THE ART OF BASKETRY: A KEY TO UNDERSTANDING RABHA TRIBAL IDENTITY

Basket making is virtually a universal craft, and its specific forms have been shaped by the particular uses which are served in agriculture, preparation, and serving of food, fishing, trapping, furniture, housing, etc. For making basket, Bamboo is mainly used, which is the versatile group of plants capable of providing ecological, economic and livelihood security to the people. The versatile uses of bamboo have made it the backbone of rural economy. Therefore, it is known as ‘Poor man timber’. It is probably the most extensively used plant resources and associated with all spheres of life (e.g. food, medicine, crafts, agricultural implements, house building, materials cordage, etc.). So, every tribal group has used these resources in their livelihood. Rabha one of the racial communities of Assam also engaged in making baskets which is related to their culture and livelihood. For making baskets they mainly used natural resources especially bamboo. But, due to various reasons, the traditional basket-making process has come under change. Therefore, this paper tries to highlight what changes occurred in the process of making baskets among Rabhas.