Assam Wears Dreams on Their Looms
It cannot be denied that in Assam the gamosa, gamusa or gamucha has a place of special use: it is given as a token of honour and respect to esteemed guests.
In Bihu Dances male dancers wear it as a headscarf or waist cloth. The traditional Assamese dress is complete only when one wears a gamosa. During his visit to Assam in 1921 Mahatma Gandhi rightly said, “Assamese women weave dreams on their looms,”
Jonathan Swift in his Gulliver’s Travels Book I described fighting between the two groups of the Lilliput over the serious issue of breaking of an egg. The big question was related to the correct breaking of the egg from the upper or the lower side and it was a question of hurting sentiments by breaking the egg from the wrong side.It may look ridiculous to Gulliver but to the Lilliput it was a serious question of sentiment so much so, that they fought against each other on this issue. In Assam the recent controversy over the paired gamosa given as a token of honour by Bangla Sahitya Akademi of Assam to the Education Minister of Assam reminded me of Gulliver’s Travels though the situations are completely different and the reasons for Assamese resentment were fully justified. The Bangla Sahitya Akademi reiterated that their motive was noble as they wanted to focus on the Bengali –Assamese community harmony in Assam. They kept on that stage the pictures of MahapurushSrimantaSankardeva and LaxminathBezbaroa along with the pictures of Mahaprabhu Sri Chaityanadeva and Rabindranath Tagore. Nevertheless, the picture of adorning Assam’s Education Minister with paired Assamese –Bengali Gamosa which was 18 months old went viral on social media and sparked offa huge controversy. Many think that this pairing of gamosa is a grave incident which hurts the sentiments of the Assamese. The situation reached such a pass that Bangla Sahitya Sabha of Assam finally had to apologise.
It cannot be denied that in Assam thegamosa, gamusa or gamucha has a place of special use: it is given as a token of honour and respect to esteemed guests. In Bihu Dance male dancers wear it as a headscarf or waist cloth. The traditional Assamese dress is complete only when one wears a gamosa. During his visit to Assam in 1921 Mahatma Gandhi rightly said,“Assamese women weave dreams on their looms,” From the historical point of view, in Ahom King days, the wife of an Ahom soldier used to weave a gamosa within a night and present it to her husband to ensure safety and victory.Gamosas can be turned into an effective weapon against wolves, leopards, wild dogs or feral dogs or even dacoits, by knotting a large stone pebble into one end and using it like bolas. Farmers were already using it in rural areas for various purposes.The gamosa became an alternative cloth face mask inrural northeast India especially during the Covid 19 Pandemic days.Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a television speech wearing Manipurigamosa, also known as Meitei Lengyan. It was trending since then in urban areas though it was done earlier too in Assamese cities and villages. The gamosaa is also worn as knee longloin cloth by people of the poorer sections of society, especially menial labourers and farm workers. They are also used as a headscarf, similar to the Middle Eastern keffiyeh in rural areas
This cotton fabric with a checked design, is found in East India , Bangladesh as well as in Terai of Nepal and various parts of South Asia including Pakistan. The word "Gamocha" is a Bengali word which comes from two very simple and commonly used both in Bengali, Odia and Assamese languages, ga which means "body", and mocha which means "wipe". Literally translated, it means 'something to wipe the body with'. Its appearance varies from region to region, and it has been traditionally worn as a scarf by the Odia men and also a headwear for Bengali and Odia men especially rickshaw pullers and labourers, which was mentioned in the Odia Mahabharata by Sarala Dasa. Male villagers wear it as a dhoti. Children of tribal communities in Odisha wear thegamucha until their adolescence after which they wear dhoti.
Weavers of traditional tantubaya or jugi community migrated from Bangladesh to Tripura and weavers of Odisha produce good quality gamochas. This is also used as turban and cotton towel in Punjab. They call it ‘Parna’. But for Assamese people it is a sacred symbol of honour and dignity. Any Assamese festival and house decoration remains incomplete without thegamosa. Recently the Bangla Sahitya Sabha on its first state-level conference honoured Assamese-Bangla paired gamosa to their guest including Assam Education Minister RanojPegu. With the photo of RanojPegu adorning the paired gamosa around his neck the controversy went viral on social media.Assam Cultural Minister BimalBorah clarified that the Asssamese –Bangla paired gamosa photo that triggered controversy was 18-months-old.But theAssamesegamosa which got GI tag will always retain its pride and status. Old or new picture, pairing Assamese gamosa with the gamocha of other communities may hurt the sentiments of the Assamese in spite of the noble initiative of Bangla Sahitya Akademi of Assam which wanted to encourage communal harmony,
The Assam Linguistic Minority Development Board chairperson Shiladitya Dev stated that there was nothing wrong with adorning the two gamosas, saying it is a sign of communal harmony.He also wondered how embellishing both pairs of "gamosas" could cause controversy in a session where proceedings began with the state anthem "O MorApunarDex".There was a clear indication from the conference of the Bangla Sahitya Sabha that Bengali society wanted to spread a message of communal harmony along with the Greater Assamese society. Every Bengali speaking person in the state knows the importance of the ‘Assamese Gamosa’ and they respect this in their heart. Theywear it around their neck.
Gamosa got the GI tag which means that no other state or region can claim thegamosa as their own. It was just an event where they honoured the Assamese people with the gamosa. The pairing, however, was not accepted by the masses. Gamosa, mystic for the Assamese cannot be oversimplified. It has in it a sense of piety, Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he uses thegamosa during his long arduous journeys. It is not merely a daily wear for the Assamese but also a symbol of Assamese culture and heritage. The dream on looms is the lifeline for the Assamese. It is used by the farmer, fishermen or hunter as a waistcloth (tongali) or a loincloth (suriya) or gamosa; a Bihu dancer wraps it around the head with a fluffy knot,It is hung around the neck at the prayer hall (naamghar) and was thrown over the shoulder in the past to signify social status.So there is an infinite variety of the uses of thegamosa in Assam. It is an integral part of their life. Tampering with the Assamese Gamosa in any way will not be accepted by the Assamese people. Pairing the gamosa for any noble reason too is not so easily accepted by them because thegamusa is not a piece of cloth for them , it is a passion, a cultural identity without which the Assamese people will find it impossible to survive.
Dr Ratan Bhattacharjee, International Visiting Faculty and Trilingual columnist and poet may be reached at profratanbhattacharjee@gmail.com
.