Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 58
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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JULY, 1929)
MATERIALS FOR THE STUDY OF GARO ETHNOLOGY
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With regard to totemism among the Gâros little is known, although there is no doubt that they are exogamous. The whole tribe is divided into mahari, and the various subtribes are divided into kichi or phratries, called Mardk and Sangma (one of them has a third). These phratries are exogamous, and it is forbidden for a maråk to marry a marák, and for a sangmd to marry a sangma. Sir James Frazer gives39 an almost complete account of totemism as actually practised in India, but it is more than probable that the account given by him is not quite adequate, and it is likely that totemism was formerly much more prevalent than would appear from evidences we poseegs to-day. The extreme antiquity of totemism can hardly be denied, and we find that even the religions of Egypt, of Greece, of Italy and of Gaul
are all impregnated with totemism.”40 Among most of the stone-age Australian natives the system of matrimonial institutions, which is so closely connected with totemism, is already in a process of decay. As compared with them the Gåros are undoubtedly in a very high stage of culture, and it is therefore quite reasonable to suppose that they have advanced not only in other respects but also in the matter of matrimonial institutions and of religious beliefs. There are many instances where the totems are no longer respected or perhaps for gotten and exogamous groups have disappeared, but the fact remains that the Gåros and many other tribes, among whom totemism is not found to-day, were once totemic and exogamous. The Gâro phratries are again divided into machong or motherhoods, i.e., into exogamous groups, and at the present day the rule of exogamy based on the phratry is breaking down, and in its place the totemistic clan is cropping up"1.
The marriage customs of the Garos are remarkable for the unusual form of the wedding. As & rule the form of wedding among savage, or even semi-savage, tribes, is by capturing the bride. Among certain tribes there was once a great scarcity of women, and it was the custom among them to secure wives by raiding neighbouring tribes and actually capturing women and girls. Later the need vanished, but the custom continued ; and now-a-days the capture of the bride is usually simulated. Among the Garoe the procedure is reversed; it is the bridegroom who is captured43. In all, or most, cases where the bride is captured, the husband feels he has a proprietary right over her, and she is treated more or less as his property. In the case of the Garos it is the husband who is captured, but he does not pass into the subjection of his wife, neither is he considered inferior to her in any way. The only visible result of the custom is that the position of the Garo woman is considerably better than among most primi. tive tribes, owing no doubt to this form of marriage as well as to the prevalence of mother-kin among them. Pre-marital laxity is allowed to girls at least in theory if not in practice, but Hindu influence is getting more and more, and as a rule it is not tolerated any longer. After certain great festivals young men and women or girls are allowed to sleep together as a charm for enhancing the fertility of the soil; but generally speaking it is looked on with distavour, and even these special occaşions are falling into disuse 43. Polyandry is unknown among them; polygyny exists merely in theory but, except in the case mentioned above, is of very rare occurrence. Gåro society is undergoing great changes at the present moment by coming into contact with various foreign peoples, and the American Catholic Mission is at the moment of writing (June, 1928) carrying on vigorous propaganda work among them, which will probably result, if not in their being proselytized, at least in their losing many of their interesting rites and customs.
39 Totemiam and Ecogamy, vol. ii, chapter X.
40 S. Reinach, Orpheus, a General History of Religions, tr. by Florence Simmonds (London and New York, 1909), pp. 15 sq., 180 sq.
41 A. Playfair, The Garos, pp. 64-87; Census of India, 1911, p. 253.
43 A. Playfair, The Garos, p. 67; Col. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal, p. 64; (Bir) J. Lubbock (Lord Avebury), The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man, p. 126. Haripada Ray, " GAroder Katha," Prabdal Jaişthá, 1333, p. 286; L'Ethnologie du Bengale, p. 42.
43 A. Playfair, The Garos, p. 68. For Garo customs, soe Godwin Austin, "The Garo Hill Tribes," Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol. i. (1871).
