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Dimasa | |
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Total population | |
262,413 (2011 Census) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
India (Assam) | 142,961 (2011, Dimasa-Kachari,in hill districts of Assam only)[1] |
Languages | |
Dimasa | |
Religion | |
Dimasa religion (Animism), Hinduism[2] | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Naga, Chin, Jinpho, Tripuri |
Part of a series on the |
Culture of Assam |
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The Dimasa people or Dimasa Kachari people (local pronunciation: [dimāsā]) are an ethnolinguistic community presently inhabiting in Assam and Nagaland states in Northeastern India. They speak Dimasa, a Tibeto-Burman language. This community is fairly homogeneous and exclusive, with members required to draw from both parents' separate clans. Dimasa kingdom, one of many early states in Assam following the downfall of Kamarupa kingdom, was established by these people.[6] The Dimasas were till recently agricultural, centering on shifting agriculture; but in recent times this has changed with profound changes in the community.[7] Following political problems in the 18th century, the Dimasa ruler moved further south in the plains of Cachar and there took place a division among them–with the hills Dimasa maintaining their traditional living and political exclusiveness, the plains Dimasas have made no attempt to assert themselves.[8]
The Dimasa Kachari plains tribe (Dimasa language speakers) of Cachar are known as Barman,[9] forming one of the indigenous tribes of undivided Cachar (including Dima-Hasao, Hailakandi and Karimganj). The Dimasas, inhabiting in the Cachar district are officially recognized as one of the Scheduled Tribes under the plains category in Assam in the name called “Barmans in Cachar”.
Ancient Dimasa tradition maintains that sixty thousand (60,000) Moon months (Lunar months) ago, they left their ancestral land when it suffered a severe drought they were instrumental in establishing the Dimasa kingdom a traditional kingdom in the Brahmaputra valley, the Dimasa kingdom ended after the Ahom kingdom of the Tai Ahom people invaded the Brahmaputra valley. After long wandering, they settled at Di-laobra Sangibra, the confluence of the Brahmaputra and Sangi or Di-tsang, where they held a great assembly.[10]
Ahom [aho]
Census Data Finder/C Series/Population by Religious Communities
2011census/C-01/DDW00C-01 MDDS.XLS