By HH Mohrmen
Two recent incidents in the state that had a huge impact on society were the attack on the family of a person alleged to be the keeper of u Thlen and the order of the governor to cancel all the degrees offered by the CMJ university and to stop the university from operating. Both are issues that require a lengthy, analytical debate. .
To address one of the issues the Department of Arts & Culture organized a two-day regional seminar in Shillong on the May 3-4 on the theme, “Superstition in the Tribal Cultures of the Northeast: a Study of Myth and Reality”. The speakers before me are renowned scholars in the region. No wonder they went hammer and tongs against superstition. In fact it sounded like a superstition bashing seminar from the word go when Prof B. Myrboh Pro vice chancellor of the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) delivered his inaugural address.
I titled my paper, “Tradition and Modernity: Beyond Superstition” in which I dealt at length with the dichotomy in the Khasi Pnar way of life. I don’t think it is a clash at all but the truth is that the mystery exists and the society is caught between tradition and modernity. The attack and vandalism is the manifestation of a society entangled in a tribal culture and tradition juxtaposed with the modern way of life but without any sense of direction.
U Thlen, the Taro, ka Bih etc are part of the Khasi Pnar belief system which has been inculcated in the minds of the people from one generation to another. We grew up believing that the Nongshohnoh exists and is lurking around the locality to catch us and to feed our blood to U Thlen a kind of serpent. We were given strict instructions not to partake food shared by certain families in the society because they keep the Taro, ka Kymbad, ka Bih etc. There are many incidents where families of patients who suffer from a chronic ailment are advised to take both allopathic and traditional shamanist treatment. Obviously people are in a dilemma and because it is a matter of life and dead they neither have full faith in the allopathic medicine nor in the traditional treatment. When people fall ill they usually take the help of both worlds of medicine. In fact like any human, the Khasi Pnar too consult any available healing system be it ayurvedic, homeopathic, or traditional healing etc to cure themselves.
I am not defending superstition, neither will I out rightly dismiss myths, legends and traditions as superstition, which is a complex issue because it is in the realm of the spirit. I am not condoning the violence and madness that has happened. Any act of vandalism need to be condemned in the strongest terms and such acts of violence find no mention in our culture and tradition. But I would rather like the educated Khasi Pnar to look at the wisdom behind these legends and beliefs and interpret them in the new light. Rather than looking at the stories and traditions as superstitious we can examine these issues in a much broader sense with deep insights and see the relevance of this Khasi Pnar wisdom in the modern day context.
For instance, sacred forests are considered sacred because they are believed to be the dwelling places of u Ryngkaw u Basa and other gods and spirits. A cursory treatment of the issue would make it look like superstition, but but it is this belief system that has helped conserve our sacred forests. In the tradition of keeping sacred forests, we can see the wisdom of our ancestors, their profound understanding of how the nature works and the need to protect and preserve it. They might not know what the web of existence is, but this simple spiritual act is their own way of respecting the divinity of all beings that exist in the forest.
In the same way let us examine other Khasi Pnar traditions and legends and try to interpret their relevance in our day to day lives. The ‘keepers of U Thlen’ (Non-gri-thlen) are those, whose greed has overtaken their sane self; they are people who would do anything to garner more wealth. They would exploit people even force them to do odd jobs and pay them very small returns for doing so. They would go to any extent to exploit both human and nature for their own selfish gains. These are the modern day Nong-ri-thlen, because their only concern is to get money and more money. The ‘Nongshohnoh’ are those who work for the Nong-ri Thlen and would go to any extent to serve their master even if it means taking somebody’s life for money.
The keepers of ‘Ka Taro’ are those who are envious of others. Their hearts are full with envy; they are incessantly jealous of their friends, neighbor and relatives’ success, beauty and wealth. They would secretly wish to possess their friends and neighbor’s unique character through evil designs. And when they are not able to achieve those qualities, they would curse their friends and neighbours.
The ‘Badon bih’ are mean, close-fisted people who would not readily part with anything; they would not even give to charity. Even if they would have to provide food to others, they would do so grudgingly and would even curse those with whom they have to share their food which is against the traditional Hynniewtrep hospitality.
Culture and tradition is not something we can just wish away. The legends and belief systems are part of the society. It will be time consuming, nay, impossible to rid off the same from the person. The way to the future for the Khasi Pnar Society is that we take the best of both worlds and move on to the future. The Khasi-Pnar tradition and modern way of life can go hand in hand; the two can co-exist albeit with new interpretations of the myths, legends and traditions. Then only we’ll realize that u Nong-ri-thlen, u Nongshohnoh, ka Taro, ka bih et al are alive in every age, caste and creed and the Khasi-Pnar wisdom is ever-relevant; it lives beyond race and time.
The need of the hour for the Department of Arts and Culture is to educate our people help them see the wisdom behind the Khasi myths, legends and tradition because without them we have no identity. Take away the stories and there will be no Hynniewtrep society any more.
In the CMJ university case, we witness his Excellency the Governor who is the visitor of the University killing U Thlen which is lurking in the guise of an institution. The Governor with one stroke of a pen closed the illegal operations that have happened in the name of the University. The question is what will happen to the youths who have received a degree from this University? Money may not be an issue, but who would compensate them for the time they had spent pursuing these now worthless degrees? This is a state University, therefore the government cannot simply wash its hands and feign ignorance of what is happening in the University. The students and their parents need to know who are the patrons or promoters of this University. Jha would certainly need somebody to lobby for his University in the State Assembly, who help introduce the Act and supported it in the august house? Are the promoter(s) of this university any different from ‘Ki Nong-Ri-Thlen’ in terms of using illegal means to get instant wealth, even if it means spoiling the future of the youths? And how different is this from killing a person? And what about the people who lobbied and helped enact the CMJ University Act, are they not the modern day Nongshohnoh? They have helped the university kill the youths as their future is uncertain now. Now we see that Nong-ri-thlen and Nongshohnoh do exist albeit in many shapes and forms, so our ancestors were right when they cautioned us to be wary of Nongshohnoh being on the prowl.