Himanshu Chutia Saikia

large_01-HCS-A_buffalo_herder_sings_of_life_and_love.jpg

medium_01-HCS-A_buffalo_herder_sings_of_life_and_love.jpg

small_01-HCS-A_buffalo_herder_sings_of_life_and_love.jpg

thumbnail_01-HCS-A_buffalo_herder_sings_of_life_and_love.jpg

01-HCS-A_buffalo_herder_sings_of_life_and_love.jpg

Satyajit Morang travels across the Brahmaputra’s riverine islands in Assam with his herd of buffaloes in search of grazing grounds. “A buffalo can almost eat as much as an elephant!,” he says and so herders like him are constantly on the move.He has his music to keep him and his animals company. Why do I go to graze buffaloes, my dear. If I don’t get to see you?” Singing in the traditional Oinitom style of music, he creates his own lyrics that paint a picture of love and longing while away from home and family in the village of Karang Chapari. “We cannot be sure of where there is grass and so we keep moving our buffaloes,” he says in this video. “If we keep a hundred buffaloes here for (say) 10 days, there will be no grass for them after those 10 days. And we will all have to move to a new pasture again.” The Oinitom style of folk music comes from the Mising community, a tribe in Assam. In state documents, Mising are referred to as ‘Miri’ and listed as a Scheduled Tribe – a name that many in the community say is derogatory. Satyajit&#39;s village lies in North West Jorhat block of Jorhat district in Assam. He has been a buffalo herder since his childhood. He moves between different sandbanks and islands in the Brahmaputra where islands are formed, disappear and appear in the 1,94,413 square kilometres that the river and its many tributaries occupy in the region. Watch him speak and sing about his life in this video.

A buffalo herder sings of life and love

زندگی اور محبت کے گیت گاتا چرواہا

జీవితాన్నీ ప్రేమనూ గానం చేస్తోన్న గేదెల కాపరి

வாழ்க்கை மற்றும் காதல் பற்றி பாடும் எருமை மேய்ப்பவர்

ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ ਅਤੇ ਪਿਆਰ ਦਾ ਗੀਤ ਗਾਉਂਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਆਜੜੀ

ଜୀବନ ଓ ପ୍ରେମକୁ ନେଇ ଜଣେ ମଈଁଷି ପାଳକଙ୍କ ଗୀତ

म्हशी राखत गावी गाणी प्रेमाची नि जगण्याची

എരുമയെ മേയ്ക്കുന്നവൻ പാടുന്ന ജീവിതത്തിന്റെയും പ്രണയത്തിന്റെയും പാട്ടുകൾ

ಎಮ್ಮೆ ಮೇಯಿಸುವ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರ ಬದುಕು ಮತ್ತು ಒಲವಿನ ಹಾಡು

ज़िंदगी और मोहब्बत के गीत गाता चरवाहा

એક ભેંસ-પાલક જીવનનું અને પ્રેમનું ગીત ગાય છે

जिनगी अऊ मया के गीत गवेइय्या भंइस चरवाहा

প্রাণ ও পিরিতের গানে মজে থাকা এক রাখাল

ম’হৰখীয়া এজনৰ প্ৰেম আৰু জীৱনৰ ঐনিতম

Karang Chapari

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

A buffalo herder sings of life and love

Satyajit Morang is from the Mising tribe in Assam. In this video he sings a love song in the Oinitom style, and talks about herding buffaloes on the islands formed in the Brahmaputra river

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit