Bodo Women and their lost tradition - Boro Culture and Tradition

Agriculture has been the main source of livelihood for many early societies and civilizations. Whether it had a commercial or personal value, most of the early societies depended on agriculture for food and livelihood. 

While many civilizations never hesitated the participation of the womenfolk in agricultural activities, some early societies had different beliefs about women engagements for agricultural purposes. One of them was the early Bodo society, which had a different perspective of not allowing womenfolk to visit a paddy filed after the plantation is over.

The early Bodo society had various cultural and traditional beliefs and rituals. These beliefs covered several aspects of the early Bodo society and the Bodos were very serious about these rituals. Whether they were selecting a plot for constructing a house or doing some agricultural works, the early Bodo society performed several rituals.

 

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One of the beliefs thought to exist in the past is not allowing the womenfolk from visiting a paddy field after the plantation is over.

So why did the early Bodo society imposed such restrictions to their womenfolk? If you are curious to learn more about this restriction, you have landed on the right page.

I'm sure, you would have never guessed the answer.

How did the restriction originated?

As we all know, celebrating early sometimes back fires. Likewise, the restrictions imposed on the Bodo womenfolk bears similarity this statement. The early Bodo society had a traditional belief that while women visit a paddy field, they exclaim shouting 'Aiyou' in surprise that the paddy is growing so well.

This exclamation angers the Goddess of Wealth, Lakhimi or Mainow in Bodo, and she stops the paddy from growing more. Hence, the early Bodo society imposed the restriction of not allowing the womenfolk from visiting a paddy field before harvesting the crops.

However, there is also a legend among the Bodos that depicts the incident, which may be responsible for this restriction.

Which Bodo legend is responsible for this restriction?

The legend is about the Hindu god Shiva, whom the Bodos call as 'Bathou Borai'. According to the legend, after creating the human beings and other creatures, 'Bathou Borai' or Lord Shiva thought of sowing paddy seeds to feed his creations.

He chose a remote and suitable place on the foothills to sow the paddy seeds. The plantation was a success and the paddy began to grow fast. After learning about the paddy plantation, 'Bathou Buroi' or Parvati wanted to visit the cultivation site. However, Lord Shiva did not allow Parvati to visit the paddy field.

Parvati became anxious about the paddy field and she ventured out to visit the cultivation site. On reaching the filed, she was surprised to see the results and exclaimed shouting 'Aiyou'. As a result, the paddy could not grow more and the output was very poor.

The incident angered Lord Shiva and he rebuked Parvati from visiting the filed again. 

Final Thought

Although these restrictions may not be prevalent in the modern Bodo society, the article above depicts the deep heritage of the Bodo society. Every culture has a folklore associated with their tradition, and I believe learning about these beliefs and rituals ties us close to our culture.

"Loss of Culture is Loss of Identity" and we must never forget it.

Please let me know your views about the topic in the comment section. 

Source: A Study in Cultural Heritage of the Boros by Dr. Kameswar Brahma