By HH Mohrmen
This article is not about the infamous funeral incident and its aftermath but it is about the relationship between the children of Hynniewtrep who affiliated themselves to different religions. From the religious point of view, the entire Khasi-Pnar society belongs to one homogenous community, but by a happenstance of history (which is beyond their control), they later happened to follow different religions. One section remains in the old religion while the others decided to follow other religious paths. Of course there is nothing wrong in following a religion of one’s choice but in this case, a section of the society feels that in the process it is being discriminated upon and a progressive society like ours should take notice of this, discuss, debate and if possible come up with a solution to resolve the problem.
Also, it would not do us any good if we continue to be in denial and act as if nothing has happened and everything is honky dory in the society. We can only move forward and work at reconciliation if we try to see and understand this important issue in its proper perspective. This article is therefore an attempt to scratch the surface and help us see the problem that is prevailing in the different strata of society and perhaps come up with suggestions to solve the problem.
The previous arguments for the Church which appeared in this paper have their own flaws because they look at the problem from the Christian point of view only. I have in my earlier write-up espoused the idea of putting oneself in the shoes of the followers of the Niamtre or Niam Tynrai religion and try to understand the problem from their standpoint. And it is only if we move from our comfortable stance and try to see the problem from the other’s perspective that we will be able to understand the gravity of the problem.
The crevice was formed since the first person was converted to Christianity and an example is a case of the first convert in Jowai. According to the book Gwalia in Khasia (The Welsh in) when the lady converted to Christianity she had to move (lock stock and barrel) to the Mission compound, Jowai and as the name of the locality suggests, it is a place where the missionaries based themselves. It was not clear whether the lady was banished by her family because she converted to the new religion or whether the missionaries felt it convenient to further indoctrinate the convert by bringing her closer to the fold even in the physical sense. But this certainly has created a rift in the family if not in the community.
And when Christianity grew, the new converts were taught that only they are saved and their friends, families and neighbours who have not accepted Jesus as their saviour are destined to burn in hell. This also made the Christians adopt a holier-than-thou attitude towards their friends and neighbours because they are made to believe that they are saved while the others are damned. It was then that the rift got bigger because you have in the community those who are saved and those who are not. One can very well imagine how a section of the society which was considered to be damned and to burn in hell (for no fault of theirs) will feel when they are only following the religion that their ancestors had taught them.
As Christianity gained new converts, villages like Mission Compound which had only people from one particular denomination living in the area also increased in numbers and this continues to this day. This idea of a secluded locality, where only those who belong to one religion can live was copied and replicated elsewhere. The dorbar shnong in the particular village also consisted of people from one denomination only and to maintain the homogeneity of these villages, they came up with rules and regulations that only those members of the particular denomination can settle in the village. Or if anybody married a person from another village who is not a follower of that particular denomination, the individual will have to convert to the denomination of the majority if he or she wants to settle in that village.
Perhaps it will be a good idea if these villages are taken as case studies to further understand the intolerance that is prevailing in this section of the society. One is not sure if this trend where a community in the villages insists on all the members in the society to conform and follow the same religion is unique to West Jaintia Hills only, but such villages still exists in the area. Villages like Moodymmai and Demthring are examples where the church and village administration mix to this day, and almost cent percent of the people who live in these villages belong to one and the same church. And this is not sheer coincidence and does not happen by chance.
The segregation is not only between the followers of the Niamtre/Niam Tynrai and Christians; this tendency is now growing even among Christian denominations too. There are villages which are divided into two sectors called ‘A’ and ‘B’, but scratch a little bit deeper and one will find that the alphabets represent the area where the members of different denomination lives. For example are ‘A’ is where the Catholics live and ‘B’ is a predominantly Presbyterian settlement and we even have villages where the localities are named after the religion like ‘Lum Raman’, ‘Lum Pres’, ‘Lum Chor (Church of North East India)’, ‘Lum Trom (Church of God)’etc.
The recent letter to editor which suggested that burial is better than cremation also lacks understanding of the importance of cremation to the followers of Niamtre or Niam Tynrai. For many of us it does not make any difference if we bury or cremate the dead; after all it is just how we dispose of the dead body. But cremation of the dead in the Niamtre tradition starts with ‘knia, khad’ (funeral rituals) at the residence of the deceased then continue with ‘e din’, ‘choh syiar’ followed by ‘ka siang ka pha’ at the cremation ground and ends with depositing the charred bones of the deceased person in the clan’s ossuary. Unlike many of us they do not have the luxury to choose how to dispose of the body of their near and dear ones. There is only one option and that is cremation.
To understand the relation between the two one can also look at the language or the way people talk with or about those who still follow the Niamtre or Niam Tynrai. Whenever-Pnars who are strangers meet for the first time; the first question they ask is other each other’s health and that of their family members. The next question is about the clan to which they belong, the area of domicile and then the religion one follows. A typical Christian will ask another question ‘phi la long niam?’ which literarily means are you following any religion? But the actual meaning of the question is, Are you Christian? The inference is, if you are not member of any church you are not following any religion at all. Or to be more precise, in their scheme of things Niamtre or Niam Tynrai is not considered a religion at all. To justify the argument, one would also hear Christians referring to non-Christians as ‘kito bym pat long Niam phi’ meaning they are not following any religion.
In conversations among Christians they would generally call the non-Christian-Pnars as ‘Jentil’ (Gentiles), ki ‘bymngeit’ (heathens) because they are not members of any one of the three Abrahamic religions. Even the members of the church which rejected the trinity such as the Unitarian Church, were called ‘ki len Blei’ (heretics) by the Christians. But the members of this church now wear that as a badge of honour because the original Greek meaning of the word heretics is those who are able to choose.
Whatever may be the case, the Niamtre/ Niam tynrai are at the receiving end of the stick. The fact that their numbers have declined is evident for all to see because they are now becoming a minority without minority benefits. Christians may congratulate themselves and claim that the church has done a commendable job by providing education and healthcare to the masses, but the followers of Niamtre/Niam tynrai also argue that it is also true that Christians have accelerated the conversion process and increased the pace of decline in the numbers of followers of the indigenous religion in the area.
Religion is a poor unifier. People need to rise above it.