BY HH Mohrmen
To understand the Khasi-Pnar people one has to know their stories, for without the stories we would be like a tree without roots. Our stories which many a times have myths intertwined with reality are what define us and we are nothing without our stories. Like any other clan, the Ïawchibidi or Ïawchibijai clan also has its own story which was handed down from one generation to another or was passed on from the grandmother to her granddaughter or from a grand uncle to his nephews and nieces. These stories are invisible treasures that the members of the clan have stored in their memories from a long time ago.
It reminds me of my trip a few years back to Bangladesh where I visited Khasi-Pnars or, in particular the War Jaiñtia community who had lived in that part of the world since time immemorial. When I asked the Lamin I met how they know that they belong to the Lamin clan they started narrating the story of the Ïawchibidi which their elders or their grandmothers had told them. This is, in fact, how we learn about our origin and about the stories of our ancestors and the Ïawchibidi clan are no different. We are fortunate in the sense that this story is also part of a certain religious tradition performed by the maternal uncle in different rites and passages of the Niam Tynrai (Niamtre) religion.
In the case of the clans and sub-clans which descended from the great maternal grandmother (Ïawbei) known as ka Ïawchibidi, the work of documenting the story was first undertaken by Medro Singh Diengdoh which he started in 1968. He had untiringly travelled to every nook and corner of the Khasi and Jaiñtia hills and visited almost every household which belongs to the clan. At one point of time he had lost hope of publishing his work; because he did not have monetary resources to do it. That is until Donbok T. Laloo another elder of the clan took upon himself the responsibility to publish the book and MS Diengdoh’s project saw the light of the day in the year 1975.
Generally the story that was passed down was that Ïawchibidi was a young woman who had to run from her native place to escape from the enemy who wanted to kill her. One version of the story says that Ïawchibidi originated from raid Ïapngar and moved from the area which is now in Assam on the Meghalaya Assam interstate border to these hills. She had some problems with the ruler in the area and had to run away from the area to escape from the enemy. MS Diengdoh’s version of the story was Ïawchibidi migrated from Burma and stayed in the area we now know as Nagaland. She became orphaned and since she had nobody to look after her the tribe which were head hunters wanted to kill and devour her.
In her effort to escape from her enemy she ran from one place to another and at the same time the head hunters were hot on her trail. That was till she reached the area in the War Jaiñtia where she met Riang Bareh who took her into his household and protected her from the head hunter who came even to his house. Riang Bareh used all the tricks that he knew to fool the enemy and he was successful in his efforts. When the hunters left her poor Riang thought of ways to get back the money he spent protecting her so he decided to sell her in the market.
He took her to the market and on the way he saw a deer and like any warrior Riang was also equipped with his weapon. He took his bow and arrows and aimed at the animal, but decided to give up since the animal was too far. But it was Ïawchibidi who insisted that he release the arrows and it hit the target. He reached the market and tried to sell the deer meat. The minister of the Jaintia king came around to inspect the market and asked Riang what he was selling. Riang told him about ka Ïawchibidi and said that he want to sell her so that it compensates for what he had spent protecting her. When the king’s official asked him to name the price, he said chi-bidi. Chibidi or chibijai which is then a value equivalent to (five hali with one hali equal to four pieces). The story has it that when Riang counted the money he had earned from selling the meat he found that it was the exactly the same amount as the price he had offered to sell her to the myntri.
The official declined the offer so Riang had to take Ïawchibidi back to his place. On the next market day he took her again to market for the same purpose and on the way he saw the deer which was standing far away from him and he thought of not releasing the arrow till Ïawchibidi again insisted that he release the arrows. This time too it hit the bull’s eye. The same thing happened even on the third time. Each time he tried to sell her in the market he found that the money he earned from selling the meat was exactly the same amount as the price he asked to sell Ïawchibidi.
On reaching home he was surprised at what had happened and finally he could not hold it anymore and asked her who she is? She in turn asked him why he wanted to sell her. He told her the truth and said that he had spent so much on protecting and keeping her so he would like to get back the money he had spent for her upkeep. She slowly unrolled her long hair which she tied on her head and lo and behold he was shocked to see that pieces of gold were hidden inside her hair.
To cut a long story short Riang married Iawchibidi after they were married for a few years they had kids. She then asked him to bring the ragged cloth (jaiñkup) which she wore when she first came to his house and when she removed the stitches there were again pieces of gold hidden in the cloth. Finally after many years had elapsed she reminded him of the shaft that she brought when she came and asked him to bring it to her. She broke the walking stick and again pieces of gold fell from the broken stick.
This in a nut shell is the story of ka Ïawchibidi and the following are the clans and sub clan’s descended from her as found in different parts of Ka Bri U Hynniewtrep. In the War Jaiñtia area there are the Lamin, the Pohsnem, the Pohchen, the Paduna, Pohlynjar, Kasah/Gassah, Kashnga/Gashnga Kaïang/Gayang, Kadew/Gadew, Kadiang/Gadiang and then there are also the Myrmen/Mohrmen. Even within those who use Lamin as their clan name there are the Lamin Shngain, the Lamin Nai, Lamin Amdep, Lamin Amkoi, and others. They may have different clan names but they are the sub-clans of the grand Ïawchibidi clan.
Those were on the southern slopes of the state but over the hills in the area where the Pnar live they are known as the Laloo, the Pyrbod, the Nartiang/Nyrtiang, the Kjam/Ïongkjam, the ïongDoom, the Marong, the Katkeh and the Hek. While in the Khasi hills there are the Diengdoh and from the Diengdoh in the West Khasi hills we have the Pariong and the Syngngai. MS Diengdoh in his book said that the Pariong are but the Diengdoh who migrated to Pariong. He also mentioned in his book about certain Marngor sub clan that live in Myriaw and they are also from the Diengdoh clan. The reason is because initially their neighbours did not know of their antecedence or which clan they belonged, so they simply called them by the father’s surname.
The above Kurs (clans) know that they are related because they share the same story that their great ancestral grandmother was ka Ïawchibidi who was sold in the market for chibidi. The Ïawchibidi clan is perhaps the biggest clan amongst the Khasi-Pnar people because one can find them almost everywhere in the land of the Hynniewtrep. But the most important point is that it proves that Khasi-Pnar is one jaidbynriew because the children of Ïawchibidi can be found in Jaintia hills, Khasi hills and West Khasi hills albeit with different clan names.