By Fabian Lyngdoh
The truth is sometimes extremely bitter that it is almost impossible to swallow. Hence, for the sake of personal benefit, the best way is to keep silent and sweep such bitter truth under the carpet rather than displease anyone, and call that, ‘tolerance’. That is what the crafty politicians normally do without a prick of conscience. But to most of us, the truth is more important than electoral politics and cheap academic honours based on mutual flattery; hence, the stinking truth lying in rot under the carpet pricks the conscience. Therefore, accept it or not, for the knowledge of the general Khasi population today, especially the younger generation, I would like to point out that the traditional religion of the Khasis as established by the ancestors is no more in existence, and today all the Khasis have adopted various new religious faiths to keep spiritual relation with God and fellow human beings. The traditional culture is also lost; even the present matrilineal system is no more the original system as established by the ancestors since time immemorial, but it has drastically changed to accommodate emerging circumstances.
The primary and most sacred aspect of Khasi tradition lies in the matrilineal kur system with avunculate leadership together with its ‘ka niam-im’ (religious rites for the living) and ‘ka niam-iap’ (religious rites for the dead) which centred on the intercession of the spirits of ka Ïawbei, u Suidnia, and later ancestors between man and God. This is the foundation of ‘ka hok ka sot’ Khasi which constitutes ‘ka daw-ïing’ (internal foundation or cause), and all other religious ceremonies and festivals at the raid or hima level are secondary and constitute ‘ka daw-lum’ (external foundation or cause). The primary religious duty of the Khasis was to set right ‘ka daw-ïing’ before attending to ‘ka daw-lum’. No religious rites can be performed for ‘ka daw-lum’ as long as ‘ka daw-ïing’ is not at peace.
The traditional socio-religious thought of our ancestors is still dynamic in the society, and we don’t have to believe as gospel truth everything that the indigenous writers of the late nineteenth century or the early twentieth century had to say. We can clearly see in their writings and preaching, what are modern extrapolations and what are traditional. We don’t have to pry into old books, or excavate the earth, or resort to semantic exercise to find the tradition and thought of the ancestors, because their footprints and thought are still clearly visible in the daily life of the people in the rural areas if we ever care to seek and find them in their true nature.
The so called Khasi indigenous faith professed by a section of the Khasi population today in the name of traditional religion, is in fact a new religious faith evolved within the society towards the end of the nineteenth century, mostly under the influence of Hinduism and Christianity so as to fit in with modern circumstances. There are hundreds of evidences to prove this fact. Rev. T. Rodborne in his book, ‘Ka Niam jong u Khasi Pnar’ has pointed out in detail how this religious reformation took place, and a new Khasi religious faith emerged. This new faith was established by indigenous leaders, and based on some indigenous precepts, hence it may be considered as indigenous though it is not traditional, and fit for those who are willing to accept it.
This new faith includes an annual pilgrimage to the top of Lum Sohpetbneng around an altar on the highest spot marked as ‘sanctum sanctorum’ in Latin, and the distribution of Eucharistic rice and holy water or ‘ka Birosilan’ or ‘ka Umksiar Umrupa’ whatever they may call it, though such a practice had never been there in the past among the Khasis, except the worship of a natural stone figure of a female goddess called ‘ka Mei Mawbuh’ on the wall of a cliff on the northern side of the Sohpetbneng range by the founding clans of Raid Mawbuh, and the worship of ‘Mai Parbat’ by the resident Nepalese a few decades ago. Khasis from other Raids in Ri Bhoi region never worshipped God on Lum Sohpetbneng, but they had their own sacred places of worship in their own Raids.
Being a new religious faith it has every right to establish new forms of religious rites with scriptures and hymn books, and assemble in weekly religious gathering on Sundays for sermons, prayer and worship like the Christians. It also has every opportunity to incorporate doctrines from Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, or any other religion, and also a mission to propagate the new faith through conversion. So it is not a question of dwindling number of believers of the Niam Khasi as might have been assumed, but it is a matter of winning more willing members into the new faith. Indeed, some Christian leaders had been converted and became important leaders in the Seng Khasi. Man has the personal freedom to shift from one religious faith to the other if he feels the need to circumvent certain man-made moral responsibilities.
There had also been attempts to interpret the Khasi religious thought in Biblical context. Dr. Homiwell Lyngdoh as well as U Soso Tham were of the view that the purpose of the religion of the Khasis was only to guide and lead the tribe in the right path until the arrival of a superior being, called variously as, ‘u Simpah u Simsong, u Simkaro, etc., who would bear all the sins of mankind, ‘ban khala ia ka hok ka sot’ (shower abundant grace), ‘ban sneng ban kraw’ (to counsel and teach) and ‘ban pynpura ia ka niam ka rukom’ (to bring up religion to perfection). Their conclusion is that the Khasi religion is waiting in expectation for the coming of that superior being or Saviour of mankind to lead all human souls to the house of God. The duty of the sacrificial cock would come to an end with the coming of ‘u Syiem Simpah Simsong, and eternal peace shall reign on earth when the King of Heaven shall trample Satan under his feet.The concept of ‘u Simpah u Simsong’ has also been used by some Catholic Priests in prayer and sacrifice of the Mass in the Shillong Arch-Diocese.
Everything evolves including religion; and Niam Khasi or Niam Tre has the right to evolve and move on from the religion at the clan level as established by the ancestors, to a faith of individual believers at the community level bypassing the clan. The members of Seng Khasi or Sein Raij have every right to practice their religion as they understand it and move on in the direction they wish, and progress in the way they want to. And, no one has the right to meddle with their faith. But if any organisation claims to represent not only its faithful members, but also the whole tribe, then it is not only a matter of right, but it is also an obligation for every Khasi to be concerned about its movement and activities for the interest of peace, unity and order of the tribe.
The unity and honour of the Khasi tribe cannot be achieved by converting a new found faith of a particular group into a universal faith for the whole tribe. It is easy to invent a new tradition and give it a tag of, ‘time immemorial’, and people from outside the tribe would believe. But people belonging to the tribe would not believe it. We can cut and paste things of the past into the living present, but we cannot paste things of the present into the bygone past. The honourable thing to do is to admit the truth whether it is sweet or bitter, and move forward with the time. With genuinely good intention in our hearts to lead our souls to eternal happiness and for the wellbeing of the society, we can never go wrong whether we follow the traditional religion of the ancestors, or the new Khasi religion of the nineteenth century, or adopt any other new religion. None of us is without sin, so let us not throw stones at each other, but let us throw matters of fact for discussion so that we may positively contribute to the intellectual development of the tribe. And, in this general situation of ‘ka sah khyllung sah khynnah’ with various new found faiths in the society, whatever faith we may profess, it would be more glorifying if we learn to respect others and restrict our faith to ourselves and to those who are willing to believe.