57-534: Basumatary or Basumatari is a surname found among the Boro people of north-eastern India. Basumatary comes from the word Basumati-ároi , meaning Earth-folk. The members of the clan cannot bury their dead or erect a funeral pyre without paying a token amount to Mother Earth through Basumatarys . Basumatary is derived from the Hindu earth goddess Basumati( Bhudevi ), consort of Varaha ( third incarnation of Vishnu ). She
114-705: A Tibeto-Burman speaking ethnolinguistic group native to the state of Assam in India . They are a part of the greater Bodo-Kachari family of ethnolinguistic groups and are spread across northeastern India . They are concentrated mainly in the Bodoland Territorial Region of Assam, though Boros inhabit all other districts of Assam and Meghalaya . Boros were listed under both "Boro" and "Borokachari" in The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, and are continued to be called so in
171-599: A pseudanthium in the Asteraceae, and also in Euphorbia . The majority of species are monoecious (bearing male and female flowers on the same plant), although some are dioecious with male and female flowers occurring on different plants. It is not unusual for the central cyathia of a cyme to be purely male, and for lateral cyathia to carry both sexes. Sometimes, young plants or those growing under unfavorable conditions are male only, and only produce female flowers in
228-537: A clean surface near a home or courtyard is prepared. Usually, worship offerings include a betel nut called a 'goi' and a betel leaf called a 'pathwi' or 'bathwi' and rice, milk, and sugar. Another important Hindu festival, the Kherai Puja, where an altar is placed in a rice field, is the most important festival of the Boros. However, caste and dowry practices are not practised by the majority of Boro Hindus, who follow
285-442: A cohesive nationality. And by 1901 the official definition of a tribe was set down by Risley. Within this formulation Northeast India was seen as a special case that required separate legislation. The elites from these social groups, including that from the Boros, used these categories for political articulation. The Tribal League , a full political organisation, emerged in 1933 as the common platform for all plains tribes of
342-500: A head, called the cyathium (plural cyathia). Each male or female flower in the cyathium head has only its essential sexual part, in males the stamen , and in females the pistil . The flowers do not have sepals , petals , or nectar to attract pollinators, although other nonflower parts of the plant have an appearance and nectar glands with similar roles. Euphorbias are the only plants known to have this kind of flower head. Nectar glands and nectar that attract pollinators are held in
399-1051: A neologism and insisted on the use of the name Kachari and pointed to the Kachari's contribution to the Assamese culture to underline their historical political legacy. Those of the Kacharis who preferred to progress socially by initiation into the Ekasarana Dharma are called Sarania Kachari and are not considered as Boros today. The period from 1919 saw the emergence of different Boro organisations: Bodo Chatra Sanmilan (Bodo Students Association), Kachari Chatra Sanmilan (Kachari Students Association), Bodo Maha Sanmilan (Greater Bodo Association), Kachari Jatiyo Sanmilan (Kachari Community Association), etc. These organisations pushed divergent means for social and political progress. For example, Bodo Chatra Sanmilan advocated giving up tribal attributes and wanted women to follow
456-641: A new Bodo Identity. Whereas earlier educated Kacharis like Rupnath had few options for social mobility other than assimilating into the Hindu lower castes, thus the Brahma religion developed by the Bodos that asserted respectable and autonomous Bodo identity while rejecting the cast dominance, and by the 1921 census the Boros began giving up their tribal names and identifying themselves as Boro by caste and language and Brahma by religion. Additional avenues, via conversion to Christianity , were already available by
513-564: A plains tribe in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution , and have special powers in the Bodoland Territorial Region , an autonomous division ; and also as a minority people. Boro is the self-designation or autonym of the community. Boro comes from Bara-fisa , which means "son of Bara", and Bara stands for "man" or "male member" of the group. In the cognate language Kokborok , Borok means man ('k' being
570-693: A set of rules called Brahma Dharma. A majority of the Bodo people still follow Bathouism, but in censuses, they are often classified as Hindus, as their native religion has no official recognition under the Indian constitution . Christianity is followed by around 10% of the Boros and is predominantly of the Baptist denomination. The major Boro Churches associations are the Boro Baptist Convention and Boro Baptist Church Association After
627-570: A suffix for nouns) and so logically, Boro would mean man even in the Boro language . Generally, the word Boro means a man , in the wider sense Boro means a human being (but not specific to a female member of the family) in the languages used by the Bodo-Kachari peoples . The Boro language is a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It belongs to the Boro–Garo group of
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#1732792971650684-408: A superficial appearance of being petals of a flower. Euphorbia flowers are tiny, and the variation attracting different pollinators, with different forms and colors occurs, in the cyathium, involucre, cyathophyll, or additional parts such as glands that attached to these. The collection of many flowers may be shaped and arranged to appear collectively as a single individual flower, sometimes called
741-524: A wide group of peoples that included in the minimum the Mech and the Kacharis. This led to two type of approaches to the Boro identity: one is the notion of a wide group was picked up by Kalicharan Brahma and his peers who posited the Boro identity in opposition to the caste-Hindu Assamese , and the other one, Jadunath Khakhlari who accepted the notion for the greater Bodo race but at the same time criticised it as
798-475: A woody container that then splits open, sometimes explosively . The seeds are four-angled, oval, or spherical, and some species have a caruncle . In the genus Euphorbia , succulence in the species has often evolved divergently and to differing degrees. Sometimes, it is difficult to decide, and is a question of interpretation, whether or not a species is really succulent or "only" xerophytic . In some cases, especially with geophytes , plants closely related to
855-495: Is advised. Latex on skin should be washed off immediately and thoroughly. Congealed latex is insoluble in water, but can be removed with an emulsifier such as milk or soap. A physician should be consulted if inflammation occurs, as severe eye damage including permanent blindness may result from exposure to the sap. The poisonous qualities were well known: in the Ethiopian Kebra Nagast , the serpent king Arwe
912-454: Is killed with juice from the Euphorbia . Several spurges are grown as garden plants, among them poinsettia ( E. pulcherrima ) and the succulent E. trigona . E. pekinensis ( Chinese : 大戟 ; pinyin : dàjǐ ) is used in traditional Chinese medicine , where it is regarded as one of the 50 fundamental herbs . Several Euphorbia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), like
969-558: Is native to the Caatinga of Brazil and Euphorbia royleana is found in the Himalayan foothills. The deciduous leaves may be opposite , alternate , or in whorls . In succulent species, the leaves are mostly small and short-lived. The stipules are mostly small, partly transformed into spines or glands , or missing. Like all members of the family Euphorbiaceae, spurges have unisexual flowers. In Euphorbia , flowers occur in
1026-578: Is one of the largest and most complex genera of flowering plants, and several botanists have made unsuccessful attempts to subdivide the genus into numerous smaller genera. According to the recent phylogenetic studies, Euphorbia can be divided into four subgenera, each containing several sections and groups. Of these, subgenus Esula is the most basal . The subgenera Chamaesyce and Euphorbia are probably sister taxa , but very closely related to subgenus Rhizanthium . Extensive xeromorph adaptations in all probability evolved several times; it
1083-531: Is the mythical mother of Boro people . The mythical dynasty of Boros, the Bhauma dynasty derived its name from Bhudevi/basumati . Bhauma dynasty was founded by mythical Bārā/Bara hari/Boro king Narakasura , the son of Baraha and Basumati. All Kamrupa kings drew their lineage from Narakasura and called themselves as Baraha-pati(king of Boros). People with this surname include: Boro people The Boro (बर'/बड़ो [bɔɽo] ), also called Bodo , are
1140-594: The Koch , the Ahoms , and British colonialism —the Boros resisted entry into their fiscal systems and moved slowly but continuously to avoid them. Due to the expansion of these states and the expansion of tenured peasantry, the Boros were those who finally converged close to the forested regions of the lower Himalayan foothills. In this habitat, the Boros practised shifting cultivation for self-sustenance and controlled forest products. To cultivate in this difficult terrain
1197-539: The Middle English / Old French espurge ("to purge"), due to the use of the plant's sap as a purgative . The botanical name Euphorbia derives from Euphorbos , the Greek physician of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania (52–50 BC – 23 AD), who married the daughter of Anthony and Cleopatra. Juba was a prolific writer on various subjects, including natural history . Euphorbos wrote that one of
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#17327929716501254-655: The Tibeto-Burman languages branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. It is an official language of the state of Assam and the Bodoland Territorial Region of India . It is also one of the twenty-two languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India . Traditionally, Boros practised Bathouism , which is the worshiping of supreme God , known as Obonglaoree . The shijou tree (in
1311-521: The stamen , and the females to the pistil . These flowers have no sepals , petals , or other parts that are typical of flowers in other kinds of plants. Structures supporting the flower head and other structures underneath have evolved to attract pollinators with nectar, and with shapes and colors that function in a way petals and other flower parts do in other flowers. It is the only genus of plants that has all three kinds of photosynthesis , CAM , C3 and C4 . The common name "spurge" derives from
1368-426: The stem succulents . Euphorbias secrete a sticky, milky-white fluid with latex, but cacti do not. Individual flowers of euphorbias are usually tiny and nondescript (although structures around the individual flowers may not be), without petals and sepals, unlike cacti, which often have fantastically showy flowers. Euphorbias from desert habitats with growth forms similar to cacti have thorns , which are different from
1425-700: The tribal identity among the Boro and other groups. The Tribal League, which included Boro leaders such as Rabi Chandra Kachari and Rupnath Brahma , succeeded in protecting the Line system in 1937 against the proposal by the Muslim League. Around 1.45 million Bodos are living in Assam, thus constituting 4.53% of the state population. A majority of them around 68.96% alone are being concentrated in Bodoland Territorial Region of Assam, numbering 1 million out of total 3.15 million population, thus constituting 31% of
1482-527: The 18th century and then slowly became less mobile; even during the colonial period, most Boros refused permanent land tenure or made no effort to secure landholding documents. When the Koch dynasty (1515–1949) consolidated its rule in the 16th century into the regions that the Boro people had settled in, it demarcated the region north of the Gohain Kamal Ali —which came to be called the Duars —as
1539-437: The Boros developed innovative low-cost irrigation systems that supported shifting cultivation. Landholding, sowing and harvesting, irrigation, and hunting were all performed collectively. As those who controlled forest based produce, they emerged as intermediaries in the trade in these as well as other goods between the plains and the hills and complex relationships developed. The Boros remained shifting cultivators at least till
1596-525: The Brahmaputra valley that included the Boro , Karbi , Mising , Tiwa and the Rabha . This formation excluded the hills tribes which were not allowed political participation. The colonial state and ethnographers' desire to define the tribal people, the need of the people to define themselves, and the earlier pre-political associations were significant contributory factors in the development of
1653-592: The Census of India documents. Boros speak the Boro language , a Boro-Garo language of the Tibeto-Burman family, which is recognised as one of twenty-two Scheduled languages of India . Over two-thirds of the people are bilingual, speaking Assamese as second language. The Boro along with other cognate groups of Bodo-Kachari peoples are prehistoric settlers who are believed to have migrated at least 3,000 years ago. Boros are mostly settled farmers, who have traditional irrigation, dong. The Boro people are recognised as
1710-514: The Epic period. Aroi or Ari or Ary is a suffix in Boro language, which means folk. Some of the important clans of Boros are: Euphorbia Chamaesyce Esula Euphorbia Rhizanthium and see below Euphorbia is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants , commonly called spurge , in the family Euphorbiaceae . Euphorbias range from tiny annual plants to large and long-lived trees. with perhaps
1767-661: The Simon Commission included, among others, Kalicharan Brahma and Jadav Khakhlari. The delegation submitted that Goalpara should remain with Assam and should not be included with Bengal ; and that the Boros were culturally close to the Assamese. The only human category in the pre-colonial times was jati . In the early 19th century the East India Company became interested in the 'tribal' question owing to situations arising out of insurgencies against local rulers who were seeking British protection; but over
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1824-491: The aesthetic appearance of their unique floral structures, such as the crown of thorns plant ( Euphorbia milii ). Succulent euphorbias from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America, so they are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. Some are used as ornamentals in landscaping, because of beautiful or striking overall forms, and drought and heat tolerance. Euphorbia all share
1881-463: The associations felt particularly pressed to show that the Boros were not primitive as some other tribal groups and at the same time did not fall into the caste- Hindu hierarchy. The demand for community rights was made for the first time when at the 1929 Simon Commission the Boro leaders evoked colonial imagery of backward tribes and requested protection in the form of reserved representation in local and central legislatures. The Boro delegation to
1938-456: The break-up of Kamarupa around the 12th century till the colonial times (19th century) and beyond different ethnic groups settled in different ecological regions but the constant movements and intermixing of peoples led to the development of distinctive but hybrid cultural practices. According to Saikia (2012) , even as different state systems emerged, expanded, and fell—such as the Mughals ,
1995-405: The cactus-like euphorbias (now called Euphorbia obtusifolia ssp. regis-jubae ) was used as a powerful laxative . In 12 BC, Juba named this plant after his physician Euphorbos, as Augustus Caesar had dedicated a statue to the brother of Euphorbos, Antonius Musa , who was the personal physician of Augustus. In 1753, botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus assigned the name Euphorbia to
2052-487: The creation of the universe there was simply a great void , in which the supreme being 'Aham Guru', Anan Binan Gosai or Obonglaoree existed formlessly. Aham Guru became tired of living a formless existence and desired to live in flesh and blood. He descended on this great void with all human characteristics and created the universe. In addition to Bathouism, Boro people have also been converted to Hinduism , especially Hoom Jaygya . For this worship through fire ceremony,
2109-598: The cyathia with maturity or as growing conditions improve. The female flowers reduced to a single pistil usually split into three parts, often with two stigmas at each tip. Male flowers often have anthers in twos. Nectar glands usually occur in fives, may be as few as one, and may be fused into a "U" shape. The cyathophylls often occur in twos, are leaf-like, and may be showy and brightly coloured and attractive to pollinators, or be reduced to barely visible tiny scales. The fruits are three- or rarely two-compartment capsules , sometimes fleshy, but almost always ripening to
2166-537: The entire genus in the physician's honor. The plants are annual , biennial or perennial herbs, woody shrubs, or trees with a caustic, poisonous milky latex. The roots are fine or thick and fleshy or tuberous. Many species are more or less succulent , thorny, or unarmed. The main stem and mostly also the side arms of the succulent species are thick and fleshy, and often winged, 15–91 cm (6–36 in) tall. The succulent trees and large shrubs are mostly confined to southern and eastern Africa, but Euphorbia neutra
2223-424: The feature of having a poisonous, latex -like sap and unique floral structures. When viewed as a whole, the head of flowers looks like a single flower (a pseudanthium ). It has a unique kind of pseudanthium, called a cyathium , where each flower in the head is reduced to its barest essential part needed for sexual reproduction. The individual flowers are either male or female, with the male flowers reduced to only
2280-474: The genus Euphorbia ) is taken as the symbol of Bathou and worshiped. It is also claimed as the supreme god. In the Boro language, Ba means five and thou means deep. Since Boros believe in the five mighty elements of God – land, water, air, fire, and ether – the number five has become significant in the Bathou culture, which is similar to the five elements of other Asian religions. According to Bathouism, before
2337-411: The genus Euphorbia . See List of Euphorbia species for complete list. Euphorbia has been extensively hybridised for garden use, with many cultivars available commercially. Moreover, some hybrid plants have been found growing in the wild, for instance E. × martini Rouy, a cross of E. amygdaloides × E. characias subsp. characias , found in southern France. The genus Euphorbia
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2394-406: The genus should not be taken at face value. The genus is in fact rife with striking examples of morphological convergence in cyathial and vegetative features, which justifies a global approach to studying the genus to obtain a proper phylogenetic understanding of the whole group.... The bottom line is that a number of clades have been placed inside or outside of Euphorbia at different times... few of
2451-555: The genus, might not mean close ancestry within the genus. The genetic data show that within the genus, convergent evolution of inflorescence structures may be from ancestral subunits that are not related. So using morphology within the genus becomes problematic for further subgeneric grouping. As stated on the Euphorbia Planetary Biodiversity Inventory project webpage: Previous morphologically based delimitations of subgenera or sections within
2508-427: The ideals of Sita of Ramayana . Even as self-assertive politics was on, the Boros were not ready to severe their relationship with the greater Assamese society, with even Kalicharan Brahma advocating Assamese as the medium of instruction in schools, and Boro associations seeking patronage from Assamese figures who showed sympathy for their cause. In the absence of an acknowledged past history of state formation ,
2565-480: The indigenous elite, were not exposed to education till the end of the 19th century, and it was by the early 20th century when a class of Boro/Kachari publicists finally emerged —a small Kachari elite formed in the early 20th century from among traders, school teachers and contractors. Foremost among them was Kalicharan Brahma , a trader from Goalpara who established a new monotheistic faith called " Brahma -ism" and most importantly, claimed for himself and his peers
2622-523: The involucre, a cup-like part below and supporting the cyathium head. The "involucre" in the genus Euphorbia is not to be confused with the "involucre" in family Asteraceae members, which is a collection of bracts called phyllaries , which surround and encase the unopened flower head, then support the receptacle under it after the flower head opens. The involucre is above and supported by bract -like modified leaf structures (usually in pairs) called cyathophylls', or cyathial leaves. The cyathophyll often has
2679-402: The late 19th century especially with the evangelical work of Sidney Endle who is also known for his tome "The Kacharis", and this formed a parallel stream of Boro articulation till much later times. Boro as a self-referential term for all Kacharis was reported by Montgomery in 1838. Bodo was a term reported by Brian Houghton Hodgson (1847) as a endonym that, he speculated, encompassed
2736-566: The region where non-Brahmin culture could thrive. After the Ahom kingdom consolidated its power in western Assam in the 17/18th century it made special arrangements with Bhutan to share administrative and fiscal responsibilities. But when the British banned forest lands from being used for cultivation in the last quarter of the 19th century the Boros suffered a major habitat loss since the forest lands historically used for shifting cultivation and
2793-455: The region's population. In Bodoland's capital Kokrajhar , they are in minority, forming only 25% of the town's population. The history of the Boro people can be explained from folk traditions. According to Padma Bhushan winner Suniti Kumar Chatterjee , mythologically , Boros are "the offspring of son of the Vishnu ( Baraha ) and Mother-Earth ( Basumati )" who were termed "Kiratas" during
2850-615: The slightest wound and congeals after a few minutes in air. The skin-irritating and caustic effects are largely caused by varying amounts of diterpenes . Triterpenes such as betulin and corresponding esters are other major components of the latex. In contact with mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth), the latex can produce extremely painful inflammation . The sap has also been known to cause mild to extreme Keratouveitis, which affects vision. Therefore, spurges should be handled with caution and kept away from children and pets. Wearing eye protection while working in close contact with Euphorbia
2907-490: The source of other produce suddenly became unavailable to them. To alienate indigenous peasants from their lands was a stated colonial aim, to make them available as labour in other enterprises. Boros identity formation began in the colonial period, when the Boro elite and intelligentsia began differentiating themselves from the Assamese caste - Hindu society. The Boro, as well as many other communities as also much of
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#17327929716502964-650: The spines of cacti. The present taxon " Euphorbia " corresponds to its own former subtribe, the Euphorbiinae . It has over 2000 species. Morphological description using the presence of a cyathium (see section above) is consistent with nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence data in testing of about 10% of its members. This testing supports inclusion of formerly other genera as being best placed in this single genus, including Chamaesyce , Monadenium, Pedilanthus , and poinsettia ( E. pulcherrima ). Genetic tests have shown that similar flower head structures or forms within
3021-459: The spurge hawkmoths ( Hyles euphorbiae and Hyles tithymali ), as well as the giant leopard moth . Ingenol mebutate , a drug used to treat actinic keratosis , is a diterpenoid found in Euphorbia peplus . Euphorbias are often used as hedging plants in many parts of Africa. Among laypeople, Euphorbia species are among the plant taxa most commonly confused with cacti , especially
3078-538: The subgeneric circumscriptions hold up under DNA sequence analysis. According to a 2002 publication on studies of DNA sequence data, most of the smaller "satellite genera" around the huge genus Euphorbia nest deep within the latter. Consequently, these taxa , namely the never generally accepted genus Chamaesyce , as well as the smaller genera Cubanthus , Elaeophorbia , Endadenium , Monadenium , Synadenium , and Pedilanthus were transferred to Euphorbia . The entire subtribe Euphorbiinae now consists solely of
3135-433: The succulents are normal herbs. About 850 species are succulent in the strictest sense. If one includes slightly succulent and xerophytic species, this figure rises to about 1000, representing about 45% of all Euphorbia species. The milky sap of spurges (called "latex") evolved as a deterrent to herbivores . It is white, and transparent when dry, except in E. abdelkuri , where it is yellow. The pressurized sap seeps from
3192-666: The tallest being Euphorbia ampliphylla at 30 m (98 ft) or more. The genus has roughly 2,000 members, making it one of the largest genera of flowering plants . It also has one of the largest ranges of chromosome counts , along with Rumex and Senecio . Euphorbia antiquorum is the type species for the genus Euphorbia . It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum . Some euphorbias are widely available commercially, such as poinsettias at Christmas. Some are commonly cultivated as ornamentals, or collected and highly valued for
3249-659: The years the East India Company/ British Raj evolved its role as saviours of the not the local rulers but the local people by offering to protect them against these rulers just as the primitive people of Africa needed protection. The notion of primitive vs non-primitive difference was further refined by the introduction of European notions of racial differences and by the census of 1872, categories such as 'aboriginal tribe' and 'semi-Hinduised aboriginals' emerged. The 1881 census proposed that India consisted of two hostile populations and thus did not possess
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