Majuli : The Island that we are losing.

- Parinita Kalita,

Handique Girls' College.

There are islands, and then, there is a floating district that has kept secrets of human civilization so diverse that one actually has to take pointers to bring them down on paper. I am talking about Majuli, a river-made island, a water-locked inhabited zone; known as a land of the "Satra", which has made its life and culture distinguished from other societies. Being an island cut off from the mainland, its inhabitants had no free contact with the mainstream society in early times, nor the mainstream had any such contact. It is sometimes said that most of the old generation people, born and brought up in the island, did not even cross the Brahmaputra to see the other banks of the great river during their life time. This was the situation till at least the sixties and seventies of the last century.

Majuli being surrounded by water on all sides was a secluded site even before it took the form of a concrete island. It was then a kind of protected sanctuary, sheltering varieties of wild animals- elephants, tigers, rhinoceros and others, and many migratory birds. During the Middle Ages, this topographical situation was taken advantage of by the rulers of the land, who sometimes used it as a hunting ground, sometimes as a war camp, and sometimes as a place for exiles or punishment.

Society: Majuli island, according to the report of the last census(2001) is the homeland of 1,53,400 people consisting of different castes and tribes, following various religious beliefs including animism. Although, their major religious belief is Vaishnavism of the order of Srimanta Sankaradeva( 1449-1568) out of them 68,198 belong to the scheduled tribal communities and 21,479 to the scheduled caste communities.

Caste class divisions- Classification of the Majuli society: The society of Majuli is composed of many castes and tribes. While the caste fraction is composed of the Brahmins, Kalitas and other Brahmanised communities assuming caste rank, the tribes consists of the Misings, the Deoris and the Kachari elements. Thus, society in Majuli consists of two distinct divisions- caste and tribe. The Bengalis, Marwaris, Biharis, Nepalis and the Muslims come under their own caste hierarchies.

Inter village relationship was earlier

determined by caste relationship. There was no social communication between a Kalita village and a non-Kalita village, or between the Katani village and a Kalita or Kaivarta village, Or between a Kaivarta village and a Brahmin settlement, or between a Kumar Kalita village and a Koch or Keot village, except perhaps on matters of business or economy. Inter-caste marriage or inter-caste dining was a taboo . A Brahmin refused to accept even a piece of betel-nut from the hand of a non-Brahmin or Sudra, particularly from those belonging to the low social status .

Similarly, a Kalita refused to accept 'maah-prasad' from the hands of a Katani or Nath-Yogi, or from the hand of a Sut or Koch. This distance is slowly disappearing among the people after independence; particularly during the last few decades, as a result of the growing education among the masses and frequent communication with the world outside.

Position of women : Traditional outlook of men towards women and the role of the Satras which considered women as unworthy of cultivating religion and literature, had a great impact on the status of women in the society. Monastic satras in the past neither allow women to enter it's prayer halls (Namghar) nor any of them were allowed to be a residential devotee-nun(Bhakatani) . The Hindu marriage rituals of making the bride, a kind of slave of her husband by its own marriage rituals (Sat Pake Badha) is to be noted in this regard. In this connection, the observations of the American Baptist missionaries is to be noted:

"Hindu is never seen to treat his wife with familiarity or fondness...The supreme duty of a wife is to obey her husband...The husband is God to the wife.. Therefore he should be the chief object of worship, after her husband's death. He is to be the object that she must worship- his will and authority are permanent to any law human Or divine."

There was the practice of child marriage among the Brahmans, and early marriage among all the castes. They neither moved openly or alone, or exchange things as traders, or moved without the permission of the husband or the senior of the family, or without a companion nor they were allowed to enter the Satra-Namghar and participate in the schedule of religious work in the village.

Growth of education and employment among women in Majuli is considerably a late development. Even now, less woman from Majuli has been in the professional and administrative jobs, such as in the profession of a doctor, engineer, lawyer and civil administrative officers.

Modernization of the outlook of the Satradhikaras and growth of education among women have had impact on some other aspects ---they have now begun to respond to the situations with a sense of dignity and strength. They are also given comfortable status by the Satras. Women in Majuli today have their organization to fight for their rights.

Religion : Almost all people of the island are Vaishnava by religion, and even those outside it are governed by Vaishnava culture indirectly. Satras and the village Naamghars are the agencies through which religion is administered to the village. Every village or every family in the caste-society belongs to one or the other of the Satras and other religious sects practised in some part; Mention may may be made of (a) Anukul Thakur's sect, (b) Krishnaguru's sect, and (c) the Shankar Sangha and Ek-saraniya Bhagavati Samaj. Their strength is, however, insignificant, some of them are followed by only a few individuals or families.

Education : Despite being cut off from the mainland of Assam , Majuli has a good literacy record- about 74 percent against the state average of 63.3 percent .

Flood and Majuli - past and present : the first impression of an outsider on the name "Majuli" is that it is a land of flood and of course, erosion. It was flood that had created the island. Being created and surrounded by the mighty Brahmaputra and the Luhit, it is subjected to annual inundation, and in fact, inundation has formed part of its culture. It not only brings havoc and sometimes, untold misery upon the inhabitants, but also gives fertility to it's soil, respite to its toiling people, fish, meat and many new items in the diet, and above all, a season of games, enjoyments and aspirations.

Men often remains hungry due to lack of husked rice (chaul), and a place to make the hearth to cook. Even the houses get submerged and water level comes up to knee deep or more, or at times touches the lower portion of the roof of the house. All men, irrespective of rich and poor, cut down the plantain trunks and make floating and movable platforms called "Bhur", where not only they move but also they make their hearth. There is no man in Majuli who does not pay homage and salutation to the great river, when overflowing flood submerges it's banks, village and high chaporis creating the scenery of a foggy sea, where water touches the extreme end of the horizon. It is in such situations that cattle and tigers live together taking shelter on high patches of land. An eerie sound, not known where it comes from, reigns over the island. It is, of course, enjoyable to the natives, but always horrifying for an outsider.

Every native possesses a boat in Majuli during flood like small traders in the town having a bicycle. Men, women and children know how to swim and run a boat. Young men steer their boats to the chapori, far away from home in search of reeds to make grass for the hungry cattle at home kept almost in confinement on a small mound of the locality, or on the high embankment. They collect the leaves of high reeds in the chapori and when the boat is full they take a morsel of breakfast called "komal chaul" (soft rice) or "pithaguri" and "bhimkal" (dry rice powder with a kind of robust banana) and sail back home. Full of grass and heavy with load, his boat, now an inch above the water level, has every possibility of being sunk into the "Ocean of water", but he enjoys his return journey by singing a folk song popularly known as the "nawuriya or bhatiyaliya" geet.

The above picture of flood and consequent life in the Majuli island reflects an occasional situation today. Because of extensive measures adopted during the regular phenomenon some decades or a century ago. Flood in Majuli now comes with the Brahmaputra and goes along with the Brahmaputra. It has little to do with the internal ecology of the island, unless it breaks the dykes and embankment. Building of high embankments almost all around the island to prevent water from flowing inside as it did earlier in its natural courses, and building of a still larger embankment across the Kherkatiya Suti as its junction with the Brahmaputra on the extreme eastern part have totally changed its topography.

In fact, Majuli in reality, is not an island today. Prevention of flood at the source has made it a kind of 'Netherlands' during the flood season. Thus, one has either to experience horror and havoc when overflowing flood breaks an embankment, or to experience draught if they have not worked well to sustain themselves.

There is a tug of war between the Brahmaputra which wants to flow in its own course and Majuli, a garden of nature, on one side and man who makes, apart from leaving Majuli, it's own child. Thus, flood has now turned into no-flood or over-flood .The consequences has become horrifyingly pronounced- erosion.