Early A'chik

  General Description   The Garo Hills, located in Meghalaya in northeast India, have long been inhabited by the A’chik. The term ’Garo’ is of unclear origin, but is believed to have originated with the neighbouring Boro people. ^[1] The Garo people refer to themselves as the A’chik (’hill’) or A’chik Manderang (’hill people’). ^[2]
It is unknown precisely when the A’chik settled in their present location, but it is believed that they migrated to the hills from Tibet. ^[3] The A’chik had little contact with their neighbours before 1775, when local zamindars (Indian land-owning nobility) led expeditions into the Garo Hills. ^[3]
1788 saw the first contact with the British, who began to occupy the district in 1867. ^[3] Despite their initial resistance, the A’chik were overmatched by British firearms, and the British established full administrative control of the region around 1873. ^[4] The region remained a part of British India until Indian independence in 1947.
Population and political organization
During the precolonial period, the A’chik lacked elaborate political organization. The most important social unit was the matrilineal clan, the machong. ^[5] The chief (nokma) had relatively little power beyond religious functions and resolving minor disputes under the guidance of the village elders. ^[6]
Once the region was under British control, executive offices were simply superimposed onto A’chik structures. The British created the office of laskar, with limited power over about ten villages. ^[7] The A’chik were still left to settle their own disputes through the nokma, but they gained the right to appeal the nokma’s decisions to the court of laskars. ^[7]
Population estimates are unavailable for the precolonial period. The British colonial official and statistician W. W. Hunter estimated that the population of the Garo Hills was 80,000 in 1872. ^[8]

[1]: (Sangma 1995, 37) Sangma, Mihir N., and Milton S. Sangma. 1995. “The Garos: The Name, Meanings, and Its Origin.” In Hill Societies, Their Modernisation: A Study of North East with Special Reference to Garo Hills, 32-41. New Delhi: Omsons Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/M5IS3SBN.

[2]: (Sangma 1995, 33) Sangma, Mihir N., and Milton S. Sangma. 1995. “The Garos: The Name, Meanings, and Its Origin.” In Hill Societies, Their Modernisation: A Study of North East with Special Reference to Garo Hills, 32-41. New Delhi: Omsons Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/M5IS3SBN.

[3]: (Roy 1999, 2) Roy, Sankar Kumar. 1999. “Culture Summary: Garo.” eHRAF World Cultures. http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=ar05-000. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TXQNUE8P.

[4]: (Majumdar 1978, 30) Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan. 1978. Culture Change in Two Garo Villages. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TZXMWMN5.

[5]: (Roy 1999, 6) Roy, Sankar Kumar. 1999. “Culture Summary: Garo.” eHRAF World Cultures. http://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=ar05-000. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TXQNUE8P.

[6]: (Majumdar 1978, 22) Majumdar, Dhirendra Narayan. 1978. Culture Change in Two Garo Villages. Calcutta: Anthropological Survey of India, Govt. of India. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TZXMWMN5.

[7]: (Marak 1997, 52) Marak, Kumie R. 1997. Traditions and Modernity in Matrilineal Tribal Society. New Delhi: Inter-India Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/CS3PXEIH.

[8]: (Kar 1995, 54) Kar, Biman. 1995. “Changing A’chik-Mande: Need for Further Research.” In Hill Societies, Their Modernisation: A Study of North East with Special Reference to Garo Hills, edited by Milton S. Sangma, 52-58. New Delhi: Omsons Publications. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/W7PJ27C6.