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The culture of Assam () is traditionally a hybrid one, developed due to cultural assimilation of different ethno-cultural groups under various politico-economic systems in different periods of history. == Historical perspective == The roots of Assamese culture go back almost two thousand years when the first cultural assimilation took place with Austroasiatic, Dravidian and Tibeto-Burman peoples as the major components. According to the epic ''Mahabharata'' and on the basis of local folk lore, these people probably lived in a strong kingdom in the era before Jesus Christ, which led to an early assimilation on a greater scale. Typical naming of the rivers and spatial distribution of related ethno-cultural groups also support this theory. Thereafter, western migrations such as those of various branches of Mediterraneans, Irano-Scythians and Nordics along with mixed northern Indians (the ancient cultural mix already present in northern Indian states such as Magadha) enriched the aboriginal culture and under certain stronger politico-economic systems, Sanskritisation and Hinduisation intensified and became prominent. Such an assimilated culture therefore carries many elements of source cultures, of which exact roots are difficult to trace and are a matter for research. However, in each of the elements of Assamese culture, i.e. language, traditional crafts, performing arts, festivities and beliefs, either local elements or the local elements in a Hinduised/Sanskritised forms are always present. It is believed that for 300 years under the great dynasties of the Pragjyotisha-Kamrupa (Varman dynasty), 200 years under the Mlechchha dynasty and 200 years under the Pala dynasty during the first millennium AD, Assamese culture in its original form developed. The records of many aspects of the language, traditional crafts (silk, lac, gold, bronze, etc.) are available in different forms. When the Tai-Shans entered the region in 1228 under the leadership of Sukaphaa to form one of the strongest politico-economic systems (Ahom kingdom) in Assam for the next 600 years, again a new chapter of cultural assimilation was written. The original Tai-Shans assimilated with the local culture, adopted the language on one hand and on the other also influenced the main-stream culture with the elements from their own. Similarly the Sutiya kingdom in eastern Assam, the Koch Kingdom in western Assam and the medieval Kachari and Jaintia kingdoms in southern Assam provided stages for assimilation at different intensities and with different cultural-mixes. The Vaishanav Movement, a 15th-century religio-cultural movement under the leadership of Srimanta Sankardeva (Xonkordeu) and his disciples, have provided another dimension to Assamese culture. A renewed Hinduisation in local forms took place, which was initially greatly supported by the Koch and later by the Ahom Kingdoms. The resultant social institutions such as ''namghar'' and ''sattra'' (the Vaishnav Monasteries) have become part of the Assamese way of life. The movement contributed greatly towards language, literature and performing and fine arts. On many occasions, the Vaishnav Movement attempted to introduce alien cultural attributes and modify the way of life of the common people. ''Brajavali'', a language specially created by introducing words from other Indian languages, failed as a language but left its traces on the Assamese language. Moreover, new alien rules were also introduced changing people's food habits and other aspects of cultural life. This had a greater impact on the alienation of many local ethno-cultural and political groups in the later periods. During periods when strong politico-economic systems that emerged under powerful dynasties, greater cultural assimilation created common attributes of Assamese culture, while under less powerful politico-economic systems or during political disintegration, more localised attributes were created with spatial differentiation. Time-factors for such integrations and differentiations have also played an important role along with the position of individual events in the entire series of events. With a strong base of tradition and history, modern Assamese culture is greatly influenced by various events those took place in under British rule of Assam and in the Post-British Era. The language was standardised by American Missionaries according to that of the Sibsagar (Xiwoxagor) District, the nerve centre of the Ahom politico-economic system while a renewed Sanskritisation was increasingly adopted for developing Assamese language and grammar. A new wave of Western and northern Indian influence was apparent in the performing arts and literature. Due to increasing efforts of standardisation in the 19th and 20th century, the localised forms present in different districts and also among the remaining source-cultures with the less-assimilated ethno-cultural groups have seen greater alienation. However, Assamese culture in its hybrid form and nature is one of the richest and is still under development. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Culture of Assam」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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