By Bhogtoram Mawroh
Last week a friend of mine sent me a very disturbing video from a recent VPP public meeting in which Aibandaplin F. Lyngdoh, the MDC candidate from Mylliem, was addressing the rumour that she had got married to a non-Khasi man. She clarified that she was still single and was not looking to get married because she was busy with political work. She assured the audience that whenever she gets married, it will be with a Khasi man. Upon hearing this, the audience and the party leaders seated behind her erupted into applause and cheers. She also asked the people not to pay heed to unfounded rumours. This whole incident reminds us of chastity test that Sita had to pass through when she returned to Ayodhya after being abducted by Ravana.
When Rama finally emerged victorious after killing Ravana, he was hesitant to accept Sita because of her long confinement in Lanka. She had to go through a trial by fire to prove her chastity and survived. But even after returning home, there were rumours among the public and questioning her virtue despite having already passed the trial. Rama banished her to the forest, where she gave birth to two sons. Finally, Sita asked the earth to open up and take her back (Sita was supposed to be a child of Mother Earth). The earth opened up, swallowing her alive.
Aibandaplin was a VPP candidate from Mylliem during the last MLA elections. She came very close to unseating Ronnie V Lyngdoh, a senior Congress leader who won by just 38 votes. For a first-time candidate, this was a significant achievement. This time around, she will look to better the outcome. But that she had to come out in public to prove her chastity was a very sad sight. It highlights the double standards that exist in the political sphere for women. I have never heard of anyone publicly demanding that a man defend his virtue, but women constantly face this pressure. This also shows the intrusion of anti-women patriarchal tendencies into the Khasi society. The VPP and its leadership have previously questioned women’s dignity.
The Cherry Blossom festival of 2023 saw the controversy of a girl dancing on the stage with Ne-Yo. The video of the dance sparked outrage among some who demanded action against her for bringing shame to the community. Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, VPP President, sided with these misogynistic men, demanding that action be taken against her for indecency. When Aibandaplin was defending her chastity in front of the audience, he was sitting behind her clapping when she assured everyone that she would only marry a Khasi. What happens when the VPP organizes its internal meeting? Is Aibandaplin the one serving tea to the members present? I place great emphasis on this practice because, when I was teaching at the university, whenever I brought coffee for my students, I ensured it was the boys who served it. This slight gesture is meant to challenge gender roles. I only hope that Aibandaplin, or any woman, never has to defend her dignity in front of others again. It was an incredibly shameful incident.
The uproar of a Khasi woman marrying a non-Khasi man among those who practise jaidbynriew politics is not something new. There have been calls to have their Khasi status removed. Setting aside the fact that such an act would be highly illegal it also exposes the deeper issues plaguing those who claim to fight for the community. These individuals lack a proper understanding or appreciation of the community’s history and culture, with their knowledge being superficial and riddled with inaccuracies. There is a popular slogan which says ‘Khasi by blood and Indian by accident’. I agree we are Indian by historical accident, but there is nothing called a Khasi blood. Instead, there are genetic markers which are common across Austroasiatic populations – Y-chromosomal haplogroup O2a1-M95.
Researchers found that both Khasi and Munda speakers carry this genetic marker, distinguishing them from non-Austro-asiatic speakers. However, checking the proportion of Khasi male individuals carrying the genetic marker revealed it was only around 30%. This means that 70% or more of the Khasi males today had ancestry, which was non-Khasi or non-Austroasiatic. These are non-Khasi men married to Khasi women, adopting their culture and customs. What about maternal ancestry? To what extent can we trace our maternal lineage back to the original Khasis who settled in the Northeast around 5,000 years ago? I have found no specific mtDNA markers passed from mothers to their offspring that clearly distinguish between Austro-asiatic and non-Austro-asiatic maternal lineages. If anyone knows, please share it with all of us. Instead, these are grouped together under lineages originating from Southeast Asia, accounting for around 40% of the Khasis. This implies that 60% of the Khasi females (although this marker can also be detected in males since mtDNA is passed to all offspring, the Y chromosome is passed exclusively to males) today do not belong to the original Austro-asiatic groups that migrated from Southeast Asia after initially arriving there from South China. These are females from non-Austro-asiatic groups that assimilated within the Khasi. If we classified only children of within-community marriages as Khasi, over 70% of those alive today would be non-Khasi. This actually explains a lot of other things as well.
There are some Khasi males, including those from the VPP, who have advocated for patrilineal customs and have repeatedly tried to raise the pitch for it in various forums. Now that we know that an overwhelming majority of the Khasi males trace their ancestry from a non-Khasi paternal lineage, could the ones making the demand actually be those with a non-Khasi heritage? Among the different indigenous groups in the North East before the coming of the Indo-Aryans and their spread in the Brahmaputra valley (particularly the upper caste), there is no sign that any of them were matrilineal. There is a version given in Hamlet Bareh Ngap Kynta’s book ‘The History And Culture Of The Khasi People’ about how the Garos adopted matrilineal customs to honour the support provided by the Khasi during a difficult period of the community. There appears to be some truth in that claim. Japanese anthropologist Chie Nakane, in her monograph ‘Garo and Khasi: A comparative study in matrilineal systems,’ pointed out a similarity between the Garo social structure and that of patrilineal groups. But those of the Khasi are only found among matrilineal communities. So, those demanding the change of the lineage from matrilineal to patrilineal could very well be those whose origins are non-Khasi. This might sound like a scandalous suggestion, but there is a way to find out the truth.
We have already discussed that there is a genetic marker which distinguishes non-Austro-asiatic speaking people from other groups, Y-chromosomal haplogroup O2a1-M95 for the paternal lineage. For the time being, the Southeast Asian lineage will suffice for the maternal lineage. We could have a more accurate genetic marker in the future. I propose that the political parties contesting the upcoming District Council elections state in their manifesto that they will do a DNA test of all those who presently claim to be Khasi. They could always tie up with some research institute who would be delighted to get hold on such a quantum of data. Only those individuals whose paternal and maternal ancestry shows them to be derived from Y-chromosomal haplogroup O2a1-M95 and MtDNA SE Asia may claim themselves as Khasi. We should not allow individuals with mixed ancestry to claim themselves as Khasi. We should also rescind their ST status and classify them as non-ST. The government should confiscate land from these non-ST individuals and give it to pure Khasi. Another benefit is that if the actual percentage of those falsely claiming to be Khasi is not 70% but even 50%, it would mean that half the population would no longer qualify for reservation. This would open up government job opportunities for pure Khasis over the next 50 years. Right now, people are talking in the air with no actual data and scientific evidence to back it up.
This will clear up the matter once and for all. Any party that fails to create such a manifesto, regardless of whether they win or lose, is nothing but hypocritical if they speak of Khasi purity. They are merely fooling the people for their own personal gains.
This narrative of ‘Khasi blood’ and ‘purity’ has been going on for a long time driving the jaidbynriew politics in the state. I think it’s time that we seek for a lasting solution. This is not the Dark Ages where there’s no science and technology to help us figure out the truth. Just because some people claim something out of ignorance doesn’t make it true. Will facts or fantasy rule us? Let’s end this now so that no Aibandaplin should have to prove her chastity in front of the public. It happened to Sita, and that didn’t end well for her. We don’t want the same fate to befall any woman anymore.
(The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect in any way his affiliation to any organisation or institution)