The village where I come from

How can we say for sure where a person has come from? And no, I am not talking of the last 70 years. That’s a tiny span of time since humans started immigrating.

DNA mapping and the study of languages show that humans have been immigrating right from the time they existed on this planet. There are some very interesting maps and timelines to show how we spread all over the globe from one tiny speck on the map. And of course, then there are the stories and legends and history and interpretations.

This is what I have re-constructed from what I read and heard about the valley my mom’s, dad’s side of family came from. After Africa, one early branch of humans reached what is known the Indian subcontinent (they came without documentation, but there were no countries back then so we can’t call their immigration illegal). They took a coastal route but manage to cover the country and reach the now Assam-Bangladesh region. Then there were some who moved northwards first, reached the Steppes and then walked eastwards, crossed the North-Indian planes and reached the same area. 

There was no religion back then, but I am assuming they started by worshiping nature and were later Hindus by default. Then came the kings and this land was a part of multiple kingdoms at different points of time. From the known history of the region, we know it was first ruled by Hindu and Buddhist rulers, and then by the Delhi Sultanate, followed by the Bengal Sultanate and then petty rulers of Afghan descent. Islam came here through rulers and Pirs. Masses changed their Gods and their names, but their lives continued to revolve around farming and fishing. 

During one of the phases when the Hindu ruler of Tripura conquered this area, he imported Brahmins from Bengal to change the religious matrix. I guess they would be considered legal migrants by the rulers. Don’t know how the local population felt because the history was written mostly by the rulers.

Now I don’t know which branch of migrants my ancestors belonged to.

What I know is that their homes were a part of East Bengal when the British sliced up the Bengal based on religion. Then they were a part of Assam when the British transferred the district to balance revenues of provinces. Then the district was transferred to East Pakistan in 1947, which later became Bangladesh in 1971, because of religion (and because Assam wasn’t too keen on retaining a slice of Bengal). But a tiny sliver of the valley remained in Assam because of the geographical boundary.

Thousands, who had no role to play in this game of power, were forced to move from one side of the river to another based on their religion. They left behind their homes, their lands and their history and became immigrants once again.