Swargiary Mahari

What “Mahari” means for the Bodo

Mahari (also written mahary) is the Bodo word for a clan in Hargouri Narzary's study of Bodo myths (2018). A family's clan name is its surname, and most end in -ary or -ari, 'folk'; Endle (1911) wrote the ending ároi and called these groups sub-tribes. It is a Bodo clan in its own system, not a gotra.

Name and Origin

The name joins swarga, heaven, with the Bodo ending for 'folk'. Endle wrote it Swarga-ároi, and noted that this name and Basumati-ároi were plainly of Hindu origin, Sanskrit words with the Bodo ending added. In the Bodo myth of the clans that Hargouri Narzary records, the first man, Mwnsingsing Bwrai, came down from heaven to a great gathering and gave each clan its work, setting the Swargiary and Iswary apart for priestly tasks.

Historical Journey

Endle, a missionary at Tezpur who worked among the Bodo of Darrang, put the Swarga-ároi first in his list of Kachari sub-tribes (1911). None of its members, he wrote, ever worked as cultivators: as a rule the deoris, ojhas and others who took a leading part in religious ceremonies were chosen from it, and the offerings of worshippers were held to be enough to keep them. Elsewhere in the same book he wrote that the office of deori (deodai) was not hereditary, and that anyone who knew the forms could hold it. Among the Mech of Goalpara he listed the heaven folk (Swarg-ároi) among the most important of some sixteen exogamous septs. Hargouri Narzary, following Bhaben Narzi (2006), puts Swargiary first among the twelve clans that Bodo tradition counts as the original ones, and Wikipedia's article on the Bodo, citing Kameswar Brahma (1998), calls it the priestly clan from which deoris and ojhas are selected.

How the Mahari Is Kept

In the Bodo myth of the clans the Swargiary chant incantations, officiate at weddings, funerals and the propitiation of deities, and keep the worship of Bathou. In Bathou practice the Kherai and other community rites are led by a male priest (douri) and a female priest (doudini); the sources read do not say whether these roles are still held in Swargiary families. Sources differ on the old marriage rule: Endle believed the sub-tribes had once married only within themselves, while Gurdon, editing his book, doubted it and noted that the Mech septs were exogamous. Wikipedia's account of Kalicharan Brahma (1860 to 1938) says that followers of his Brahma reform movement came to be known as Brahmas, a surname now common among Bodo families.

Presence Across Regions