The Bhotias in Indian Himalayas - A Socio-Linguistic Approach

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Indian Himalayas is inhabited by multi ethnic group of peoples who migrated from the neighboring areas since the hoary past. Among the Mongoloids, Tibetan speakers settled widely from Baltistan to Arunachal Pradesh come in purview. Linguistically some of them are Tibeto-Burmese. During the field works by the authoress the Mon speakers of Arunachal Pradesh claimed themselves as off shooted from Lhoyul of Tibet (present day TAR of China) or those from brug yul. The book under study deals with the Bhotia speech belonging to Western Sector, Central Sector and Eastern Sector of Indian Himalayas comparing with Tibetan, their homeland speech as enunciated by Thonmi Sambhata (Appendix-A). They are all Indians nationals through ages. That may claim 'Bhotia' as one of the Indian languages though it is not a scheduled language. A focus on the culture pattern of the Bhotias narrates their way of life as preserved through centuries in Indian Himalayas. This book is divided in five chapters with three Appendices to describe i. The Bhotias in Indian Himalayas, ii & iii. Bhotia speeches in Western, Central and Eastern Sector, iv. The latest trend of the Bhotia Speech, and v. Culture patterns of the Bhotia.

Dr. Anandamayee Ghosh is awarded with the Ph.D. degree (2002) in Indo-Tibetan Studies from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, a Central Government University of India. She is also equipped in both Chinese and Tibetan. She is an MA in Chinese, and secured distinction in the Tibetan Language from the said University. The present work is an output of her exhaustive field survey among the Bhotia speaking communities in the Indian Himalayas from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh. She is also engaged in Buddhist Studies researches on Mulasarvästivada Vinaya, comparing with the others Vinaya traditions in Chinese and Tibetan. She has widely travelled in USA, England especially Austria and Denmark, China and India with academic pursuits. A score of learned articles published in the Research Journals of India and Abroad, go to her credits. She is a Guest Lecturer in the Department of Indo Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan and also associated with prestigious Institutions in India like Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi, Indian Institute of Advance Studies, Shimla.

Indian Himalayas extending from Rima, the tri-junction of three countries, China, Myanmar and India in the east and the Siyok river belt (now in PoK) have been inhabited by a sizeable number of Bhotia-speaking communities belonging to the Mongoliod stock. India is a land of ethnic plurality. Multiple ethnic groups coexhist since the olden days. About the Bhotia speakers of Indian Himalayas, no adequate studies have yet been produced. The present work extensively deals with the identity of the Bhotias as explicit from their socio-linguistic features. It covers not only the face of the Bhotias but also their mind as expressed through words they speak. A word is an expressive symbol for recognization of the phenomenon either material or mental. Moreover, the symbolic expression is not restricted to a particular class like elite or rustic, nor to any age group. Socio linguistic study of a group of humans holds a wide scope to know the past, the present and the future that a person speaks. Also the language traits of a community are dependent to multifarious reguirement of a society with its primary base. Therefore, a study of a community with its socio- linguistic parameter is co-hesive.Partial studies on the peculiar traits of their speech have been traced out since Csoma de Koros had initiated Tibetan Studies in India. By the beginning of the 2nd millennium after the Christ, the documentary evidences of immigration of the Utsang people in Ladakh occurred as the Ladwags kyi rgyal rabs mentioned. During the period occasional movements of the Trans-Himalayan Tibetans prompt the authoress to study a new dimension of the Himalayan languages. She extensively travelled among the Bhotia speakers and devoted to the study of their language trends in comparison with their local neighbouring groups. For instance the Monpa, Khambas of Arunachal do not leave aside the speeches of their neighbouring people like Adi, Dafla in the Hajo fair in the north-east Assam for their marketing the necessities of day-to-day life. Those who have experienced of travelling in Indian Himalayas may be acquainted with the general communicative trends of the Himalayan people in the local fairs, festivals and functions. For instance, the Rampur fair is not restricted within the local periphery. Similarly, the Kaza horse-trade fair had a record of being a meeting ground of multiple ethnic peoples from Ngari khorsum, Kabul, Kandhahar and Isphahan and Parsia and the Guzars together. This Indian Himalayas had been the gateway of multiple communication through trade and commerce. The Bhotias share the advantage of being a trade-community since the olden days. The entry of the Staggzig Bonpos of the north east Iran to Guge across the Himalayas through Siyok Valley, Gilgit/Gulgust was not totally an account of the food-hunting communities by the 1st millennium after the Christ.

**Contents and Sample Pages**