from primary sources. Barta24.com is following similar methods to collect information from the primary sources and present them objectively. It can be examples for print, online and electronic media outlets to follow.
It will be relevant here to present the historic and cultural descriptions of the Garo community. Though they are a small ethnic minority community in Bangladesh, many Garo people live in different northeastern states of India, particularly in the Garo Hills region.
Once a strong community politically, the Garo had established a feudal state. The Garo, who are a part of the Bodo sub-branch of the Tibeto-Burman branch of Mongolians, came from present-day Xinjiang province of the western China. They migrated to Tibet from Xinjiang and then to different hill regions of northeastern India and northern part of Bangladesh. The Garo people began living in the Garo Hills region 4,000-4,500 years ago. They once established a small feudal state on the foot of the Garo Hills in Mymensingh near the Indian border.
Garo people now live in Tangail, Jamalpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Sylhet and Gazipur districts as a small ethnic minority community. However, their presence is greater in Halurgaht and Dhobura in Mymensingh, Durgapur and Kamlakand in Netrakona, Nalitabari and Jhinaigati in Sherpur, and Madhupur in Tangail than other parts of the districts. Garo people also live in different areas adjacent to the Garo Hills in Meghalaya state of India.
The Garo people like to identify themselves as ‘a-chik mande’ or hill people. They consider the term ‘Garo’ offensive and objectionable as it was imposed and sarcastic. They are called Mandi in some places.
Garo society is matriarchal. The mother is the chief of the family and entitled to the family properties while the father plays the role of managing the family. Children adopt the title of their mother. Customary law has given Garo women the right to inherit the family properties. However, only the selected daughter of a family – who is called Nakla in Garo language – is entitled to the assets. Usually, the youngest daughter of the family is selected Nakla. Recent studies, however, suggest the custom is now changing; parents are transferring their lands to their sons.
There are 13 sections of Garo society – Ayoe, Abeng, Attong, Ruga, Chibok, Chisok, Doal, Mcchi, Kocchu, Atiagra, Matjangchi, Gara-Ganching and Megam. Abeng, Ruga, Attong, Megam and Chibok live mainly in Bangladesh. Apart from the sections, the entire Garo community is divided into five castes – Sangma, Marak, Momin, Shira and Areng. The Speaker of Indian Parliament and Congress leader PA Sangma was a Garo community people. Though PA Sangma was an inhabitant of Meghalaya state of India, he was born and spent his childhood in the Garo community in Mymensingh.
There is a unique feature in marriage of the Garo which are dominated by the inter-caste marriage method. Marriage between the members of the same sub-caste is prohibited. The main staple food of the Garo is rice with which they take fish, meat, pulses and vegetables.
Dried fish is very popular among the Garo people. They like very much Hidol or Sidol dried fish available in Gopalganj, Faridpur, Bhairab and Kishoreganj. The Garo uses excessive green chilies in their cooked food. They like different vegetables like brinjals, bottle gourd, winter gourd, pumpkin, luffa, snake gourd, bitter gourd, yardlong bean and arum.
Apart from sodium hydroxide, the Garo uses edible soda in cooking. However, very small portion of the Garo people nowadays use sodium hydroxide in cooking. The cooking method of the Garo has changed over the time. They have been used to cooking and taking mashed and fried vegetables, pulses, fish, meat and vegetable items, apart from Nakham. Affluent families now eat Khichuri, Pulao and Biriyani cooked in the same method Bengalis follow. The Garo also likes very much pork, tortoise meat, eel fish, bamboo shoots, and mushroom.
Ponchui alcohol is a must in any Garo celebration and guest treating. Protestant Christian Garo people usually do not take alcohol but Catholic Garo people are liberal in this regard. Around 99 percent of the Garo people are now Christian thanks to Christian missionary activities in Garo-dominated areas for centuries.
Though the Garo people have their own traditional dresses, they now use dresses like Bengalis. Males use Lungi, undershirts, pajamas, trousers and shirts while females use saris, blouses, salwar-kamij and scurfs. Garo women use their traditional attire called Dakanda in their family programmes. Dakandas are decorated with different artworks.
Garo males used to wear half-pants and shirt during the British rule and later they started wearing Dhuti and shirts. They also wear large coloured Gamucha with undershirts or shirts and have been used to wear Lungi.
Garo women used to use silver orgnaments but now women of afluent families use gold ornaments. The brides and bridegrooms have to exchange and wear rings at the marriage ceremony as per the Chiristian custom.
The Garo community has made a great deal of advancement in education thanks to the efforts of Chiristian missinaries, which started to propagate Chrisitanity at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning, they gave more focus on education. There are primary and high schools at the missions in Garo-dominate areas. The literacy rate among the Garo is 80 percent.
Many think that the Garo people used to believe in materialism before being converted to Christianity, but many others differ with that idea and believe that the Garo would believe in the Almighty.
The Garo society was once ruled by priests. The experienced persons or Khamals or priests among the Garo people, who maintain their old belief, are aware of the existence of Gods and Goddesses. The Khamals have huge role in the Garo society; they conduct different programmes, determine the reasons of diseases through meditation and give their remedies. Gods and Goddesses teach the Khamals the worship mantra. There are different mantras for worshiping different Gods and Goddesses. Khamals are not nominated from heirs; they are selected based on their qualification. But usually adult males of fair character and divine power are made Khamals. This trend of selecting Khamals is on the decline because of education and modernisation.
Australian Baptist missionaries first started propagating Christianity among the Garo from Birishiri village under Durgapur in Netrakona at the end of the 19th century and attained great success in their efforts immediately. Roman Catholic missionaries began their activities in 1909 from Ranikhang area of Netrakona. They also secured huge success in a short period of time. Apart from propagating religion, they give importance on education and healthcare of the Garo people. Christian Garo people are divided mainly into two sects – Protestant (Baptist) and Roman Catholic with Roman Catholic Christians being the majority among Garo Christians. There are small number of Christians of Church of Bangladesh and Seventh-day Adventist in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is blessed with many small ethnic minority groups, apart from its mainstream people. There are several ethnic minority groups in the Chattogram Hill Tracts while several others on the plain. Garo, Hajong, Santa and other ethnic minority groups are part of the colourful and bright culture of Bangladesh. Of them, the Garo community has added a great deal diversity and colourfulness to the entire society and culture of Bangladesh.
Barta24.com believes that the uniqueness of every society and culture of the country are valuable parts of the national culture. Barta24.com is always ready to carry out the professional responsibility of presenting all social, cultural and humane phenomena across the country positively though texts and videos.