From WikiAssam

The Bodo-Kachari are an ethnic group of Assam. They are probably the first rice cultivators in the region and first to rear the silk worm. They formed powerful kingdoms in the hoary past and in more recent times: Kachari, Borok kingdoms, etc. The Bodo-Kachari find mention in texts like the Mahabharata as the kirata.

The Bodo-Kacharis speak languages that belong to the Tibeto-Burman family. Recent genome studies support the hypothesis that people speaking these languages entered India via the North-East from the original homelands in the Yellow River basin, and that they are the second language group to have done so, after those speaking the Austo-Asiatic languages.

The groups mentioned in Endle's The Kachari are: Bodo, Chutia, Dhimal, Dimasa, Garo, Hajong, Hojai, Lalung, Madani, Mahalia, Mech, Moran, Phulgaria, Rabha, Rajbangshi/Koch, Saraniya, Solaimiya, Tippera.

External Links

Ethnic India: A Genomic View, With Special Reference to Peopling and Structure Basu et al, Genome Research 13:2277-2290, 2003