Watch the exciting dance by the Kachari women from Assam gracefully dancing by balancing the plate at Hornbill festival in Kisama village, Nagaland.
Kachari is a generic term applied to a number of ethnic groups predominantly in Assam speaking Tibeto-Burman languages or claiming a common ancestry. The Dimasa people (or Dima-basa, and also called Dimasa-Kachari) are a group of people in Assam, in northeastern India. Dimasa mythology says they are the children of Bangla Raja and the great divine bird Arikhidima. Bangla Raja's six sons—Sibrai, Doo Raja, Naikhu Raja, Waa Raja, Gunyung Brai Yung, and Hamyadao—and Arikhidima are their ancestors, and in Dimasa belief, are ancestral Gods. They are called Madai in Dimasa. Evil spirits born of the seven eggs of Arikhidima are responsible for disease, suffering and natural calamities.
Ancient Dimasa tradition maintains that sixty thousand moons (Lunar months) ago, they left their ancestral land when it suffered a severe drought. After a long wandering, they settled at Di-laobra Sangibra, the confluence of the Brahmaputra and Sangi or Di-tsang. There they held a great assembly. The place is the present West Bengal area where the River Ganges and the Brahmaputra join, and where the Kacharis established their first Seat. Over time, their kingdom over large territories.
The Dimasa are part of the greater Kachari group—one of the ancient Kachari tribes. They live mostly in the northern half of the Dima Hasao District, an administrative district of the Indian state of Assam that includes the ravines of the Jatinga valley and adjoining land. The name 'Dimasa' most probably stands for "children of the big river," referring to earstwhile on the seashore or on the bank of big river. Kacharis appear to be one of the earliest indigenous ethnic groups of north eastern India. Most independent tribal communities in this region are of Kachari origin. The Boro, Rabha, Sonowal, Thengal, Dimasa, Garo, Hajong, Deori, Sutiya, Tiwa or Lalung, Hojai, Barman of Kachar, Trippra, Mech, Rukkini Barman of Hailakandi and Karimganj etc. are all of Kachari origin.
Dimasa Kachari are mainly found in the present-day Dima Hasao District (Old name "North Cachar Hills") of Assam. They also have a sizable population in Cachar, Karbi A
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