Introduction: Self help is the action or process of bettering oneself or overcoming one’s problems without the aid of others; especially the coping with one’s personal or emotional problems without professional help.1 It is the activity of providing what you need for yourself and others with similar experiences or difficulties without going to an official organization.2
According to Collin’s English dictionary, self help consists of people providing support and help for each other in an informal way, rather than relying on the government, authorities, or other official organizations.3 Self help is a process in which people came together to share and offer mutual support to change of their own destiny. It helps in achieving things for themselves without relying on others through the use of own efforts and resources. It is also a mutual support system which is participatory in nature in getting and giving help through a group of individuals.
The concept of self help had its origin in the cooperative philosophy by homogenous group of people coming together especially at rural level (a) to save and raise small amount of money, (b) to contribute a common fund in cash or kind, (c) to meet and solve emergency needs and self improvement, (d) to start small scale business operation from the investment, (e) to support the poor through mutual support system, (f) to fostering a spirit of mutual help and cooperation among members, and (g) to instill in members a sense of strength and confidence which they need for solving their problems etc.4
Today the self help group movement is increasingly accepted as an innovation in the rural credit in many countries all over the world especially in Third World countries including India to reach and help the disadvantaged and marginalized section of people. In Bishnupriya Manipuri society, the practice of self help cooperative system existed for a long time. Self help has not only a basis on economic standpoint but a culture as well in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. This paper focused to understand the traditional self help culture in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. The paper organized mainly from few published works, personal observations, web materials and findings from interview conducted by the author. The present paper is organized on the following heads:
Agriculture and Self-help Culture: Agriculture is the economic foundation of Bishnupriya Manipuris5 and mutual support system in agriculture has been practiced in every agricultural village beginning from the phase of plough, sowing, cutting and cleaning, storage of crops and other agriculture related activities.
The Bishnupriya Manipuri cultivators till today practice the traditional method of cultivation through animals such as cows and buffalos although very few only use tractors now. While preparing the soil for sowing, cutting and cleaning, storage of crops etc, the cultivators called ‘alua’– generally a group of 8/10 or even more cultivators form a voluntary self help group and give their man days on rotation basis called ‘bala’. Women generally involve in bala, on sowing crops form separate group called ‘rua uli’ and cutting of crops called ‘dowa uli’. Both male and female groups engross in cutting of crops are called ‘dowa uli’. Morning breakfast, lunch or evening tea and snacks for all the members are provided on the rotation basis, generally of special traditional hotchpotch during sowing and koreichinchu prepared from biroi rice during cutting of crops.
The most important benefit of this bala system is that it provides an opportunity to work together which offers more energy and enthusiasm among the members.6 It also gives opportunity to complete the agricultural works on priority and need basis of the members of the group. The bala system also gives earning opportunity and economic self sufficiency to members and any member of the group can also sell his or her rotation day. However, cleaning/weaving of crops just before storage is done entirely on voluntary basis. Generally, the bala members sing songs together for their entertainment and relaxation which also helps in enriching and protecting the culture of the Bishnupriya Manipuris. They also crack jokes which help in their relaxation and respite. Singing, joking and enjoying the hard work together through bala system can rarely be found in any other community.
Fallah and Self help Culture: Looking after cows and buffalos7 on grazing fields on a rotation basis among the villagers is called ‘fallah’ system in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. Generally the cattle’s of about 15 to 20 households are freed on the grazing fields and to look after the cattle’s whole day, 1/2 person (s) called fallahdari (s) are being entrusted on a rotation basis. The falladari (s) need to ensure that all cattle’s are safe till evening when owners take home their own cattle’s. The advantage of the fallah system is that owners of cattle’s need not to worry and look after every day. It saves the time and energy and allows them to concentrate on their day to day work till the rotation day falls. It also develop the spirit of mutual help and cooperation among the villagers.8
Self help Culture in Construction Works: Traditional Bishnupriya Manipuris live in kutcha houses which mostly had bamboo walls supported with wooden or bamboo beams and thatched roof which needed repair and maintenance at regular intervals. While construction and repairing, the owner need not employ wage labour for the same where the village people volunteered in the same on rotation basis. The spirit of mutual help and cooperation was found in time of natural calamities as well. If any house damaged due to natural calamities like flood, cyclones, earth quakes etc the villagers rebuild the same voluntarily and that too in a very quick time with collection of construction materials available with villagers. Whenever the date of wedding of a bridegroom is fixed, all the villagers assemble voluntarily and build the room for the bridegroom called ‘khatol’. This cooperation culture still can be found among the villagers in time of necessity, which encourage them a sense of strength and confidence.9
Self help Culture in Wedding: Self help culture prevails at the time of wedding in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. Like many other ethnic Hindu wedding ceremonies, the Bishnupriya Manipuri wedding ceremonies also involve presentation of gifts like money, rings and many other symbolic items. On the day of wedding when the bridegroom get ready to go out called jattara, all the invitees, fellow villagers, friends, relatives give an amount of money according to their capacity as token of good wishes and blesings. Similarly, just before the wedding ceremony all invitees, relatives of the bride give presentation in cash or other symbolic presentations. Presentations are also made just after the wedding to both the groom and the bride together. The presentations made during the wedding are called ‘polleng’. The main idea behind presenting polleng is to help both the guardians of the groom and the bride to meet the expenditure incurred during the wedding ceremony. This culture also allows a poor guardian of bridegroom/ bride to arrange marriage solely depending on polleng. As there is no practice of dowry at all in the society, this cooperative system allows the parents to manage the emergency needs and the entire expenditure of a wedding in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. 10
Self help through Handful of Rice: There has been a traditional practice of self help system called ‘mustir choul’ which means handful of rice to save and raise small amount of money. The Bishnupriya Manipuri women used to set aside a portion of rice at every meal and accumulated weekly/fortnightly or monthly and sold out those to meet their basic needs and expenses and to help the family in urgent needs. Women also form a group of 15-20 or more members who collectively accumulate the mustir choul on rotation basis to raise money for the purpose of meeting its member’s basic needs and to start small scale business operation from it. In traditional Bishnupriya Manipuri society, unmarried girls raised ‘mustir choul’ to get prepare their necessary items that would require in their wedding like cloths, utensils etc which is called ‘fiom’. It may be mention here that male counterpart never demands and interfere in the matter of mustir choul. This cooperative economy gives Bishnupriya Manipuri women both autonomy and financial stability to a great extent.11
Self help Culture in Festivals: The Bishnupriya Manipuris perform all the important festivals connected with the Hinduism, particularly with the cult of Bengal Vaishnavisam, in their own way blending with their culture, which includes Bishu, Rathyatra or Kang-festival, Kartika festival, Maharas Purnima, Phaguwa festival etc. The self help is also an integral part in almost all festivals in Bishnupriya Manipuri society. During the Phaguwa or holi festival, from the second to seventh day (or more), groups of men and women walk from house to house to collect ‘vikkha’ (begging) in the form of rice and money. During the begging they recite the lines in chorus ‘hori hori bola – e hori’. The begged money and rice usually utilized for social and religious purposes only.
The expenditure of hotchpotch or khechuri cooked during Kang festival by the priest every evening is taken up by families of a village/area by turns through multiplication of the families into nine festival days. Similarly, the Kartika festival which continues during the month of Kartik from the Lakshmi Purnima to the Rasa-Purnima called ‘kartikor pali’ during which the Bishnupriya Manipuris offer kapoks (puffed rice mixed with sugar) and fruits to the Lord. The kapok and fruits offered every evening is arranged by turns by the families as it is like in Kang festival. Similarly many other festivals like Durga Puja are celebrated collectively which allow the poor and rich together in cooperative spirit.
Death Rituals and Self help Culture: As Bishnupriya Manipuris follow Hindu rituals, death rituals performed as per the Vedic ordinances. The villagers generally manage to construct the funeral pyre on the riverside. At least one male member from a family from the village or nearby villages attend the cremation who usually bring at least a bamboo or wood which helps in constructing the cremation pyre and waits until the whole pyre has been consumed. Just after death to 13th day, there are various rituals that have to be performed for the departed soul. There are rituals like offering of pinda, porok, arrangement of nama sangkirtana or theological discussions, shradha etc for which quite a big amount of money needed. Therefore, the forefathers of Bishnupriya Manipuri society initiated the self-help system of seldang. Seldang comprise of 2/3 kg of rice or equal value in cash is deposited to the distressed family by all member families of the neighbourhood area on or before 12th day. The area and number of families is not fixed, but it is generally comprised of families of two or three villages called seldang singloop. On the 13th day shradha ceremony held usually in the village temple called malthep or in the courtyard of the deceased, accompanied by kirtan, where many relatives, neighbors and invited and all invitees contribute some amount of money towards meeting the expenses called ‘polleng’.
In fact, a family, if it loses a member usually does not need to worry for anything starting from arrangement of cremation materials, smooth conduct of rituals and money needed till the shradha on 13th day are managed by the society even today, allowing the family only to be spiritual and show their respect to the departed soul only, which is a unique cooperative culture in Bishnupriya Manipuri society.12
Courtesy, Social visit and Self help Culture: Social, courtesy visit and self help is also an integral part in the social life of the Bishnupriya Manipuris. The most important social and courtesy visit is after death of a person. It is the courtesy to visit the family by all villagers, from nearby villages, relatives and those came to know of the death till the 13th day. All the visitors to the family carry small amount of money, rice, fruits, vegetables which helps the family to conduct the death rituals, as the bereaved family abstain from work and earning till 13th day. It is believed that when the death person reached to heaven, the others already reached before, ask whether their family members, relatives visited him/the family or not during the ritual period. It is disgraceful if found that no one visited from their families. The visit is important not only to comfort the distressed family but also on self help perspective as well.13
Apart from social visit after death, many other courtesy visit are also prevalent in the society. If there any one ailing in the village, all the villagers, especially the elders of the village and relatives visit leaving aside their important works, with something that the ailing person like to eat or want. This visit is crucial to boost the confidence of the ailing person and the family. Another significant courtesy and self help is that if any mother dies after the delivery of a baby due to complications, all the mothers (mothers able to feed) volunteers to visit and feed the baby.
Conclusion: The Bishnupriya Manipuri community is one of the community that facing the problem of unemployment and even in the verge of losing its social identity. This community constitutes a microscopic minority living in scattered villages in parts of Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Bangladesh playing the very last fiddle in the politics of North East India and Bangladesh. With no MLA, MP, minister at the Centre and the States in India at present and lack of government patronage, this community has been surviving on economic hardships. Agriculture is the mainstay of the people with frequent affect of flood in agricultural land every year, lack of educational facilities, health hazards, poorest infrastructure facilities, un-utilization of natural resources and their skills, embarrassing attitude of commercial banks which always reluctant to finance to the people of this community, this minority community has been survived primarily on their hard work and self help. Despite the various obstacles, the hardworking nature and rich self help culture of the Bishnupriya Manipuris prevented them from being anti-social, criminals, anti-nationals and no beggars as well, living with head high in the society. Although most of the self help culture declined due to globalization and modernization, yet the basic structure of self help culture remains as an integral part of the society. It is the responsibility of the present and future generations of Bishnupriya Manipuris to preserve the self help culture and lend a hand in fostering the spirit of mutual help and cooperation and instill in them a sense of strength and confidence and to continue in contributing overall development of the society and country as well.
Notes and References:
- https://www.google.com/search?q=self+help+meaning+merriam&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab, accessed on 28/08/2014
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/self-help, accessed on 28/08/2014
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/self-help, accessed on 28/08/2018, accessed on 28/08/2014
- Das, Sabhyasachi (2003): ‘Self Help Group and Micro Credit: Synergic Integration’, Kurukshetra, Vol. 52, No. 10, August, pp. 27-29
- About 95 percent of the Bishnupriya Manipuris live in villages
- The bala culture gives all members the possibility to exchange their views on various issues of families, socio-economic issues and its solutions
- Eating meat and rearing of cattle’s other than cows and buffalos are strictly prohibited in Bishnupriya Manipuri society
- The author had the experience of being ‘fallahdari’ during his school/college days.
- Based on personal interview with Mr. Samir Sinha, Social Activist, Silchar, Cachar, Assam, on 28th August 2014
- Sinha, Dr. Probhat Kumar (2016): Reflection on Bishnupriya Manipuris, Research and Publication Cell, RM College, Silchar, Cachar, Assam, p. 112
- Based on personal interview with Ms. Kanika Sinha (Kankana), Beharbari, Guwahati, Assam, 15th June, 2014
- Sinha, Harendra (2016): Economic and Social Issues Confronting a Marginalised Social Group: An in-depth Study of Bishnupriya Manipuris of NE India, A Major Research Project report Submitted to ICSSR, New Delhi, pp.93-94
- Based on personal interview with Mr. Surachandra Sarma, Mr. Kamalsena Sinha, Mr. Mohan Sinha, Mr. Rajbabu Sinha, Vill-Parugaon, Patharkandi, Karimganj, Assam, 21st June, 2014
*The author (dawlasinha@gmail.com) is Professor in Political Science & Principal, Govt. Zawlnuuam College, Mizoram