The tribal communities though small in size occupy an important position in the society, economy and polity of Assam. Having diverse ethnic origins, representing racial stock from Proto-Australoid to Mongoloid, with a distinctive socio-cultural system, their own cultural ethos, a unique-way of adaptation to different ecological niches and a distinctive social structure of their own, they seem to respond to processes of social change quite differently to other communities. This phenomenon gets

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... flected in their prevailing socio-cultural characteristics, and it is more glaring in the case of women. Most of the tribal women of the state are in the midst of continuities and change. While on the one hand, their tradition-bound practices continue to exist, on the other hand, they adapt to new wider forces,. With this background in mind an attempt is made in this article to understand how new socio-cultural changes are accepted, rejected or adapted by the tribal women of the state in general, and particularly by the eight major tribal groups (Boro, Mising, Karbi, Rabha, Sonowal-Kachari, Tiwa, Dimasa and Deori) living here.