A Study on the Cowrie Shells of the Dimasas in Assam
Material cultural traditions the integral part of Tribal cultural heritage which get transmitted throughout generations. The Dimasas are dwelling in the states of Assam and Nagaland. They have a number of mythical beliefs and stories passed on throughout generations, mostly by oral traditions. Ranging from the story behind the origin of human beings to those reigning of the Dimasa kings, from the connection with characters of the Mahabharata to the stories of the common Dimasa people. These bear immensely important symbolic meaning in the cultural tradition of the Dimasas. In this regard, Cowrie shells used to play a very significant symbolic role in the daily livelihood activities of the Dimasas. They were used in medium of exchange, amulets and as well as a medicine. How far such traditions are being followed today by them? Whether the younger generations are well aware about these traditions or it is getting merely confined among their parental generations only. The present study attempts to highlight some of those significant myths, legends and folktales, as well as the significance of Cowrie shells, as noticed among the Dimasas of Karbi Anglong district in Assam. The paper is mainly based on primary data collection through empirical field work by applying appropriate methods.
Bhattacharjee S¹*, Timung A², Kro J², Engti H³ and Rongchehon A⁴
¹Professor, Department of Anthropology, Nagaland University, India ²M.A. in Anthropology, Assam University, India ³M.Sc. in Anthropology, Assam University, India Keywords: Myths; Legends; Oral Tradition; Shamanaiba; Hoja; Beads
Introduction
In its broadest sense, “culture” refers to the whole range of human activities which are learned and not instinctive, and which are transmitted from generation to generation through various learning processes. Often the physical products of human activity are included under the term as “material culture”.
Since prehistoric times, man had to develop some technology by which he did exploit the natural resources available in the environment and fulfilled his aspirations for better living. In the wake of technological know-how man’s cultural life began. At the beginning man began to make tools from stone, bones, bamboo, cane etc. From this simple technology man had developed a complex technology which had led it to the modern civilization. This view has been extended and yet put in a summarized form by David Bidney who defined culture as the products of agrofacts (products of cultivation), artifacts (products of industry), socifacts (social organization) and mentifacts (language, religion, art and so on). Culture has two aspects- material and non-material. Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources and spaces that people use to define their culture. Manufactured objects such as tools, weapons, means of communication, clothes, utensils, houses and so forth are manifestations of material culture. Material culture is the physical evidence of a culture in the objects and architecture they make, or have made. The term tends to be relevant only in archaeological and anthropological studies, but it specifically means all material evidence which can be attributed to culture, past or present. Material culture studies are an interdisciplinary field telling of relationships between people and their things: the making, history, preservation, and interpretation of objects.
The term ‘material culture’ emphasises how apparently inanimate things within the environment act on people, and we acted upon by people, for the purposes of carrying out social functions, regulating social relations and giving symbolic meaning to human activity. Objects range in scale and size from discrete items such as a pencil, key, coin or spoon, through to complex, network objects such as an airliner, motor vehicle, shopping mall or computer. Traditionally, however, the term material culture has referred to smaller objects that are portable. Although scholars from a variety of disciplines have studied objects, their uses and meanings since the beginnings of modern social science scholarship, it is only in relatively recent times that the field of ‘material culture studies’ has been articulated as an area of inquiry as viewed by Woodward.
In the material culture of the Tribal people, beads are immensely important. It can be regarded as a tiny, ornamental object that is used to pierce with a small hole through a specialized thread or flexible wire and the sizes of a bead are generally ranges from 1 mm (0.039 in) to over 1 cm (0.39 in) in diameter [1]. Beads are minute, attractive and colourful frequently standardized in expensive and often quite beautiful which can be worn as necklaces as ornaments that can be arranged in continual pattern, known to be universal and one of the oldest appearance of human behavioural tradition i.e., from the time immemorial usage of bead is a common mode of ornamentation of the people Regarding materials, beads are of different varieties such as ivory, animal teeth, shell, wood, stone, clay, mineral, glass etc. of different shape, size and colour. Ancient beads of different time period are still visible as beaded ornaments among different tribes mostly in Asian part of regions in their social life [2].
Beads have been the tiniest artefacts that human ever had as antique in their cultural and historic context. The study on beads has occupied a long journey as an interdisciplinary field with its own intend and technique [3]. In India traditional beaded necklaces used by the tribal hierarchy with their material usage and techniques of making have undoubtedly attract and helpful to archaeologists and ethnographers in order to interpret material set-up and human interference in the life pattern of a society [4]. In any society, a bead becomes futile or meaningless object if there is no personal consciousness [5]. The findings of excavated beads from Harappa which was analyzed on the basis of ranking on raw material and technology i.e. the terracotta and bone beads made from simple technology and material locally available were regarded as the lowest rank. On the other hand, shell, unfired steatite, stone beads made from exotic raw material with relatively simple technologies were of middle rank and beads made of fired steatite, faience, carnelian, copper, gold with complex technologies were of the highest rank. Likewise, the ranks were also given to this bead makers or artisans [6]. In ancient time beads were interpreted and utilized in social respects as well as religious matter [7]. Beads are a valuable object which reveals and help to reconstruct the cultural history of a society [4], which has its own symbolic interpretation.
Anthropologists explore the symbolic meanings of an objects and action which is attached to different cultural behaviour through its own observation and techniques [8]. One of the symbolic object Cowrie shell was a main accumulation in Maldive Island in Indian Ocean which was traded in early times to Southeast Asia and beyond. It is clear from the earlier research that the Cowrie shells means to valuable object [9]. It is interesting to know that far beyond the sea shore in different parts of the world the two types of Cowrie shells-Cypraeamoneta and Cyparea annulus plays a significant role as a symbol of wealth, medium of exchange and religious accessory since time immemorial [10]. Towards the 19th century these marine Cowrie shells were traded from Indian Ocean by some traders to the tribes of Northeast India having its monetary as well as symbolic functional value [9]. It is evident from the archaeological research that the Dimasa tribe of Assam uses Cowrie shell as a significant value [1].
A Brief Note on the Dimasas
The Dimasas are regarded as one of the autochthonous communities who are dwelling in the Northeastern region of India. They are mostly settled in the two hills districts of Assam that is, DimaHasao and KarbiAnglong as well as inthe neighbouring district of Nagaon, Hojai in Assam. They are patriarchal in nature and follow the patrilineal rule of descent respectively. Every Dimasa people observe the rites and rituals in their socio- religious life under the guidance of village priest called as ‘Hoja’. Moerover, the whole Dimasa population is the believer of 12 religious areas or territorial jurisdiction called as ‘Daikho’ in which the God and Goddesses reside in that particular ‘Daikho’ to protect them and control their destiny [11]. The Dimasas propitiate a number of benevolent spirits; they also believe in malevolent or evil spirits who have to be appeased in order to prevent themselves from falling under their wrath of harm [12]. The Dimasas had their ancient capitals at Dimapur, Maibang and Khaspur each of which still bears significant archaeological ruins, proving of the rich architectural and royal grandeur of this group of people [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19].
Objectives: The main objective of the paper is
- To know about the origin of cowrie shells among the Dimasas.
- To know in detail about the material cultural significance of cowrie shells among the Dimasas.
- To find out, whether cowrie shells have any significant role in their traditional healing practices.
Methodology
The paper is mainly based on primary data. In this regard, field work was conducted from January 2024 to October 2024 in Dhansiri village of Karbi Anglong district of Assam. Further, in the Dishu Raji, Topodisa villages under the Haflong sub division and in the Semkhor village under the Maibang sub division of Dima Hasao district, Assam. The said villages were one of the oldest settlements of the Dimasa Tribal group. The study was done on 579 families, with a total population of 2937. The study was done on all the families by applying the total sampling method, to know about their ideas and knowledge related to their oral traditions as associated with the Cowrie shells. Interviews were taken on the folk performers and traditional healers, who had adequate knowledge and practices of Cowrie shells, as used in their different social ceremonies and cultural practices. Case studies were taken on elderly persons to know about the cultural significance of cowrie shells. As most of the Dimasa oral narratives lack proper documentation, it was necessary to have a face-to-face conversation with the resource persons, who were mostly elderly persons, so that the required data on the pristine myths, legends and folktales could be properly collected.
Findings and Discussion
Myth related to cowrie shells: It is believed that during the period Mahabharata in the Dwaparyug the Dimasa ancestors of this region had to buy land from the Pandava brother Sahadev, as he was the owner of the entire land. The medium of purchase was against the gold and silver. During that time when Bhisma died, his death ritual was conducted by the Dimasa ancestors after the purchase of a plot of land against gold and silver. But they decided that in this way upto the arrival of Kali jug there would be noted shortage of gold and silver. Thus, they kept the ritual of buying the land with cowrie shell instead gold and silver.
Significance of Cowrie Shells
• Symbolic meaning of the Cowrie shell: The Dimasas strongly believed that the Cowrie shells were created by their supreme Deity Shivrai or Kechai Khaiti. The pointed oval parts of a shell symbolizes the origin and terminal end of the earth span. The small marks on the body of the shell symbolizes the different yugasor time span of the earth. The hollow mark in between the shell, symbolizes the smooth passage different natural resources like air, water, light through the shell, which are the prime natural resource of human survival on the earth. Such resources are essential both for their body, for their cattle wealth as well as for their food through agriculture.
• Cowrie shell as bead: Cowrie shell ‘Khauthi’ is a marine object with a size of 1 cm. Among the Dimasas, ‘Khauthi’ is valued as a very precious object and belief to be God of ocean or sea. It has a deep significance as beads especially for babies and are used to make amulet named as, ‘Jingsdu’ in which one or three Cowrie shells are stringed with black cotton thread along with three circular and one rectangular shaped black colour glass beads (Plate-1). It is tied around the waist of a baby in belief as a symbol to eradicate the evil eye or evil spirit ‘SagainMadai’. According to religious belief among the Dimasas, when the evil eye tried to harm or attack the baby, they return back by looking the Cowrie shell tied around the waist of a baby that there is a Deity of Ocean.
• Cowrie shell in historic trade: Historically different kingdoms of Assam had a long trade relation with Koch kingdom. The Dimasa ancestors had the trade with Koch kingdom directly. Goods were exchanged against the coins by the Koch traders, whereas the Dimasasused to exchange against their Cowrie shells. In the Garovillage of Cooch Behar district, some evidences of these shells have been found. The concerned people told that, the shells were available to them since more than one hundred years and even their parents saw those during their childhood days.
• Importance of Cowrie shell in different rituals: Dimasa people use Cowrie shell in different rituals. Among those there are three prime rituals named as Shamanaiba, Para khobaandSibungtiba. “Shamanaiba” is a ritual or a process of predicting things about the good omen or bad omen happening to a particular household or a person. Before starting any ritual of Shamanaiba, firstly they offer cowrie shell to God, it is to be believe that offering any kind of gold or silver to God before any ritual is to please the God in order to help them in knowing the outcome of the good or bad omen. Dimasa people consider Cowrie shell as gold and silver. Shamanaiba is done so the concerned people can know both the cause and remedy of the problems. Para khoba (Also known as ShaniDhosa) ritual is done because it is believed that ShaniDhosa leaves negative impacts on life. So, Para khoba ritual is the remedy for averting the misfortunes. In this ritual they also offer cowrie shell to God as a symbol of gold and silver. Dimasa people believed that offering Cowrie shell can please God ShaniDev and they could get the blessing of God. Sibungtiba means the death of a person. Dimasa people use Cowrie shells in the cremation oriented rituals. In this process an elderly people of the village does a ritual of buying the land for cremating the deceased in which a village headman or the elderly person of a village offer cowrie shells in the cremation ground and dig it inside the soil.
• Cowrie shells in Shamanaiba ritual: Every Dimasa household depends on ‘Shamanaiba’ ritual, which is a religious practice performed by a priest known as ‘Hoja’. To perform this religious practice only a male could be a priest, who is known to be sacred. Among the Dimasa, any social problem related to family or community is first of all suggest to perform these ritual ‘Shamanaiba’. Ritual ‘Shamanaiba’ is of two types- ‘Shamanaiba’ through stem of a plant and another ‘Shamanaiba’ through Cowries ‘Khauthi’. The ritual is practiced to foretell any malevolent effect, any health disorder or any problems related to social life. With the prediction of the problem, the priest ‘Hoja’ also suggest the solution which might be any rituals including sacrifices or offering prayer to ‘Sibrae’ to eradicate the problems. The ritual ‘Shamanaiba’ through ‘Khauthi’ is performed by the priest ‘Hoja’ early in the morning in an empty stomach facing towards the direction of sunrise. Most of the rituals among the Dimasa community are foretold by the priest ‘Hoja’ through ritual ‘Shamanaiba’. The material needed to perform ‘Shamanaiba’ritual is sacred machete called as ‘Sheng’, 4 cowrie shells ‘Khauthi’, basil leaf or‘Tulsi’ to sprinkle the holly water.
To perform the ‘Shamanaiba’ ritual, at first the place where the ritual needs to be selected and to be demarktaed with an imaginary line (Plate-2). Then the selected place is made sacred through the sprinkling of holly water with basil leaf ‘Tulsi’ around that imaginary line. Then the sacred Machete is erected in t1he middle towards the sun rises in which the 4 cowries are repeatedly thrown in that sacred place through uttering prayer by the priest ‘Hoja’within that imaginary line and to foretell or predict the problem of the person (Plate-3). The priest ‘Hoja’ with his divine power offer prayer to the Deity ‘Sibrae’ and use to predict the problems accordingly.
For example, if a baby or child is not healthy and suffering from fever for days, even after medical consultation, then the family members prefer to consult with their village priest to see the cause of the problem through ‘Shamanaiba’ ritual. According to his detected problem, adequate solution is
1 being suggested by the priest. Further, among the Dimasas, if their familial relations, often becomes quarrelsome with each other, then they use to depend on ‘Shamanaiba’ ritual to find out the possible cause and adequate solution. If a person has lost their property like animals, fowl, jewellery, cloth etc. then they prefer to consult with the priest and they use to find out the lost valuable through this ritual only.
Further, the ‘Pharakhoba’ ritual is the outcome of ‘Shamanaiba’ ritual. In astrological term if the one of the planet or ‘Naksatra’ is not in a good position, then the person might face a failure in success. To overcome these obstacles, the ‘Pharakhoba’ ritual isorganized by the victim to overcome the problem and to regain success in life. In this ritual the cowrie shells plays a symbolic behaviour as a medium of exchange. This ritual is of three types- Pharamashni (7 cowries), Pharamasugu (9 cowries), Pharamajra (15 cowries). It is belief among Dimasa that the bad fortune of a person is exchange with a cowrie shells to the God of Planet ‘Naksatra’ in order to return the good fortune back to their body. Here, the Cowries symbolizes precious object of God of Ocean as a medium of exchange.
• Use of Cowrie shell in the name giving ceremonies of a child: Among the Dimasas, children use to get their surname from their father and clan is transmitted to them from their mother. In a Dimasa family, after 3 to 4 months of birth, the name giving ceremony of a child use to get conducted. During the process of name giving ceremony, the day of birth is specially taken into consideration. If a child is born on the odd day of the week that is on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday then one Cowrie shell used to be placed on the plantain leaf and kept in front of the child during the ritual related to the name giving ceremony. On the other hand, if a child is born on the even day of the week that is on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday then two Cowrie shell used to be placed on the plantain leaf and kept in front of the child during the ritual related to the name giving ceremony. After the performance of the name giving rituals, the traditional Dimasa priest or Hoja use to tie up those number of Cowrie shells into the waist of their children with a black thread. It is believed that such Cowrie shells will keep the child protected from the adverse effects of different evil spirits and evil agents. This is used to remain tied upto 5 or 7 years of their age compulsorily.
• Use of Cowrie shell in the marital rituals: In the marital ritual of the Dimasas, the use of Cowrie shells are immensely important. As per the odd and even day of birth in the week, specific number of Cowrie shells are tied up with a yellow or red thread for both the bride and the groom. For example, if the bride or groom is born on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday then one Cowrie shell is to tied up. Again, if the bride or groom is born on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday then two Cowrie shells are to be tied up. The tied up Cowrie shells are to be kept individually by the bride and groom during their entire ritual process of the marriage. It symbolizes the blessings of their supreme Deities for a happy and prosperous married life.
It is to be mentioned here that, one of the traditional healer mentioned the cowrie shell as core part of their healing method. An elderly person described it as an integral part of their cultural tradition. According to an elderly lady, cowrie shells are inseparable part of their rituals and customs.
Conclusion
Among many tales and folk beliefs of the Dimasas, the above discussed ones are the more popular ones. These are myths or legends, which are believed to be true as they are narrated to ascertain their significance in the Dimasa culture and tradition. The myths and legends of the Dimasas enable to ascertain the kind of socio-religious significance that they bear in the society, as well as define their origin. It is difficult to place each of these popular Dimasa folk narratives under one particular category, as myths, legends and folktales overlap each other. There are rarely any books written on the rich Dimasa narratives on folktales, ballads, myths and legends. It is the need of the hour to collect and record as many folk narratives as possible of the Dimasa community and be preserved in writing.
It is obvious from the above that Cowrie shells ‘Khauthi’ are associated with sacred object in ritualistic life of the Dimasa people. From the historical evidence it is clear that the Cowrie shells ‘Khauthi’ were traded since time immemorial. Society and culture are always dynamic in nature. However, among the Dimasas of Karbi Anglong, the use Cowrie shells ‘Khauthi’ is still immensely important. This material cultural object is an integral part of their oral tradition and oral healing. The concerned people are very much psychologically depended on their traditional healers and traditional priests. They strongly believe that, to maintain social discipline, familial peace, for good health, oral traditional practices are the only way, as it is blessed by their different Deities and ancestral spirits. It is to be mentioned here that, in the Karbi Anglong districts, the Dimasas are dwelling with several other Tribal groups like the numerical dominant Karbis, Bodos, Kukis, Rengma Nagas, Hmars, Garos. On the other hand, the Dhansiri area of Karbi Anglong is the hinterland with Nagaland. Often there used to be certain undocumented territorial issues in between them. It has been found that, the studied Dimasa people feel very prestigious in practising their cultural traditions and oral traditions. Among the concerned Dimasa people including the young generations, it is strongly believed that, only by adhering to own cultural practices and age old oral traditions, they can keep their ethnic identity unique and specific from the other ethnic groups dwelling in their surroundings.
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