The Sogra Festival within the Indian Knowledge System: Ritual Practices and Indigenous Healing among the Hills Tiwa Community

The Hills Tiwa is an ethnic group in Assam that celebrates the Sagra festival every year at the end of February or the first week of March, which coincides with the first week of the month of Chaat in the Assamese calendar. The Sogra festival is a ceremony to invoke divine blessings for protection, prosperity, and bountiful agricultural produce. This study focuses on the Sogra festival and its contribution to the continuation and adaptation of indigenous knowledge systems on ritual healing in Bormajong village, Umswai Valley, West Karbi Anglong, Assam. The study aims to explore how oral traditions and belief systems contribute to the socio-religious structure of the Hill Tiwa community in Bormajong village, located in the Umswai Valley, West Karbi Anglong, by examining the Sogra festival within the framework of the Indian Knowledge System. The study uses a descriptive research approach and includes non-participant observation of ritual behaviors as well as unstructured interviews with Ojas and villagers involved in the ritual celebration. Both primary and secondary data are used for the study. The Sogra celebration is held to honor their ancestral spirits for protection, fortune, and a plentiful harvest. They do this rite annually in order to receive blessings from their ancestor spirits and to ensure their well-being throughout the year. They conduct some rituals in this festival to get blessings from their ancestral spirits and well-being for the entire year. The ‘Loro’ Sadari holds a prominent position and plays an important role in the Sogra festival. His responsibility extends beyond simple ceremonial performance and includes passing along oral traditions, ritual knowledge, and ethical codes to the next generation. Ojas perform certain rituals at their homes for the well-being of the peasants and to bring harmony between humans and the spiritual realm. The people of the Hills Tiwa community continue to think that supernatural influences are the source of illness and bad luck. The Sogra festival must be preserved and documented in order to enhance India’s diversified knowledge history and ensure cultural continuity. The Sogra festival in Bormajong village is a custom that promotes unity among the villagers rather than just a ceremony. It embodies a comprehensive perspective in which agriculture is intertwined with cosmic rhythms, and healing is rooted in communal involvement and well-being.