Ali Aye Leegang

Ali Aye Leegang: An ethnic culture of Misings The ethnic tribes of Assam are often recognized as the first inhabitants of the land, who belong to various tribal groups.

The ethnic tribes of Assam are often recognized as the first inhabitants of the land, who belong to various tribal groups. The tribes unite to form the colourful tribes of Assam. Mising belongs to a greater group of Tani people, who speaks the language of the Sino-Tibetan family, which comprises many tribes in Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet. All these Tani tribes Share linguistic, cultural and ritual similarities. The Mising tribes represent the second largest ethnic and linguistic group of Assam. The Misings are an ethnic group inhabiting the districts of Dhemaji, North Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Jorhat, and Golaghat district of Assam. Some of these tribes live in and around Pachighat of the East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. After the Bodos in Assam, they are the largest ethnic tribes in North East India.

The Misings belongs to a mixture of East Asian as well as South Asian sub-race of the Mongoloid race similar to a mixture of the Mongoloid sub-race of the people from Southern China. They now belong to a Tibeto-Burman family of the Mongoloid group. It is not known exactly where they migrated from, but it is popularly believed that they were dwellers of the hills of present-day Arunachal Pradesh. This explains the culture and linguistic similarities they have with many Tani tribes in Arunachal Pradesh. Other Tani tribes are Adi, Apatani, Nyishi, Padam and others in Arunachal Pradesh. There was a battle fought among various Tani groups for land and property. Some of the Mising people descended down to plains in Assam in order to make a peaceful settlement. They are migrated to the plains of Assam prior to the advent of Ahoms, around the 13th century and settled in the riverside area of the Brahmaputra and Subansiri. The river Brahmaputra is a source of various flora and fauna that attracted them, for their livelihood.