By Fabian Lyngdoh
The values and ideals of any society reflect in the thought and behaviour of its members, but more markedly through collective expressions such as traditional religious rituals and cultural festivals. To understand the collective attitude and behaviour of any tribal community, we need to keenly observe and analyze its collective expressions. One aspect of these collective expressions is through cultural dances. Every tribe or community has its own variety of dances in relation to various aspects of people’s socio-religious life and according to the different seasons of the year.
The ‘Lakhympong’ was one of the cultural dances of the Khasis living in the Ri Bhoi region in the northern part of the Khasi Hills. This was a dance of thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the year that passed, and for future prosperity before the people take up their working tools for the next agricultural year that was to begin. The dance was organized for three consecutive days every year normally during the second week of March in facilitation of spring, at a time when mother earth is wearing beautiful green attire to revive the hope and joy of humankind.
The ‘longsan’ of the ‘Raid’ (authority of the political commune) concerned, authorized a certain ‘bara-khynraw’ (Khasi traditional cooperative society) which had first commenced work during the previous year, to organize and sponsor the Lakhympong of the current year. It was this particular bara-khynraw which bears the expenditure and selects the place or the village as the venue for the dance.
The Lakhympong was also the traditional dance of love, romance and courtship for ‘ki khynraw’ (unmarried young men) and ‘ki khyllud’ (unmarried young women). The term ‘samla lud’ always applies to young women, and not to young men as frequently misinterpreted in Khasi literature and news papers. In this dance, unmarried young men and women, dressed in their best attires closely held each other alternately in a circle at the centre of the dancing ground, and danced in a merry-go-around throughout the day to the sounds of drums, cymbals and flutes.
The Lakhympong might have several external aspects in common with similar dances in other parts of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, or even with the Bihu dance of the Assamese. The Karbi tribe too had adopted this Khasi romantic dance and called it ‘chumang kan’ which means ‘Khasi dance’. But, the Lakhympong had its own philosophy in relation to the socio-economic life of the people in Ri Bhoi region. The inhabitants of Ri Bhoi region were farmers, engaging in seasonal type of cultivation; hence they were seriously engaged in their works and had no time and attention all through the year to get involved in love, romance or marriage. So the traditional authority of the Raid sanctioned a particular occasion during a particular time of the year for the youth to get involved in love, romance and marriage, or to publicly reveal the love they have for each other through this occasion.
A wise elder called ‘u Damdar’ was appointed by ‘ki baheh-khynraw’ (elderly leaders of the bara-khynraw) as a director and master of ceremonies to guide and manage the discipline of the dance. U Damdar accompanied the dancers and urged them to dance more merrily and with full abandon and enthusiasm. There were also some knowledgeable elderly women called ‘ki ñiakha-lakhympong’ who knew well ‘ki syrtap syrbi’ (kin relationships) among the dancers to guide them in the selection of their dancing partners, so that no boy or girl would be engaged as dancing partner with a person belonging to the same clan, or with paternal uncles or paternal aunts, as incest is considered a serious taboo among the Khasis. These elderly women would also coax and encourage the girls to participate in the dance whole heartedly and to ward off shyness and fear from their minds.
Romantic verses and jests were chanted along with the music by u Damdar as well as by some elderly members of ‘ki dahulia’ (orchestra). One of such jests was: “O Damdar, o Damdar, / Lam hanga khyllud Lamcha. / Da joh re me khyllud Lamcha, / Te lam ka bei me hanga,” which means, ‘o Damdar bring me a Namcha damsel; if you cannot bring a Namcha damsel, then bring me your mother.’ Occasionally, sexually exciting verses were chanted, including words which were implicitly and explicitly immodest in normal times. This was intended to remove shyness and to arouse the sex instinct and romantic yearnings of the youth to the full, while they were dancing and holding each other tenderly. All this was permitted and acceptable during this particular annual romantic dance of the youth.
According to the culture of the people living in the Raids of Ri Bhoi region, this was the only period during the year recommended by the social authority for the youth to enter into marriage. A girl who had found her lover during the dance would joyfully take him to her house to be a husband and a worker in her farm land. A boy after marriage could no more be a member of his bara-khynraw because he had graduated to full manhood. As the Lakhympong was a romantic and marital affair, the concept had also reflected in the lives of the adults as well. In the past, a man who divorced his wife could not marry another until the next Lakhympong. We could occasionally hear even today in the villages that when a man is so displeased with the harsh and humiliating treatment that his wife has meted out to him, he might in anger threaten her with divorce by these words, “Ap pha mo poi chuh ka lakhympong” (wait and see in the next Lakhympong).
Sometimes, marital encounter might happen abruptly during the dance due to ‘love at first sight’, but majority of the marriages were among those who were already in love, and already arranged with the full knowledge of the two kurs (clans), and the romantic encounter in the lakhympong was only a social formality to reveal that to the society at the opportune time. A boy who was already in love with a girl had made a beautifully decorated bamboo comb by his own hand to stick as a hair clip on the head of his beloved, as a sign to every other possible suitor that he had booked the girl.
All ki khynraw and ki khyllud who had not married during the Lakhympong would diligently return to their working tools and farms, leaving behind all matters of love and romance until the next Lakhympong. The young men would reorganize their ‘ki bara-khynraw’ and compete with each other to come out as the first group to start working in the field so as to qualify as the leading group to organize the next Lakhympong. Likewise, the young women would also leave behind all thoughts of romance and marriage and return to their normal duty of assisting their parents in the household works and the farms.
This romantic dance was open to all unmarried young men and women with the freedom to choose their spouses from among those involved in the dance. It was an expression of equality and freedom. When such a dance was organized, a woman can no longer complain that she had not been given the freedom to marry a man of her choice, and no man can say that he had not been given the opportunity to woo the woman he loves. All freedom and opportunity for selection of marriage partners were duly given to one and all by the sanction of the social authority. The dance taught the youth the social value of sexual love and marital relationships, and regulates and sanctifies the inescapable sexual attraction between a male and a female as endowed by God in everyone for the purpose of reproduction, ‘ban roi u tnum u tyndai’ (to increase in number and strength of the clan), and ‘ban nang khraw ka mawbah ka mawsan’ (strengthening of the clan religious cult).
But today, traditional social norms and cultural ideals can no longer regulate the reproductive behaviour among the Khasis in the urban and rural areas as well. A great number of Khasi families became disoriented because on the one hand, the traditional matrilineal system with avuncular leadership has become redundant; and on the other hand, the nuclear family with the father as head and provider is not yet culturally institutionalized. So, in the present situation there is a need to introduce modern legal instruments to keep the society in order.