Koch people
Koch woman in Rangtia, Sherpur District, Bangladesh. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| India Nepal Bangladesh | |
| India | 36,434 |
| Assam | 12,550 |
| Meghalaya | 23,199 |
| Bangladesh | 13,702 |
| Nepal | 1,635 |
| Languages | |
| Koch | |
| Religion | |
| Animism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Garo people, Rabha people, Mech people | |
The Koch are a small trans-border ethnic group of Assam and Meghalaya in India and northern Bangladesh. The group consists of nine matrilineal and strictly exogamous clans, with some of them preserving a hitherto sparsely documented Boro-Garo language called Koch, whereas others have switched to local varieties of Indo-Aryan languages. It is a Scheduled Tribe in Meghalaya, India. Koches want to preserve language and culture and heritage.
The Koch people in this group are those who have preserved their languages, their animistic religions and follow non-Hindu customs and traditions. They are related but distinguished from the empire building Koch (the Rajbongshi people) and the Hindu caste called Koch in Upper Assam which receives converts from different tribes.