Bodo Kirati refers to the Kachari groups of Northeast India and other South Asian region belonging to the Kirati tribes group of community. They came from Tibet and settled down mostly in north-east region of India, Nepal and Bhutan. They were first classified by S. Endle as the Kacharis. Here, Bodo is derived from Bod which means Tibet and Kachari is derived from Kachar meaning area near the river. They are considered to have reached the Brahmaputra valley via Tibet and settled in the foothills of the eastern Himalayan range which includes the whole of Assam, Tripura, North Bengal and parts of Bangladesh. That the Bodo-Kacharis were early colonizers of the river valleys is taken from the fact that most of the rivers in the Brahmaputra valley today carry Tibeto-Burman names — Dibang, Dihang, Dikhou, Dihing, etc. — where di- means water in Dimasa language.("Ti/twi"-Tripuri language,"Dwi" in boro & "Chi" in garo). They were the first Mongoloid people of Northeast, India and also ruled very kingdoms in Northeast, India region.
Groups
Based on an 1881 census, there were 19 groups within the Kachari classification:
- Bodo
- Dimasa
- Dhimal
- Garo
- Hajong
- Koch
- Lalung (Tiwa)
- Madahi
- Mahalia
- Mech
- Moran
- Phulgaria
- Sutiya
- Rabha
- Sonowal
- Saraniya
- Solaimiya
- Thengal
- Tiprasa
Some of the groups, such as Moran and Saraniya consider themselves as lower-caste Hindus. Other groups, such as the Garo, Rabha, Lalung and Hajong having been isolated from the parental stock, have established separate identities. With the exception of the Garo, which is still a matrilineal society, the other groups have given up the rules of matrilineal society.
The Mech in Western Assam, the Boro in central Assam; the Dimasa in Dima Hasao District (DHD) formerly North Cachar Hills, Nagaon district, Cachar district & Nagaland state and the Sonowal and Thengal in the eastern part of the Brahmaputra now represent the Kachari.