By H H Mohrmen
“War” is a generic term used to describe a sub-tribe of the Khasis who live on the southern slopes of the Khasi and Jaiñtia hills of Meghalaya, bordering Bangladesh. The Wars are further subdivided into the War-Khasi and the War-Jaiñtia based on the region they inhabit. The War Jaiñtia live in the Amlarem area of the Jaiñtia Hills District, while the War Khasi reside in the Pynursla and Sohra areas of East Khasi Hills. There are also Wars who live in the villages on the slopes of the Mawkynrew block. A majority of the people living in the villages on the border with Bangladesh and Assam in the East Jaiñtia Hills District are also War Jaiñtia. They have distinctive features compared to the Khasi and Pnar of Meghalaya: they are short, stout, and muscular. They live on the slopes of the hills and speak three different Khasi dialects: War Khasi of Pynursla, the Amwi dialect spoken by the War Jaiñtia, and the Sohra Khasi, which has become the link language for all.
Variation in the Dialect
The Khasi language, an Austro-Asiatic Mon-Khmer group of languages, is believed to have originated from the War Amwi branch, another War dialect. The War dialects are distinct from one another, and speakers of one dialect can barely understand those of another. The War dialect spoken by people in Pynursla differs from that spoken in the Amlarem area and from the Sohra Khasi. For example, in the Amwi dialect, cooked meat is ‘doh,’ whereas in War Shnongpdeng it is ‘ah.’ A boy is ‘hymbo’ in War Jaiñtia and ‘boit’ in War Darang. However, one word that both the War Jaiñtia and the War Pynursla share is ‘chynnam,’ which means real or true. Despite the variations in dialects, they are part of the same language group. In most of the Khasi villages in Bangladesh, the lingua franca of the Khasi people who live there is War Jaiñtia.
Topography of the Area
They are called ‘ki War ki riat’ because of their preferred place to live, which is on the hill slopes down to Bangladesh or on the slopes towards Assam. The majority of Khasis who live in Bangladesh are War, and even their brethren who live in Bangladesh reside only in the hilly regions of that country. Similarly, those who live in Assam and Tripura prefer to live in the hills.
In India, the mountain slopes where the War people live, act like a giant wall, the first barricade to obstruct the rain-laden monsoon winds blowing from the Bay of Bengal to the hills of Meghalaya. For this reason, the War areas in both the East and the West Jaiñtia Hills receive the maximum amount of rainfall and experience a subtropical climatic condition.
The subtropical forests in the region have rich biodiversity, which provides many wild edibles. However, these forests are gradually being replaced by areca nut and broomstick plantations. The War Jaiñtia people, in particular, consume a wide variety of wild edibles foraged from nearby forests. Jakeng, Jia lachiang, Jia haerew, soh tukra/soh kwid are a few of the wild edibles people in the area consume. The region used to be rich in wildlife, such as tigers and slow lorises, but these have become less abundant now. There were even stories of tigers, and people celebrated tiger festivals because it was once a tiger-infested area.
Inventors of Bamboo Drip Irrigation
The region slopes towards the plains, and the sub-tropical climatic conditions are conducive to rich and thick forest cover, which is a good source of water. Thus, water has never been a problem in the War area, at least in the Jaiñtia Hills, where water supply is always gravity-fed. This abundance of water helped farmers invent bamboo drip irrigation to cater to their need for pan leaf of betel leaf plantations. Pan leaves need just the right amount of water to grow; too much or too little water can harm the plants. This necessity led to the invention of bamboo drip irrigation, often neglected now, but it is an invention of the War people of the Jaiñtia Hills.
The Land of Fruits
The prevailing climatic conditions once made the region famous for its oranges, earning it the name “ka Ri u soh u pai.” Unfortunately, orange orchards are now vanishing from the area. In the past, oranges were even exported to Bangladesh or East Pakistan, but they are now being replaced by areca-nut, pan leaves, and, worst of all, broomstick plantations.
The major cash crop of the people in the War Jaiñtia area is areca-nut, and the ingenuity of the people led to the idea of fermenting betel nut (pdem kwai) so that this food item is available throughout the year. Another activity showcasing the War people’s ingenuity is the smoking and drying of fish, a tradition that continues to this day.
The sub-tropical climatic conditions, which are hot and humid, are also conducive to the growth of Ficus elastica or Ficus indica trees (dieng jri in local parlance), rubber trees used to weave living-root bridges. These bridges can only be found in the territories inhabited by the War people because only the War people of Meghalaya have the tradition of weaving bridges from the rubber tree.
The Root-Bridges
The one thing that the War Jaiñtia, the War Pynursla, and the War Sohra share in common is the tradition of growing bridges from ficus trees. The entire state may be proud of the living root bridges, but it is only the War people of these regions who have this tradition. In the early 2000s, I wrote an article for The Shillong Times on the living-root bridges found in the Amlarem subdivision, where I noted that these bridges were made for different purposes and not to attract tourists.
Reason why Root Bridges Were Made
The making of the bridges was a community, multi-generational effort because it took years to complete a bridge. The work to help grow the bridges was done voluntarily. Among the War Jaiñtia, it is a tradition that farmers themselves jointly make the path to their respective orchards or betel nut and pan leaf plantations. The bridges are part of the trail towards the terrain where they farm, and maintaining the bridges is traditionally the responsibility of the farmers. An individual farmer’s contributions to making the bridges could be as simple as helping tie the roots while walking down to his plantation if he found a tendril wandering away from the planned handrail. It could also involve using a sliced bamboo to tie the roots together and direct them in the right direction. Hence, the farmers who use the bridge over many years contribute in whatever way they can to its construction. Since it is also a living bridge, it still needs care and protection, so the farmers are not only the makers but also the keepers of the living bridges.
The living-root bridges were made by the community on a voluntary basis and were completed without supervision. Notably, there was neither a blueprint prepared nor community planning done before starting work on the bridge. It was made out of human instinct with the clear objective of creating a bridge from the tree roots across the river span. The goal was to make it convenient for farmers to cross the rivers, even during the monsoon when rain causes the river to overflow. The process or tradition of making (or growing) a bridge is bio-engineering at its best and a living testimony to the genius of our ancestors, particularly the Wars of the Jaiñtia and Khasi hills.
All the living-root bridges are located on the southern slopes of the state on the Indo-Bangla border, where the War community of the Khasi and Jaiñtia hills districts live. In many cases, two Ficus elastica or Ficus indica trees (dieng jri in local parlance) were planted on each side of the river. Once the trees start growing, humans manipulate the roots to connect across the river span. Once the main roots are connected, more roots were directed to make the bridge’s rails, the footpath, and other parts of the bridge.
Gallery and Ladder
Not only root bridges but ladders and even galleries were made from the roots of the ficus tree in the War Jaiñtia area. The gallery at the cremation ground in Nongtalang and the ladder in the Nongbareh-Padu area are a few examples. Unfortunately, the gallery at the cremation ground in Nongtalang has been destroyed, preventing people from appreciating the marvel of humans and nature creating wonders from virtually nothing.
Keepers of the Special Ecosystem
The War people are not only those who grow bridges from trees but also the keepers of an ecosystem rich in biodiversity. In War Jaiñtia, the clans maintain sacred groves called “ki tken,” small though they may be. They consume many wild edibles and have a rich tradition of living with nature. The War areas are rich in biodiversity, and people live harmoniously with nature. They live in nature, with nature, by nature.