SUMMARY
“Assamese” is a label used to describe a wide variety of ethnic, linguistic, and religious subgroups that inhabit Assam, the second largest and most populous state in northeast India. While heterogynous in many ways, the common denominator for the groups under this label is that they speak the Assamese language. It is the majority group in the state; in total, the Assamese number around 19.5 million, with Assam’s total population numbering approximately 31 000 000. In 2001, approximately 47 percent of Assam’s total population spoke Assamese as mother tongue. A significant part of the population is however bilingual, with many Assamese also speaking Bengali. The state of Assam can be roughly divided into two principal parts, the Brahmaputra and Barak river valleys, separated by the Barail mountain range. The Brahmaputra plain, located in the northern parts of the state, has historically been considered as Assam “proper” and has been the main area of habitation for the Assamese-speaking people. The more southern Barak plain has mainly been inhabited by Bengali-speaking groups.
The historical roots of the present-day Assamese-speaking peoples can be traced to Hindu migrants from the Indo-Gangetic plain, who began to settle present-day Assam perhaps as early as the sixth century; it is worth mentioning that at this time, there was already tribal populations, like the Bodo living particularly on the Brahmaputra plain. The Assamese’s historical roots are also closely linked to the Ahom people from Upper Burma, who arrived in the Brahmaputra plain during the thirteenth century. The Ahom kingdom in modern-day Assam lasted from the 1200s almost until the British established control over the area in 1826. As such, the Assamese had a combination of Indian and Southeast Asian heritages. Muslim migrants from Bengal has migrated to Assam over the past 500 to 600 years, adding another component to the Assamese group; this process was accelerated during British rule in the nineteenth century because of the freedom of movement policies imposed by colonial rule. Roughly 80 percent of the Assamese are Hindu, with Muslims constituting a relevant minority; the Muslim Assamese are mainly found in the southern parts of the state.
The social and cultural characteristics of the Assamese have to a high degree been characterized by a long-standing history of immigration and intermingling of various smaller groups. The Assamese social customs has more in common with other indigenous groups in the northeast of India than with the country's majority Hindu population. For example, Assamese Hindus adopted animist practices, and displayed religious traditions that cannot be found in other parts of India. Most Assamese maintain a rural lifestyle, with a significant share engaging in rice farming; the urbanized population constitute only a minor part of the total population.
There has been considerable resistance among the Assamese against Bengali immigrants, who arrived in particularly large numbers from Bangladesh during the partition of India in 1947. In general, the Assamese have had a conflictual relationship to several minority groups in the state, such as the Bodo.
The formally organized separatist rebel group United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has claimed to represent the Assamese people.
