The concept of a comprehensive history of the Bodos seems to be an enormous phenomenon as the Bodos are, no doubt, more numerous that any other races entering India from the east with their rich culture and traditions unlike their predecesors.1 They belong to the Mongoloids.
  
The word Bodo seems to have originated in Tibet. In the pre-Budhistic period, the land or country westwards of China and north-east of the Himalayas was known as 'Bod'. Some parts of the Bod were named after the different tribes of groups of Bod-people as Har-Bod, Kur-Bod, Bsti-Bod, etc. The Bsti-Bod, the southern part of the great Bod (homeland) was inhabited by the Bsti (Buddhist Lamas) and the part was later named after tht inhabiting people, i.e. Bsti or Buddhist Lamas and the Bod (country) which has now been transformed into Tibbot or Tibet. Hence the word 'Bodo' denotes its original national name 'Bod'. Dr. Sunity Kumar Chatterji, a renowned and distinguished languist, is also of the opinion that "the Tibetan people, whose national name Bod (as it was pronounced in the 7th century A.D., this has now become Po or Pho) has been indianised as Bhota, were a numberous and a well-organised tribe, and a fairly powerful one." According to G.A. Grierson, the ethnic groups like Bodo, Dimasa, Garo, Rabha, etc. belong to the Bodo group of the Bodo-Naga section under the Assam-Burmese branch of the Tibeto-Burman division of the Sino-Tibetan speech family and they used to live in Bodyut of Tibet and accordingly they were known as 'Bodpa'.
  

The great Mongoloid 'Bodpa' or Bodos speaking dialects of the Tibet-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetn speech family would appear to have found a centre of disperson in some tract to the east of Tibet and north-east of Assam. Before a fairly long time back, these people groups of the Mongoloid stock came down along the headwater course of the Brahmaputra and form the significant ethnic group of the Bodos in Assam.
  

To being with the concept of a comprehensive history of the Bodos, the period may be divided into four parts- (1) Legendary phenomena, (2) Abcient-times or prehistoric period from the 1700 B.C. to the end of the B.C. era, (3) Prehistoric period from the 1st century A.D. to the 12th century A.D., and (4) post-historic period from the 13th century A.D. to the 19th century A.D.