There are basically two postulates on the origin of Pagro sub-group of Mising tribe.The debates revolves round the stalwarts of Mising historians and writers.There is also a moderate animosity among Mising tribe within the Mising Agom Kébang(MAK) so as to which dialects should be the "standard form" notwithstanding the fact that a language has many features with various dialects to usher a growth and development of literature.
The Subtle Sub-groups
There are many sub-groups among present day Mising tribe where they are more or less differ in their dialects as well as variation in tones.The well-known sub-groups (sometime it is also referred as clans )Sa:yang(colon is used for high central vowel, a bit long sounding, according to the Agom Kébang,hereafter),Mo:ying,Délu(diacritical mark on e is used according to Interntional Phonetics Association Model as adopted by MAK to suit in Mising words,hereafter),Oyan,Pagro,Somuwa,Samuguria,Dambuk,Tamar and Bihiyas.Of these sub-groups,however,the Samuguria,Tamar and Bihiyas uses Assamese as their medium of expression with more or less mixture of Mising words in between,sometime not at all. The Somuwa sub-group ,of late,members have changed their surnames to Adi sounding surnames from surnames which actually exists in Mising tribe and to-day identified themselves as Adi Somuwas, 6-7 years ago,a latest study says.I also heard this from two Mising people,whose village is next to the Somuwa of Lekang constituency of Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh at Pasighat while I was attending a Do:nyi Po:lo Yelam Kébang(DPYK) silver jubilee year celebration from Dec 1 to Dec 3,2011.
Two Theories on Pagro
The two theories on the meaning of Pagro sub-group which is highly debated in two intellectual camps are as follows.
One,Dr Nomal Chandra Pegu,the author of ''The Mishings of the Brahmaputra Valley",the first post-independence writer of the tribe,said Pagro comes from two words Aro+Pag(to understand this second meaning we may refer to paggod,pagnam etc ) meaning Real+Root( loosely Blood). The amalgamation of two words formed Pagro or Real Root/Blood.
Two,Professor Nahendra Padun,the noted Mising linguist and writer and founder secretary of MAK,constructed "Pagro" in this manner ''Mipag+Aro" meaning "People other than Mising(Non-Mising,say)+ Real" that led to formed the Real Non-Mising people.(Attributed this fact from Mg Juwel Pe:gu,executive member of MAK at Pasighat while interacting with this blogger).
The Hite-Pagro and Miro Clans War
As my inquisitive mind command more from me since I'm not satisfied with either of the above postulated reconstructions of "Pagro" to which sub-group I too belong, once I'd the luck of exchanging ideas on Pagro through Facebook chat with my Achi(Elder Brother) Dr Bomchak Riba of Rajiv Gandhi University of the department of Geography on this once hotly debated issue of the intellectual circles of the Mising Tani tribe.Dr Riba belongs to present-day Galo Tani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh and he clubbed his clan to Lare Galo.He hailed from Darw village in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.It is interesting to note his account when the debate on Pagro took place among Mising circles without much historical ingredients,oral or written.Excerpts from our conversation:
"Heard that Hite-Pagro fought with Miro clan. Still there is a cave called Miro-Pomar Aru ( means cave of Pomar Miro) in the hills of Perlek. But the cave is inaccessible or untraceable now. My father used to tell me the story. He even saw the cave. In the entry of the cave, 4-5 pieces of flat rocks could be seen. In the war Pomar Miro was chased by Hite-Pagro people. He hide himself inside the cave with stucked poisoned arrow in his calf muscle. Hite-Pagro people tried to hook him out with maamo (thorny flagella of canes) but failed as he went more inside the cave. Pomar Miro was too injured to move even an inch. He stayed in the cave for several days. While inside the cave, he killed one porcupine (hosi) with his only last weapon, Rokchik (knife). He ate all the meat and drank the blood. He would dry the meat in the sun near mouth of the cave (probably those flat rocks were his drying place for meat). On the other hand, his village performed Bume-runam(act of burying someone's belongings when the person is lost or deadbody is not found). On a fine morning, his ( Pomar's) son told his mother his father has returned. His wife was not at all astonished as she taught that-it could be orom/yaji-yalo (spirit of human) but it was real Pomar."
Dr Riba also added an interesting note, '' Earlier there were neither Mising nor Galo;neither Adi nor Nyipak.Just they were known by clan name only".
This new story could be the latest substance in understanding the Pagro meaning and origin.The earlier two theories were void of much historical reasoning and evidence to believed except attempting to establish vocabulary rendition.It is also significant to mentioned that Dr N Lego,a noted Tani historian,had mentioned in his book "The History of the Mishings of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh" that Pegu and Doley clans didn't faced any war of clans while moving to their present day habitat possibly for taking a different route.They peacefully come down from a place called Karko.It is again notable to mentioned here that Pegu and Doley bearing surnames are well-known composition of Pagro clan.This is another twist to the inquiry of origin and meaning Pagro sub-group.
N.B.Please do not take this writing otherwise especially those who are from different clans of Mising or Galo,whatever may be.This blogger take interest in writings about the oral history,myths and legends,origin,clan wars,folk songs,culture ,faith and religion,land and territory,mores,language,literature,development,politics ,life style and society relating to the Abo Tani descent tribes.This writing is not for focusing Pagro clan or establishing supremacy among the others.This is just for the sake of dissemination of information.
