By Rev Lyndan Syiem
With the Citizens’ Conclave, ‘The Price of Superstition,’ organized by the Shillong Press Club-ICARE on 24 August and the flood of letters following the tragic incident at Smit, the discussion on witchcraft and witchcraft-related violence among the Khasis has fully entered the public domain. What used to be whispered and insinuatedis now in the open, albeit to our shamebefore the world. I may be wrong but I believe this is the first time that the issue has received so much publicity. Credit to the Shillong press for not just mechanically reporting events but also for interpreting social trends and for actively providing the fora for people to interact on such socio-legal matters.
But first, I must join all right thinking people in condemning the killing and the killers of the three victimson 16 August. We must also condemn those who aided, abetted and continue to shield the perpetrators. A word of appreciation too for the district administration and the police who did their duty amidst trying circumstances.
Following the Citizen’s Conclave, Mr. Phrang Roy (ST, 26 August) and Mr. Toki Blah (ST, 28 August) haveshot offstrong letters, with forthright criticism against a particular branch of the Church; this may not be wholly undeserved. Being located far away from Shillong, and relying solely on reports and letters in the online newspapers, I am however concerned enough to write. The more that people from various sections of Khasi and non-Khasi society write to express their opposition, the stronger the campaign against witchcraft-related violence. This piece is a small contribution in line with one of Mr. Toki Blah’s conclusions,reported from the Conclave,on the need for mass awareness in villages and schools. (The Telegraph, 25 August).
The point of this letter is’what kind of mass awareness?’
One of the earliest awareness programs a Khasi child receives is awareness of U Thlen and u menshohnoh. The Daiñthlen legend is recounted, the menshohnoh is invoked, examples are listed, circumstantial evidence is cited, and families and entire clans are besmirched. With such kind of primary and adolescent level ‘awareness,’ it is difficult for the typical Khasi to unlearn all this even when cogently argued and sufficiently demonstrated otherwise. On this issue, urban Khasis are not very different from rural Khasis. Why, even those who have lived for decades in metropolises still factor in Thlen rumours in their children’s marriage considerations.
There is an insidious social conditioning from childhood to old age that erodes natural human decency and predisposes Khasi society to witch-hunt violence.Should we be surprised then when all this ultimately culminates in Thlen violence? Everyone is now self-righteously criticizing the perpetrators of the horrific Smit incident. But the very same people also indulge in Thlen gossip, thereby contradicting themselves and thereby directly promoting this pernicious culture of slander and violence.
Actually, in an earlier research, I discovered that Thlen-attributed and Thlen-accused killings are widespread but unreported. Or if reported, they are listed under another category of homicide. What the straightforward reportage of the Smit incident and the incidents near Pynursla and Sohryngkham has done is to bring the issue of Thlen and Jingaiksuid out in the open. This is the first and necessary step towards eradicating this cancer within Khasi society.
The Daiñthlen monster has an oversized profile in the Khasi worldview, be it rural or urban, indigenous faith or Christian; the Thlen is firmly embedded in our collective consciousness. And frankly, religious intervention is often regarded as ineffective or at best mismatched. What does a religion of eternity have to do with a temporal social issue? Worse, true religion demands that the accusers examine themselves if it isn’t a personal or familial or ancestral grudge provoking them to accuse others of Thlen rearing. Similarly, psychiatric diagnosis is scoffed at as book-induced ignorance of the reality of spirit-level activities.
A large and growing section of Khasi society will doubtless agree with what was written in an article in ST, 27 August: “Personally, I do not believe that there are ‘U Thlen’ worshippers. Neither do I believe in the existence of ‘u Thlen’.” However, the majority of the Khasi people evidently still do. And as long as this majority continues to believe and fear the Thlen, we cannot escape dealing with it. Dealing with it requires understanding such people’s worldviews and nailing the Thlen there. If by awareness we mean telling people that there is no Thlen; you have nothing to fear; they will not believe us. This I know well from over thirteen years of ministry experience.
Mission anthropologists concede that it is extremely difficult to wean people away from deeply-rooted components of their traditional worldview, especially demonic spirits which they fear, like the Thlen. This is true not just of the Khasis but also of other cultures across the world, as previous letter writers have detailed. No matter how much mass awareness on the non-existence or non-potency of the Thlen, people will still stubbornly cling to the familiar fear they have held for centuries.
From his extensive anthropological research and field experience, Paul Hiebert says that a blanket rejection of demonic activity and witchcraft on the groundthat they are empirically non-verifiable will not work. This is a simplistic imposition of the modernist Western worldview on cultures that do not define proof in empiricist-rationalist terms -only what can be empirically verified and logically reasoned is true. Such cultures are more responsive to a demonstration of divine power over the demon of their fears rather than by telling them “your demon does not exist!” Because the demon does exist -in their minds and in the collective consciousness.You cannot make demons disappear by hurriedly coaxing people to a worldview change.
The above article (and let me clarify that I do appreciate the writer’s stance) states: “You cannot provide scientific proof that will stand in the court of law.”Correct.But the mob is not interested in such proof. Such manner of proof will never be forthcoming; neither is it necessary for the mob. The mere recurrence of a figure in their dreams is proof enough of witchcraft, punishable by killing, force-feeding excreta and other tortures. As Kong Patricia Mukhim wrote, way back in 1999, following the burning alive of Soben Kurbah and Phrosimai Ryntathiang at Mawlai Nongkwar (ST, 5 March, 1999), “the single, emotive slogan -Nongshohnoh, is enough to stir a witch-hunt.”
Paul’s Hiebert’s solution: Don’t belittle people’s worldview but demonstrate God’s victory over evil and over demonic entities, within the context of their worldview. Once people are convinced that divine power over demons is available to them, they will gradually overcome their fear of the demonic. Released from their fears, complemented by education and exposure, the necessary worldview adjustment will be made; ultimately leading to worldview change.I encourage everyone to believe that Khasi society can yet be transformed and to tirelessly work towards this end.
From a specifically Christian perspective, which defines my writing, it is helpful to remember that the New Testament worldview is definitely not empiricist-rationalist but allows divine intervention in temporal and existential matters. The narratives of Jesus and the apostles exorcising demons and overcoming demonic attacks should inspire and instruct the church to better handling of witchcraft issues. Significantly, the apostles overcame the various demons of the 1st century Mediterranean worldviews not by violence or by silence but by exercising the divine authority granted to them.
Maybe that section of church to which I belong, to which I am responsible, which has been criticized and which I feel obliged to defend, has not responded to the witchcraft issue in a public forum according to the expectations of this information age. Certainly, it has not issued a formal public statement, except for individual leaders’ responses to the press. But even these must count for something because after all they reflect the general consensus within. And certainly, the church has been continuously engaged in dealing with Thlen-fears and preventing Thlen-accused violence, which I can list in detail but which is beyond the scope of this article.
I humbly admit that Mr. Toki Blah’s call to conduct mass awareness applies to us too. But I must also humbly ask the people engaged in mass awareness to themselves be fully aware of the general worldview within which they are operating and to equip themselves for judicious response. Only then will we be able to stop Thlen-accused violence and eradicate fears of Thlen and menshohnoh from our society.
(The writer is involved in church ministry and is currently based in Delhi).