By Dr. Barnes Mawrie
Every group of people goes through the vicissitudes of life in the course of its history. Thus they speak of the “golden era” as well as the “dark age” of their history. There is nothing strange about it as any human society is the product of both the natural as well as the socio-cultural environments. The socio-cultural environment keeps on evolving from time to time and it has its repercussions on the community. Even the natural environment changes, though not as rapid as the socio-cultural changes. For example, the natural environment of Shillong has changed drastically in the last fifty years or so. Today there are more houses than trees in the city and there is more pollution in the atmosphere. The air we breathe is not as pure as we did twenty years ago. The Hynniewtrep society (Seven huts) has been experiencing a lot of phenomenal changes in the last few decades. Some changes are positive while others are negative. In this series of articles I would like to dwell on some of the socio-cultural changes that have brought the Hynniewtrep society to the great current dilemma.
The first such dilemma has come about as a result of the process of urbanization. Since the 1960s we have seen a lot of migration of the Hynniewtrep people from the rural areas for reasons of better education, better jobs, more opportunities and for the glamour of city life itself. This migration is still an on-going phenomenon. Migration has been the cause of clan dispersion and this has had its socio-cultural repercussions on a society that is characterized by kinship bond. Due to the process of migration members of clans have become distant and estranged from each other. In the past when clan members were usually residing within a village or a locality, kinship bond was strongly upheld. Social interactions between members of kin (matrikins and patrikins) were frequent and spontaneous. In fact, in a village of let us say a hundred families, every person would know the others by names and a great sense of solidarity was felt and experienced. Endogamy was zealously maintained thus ensuring the integrity and identity of a group. Kñiship was effectively exercised since the kñi was accessible to his clan members. When kñiship was faithfully exercised there was order, discipline, peace and prosperity among the Hynniewtrep. With urbanization and the process of migration, clan members got dispersed to different parts of the region. Social interactions between clan members tend to become rarer (perhaps they could meet only on certain emergency occasions like marriages or funerals). For the most part they remain cut off from each other. Moreover, the impact of modern lifestyle with its busy schedule has transformed Khasi life to a great extent. Again the onslaught of modern individualistic life has had its collateral damage on the Hynniewtrep society.
Today individual Khasi families in the city live on their own terms and interests and for the most part they remain estranged from their clan members. This individualistic lifestyle is manifested clearly in the increasing divide between the haves and the have-nots. In traditional Hynniewtrep society in the rural areas, the divide between the rich and the poor was very negligent. In fact, every family was equally poor or equally rich. It was a completely egalitarian society where the sense of equality and solidarity was very strong. The gap between the rich and the poor is a symptom of a great social disease, namely greed and selfishness. Today each family is amassing wealth for itself without due consideration for the welfare of the community. This is the reason why some social observers have remarked: “Shillong can boast of private development and not public development” for the fact that we see exquisite private houses on the rise while public amenities are in a miserable state. Today urban life has brought about the degeneration of our traditional tribal values. Our society is heading towards a highly selfish and self-centered existence. The influence of western philosophy of individualism has affected our society and disfigured it to some extent as of now but may be beyond recognition in the years ahead. Migration and clan dispersion have also loosened the knot of kinship which upheld the integrity and purity of the Hynniewtrep society for so long. Today exogamous marriages have become frequent. Marriages even with outsiders (non Hynniewtrep) have become a common practice. Such cross cultural marriages are by no means conducive to the smooth running of society. Cultural pastiche results and consequently a lot of confusion is being created within the families or the kpoh. In such cases matriliny and patriliny, matriarchy and patriarchy come into clash or unhealthy compromises and cultural cocktails are formed. For still a small community like the Hynniewtrep, cross-cultural exogamous marriages are not safe for the identity and survival of the group. Proceeding generations of such families will gradually lose the indigenous strains (physical, cultural and linguistic) and an era will come when it would be next to impossible to find a pure “Hynniewtrep” person.
This I would say is the first great dilemma of the Hynniewtrep society, the gradual loss of our indigenous identity and characteristics. Urbanization and clan dispersion are the culprits that have precipitated this negative change in our society. They have weakened the cultural bonds and destroyed our traditional values that once upon a time used to hold the Hynniewtrep community together through thick and thin. This cultural vacuum created has been filled in by destructive ideologies and lifestyles advocated especially by the media. The present challenge for the Hynniewtrep society is not to run away from social changes (for we can’t do that) but instead to learn to cope with such changes in such a manner that we do not lose the traditional values of our community. Let us remember what Gandhiji said in this connection: “I open the doors and windows of my house and I allow the winds from all directions to blow on me but I refuse to be uprooted from my place”.