Bathousim

Bathou Religion Latest News

The Bathou religion of Bodo community in Assam gets a separate code in the upcoming census.

About Bathou Religion

• It is the traditional faith of the Bodos, the largest plains tribe of Assam.
• The word ‘Bathou’ is derived from the Bodo language, where ‘Ba’ means ‘five’ and ‘thou’ means ‘deep philosophical thought’.
• The faith system is based on five elements: Bar (Air), San (Sun), Ha (Earth), Or (Fire), and Okhrang (Sky).

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Beliefs of Bathousim

• The community worships Bwrai Bathou as the supreme god. In the Bodo language, the word ‘Bwrai‘ refers to the ‘eldest’ man concerning power or knowledge.
• The Bathou faith is centred on the Sijou plant (Euphorbia splendens).
• It is planted in the Bathou altar at the centre as the symbol of Bathou religion of the Bodos.
• It has an important place and has been widely accepted as the symbol of life or soul by the Bodo people since time immemorial.
  • This plant is the living symbol of Bathoubwrai, the supreme God of the Bodos.
  • Bodos plant the sijou tree on an elevated altar encircled with a bamboo fencing of eighteen pairs of posts weaved with five pieces of bamboo split.
  • The five bamboo strips signify the five bindings of Bathou, viz. (i) birth, (ii) marriage or procreation, (iii) sorrow, (iv) happiness and (v) death.

Source: ET