By Fabian Lyngdoh
Traditional markets are physical open-air settings where people sell the goods they produce and buy what they need for their day-to-day life. Besides being economic and trading hubs, markets in the Khasi traditional milieu were also like informal weekly festivals for social and cultural exchange. On market day people put on their best clothes, especially the youth who meet each other for romantic courtship. The market is also the place where adults meet to discuss and settle social and political issues. The Khasis had an eight-day week in accordance with the eight market days. Hence the Khasi word for the week is called ‘Taïew’, a reference to the markets. Overall, there were eight important markets in the Khasi Hills which also determined the duration of a week: Ïewduh, Lyngka, Nongkrem, Mawlong, Rynghep, Shyllong, Pamtiah, and Umni. Besides these eight markets in the Khasi Hills there are other markets in the Jaintia Hills, such as Musiang, Muchai, Pyngkat, Thymbleiñ, Hat, Khyllaw, Pynsyiñ, and Mulong.
The Khasi traditional markets were established in the Ri-raid lands which were under the management and control of the rulers of the Raids. Traders set up stalls called ‘basa’ in this market area and didn’t have to pay rent for setting up their stalls. No one could have plots of land as private property, and no one could construct permanent buildings in the market area which should remain public property or Ri-raid. The stalls are called ‘basa’ to indicate that they are temporary market platforms. There was no concept of a shop in Khasi traditional thought. The Khasi word for shop is ‘dukan’ which is borrowed from Hindi. Everything the people need for the week’s provisions has to be bought from the common market of the Raid. The people who sold goods in the stalls and those who brought goods to sell in the market had to pay a nominal tax, called ‘Musur’ or ‘Pynshok’ to the Syiem Raid or Syiem Hima.
To have a clear understanding of Khasi traditions, we must visualize the social situations the Khasis were in before the British rule. In the past, the Khasi and Jaintia Hills were sparsely populated. By 1853 when the Khasi and Jaintia Hills were already under British rule, the total population in the Khasi Hills was only 82,400; the population of Jaintia Hills was only 36,525, including Mikirs (Karbis) and Lalungs (Tiwas). There were only 22,335 people in Hima Khyrim, 10,300 people in Hima Sohra, 9,200 people in Hima Mylliem, and only 5,855 people in Hima Nongstoin. Small Himas like Maharam had 2765 people; Langrin had 910 people; and Hima Bhowal had only 580 people. Imagine, how small the population of the Khasis was a hundred years before the British rule!
In the past, the Khasis lived in numerous small independent political communities called the Raids, and they identified themselves by the Raids where they had their permanent residence, such as u Mylliem, u Nongkrem, u Thaïang, u Ïapngar, u Nongtham, u Jwai, u Mushai, u Raliang, etc. When the Syiemship began to be instituted in the Raids, or when several adjacent Raids confederated to form a Hima and instituted the Syiemship, the need arose to maintain the Syiemship institution. So, whatever funds were collected from the markets as ‘musur’ or ‘pynshok’; and the fines called ‘kuna’ imposed on criminals or on judgement debtors in civil disputes, became the main sources of income for the maintenance of the Syiemship. But there is a catch! It was the Syiem’s responsibility to maintain law and order in the markets and to keep the markets clean and decent. In the past, the Syiem of Hima Khyrim used to employ Chaprassies, who were mainly non-Khasis, as a police force for maintaining law and order. The elderly people in Ri Bhoi called them ‘Chaprachi’.
Oral traditions say that the founding clans of the Raids were considered ‘ki bakhraw’ (the great) and noble, who thought it was dishonourable for them to extract goods or money from the earnings of other people, or to eat from the sweat of others. To do so was considered ‘ban khrong’ (to beg). There was no concept of revenue collection by the political authority in Khasi thought, and there is no Khasi word equivalent to revenue collection. So, tax collection from the markets, or revenue collection from anywhere, is equated with the word ‘khrong’ (the act of begging). Hence, the words ‘khrong-ïew’, ‘khrong-gate’, ‘khrong parking lot’, etc. All acts of tax collection and imposition of fines were conferred by the Dorbar of the Bakhraws to the Syiem, not as an absolute and inalienable right, but with corresponding responsibilities. Today, the markets in the Khasi Hills have come under The Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Establishment, Management and Control of Markets) Regulation, 1979.
In today’s social situations, the concept ‘ban khrong’ (to beg) has lost its original meaning, and became equivalent to ‘extract benefit’, from the earnings of others. Indeed, it has become a business profession which everyone, including the Bakhraws would like to lay hands on. Many years ago, I read a joke in some magazine about a man who boasted that he knows a hundred ways of making money. “But why do you sit here as a beggar then?” his friend asked. “Of course. But this is the easiest way,” the beggar replied. Today, it seems that everyone is up in arms for this easiest business method: ‘ban khrong check gate’, ‘ban khrong ïew’, ‘ban khrong’ parking lot, ‘ban khrong’ tollgate, etc. Tradition changes when concepts change.
Visualizing the traditional Khasi society only from what is being restructured and practised today, especially from the perspective of Shillong, would only lead us to wishful thinking about the past. The present city of Shillong was formerly only a small hamlet called ‘Laban’ in Raid Mylliem where the British set up their headquarters in 1862. Strictly speaking, Khasi traditions (riti) and customs (dustur) were relevant to the actual life of the people during the period when the population was very small compared to their geographical territories and according to their traditional socio-political life in their own respective Raids. There is a huge difference between the socio-political life that the Khasis lived in the past in their own respective Raids, and the socio-political life they are living today when the traditional socio-political and cultural barriers of the Raids have been practically dismantled beginning from the British rule. For example, in the past there were only a few clans living in Raid Mylliem, and all the clans had a fair share of rights and responsibilities as Basans in the administration of Raid Mylliem. In the past, only residents of the Raid had the right to own land in that Raid. People who live in Hima Sohra, or in Raid Ïapngar, had no right to own lands as absentee landlords in Raid Mylliem. If any Basan clan of Raid Mylliem migrated to another Raid, their land would again become Ri-raid and they would also be considered an extinct clan as far as Raid Mylliem is concerned. A new Basan clan would replace them.
Presently, there is an argument as to why the Syiems of the Himas should be under the regulation of the District Council. This is only an attempt to superimpose an image of a lost tradition over the present-day situation. Today, there are hundreds, or even thousands of clans who migrated from different Raids into that small corner of Raid Mylliem, previously called Laban, which became the city of Shillong. The people who live in Shillong today are no longer ‘ki shongthap-shongbiang’ (temporary settlers or immigrants). They have become private owners of the lands where they live by way of purchase, and not merely by way of grant or permission to live in the Ri-raid. Strictly speaking the whole of Shillong ceased to be a Ri-raid or a traditional territory of Raid Mylliem. Here is the question. In the past, only a few clans had the right to the political affairs of any Raid or Hima because there were also only a few clans living in them. But now, when thousands of clans are living as private land owners in the Raid or Hima is it still rational for a few clans to have the absolute right to govern the settlement?
This example applies not only to Raid Mylliem, but also to all other Raids and Himas in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. The tradition of Ri-raid is no longer in existence as it has been replaced by absolute private ownership; the independent socio-political and cultural existence of the Raids has almost been totally wiped out; the markets are no longer trading centres composed of ‘basa’ (stalls) on the ri-raid, but have become clusters of permanent shop buildings privately owned by individuals; the Khasi and Jaintia Hills have become integrated into the modern political economy. Is there any other cultural basis for the hereditary traditional institutions to exist?
It is here that the unspoken ground for the existence of the District Council, under the provision of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India came into being. The District Council stands for all the people of an autonomous district, regardless of the traditional socio-political boundaries of the Raids or Himas. The District Council is needed to control and regulate the activities of a few clans who claim to have traditional rights to rule over the hundreds or thousands of other clans in the modern socio-political settlements.
