Dokhona

A Bodo girl always tries to bring out the beauties of nature at her handloom. Her passions are spun in the weft and the wrap of dokhona. For a Bodo maiden weaving itself is a passion. She can sit at her handloom day after day till her dokhona is ready. She has nothing to complain against the cumbersome and the slow process of the traditional handloom. 'Tang-a -cultang' goes the striking of the hand shuttle with the frame of separator strips.

Dokhona, the traditional dress of the Bodo women is a thing of pride to all the Bodo people. This oblong sized garment measuring about 1 ½ x3 metres is woven by the Bodo girls themselves. Although it is difficult to say for certain about the source of the word 'dokhona', it may have its origin in or at least a link with the Buddhist word 'drubkha' by which the Tibetan/Bhutia women's dress is known. It is quite natural to glide from drubkha to dokhona & vice versa. The Bodo language shares some common words with the Tibetan language. For example, we can mention the word road called 'lam' in Tibetan and 'lama' in Bodo, and the numerical words 'se', nõi, tham, etc. have no difference. However, it is not only the Tibetan language with which the Bodo language has got its link many Bodo words found to have similarities in the languages of the Tibeto Burmese origin found in the North Eastern Region of India.

The skill of weaving comes naturally to a Bodo girl. In fact, it is the first criterion for recognising the girl in the society. Before selecting a bride the parents of a boy usually procure information about the skill of the would-be bride of weaving. Mere knowledge of making a cloth` wouldn't do. She must be able to weave varieties of embroideries, flowers, patterns, etc.

A sensitive ear from a distance wouldn't fail to catch the indicating note of regular strikes by a Bodo maiden's expert hands at the loom.

Like other Indo-Mongloid groups in India the Bodos have been jealously guarding the skill of thread spinning and weaving. Some scholars maintain that in the prehistoric period the Bodos first entered the North-Eastern India through the Patkai hills to do silk trade. It is noteworthy that the Bodos after their arrival in the plains of Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Nepal gave up their etinerant nature, including the silk trade and settled down in these places to become an agricultural community. They, however, couldn't give up weaving and thread making, because they couldn't afford to lose this skill at a time when cloth was scare. Anyway, when thread was found available in the market, they gave up spinning thread except for eri shawl. Eri shawl is made from the cocoon of caterpillars. It is famous as winter clothe. It is soft, handy and has got high quality of heat resistance. Its popularity is not confined amongst the Bodo people alone. People of other communities also use this clothe with great admiration. It is also used by old people as a status symbol or as a token of respect.

Bodo girls wear a shoulder scarf known as 'pasra' along with the dokhona. This complimentary pieceis put on as a protection or the chest from cold weather as well as an ornament. Man's aesthetic sense is the resultant development of his effort to meet the basic necessity of life. For this reason aesthetic sense differs from community to community. The Bodo girls adopted a dress, which became handy for them while living in plains. This sense of beauty of a Bodo maiden in her dokhona came later on.

A Bodo girl's dress has a perfect harmony with the Bodo dances. Unlike the other tribal dances most of which are performed by forming a ring, a reminiscent of campfire in the hunting days, the Bodos have adopted a free style dance imitating nature. The dance of Bodo girls are the imitations of the movements of a butterfly or the movements of the nature. The splendour of the colourful dokhona and the graceful swings of pasra (scarf) lend a fascinating sight to the performance of a Bodo dance. The greatest compliment paid by an observer to the Bodo dance may bequoted from the national daily 'The Statesmen', January 29, 1957. The observer said "………the charm that his simple folk cast on the sensitive spectators is difficult to describe. Surely, it was best expressed in the lovely dance of the maidens of the Bodo Tribe of Assam, a dance performed in secrecy of the night, that was probably never before witnessed by outsiders…". There are no complicated movements in the dance. The dance is like one of those simple yet mysterious decorations in the crown of nature, which have never fatigued the eyes of an observer.

Taking into account the present dokhona may not have to share the fate of some traditional dresses of other communities. With the emergence of weaving centers and the sale of better quality threads in the market the dokhona is already commercialized and its quality much improved. The demand of modern living especially educational pursuit has snatched away the time of the Bodo girls from their handlooms. The school going girls and government job employees are now dependent on commercial production.

There will be great commercial prospect for dokhona, if it can be popularized amongst the girls outside the Bodo community. People in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and other North Eastern States are attracted to the Dokhona. To don a dokhona one has to learn some basic skill as is required in wearing a saree. This minor hindrance may be removed by demonstration or instructions. Large scale production is one way to market promotion is one way to keep this beautiful Bodo traditional attire going in time to come.