Dimasa Women Society: Handloom, Weaving, Household, Agriculture & More

 One of the oldest tribes of Assam is popularly known as “Dimasa”. The Dimasa tribe particularly occupies a special status in the history of Assam contributing its cultural heritage towards making the tradition of the tribal community spontaneous. As per the sources, Dimasas are one of the communities in the North-Eastern part of India that underwent a process of state formation in pre-modern times. Though writing is normally associated with a state, nothing much is known about the Dimasa state (Dimaraji) until the advent of the Ahoms in the early 13^th century.

The Dimasa tribes are said to be the earliest inhabitants of the Brahmaputra valley. The word Dimasa means “Children of the big river” which connotes the Brahmaputra River. The Dimasa Kacharis ruled Kopili and Dhansiri valley during the early medieval times but with the expansion of the Ahom Kingdom, they gradually fatback towards the south and ultimately confined themselves to the North Cachar Hills (presently Dima Hasao district).

Table of Contents

1. Review of literature
2. Methodology
3. Domestication of animals and plants
4. Dimasa Textiles – Weaving process in Dimasa society
5. Handloomeducation among women in Dimasa society
6. Agriculture education of women in Dimasa society
7. Contribution of Dimasa women to household
8. Contribution of Dimasa women to the economy
9. Contribution of Dimasa women to religion
10. Conclusion
11. References

Review of literature

With the advent of various sources, it is quite visible and clear that the women of Dimasa community literary contexts are not freely available but the book (Studies on Dimasa History, language, and Culture) edited by Monali Longmalai and a few jotted down points from the internet are beautifully elaborated how, when and where the contribution of women in Dimasa society reflects the circumstances, achievements and present phenomenon relating the past culture and education some of the highlighted points depicts the women’s creative opinion, point of view, etc.

Basically, the conceptual clarity of their cooperation is characterized by proper understandable tricks and strategies. So that nothing vacant should remain in pointing out the actual value and taste of the project.

Methodology

This project depicts the different situations of women in Dimasa society and their contribution towards making the custom and education purposeful and attractive therefore the research is concerned with understanding women’s thoughts and how they choose to get involved in various work. It also hopes to discover whether or not women received support and information regarding education, social consciousness, and their status in society. This chapter focuses on what methods of data collection were used to receive the most suitable information for this study. Ethical considerations will also be discussed and explored such as ensuring informed consent. Finally, it will consider how the data established was analyzed. These factors were taken into consideration when looking at the nature of the study. The provided information would be suitable for the study of the relationship between women and their various aspects of involvement.

 

Body

Therefore, the women's position in the Dimasa community confers with various potentials which signifies the living quality of women in Dimasa Society. Whereas it can be described in the given following categories-

Contribution in the field of education –

Traces back to history women of Dimasa society were introduced to the traditional form of education which contains

Domestication of animals and plants

First and the most education primarily thought of in Dimasa's custom was the domestication of animals, women highly engage in performing this education system to uplift their living standards. Women along with the other member of the family domesticating plants and animals was a major education in importance with the conquest of fire, manufacturing of tools, and the development of verbal language this method was literally the most valuable method to educate themselves. In favor of this education women built relationships among the environment and traits of organisms that have been influenced through the adaption of updated environments and the patterns of selection triggered by their environments during the domestication period. Once the domestication occurred several pressures occurred leading to genomic and phenotypic alteration Women bring a plant from the wild to home to be cultivated by beneficial family and society. The adaption of plants was one of the greatest substantial artistic and development metamorphoses in the past of our agriculture history for the community. Women of the Dimasa community work the domestication process in such a way i.e... In the first step, plants acquire traits in what is called the domestication syndrome that make the plant worth the labor of cultivation this includes traits that allow a crop to be reliably sown cultivated, and harvested such as uniform seed germination and fruit ripening in the second step the now domesticated plants is selected for improved qualities it is in this stage for e.g. -that farmers might breed many different varieties of a crop that differ in grain taste fruit color or fruit shape although often characterized as rapid and the result of explicit human intention.

Women domesticate groups of cattle for milk and leather or as beasts of burden however certain wild bovids are sometimes called cattle. In this breeding education, women are wholeheartedly involved in promoting the breeding capacity in order to fulfill their basic needs.

Dimasa Textiles – Weaving process in Dimasa society

Weaving is an important cottage industry among the Dimasas. In fact, every Dimasa girl and woman is an expert weaver. A Dimasa girl without the know-how of weaving can hardly be given in marriage. Every Dimasa household has a Daophang in their frontward or backyard with a roofed area or else they have a separate room especially for keeping the Daophang called “Daophangkho” (A room for the loom).

Most of the domestic requirements of clothes are met from the family looms. The clothes woven by them are of highly artistic design. Rearing of Eri is another important cottage industry. Eri silk is spun and worn at home. Cloths' fund surplus to the requirement of the family is sold locally.

Handloom education among women in Dimasa society

The woman refers to this education as their prime duty to interpret the clothing's importance through which it symbolizes the handloom culture. In this form of education, women have required full attention to crafting different styles of flowers and animals with highlighted bold borders namely Pathaisa, Phanthaubar, Thurisamin, etc. Firstly, elder women teach thread spinning in the wheel to the fresh learner ladies which leads to the cloth-making process the name of the clothes is –

Female

•  Rajamphain (white color cloth worn from chest to knees, chest wrapper with stripes of bride colors like white green sometimes deep blue, black, yellow, orange, and red worn only on special occasions like marriage, dance festival)

Dimasa traditional dress Rijamphai/Rajamphain

• Rigu (wrapper or lower garment worn from waist to ankle it can be of various colors)
• Rikhaosa (a muffler either of yellow, green, or white worn above the chest wrapper or shoulder)

Dimasa traditional Rikhaosa dress photo

Rigu-set (it is introduced recently due to the influence of mainstream culture it is a Dimasa mekhela chadar consisting of a Rigu lower garment from waist to ankle and a “set” is a cloth which is the same piece of rigu that is draped like an Indian saree. It can be in any color)

• Bathormai (a kind of Rigu with only Rmai “Rmai design” therein)

Male

• Sgaopha/Phagri (Dimasa males wear a turban on the head called Phagri or Sgaopha are of either green or yellow on the occasion of marriage or festival)
• Rigdo (Short muffler which can be of any color)
• Risha (Short dhoti worn from the waist to knee a sometimes taken as muffler also)
• Gainthao (Along muffler taken by men it also has a different color)
• Rithap (Chadar or shawl worn by men usually made from Eri silk or worm)
• Remshau (Shawl only of color either white or yellow with the colorful design embedded in the white background these types of design are found only on Remshau)
• Magong (Shawl of various colors)

• Read Also About Dimasa traditional ornaments & jewelry

Rajamphain Beren (RMAI)

It is another variation of Rajamphain (Chest wrapper) called Rajamphai Beren also known as Rmai in short it is a cloth worn from chest to knee. It is called Rajamphain Beren because it is Rajamphai which means chest wrapper and Beren which means rows as there are many colors of bast white and the stripe of yellow, green, black, and red it has a design or Rigu on the left end corner of cloths and this design is same as of Rijamphain. It is woven from cotton yarns. In early times Rijamphai Beren had only white color but today stripes of yellow, green, red, and black increased to five or seven white color parts of the cloth decreased.

Agriculture education of women in Dimasa society

Agriculture is part of the livelihood women in Dimasa society learn this method of education from various agricultural activities women contribute their highest possible energy to maintain the cycle of food production. The majority of women in this particular society use their agricultural education to help male farmers for better productivity. This group of women does different tasks along with the men like collecting unwanted weeds and straws.

Whereas during the time of harvesting women collaborate to reap the ripened grains letting them dry for several days and carrying them to the home as a result setting them in an organized manner. Women showing proper enthusiasm towards society implement agricultural knowledge for a bright future perspective in order to grab sustainable outcomes of this education. Formally women of the Dimasa community hold a few qualitative positions to keep track of the changing education of agriculture. On the other hand, many women lack a modern system of agricultural education because of the connectivity shortage gap between academic education and the prevailing form of agricultural education. While many of the recommendations have been suggested for a specific case study with an analyzed management approach so that the left-out women of this community could behave in an inclusive environment of their traditional agricultural education.

Women of this community entertain this education following specific cultural protocols which imply the importance of agriculture in transforming the whole community's opinion of agricultural development. With afford great they also keep in touch with the primitive technique of agricultural education to relate to and keep alive the spirit of tradition.

Contribution of Dimasa women to household

Household activity determines the living condition of human standards, particularly moms who invested more energy in household tasks such as childcare and family task than men women, especially mothers, spent more time on tasks such as childcare and household chores. to the extent that women spent more time on chores, they reported lower happiness this has likely resulted in many households having both household members working from home which should, in theory, equalize is at least reduce the gap in time spent on necessities between mothers and fathers it has been estimated that most of the women in this community involvement of household work have a high rating and motivating outcome which directly or indirectly help the household work to be considered as quite befitting work. Apart from this, the women of this community gather different knowledge from numerous sources to upgrade the present condition of household workings into a modernized version. Therefore spending their life towards household as per their contribution any kind of recognition has never been received such unpaid work done by this group of women remains the sole purpose of overall family community upliftment both traditionally and individually. Women of the Dimasa community act as humble managers of the family income. It is her responsibility to secure the maximum return from every spending. She always prefers to prepare a surplus budget instead of a deficit budget. She is very calculating losses and gains while spending money. She distributes judiciously the income on different heads such as necessities, comfort, and luxuries. The women of this community also contribute to the family income through their own earnings within or outside the home. She has a positive contribution to the family income through her work. She herself performs in the home and uses waste products for productive purposes.

The whole burden of childbearing and the greater part of the child-rearing task is carried out by the women in the family. She is primarily responsible for the child's habit of self-control orderliness, theft, or honesty; she is thus responsible for the maintenance of utmost discipline in the family.

She is the first teacher of the child. She transmits social heritage to the child. It is from the mother to the child to learn the law of the race, the manner of men, moral codes, and ideals. The mother because of her intimate and sustained contact with her child is able to nurture and discover the child's particular traits aptitude and attitudes which subsequently plays a key role in the shaping of the child's personality.

The mother of this community herself is very much about the health and hygiene of the family so that the household atmosphere could not get affected, she is very much concerned about the physical well-being of every member of the family the helpless infant the sickly child, and the adolescent youth. She organizes the home and its activities in such a way that each member of the family has proper food, adequate sleep, and sufficient recreation. She made the home a place of quite comfortable and appropriate settings for the children through her talent. Besides she cultivates taste in interior design and arrangement so that the home restful and cheerful place.

• Know About Dimasa Princess Folktales

Contribution of Dimasa women to the economy

Over the past few decades, women have been working steadily, their talent dedication, and enthusiasm forming the bedrock of economic growth and prosperity in the community; women entrepreneurs have forged their own paths emerging as leaders across diverse portfolios, providing capable mentors for future generations. Despite structural exclusion from the socio-economic hierarchy of their families and the immense psychological pressure levied on them, they asserted their right to financial independence and built their businesses. Most of the unemployed women’s in the Dimasa community gradually set up small and growing businesses such as grocery shops, handicraft shops, small-scale tailoring businesses, fruits, and vegetable stalls, and those working in non-traditional male-dominated spaces such as animal husbandry, and machinery. Most prominently the women of this community were not adequately covered at all under the existing scheme and other labor legislation, and social protection schemes. They did not have the resources to move their businesses into virtual platforms and the mental fatigue they set because of the shortage of resources was incomparable their support system was limited and they did not have an outlet to voice out their concerns and fear.

• Know About Judima rice beer

Contribution of Dimasa women to religion

Women have largely remained passive receivers of teachings and ardent practitioners of religious rituals. Attitude developed around the patriarchal interpretation of religious belief has defined and shaped the social and cultural contexts of women resulting in their disempowerment and second-class status.

Within the overarching framework of patriarchy in the religious and social sphere, the core issues that emerged were violence against women and two sexuality and political gender. A woman examines the context of different religious faiths. This includes considering female gender roles in religious history as well as how women can participate in religions. Particular consideration is given to how religion has been used as a patriarchal tool to elevate the status and power of men over women as well as how religion portrays gender within religious doctrines. Religion is often seen as the barrier to gender parity, stories abound of gender-based violence done in the name of religion as a result in many cases religion and gender parity are often dismissed as too complicated to address. There appears to be no way to unwind this rather complex multi-institution.

However, a critical factor overlooked in the conversation is religious freedom. Unless there is religious freedom, minority groups, including women will not be at the table and their vital, productive, and creative voices will not be heard. Corporations and economics will suffer if they miss out on the contribution of women, whereas the denial of religious freedom contributes to gender inequality throughout the world. While there may not be a direct causal connection between government regulation and social hostilities involving religious and social attire, according to data the harassment of women over religious symbols are attire is regulated by any level of government to close the gender gap, strengthen economics and empower women, it is imperative that religious freedom become a factor that is taken seriously and acted upon.

Conclusion

The education of women leads to improved self-esteem and gives them more opportunities by which they feel more confident and hence can free themselves and educate themselves on ill practices society imposed restrictions and raise voices against them since now they can survive on their own and have logical understanding. Women in the Dimasa community literally awareness has not been confined to resourceful supplements. It is high time to provide technical and educational assistance in each and every field of life so that the culture along with studies would get synced looking forward to the bright and colorful response of Dimasa society empowering the women factual.

Studies have proved that women from this community background still lack updated form of advantages whereas it is hard to believe that the aggregate education of this community effects are of substantial importance and thus need to be taken into account when predicting the fertility response to investment in education before they are seen in at least one country in statically solid study  and with a focus on births rather than proximate determinants such studies should be based on aggregate data for a large number of regional units at a level no higher than the districts used here and preferably for different points in time these data should of cause include some contextual variables that have an influence on aggregate education and are potentially important for fertility although the strong correlations and ambiguous causality will always make it  difficult to identify a pure total education effect with richer data it might also be possible to check whether there are thresholds saturation points other non-linear effects or even non-monotonic effects of aggregate education besides they might allow as search for more complex interactions pattern’s (guided by theoretical arguments) and the separation of effects of men’s and women’s education at the aggregate level.

References

• Longmailai, M. (2017, January 01). Studies on Dimasa History, Language and Culture vol. 1 . Retrieved from Amazon.com
• Datta, U. (2004). Trends of culture change among selected tribal populations of the Brahmaputra valley. Retrieved from Shodhganga

Content writer: Abhishek Kemprai, Gricson Thousen

Publisher: Shyamal Bodosa

Image Credit: Mausumi Maibangsa