By Wanphrang K Diengdoh
Haba thet wat kynther ia ki kti ioh pharait ia ki briw da ka um thet When you wash your hands do not shake the water off too vigorously lest you squirt on others Ka Niam jong ki Khasi ~ Rabon Singh Kharsuka,
am a Khasi by location and one who also subscribes to a pre-written, pre-institutionalised idea of the Khasi niam with a healthy dose of atheist desires. (In this anxiety driven materialistic world, we need something to cling on to). Nonetheless, that is personal. But most importantly in these days of Arnab Goswami led binaries, I must also admit that I do not subscribe to any political positions, left or right. I am though, interested in how forces or patrons of culture facilitate its dissemination. Since time immemorial custodians of culture and politics have always played dual roles. Let us look at our recent past.
The attempt to put into paper the Khasi language was by K. C. Pal from the Serampore Missionaries. He adapted the Bengali script and his first translations were from the Bible. Unfortunately, most people thought that all those Bengali characters on paper would make them go blind. Nonetheless, the saying remains, “U ‘ko’ bad u ‘kho’ u kiew nyngkong ha Shella”. Thomas Jones eventually put it down on paper adapting the Roman script into Khasi. Indeed he worked hard at it, charged by ideas of Welsh Methodism and Moravian principles which did not favour the functionings of the East India Company in Cherrapunjee. He did not last long. He was accused for working against the interest of the East India company, and even inciting the people to rebel against the British. He died in 1849 in Calcutta fleeing from the Khasi hills. Meanwhile, a few years later, trouble was brewing in the Jaintia hills.
The house tax was introduced. Brigadier General G.D Showers who was the Commissioner of the ‘Cossiah and Jyntia hills’ and had called the Jaintia Hills – the rudest state of ‘civilization’ was now caught in the middle of rebellion. The Dalois and Pators were removed for misconduct and the first Jaintia rebellion of 1860 was quashed. This was two years after Jeebon Roy Mairom joined work for the East India company. Roy worked as a writer and interpreter then for General Showers.
The Income Tax was introduced in 1861. The second Jaintia rebellion broke out in 1862. Rabon Singh Kharsuka’s detailed description on Khasi religion was first published in 1889 a Khasi monthly paper ‘U Nongkit Khubor’ the first Khasi newspaper edited by William Williams in 1889 of the Presbyterian Church. Kharsuka worked for the government in Shillong but retired to Mawmluh, his ancestral village to work in a school for a meager pay. In 1911, he wrote ‘Ka Kitab Niam Khein Ki Khasi’. By then he had reconverted to niam Khasi and had retired to Mawmluh to teach in a small school with an even smaller pay.
Interestingly, in another book of almost the same title “Ka Niam jong ki Khasi” (February 10, 1897) Jeebon Roy mentions his desire for a very long time to write about the religions of all the people who inhabited the Ri Khasi and Synteng especially in times when Presbytery, Catholic, Unitary, Brahmo religions are taking over the Khasi religion but due to paucity of time, he persuaded his friends to contribute writings and he himself would publish and edit them. He retired as Extra Assistant Commissioner after serving the East India Company until the late 1890s. Jeebon Roy was the founder of the first printing press in this part of the world in 1895, two years before the great earthquake of 1897. Upon his retirement from the EIC he also took up limestone businesses.
The quarries were already leased by the Syiem of Sohra to the East India Company for Re.1 pa. For his entrepreneurial and literary contributions, he is considered the “Father of the modern Khasis”. He also translated MitUpodesa (Parts I and II), The Ramayana and Chaitanya. But Jeebon Roy is remembered more for his contributions to the Seng Khasi and the creation of a press that mostly distributed niam Khasi books. On the November 23, 1899, sixteen young men got together in the Brahmo Samaj Hall at Mawhkhar to form the Seng Khasi. Most of these men would attend lectures conducted by the Brahmo Samaj (not the Arya Samaj) where they would be taught and educated ideas of the Brahmo Samaj. Among them was Radhon Singh Berry Kharwanlang (not to be mistaken for Rabon Singh Kharsuka) who in 1886, help set up a Brahmo Samaj Mandir in Mawkhar. He wrote ‘Ka Jingsneng Tymmen (1902)’.
The sixteen young men who were architects of the Seng Khasi had Roy’s second youngest son Chandranath Roy as it’s first secretary. There are no records of this selection process. If political hegemony created rebellions cultural hegemony did indeed create more interesting names. Nonetheless, the first Seng Kut Snem of November 1899 held at the Brahmo Samaj Hall at Mawkhar was celebrated with much enthusiasm. It was then the first concrete building of Aheet Ali.
The purpose of the Seng Khasi was primarily to unite all the Khasis who were not converted or influenced by other religions. Finally the Seng Khasi acquired a place of its own at Mawhkar. Hajom Kissor Singh donated a considerable amount of Rs 300 towards the purchase while Jeebon donated Rs 430. Hajom Kissor Singh is today remembered as the leader of the Unitarian church movement in the region. Over a period of time, the women organisation of the Seng Khasi was started in 1941 with Kong Helimon Diengdoh as the first president. In 1980 the Seng Khasi became the first tribal organization to become a member of the International Association of Religious Freedom (I.A.R.F.) On hearing that the Seng Khasi had become the Associate Member of IARF, the Rev.Deither Gehrmann, the General Secretary of the IARF in his letter dated 1980 conveyed, “It is with great pleasure that I can report to you: the recommendation of the Executive Committee on Associate Membership of the Seng Khasi was received and unanimously accepted by the council”.
harshiing and H.O.Mawrie represented Seng Khasi in the 24th Congress of IARF held in the Netherlands. That same year, the Seng Khihlang was founded by H.O. Mawrie. Mawrie studied theology at Serampur College – (founded by the Serampore Trio whose attempt was to impart education to students of every “caste, colour or country”.
The location of the college was under a Danish colony then and free from direct Imperial control till 1857). But just as gardens grow flowers, spaces also nurture ideologies. In H. O. Mawrie’s book, ‘Ka Seng Khih Lang’ (March 15, 1998) he states “When you reach Shangpung in the Jaintia area, do not forget to ask where the Imperials shot down the Doloi Giri”. He leaves no answer as to how it happened but I am tempted to ask, was he the victim of the rebellion during the house tax or the income tax in the 1860s? Were any double agents responsible for this tragic event? And upon answering that, can we say that even the Khasi niam was also appropriated to a liberal theology interpretation within itself? Indeed there was a an attempt by the Welsh missionaries and other Christian denominations to consider indigenous practices of the Khasis as barbaric.
This primitive mumbo jumbo is only meant for stages and travelling freak and variety shows in the market places of civilized nations. Hygiene, sanitation, English language, western clothing were benchmarks of civility and nobility and even till the late 1980’s certain members of church were ostracized for playing ‘traditional’ instruments. Now these ‘traditional instruments’ are part of almost every church singing activity.
The desire by the ‘natives’ themselves to create new church culture and not just restrict themselves to age old hymns and the organ is an interesting area to look into. On the other hand some representatives of other Christian denominations have always been more open to ideas of syncretisation. Some even indicating that there was mention of a grand Khasi durbar in the Bible. Interestingly enough photos of privileged ‘enlightened’ Khasi men both of the niam Khasi or Christian converts who were producing Niam Khasi literature or paraded as ‘Mission fruits’ around the late 1800s always had an air of Victorian sophistication about them. I was hoping I’d find photos of them adorned in a jymphong and jainboh with thuia and spong but could not find any.