[Assam] Marry into low castes for money.

[BBaruah at aol.com]

Dear Phukan Saheb
 
Agree with you, hough I am afraid I cannot help you in any other way.
 
 
The labelling a community as a Sudra or Brahmin is not a matter of law.  It 
has of course become a matter of law now because of the need to protect the  
interest of the communities, particularly those coming from underdeveloped areas 
 and those lagging behind the rest of the country in the matter of education, 
 employment, well-being etc. 
Several years ago an Ahom married a tribal girl and he then  applied for a 
job which was reserved for  tribal candidates. He got the job but on challenge 
in the court of law, the Ahom  lost it. It seems to me that if the girl would 
have applied for the job, she  would have got it. I understand there are other 
similar cases. As a matter of  fact I have not been able to update myself on 
the point. What I want to bring to  your notice is another aspect. 
You are now living in USA away from your village and you no longer have  to 
abide by the strictures from the elders of the society for not observing all  
the things that  the members of a  proper Brahmin family ought to do. So far as 
marriage is concerned, your family  must be ostracised. It will happen in a 
little town also where there is a  sizeable group concerned with preserving the 
social norms of  Brahmins. 
But it may so happen that after some initial  ‘shi…shahs’,  people will 
ignore the matter altogether  and will accept the couple. Dr Audrey Cantlie, the 
author of the book The  Assamese carried out some research in a village near 
Jorhat and found that  a number of sudras even managed to  become Brahmins or 
higher castes  in  course of time. Possibly this rarely happens but obviously 
there are cases of  this type. Then, you may remember the little historical 
episode known as ‘al  loga Bamun’, a number of soldiers who disguised themselves 
as Brahmins at king’s  orders during war and did not   revert to their 
original status after the war was over. 
At Namti, Sivasagar, where I come from, there was a Bengali gentlemen,  one 
Mr Dutta, a petty tradesman. He settled at Namti. A local Ahom village near  
which he and his family lived accepted him as an Ahom in  a meeting (sobah) of 
elders. It is a  pucca Ahom family now; that I know.  
Bhuban
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