By Bhogtoram Mawroh
With the Autonomous District Council elections now concluded, the focus should shift to utilising the public mandate to reinforce matrilineal norms and traditions within the various traditional and non-traditional institutions under its jurisdiction. This is particularly regarding the role of women in the latter, i.e., the Dorbar Shnong, which at the moment does not conform to the traditional norms. Despite the KHADC giving permission for two women to be part of the executive committee of the Dorbar, there is strong resistance to their inclusion on account of ‘time immemorial’ traditions. However, over the last few months, there is greater clarity on the antecedent of the Dorbar Shnong as a modern institution with its origins being tied to the British establishing Shillong as the headquarters of Assam. The culture emerged from existing traditions of the Dorbar-Kur, Dorbar-Raid and Dorbar-Hima. Thus, some would argue whether we should accept the Dorbar Shnong as a traditional institution, since it’s simply an innovation within a traditional system. I would agree to such a claim if the Dorbar Shnong included women, but it currently does not. This exclusion violates traditional customs. The question that arises is about the role of women in traditional Khasi polity and how their inclusion would strengthen the customary norms and traditions, for whose protection the Indian Constitution adopted the Sixth Schedule.
It is general knowledge that Khasis are a matrilineal community with the lineage going to the mother instead of the father. This custom is not only specific to familial relations but also determines the rule of succession to a political office, the most important being that of the Syiem or head of the Hima. Hamlet Bareh’s Ngap Kynta’s book ‘the History and Culture of the Khasi people’ is a good book to understand the origin of the various Himas and the various stories associated with them. In it he gave the rules of succession to the position of a Syiem who is always to be succeeded not by his own son, but by the male offspring of Syiem-Sad who is his eldest sister. Next in line are the eldest sons of the daughters of the Syiem-Sad. If no eligible candidates exist, they choose the nearest maternal cousin brother. This emphasis on the female line was quite clear when Bareh listed the name of the Syiems of Hima Jaintiapur. For example, Ka Juh’s son Maha Kussain reigned from 1516 to 1532 A.D.; Ka Mut’s husband was Langpoh Kongor who begat two daughters, Ka Drop, Ka Ler and a son, Bor Guhain, who reigned from 1548 to 1564 A.D. and so on and so forth. Women are, thus, the kingmakers who give legitimacy to the claim of an aspirant for the throne. But what happens if there are no eligible males? This is where it becomes interesting.
The rules of succession dictate that in case on non-availability of eligible males, the inheritance passes to the senior aunts or eldest daughters. It is most probably for this reason that in 1878, W.S. Clarke, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills when tasked with holding official inquiries into issues of succession to the position of Syiem concluded that “females are eligible for the office of Syiem”. Reeju Ray’s 2023 book, ‘Placing the Frontier in British North-East India’, discloses this finding. This raises an intriguing question: were there women rulers in the past?
If there were women Syiems, history has forgotten their names (I would welcome corrections), but the origin stories of the various Raids, the Khasi’s foundational political institutions, offer some indirect evidence. According to Fabian Lyngdoh’s 2016 thesis, ‘A Study on the Nature and Roles of Traditional Governance Institutions among the Khasis in Ri Bhoi District of Meghalaya’ Raids emerged from ancient Nongbah or the first settlement. These fortified settlements housed people who only left to cultivate. The Longsans’ Dorbar administered the population. This Dorbar, composed of the Syiem, Lyngdoh, and Basans, appointed Tymmen Shnongs as disciplinarians in each kyntoit settlement (present-day Shnong). One can already see that neither the Dorbar Shnong nor the Rangbah Shnong existed at this point. The thesis then recounts the founding of the Raids based on oral narratives. One in particular is very interesting.
Raid Ïapngar is one of the earliest Raids in the region, which existed formerly as an independent Hima before the founding of Hima Shyllong. The name ‘Ïapngar’ comes from Ka Ngar, a woman who died at the site of the Raid’s first settlement, the Nongbah. According to tradition, the Raid was ruled by a woman called Ka Ïong Saring, who was very arrogant and contemptuous of the poor. However, another woman, Ka Luh Shadap (a Pnar), deposed her in an eating competition the Basans administered. For those who want to know the details of the story, they can download the thesis from Shodhganga, which is a repository of all theses done in Indian universities. For the sake of brevity, I will just inform readers that it involved pork and a sour fruit called sohnairiang (local lemon).
Having defeated Ka Ïong Saring, Ka Luh Shadap took over as leader and Lyngdoh of the raid. Fabian Lyngdoh did not mention what was the title of the leader. At another place, he mentions that after a few generations, the Lyngdoh family expressed their inability to carry out the roles of both the Lyngdoh and the Syiem. Thereafter, the Basans adopted a Karbi family from Raid Kharpati to establish a Jait Syiem in Raid Ïapngar. Was Ka Luh Shadap (Ka Ïong Saring before her) the Lyngdoh and the Syiem? Maybe he can clarify this when he reads this piece. The story of Ka Ïong Saring, however, does not end here. She and her family led a wandering life for a while and eventually settled at Raid Nongtung. Today her clan is one of the Jait Basan clans of Raid Nongtung. Another version states that Ka Ïong Saring’s family wandered to Raid Nonglyngdoh in Nongpoh, where they were inducted as the Jait Syiem of Raid Nonglyngdoh under the name ‘Ki Syiem Mariñ’.
Could Ka Ïong Saring and Ka Luh Shadap be an example of an early system where women were the leaders of a political unit, in this case the Raid. They were the Lyngdoh and the Syiem, either separately or holding both titles together. As Khasi polity evolved and Raids came together to form Himas, their importance continued to give legitimacy to the claims. And when all else failed, they would again take up the reins of leadership. Unless Hamlet Bareh Ngap Kynta or W.S. Clarke faked the rules of succession and the story of the founding of Raid Ïapngar was a fabrication told to Fabian Lyngdoh, women could and did hold leadership positions in Khasi polity. So, it is highly surprising that women can become leaders but cannot take part in proceedings of the Dorbar. Fabian Lyngdoh’s thesis in fact gives more evidence regarding the participation of women in running the affairs of the traditional institutions.
The highest administrative and territorial authority of the Raid was known as Dorbar-Longsan (elders) who were the representatives of the founding clans of the Raid. The Dorbar Kur (clan council) nominated each Basan or Longsan to represent his clan in the Dorbar, formally backed up by one of his female clan members called ka Sad. Each Longsan functioned on behalf of his clan and for the interests of his female clan members. In the Dorbar Kur, all clan members, male and female, can take part. In fact, if there were no female clan members present, that Dorbar was invalid. The Kñi Rangbah (chief maternal uncle) who attended the Raid Dorbar pursues the resolutions passed in the Dorbar Kur, representing the interests of his mother, sisters, and nieces. And then it becomes very interesting. According to traditions, it wasn’t the case that Khasi women could not attend Dorbar but it was deemed unnecessary because their interest was supposed to be well-represented by their maternal uncles. It was therefore a great insult to the males in the family if a woman had to attend the Dorbar and plead for herself. So, let’s recap, women could become the leaders of traditional institutions (Syiem and or Lyngdoh), and there was no restriction on them for attending the Dorbar. This begs the question: if women can lead the traditional institutions, i.e., Hima and Raid, which are above the Dorbar Shnong, so they will preside over the Dorbar as well, how then is it justified not to allow them to attend the Dorbar and contest for the post of the Rangbah Shnong. The name Rangbah can be changed to fit the gender, since in any case it wasn’t a traditional position to begin with. This would ensure that the Dorbar Shnong, which is an innovation of the Dorbar Kur, Dorbar Raid and Dorbar Hima, truly becomes traditional. And I hope that the present KHADC and JHADC would fulfil their mandate and correct the mistake of barring women from Dorbar Shnong to strengthen the customary norms and traditions of the Khasis. I think we all should demand that.
(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)