By H. H. Mohrmen
The famous Behdieiñkhlam festival of the Pnars in Jaintia hills is not just a festival; the six Behdieiñkhlams celebrated by the six different Raijs of Jaintia at different parts of the year are unique in their own way. The term Beh-dieiñ-khlam is made up of three words. In the Pnar parlance, ‘Beh’ literarily means to chase or to rid off/away and ‘dieñ’ means wood or log and ‘khlam’ means plague, epidemic or pestilence. Therefore Behdieiñkhlam means the festival to rid off plague. The six Seiñ Raij which celebrate Behdieiñkhlam are Raij Jowai, Raij Chyrmang, Raij Tuber, Raij Ialong, Raij Mukhla and Raij Muthlong.
Writers and reporters and even the State Government and the Raj Bhawan spell Behdieiñkhlam differently. Although Beh and Khlam have the same spellings in all Pnar dialect, the different Raij spell or pronounce wood or log differently, perhaps this is the reason for the multiple spelling of the festival. My spelling is based on Raij Jowai’s pronunciation of the word wood or log which is dieiñ, similar to ïeiñ (stand) or kieiñ (carry or wear) and the people of Raij Tuber pronounce wood or log as deiñ, akin to Seiñ (organization), or bneiñ (space/heaven) and in the Jowai dialect ‘deiñ’ has a different meaning; it means cut or to chop. The festival is sometime spelt as Behdienkhlam which when translated gives a different meaning because ‘dien’ means rear or footprints. So Behdienkhlam would mean chase/follow or tracking the khlam’s footprints or trail, which is not what it is original meant to be.
Behdieiñkhlam is an annual festival and it is being celebrated in different parts of the year by the different Raijs. Traditionally Raij Tuber celebrates Behdieiñkhlam a week after Seiñ Raij Jowai celebrates its Behdieiñkhlam. Behdieiñkhlam Tuber is also the largest of all the Behdieiñkhlams in terms of numbers of Rots, numbers of villages and numbers of people participating on the grand finale of the festival.
In the case of the Raij Jowai, Behdieiñkhlam festival is partly to venerate the covenant that u Lakriah had with the Almighty God on behalf of the children or the khon u ynñiaw wasa ynñiaw wasung. In the creation story of the Ynñiaw wasa ynñiaw wasung, God’s chosen leader to lead the seven huts from heaven to settle on Earth was u Lakriah. But their life on Earth was not as peaceful and easy as it used to be when they were together with the nine huts and close to the Creator. They had to face hunger, suffering and ultimately death which is perhaps the price they have to pay for being mortal. They were at a complete loss and didn’t know what to do. Thankfully they had Lakriah to turn to. Since he was chosen by God, only he could communicate with the creator and the last covenant that Lakriah had with the Creator was when the latter appeared to him in the form of a rainbow. In the covenant God promised to pay an annual visit to the seven huts and during the visit he would also bring along with him all ancestors. The Almighty also promised that though he would no longer be close to humans, yet mortal humans can approach him through prayers, rituals and by offering sacrifices. And Lakriah on behalf of the seven huts promised the Almighty a four- day, three- night dance to propitiate the Creator and the ancestors.
Hence the four days and three nights Annual Behdieiñkhlam festival of Raij Jowai always starts with the tradition of offering food to the ancestors. In the morning families would visit the market to purchase the best and the finest of fruits and foods available in the market. Come afternoon, families will be busy preparing and offering all sorts of food bought from the market to offer to the departed souls in a tradition called “Ka Siang ka Pha” or “Ka Siang ka Phur.”
The Raij Jowai Behdieiñkhlam is also partly to propitiate the four maternal ancestress of Jowai town known as ka Wet, ka Teiñ, ka Bon and ka Doh, who are believed to be (chiteiñ i bru chiteiñ i blai) part divine; part mortal. Not only that; a large part of the rituals are being performed in the house of the Priestess, the ritual of Bam-tyngkong performed by the Daloi and his subordinates in the wee hour of the last day (muchai) is partly to pay homage to the four ancestress of the Raij.
Raij is union of villages which owes its origin to the same root or to be specific the same place of origin. In course of time descendants of the Raij scattered throughout the district (in many cases en-masse) in search of livelihoods. The descendant of the Raij who had settled in various parts of the district or state (Ryngkaw para) visited the place of their origin on the penultimate day of every Behdieiñkhlam festival. In the case of Raij Jowai, descendant of the Raij who live in Shillong and Ummulong make it a point to visit Jowai at least on the last day of the celebration to join in the merry making as promised by Lakriah. In the case of Raij Tuber, the children of the Raij who live in different parts of the district from Mupyut in the Amwi daloiship, to Khliehtyrchi in the Jowai daloiship and Jalaphet in the Sutnga daloiship made the annual pilgrimage to their place of origin in Tuber on the last day of the Behdieiñkhlam. In the case of the Behdieiñkhlam in Raij ¯along, people who are now settled in Wahiajer and owe their origin to the Raij come to pay homage to their ancestral land by taking part in the annual Behdieiñkhlam festival. During the annual pilgrimage the descendant of the Raij who lives in a different part of the region come with Rots or Rong that they jointly made as a community. Behdieiñkhlam is therefore in a way a festival of annual home-coming for the descendants of the Raij. It is a journey to their roots and a festival to pay homage to their ancestral land.
Though Behdieiñkhlam festival is celebrated during different months of the year but because it is also related to the agrarian culture of the Pnar, every Behdieiñkhlam is timed to coincide with the farming season of the people. Rupaia Lamarr of Kiang Nangbah Government College (Telegraph Guwahati July 6, 2011) said “Behdieiñkhlam is an agrarian festival which is a testimony to an advanced culture of wetland cultivation as against Jhum cultivation practiced by other indigenous communities.” Lamarr also said “It is also during the festival that family members and relatives experience the joy of homecoming. It is a time to be at home with Mother Nature and dance on its lap, its soil and its water, Behdieñkhlam also expresses the relationship between man and god, man and nature and man with fellow men.”
The main crop of the people who live in the Raijs that celebrates Behdieiñkhlam is rice; hence Behdieiñkhlam is celebrated in correspondence with the different rice growing seasons of the region. For example Raij Chyrmang’s Behdieiñkhlam is a pre-sowing season festival, Raij Jowai and Raij Tuber’s Behdieiñkhlam is a post sowing or post rice planting season celebration and Raij ¯along or Raij Mukhla is a pre-harvest season festival.
But the central theme of Behdieiñkhlam is to pray to God for good health throughout the coming year. Part of the ritual on the last day of Behdieiñkhlam at Aitnar pool is the effort to step or put one’s foot on Symbood-khnong (minor pillar) or the Khnong blai (divine pillar) when the same were brought to the middle of the pool. In fact the ultimate goal of every male young and old who took part in the dance at Aitnar is to set-foot on or to step on the divine pillar because by doing so, one believes that one will attain complete health throughout the year. In Tuber mere sprinkling of the water from the Aitnar over one’s head is prayer for good health, people even take a sip or two from the source of the water to the Aitnar as part of the prayer for good health. Also the wrestling bouts at the end of the Behdieiñkhlam ¯along perhaps signify the importance of strength and good health.
Behdieiñkhlam is not just a festival, but a dance which has profound significances; in fact it is a festival with various meanings but fundamentally, it is a dance for good health. Behdieiñkhlam is therefore a time to wish each other sound health; it is a toast to good health to one and all and the entire community. It is a time to wish the best of health ( i cheit i khiah wa sarod tam) to one and all.