The Khasis
By
Major P.R.T. Gurdon, I.A.
Deputy Commissioner Eastern Bengal and Assam
Commission, and Superintendent of
Ethnography in Assam.
With an Introduction by
Sir Charles Lyall, K.C.S.I.
(Published under the orders of the Government of
Eastern Bengal and Assam)
Illustrated
Preface
This book is an attempt to give a systematic account of the Khasi
people, their manners and customs, their ethnological affinities,
their laws and institutions, their religious beliefs, their folk-lore,
their theories as to their origin, and their language.
This account would perhaps have assumed a more elaborate and ambitious
form were it not that the author has been able to give to it only
the scanty leisure of a busy district officer. He has been somewhat
hampered by the fact that his work forms part of a series of official
publications issued at the expense of the Government of Eastern Bengal
and Assam, and that it had to be completed within a prescribed period
of time.
The author gladly takes this opportunity to record his grateful
thanks to many kind friends who have helped him either with actual
contributions to his material, or with not less valued suggestions
and criticisms. The arrangement of the subjects discussed is due to
Sir Bampfylde Fuller, lately Lieutenant-Governor of the Province,
whose kindly interest in the Khasis will long be remembered by them
with affectionate gratitude. The Introduction is from the accomplished
pen of Sir Charles Lyall, to whom the author is also indebted for much
other help and encouragement. It is now many years since Sir Charles
Lyall served in Assam, but his continued regard for the Khasi people
bears eloquent testimony to the attractiveness of their character, and
to the charm which the homely beauty of their native hills exercises
over the minds of all who have had the good fortune to know them.
To Mr. N. L. Hallward thanks are due for the revision of the proof
sheets, and to the Revd. H. P. Knapton for the large share he took in
the preparation of the index. The section dealing with folk-lore could
hardly have been written but for the generosity of the Revd. Doctor
Roberts, of the Welsh Calvinistic Mission in the Khasi and Jaintia
Hills, in placing at the author's disposal his collection of the
legends current among the people. Many others have helped, but the
following names may be specially mentioned, viz.: Mr. J. B. Shadwell,
Mr. S. E. Rita, the Revd. C. H. Jenkins, Mr. C. Shadwell, Mr. Dohory
Ropmay, U Hormu Roy Diengdoh, U Rai Mohan Diengdoh, U Job Solomon,
U Suttra Singh Bordoloi, U San Mawthoh, U Hajam Kishore Singh,
U Nissor Singh, and U Sabor Roy.
A bibliography of the Khasis, which the author has attempted to make
as complete as possible, has been added. The coloured plates, with
one exception, viz., that taken from a sketch by the late Colonel
Woodthorpe, have been reproduced from the pictures of Miss Eirene
Scott-O'Connor (Mrs. Philip Rogers). The reproductions are the work of
Messrs W. Griggs and Sons, as are also the monochromes from photographs
by Mrs. Muriel, Messrs. Ghosal Brothers, and the author. Lastly, the
author wishes to express his thanks to Srijut Jagat Chandra Goswami,
his painstaking assistant, for his care in arranging the author's
somewhat voluminous records, and for his work generally in connection
with this monograph.
P. R. G.
Bibliography
Agricultural Bulletin No. 5 of 1898.
Allen, B. C. - Assam Census Report, 1901.
Allen, W. J. - Report on the Khasi and Jaintia Hill Territory, 1868.
Aymonier, Monsieur - "Le Cambodge."
Bivar, Colonel H. S. - Administration Report on the Khasi and Jaintia
Hills District of 1876.
Buchanan Hamilton - "Eastern India." Edited by Montgomery Martin
Dalton, Colonel E. T. - Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal.
Gait, E. A. - Human Sacrifices in Assam, vol. i., J.A.S.B. of 1898.
Grierson, Doctor G. A. - "Linguistic Survey of India," vol. ii.
Henniker, F. C. - Monograph on gold and silver wares in Assam.
Hooker, Sir Joseph - Himalayan Journals.
Hunter, Sir William - Statistical Account of Assam.
Jeebon Roy, U. - _Ka Niam Khasi_
Jenkins, The Rev. Mr. - "Life and Work in Khasia."
_Khasi Mynta_ - A monthly journal published at Shillong in the Khasi
language.
Kuhn, Professor E. - _Ãœber Herkunft und Sprache der
transgangetischen Völker_. 1883
Kuhn, Professor E. - _Beiträge zur Sprachenkunde
Hinterindiens_. 1889.
Lindsay, Lord - "Lives of the Lindsays."
Logan, J. R A - series of papers on the Ethnology of the Indo-Pacific
Islands which appeared in the "Journal of the Indian Archipelago."
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander. - Account of the North-Eastern Frontier
Mills, A. J. M. - Report on the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, 1853
Nissor Singh, U - Hints on the study of the Khasi language.
Nissor Singh, U - Khasi-English dictionary.
Oldham, Thomas - On the geological structure of a portion of the Khasi
Hills, Bengal.
Oldham, Thomas - Geology of the Khasi Hills.
Peal, S. E. - On some traces of the Kol-Mon-Anam in the Eastern
Naga Hills.
Pryse, Rev. W. - Introduction to the Khasis language, comprising a
grammar, selections for reading, and a vocabulary.
Records of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Secretariat.
Roberts, The Rev. H. - Khasi grammar.
Robinson - Assam.
Scott, Sir George - Upper Burma Gazetteer.
Shadwell, J. B. - Notes on the Khasis.
Stack E. - Notes on silk in Assam.
Waddell, Colonel - Account of the Assam tribes.J.A S.B.
Ward, Sir William - Introduction to the Assam Land Revenue Manual.
Weinberg, E. - Report on Excise in Assam.
Yule, Sir Henry - Notes on the Khasi Hills and people.
Contents
Introduction xv-xxvii
Section I. - General.
Habitat 1-2
Appearance 2-3
Physical and General Characteristics 3-6
Geographical Distribution 6-10
Origin 10-11
Affinities 11-18
Dress 18-21
Tattooing 21
Jewellery 22-23
Weapons 23-26
Section II. - Domestic Life.
Occupation 26-28
Apiculture 28-30
Houses 30-33
Villages 33-35
Furniture and Household Utensils 36-38
Musical Instruments 38-39
Agriculture 39-43
Crops 43-48
Hunting 48-49
Fishing 49-51
Food 51-52
Drink 52-54
Games 54-57
Manufactures 57-61
Section III. - Laws and Customs.
Tribal Organization 62-66
State Organization 66-75
Marriage 76-79
Divorce 79-81
Inheritance 82-85
Adoption 85-86
Tenure of Land and Laws regarding Land 86-91
Laws regarding other Property 91
Decision of Disputes 91-97
War 97-98
Human Sacrifices 98-104
Section IV. - Religion.
General Character of Popular Beliefs 105-109
Ancestor Worship 109-113
Worship of Natural Forces and of Deities 114-116
Religious Rites and Sacrifices, Divination 116-120
Priesthood 120-124
Ceremonies and Customs attending Birth and Naming of Children
124-127
Marriage 127-132
Ceremonies attending Death 132-139
Disposal of the Dead 140-144
Khasi Memorial Stones 144-154
Festivities, Domestic and Tribal 154-157
Genna 158-159
Section V. - Folk-Lore.
Folk-tales 160-187
Section VI. - Miscellaneous.
Teknonomy 188
Khasi Method of Calculating Time 188-190
The Lynngams 190-197
Section VII. - Language 198-215
Appendices.
A - Exogamous Clans in the Cherra State 216-217
B - Exogamous Clans in the Khyrim State 218-220
C - Divination by Egg-Breaking 221-222
Index 223-227
Introduction
In 1908 Sir Bampfylde Fuller, then Chief Commissioner of Amman,
proposed and the Government of India sanctioned, the preparation
of a series of monographs on the more important tribes and castes
of the Province, of which this volume is the first. They were to be
undertaken by writers who had special and intimate experience of the
races to be described, the accounts of earlier observers being at the
same time studied and incorporated; a uniform scheme of treatment was
laid down which was to be adhered to in each monograph, and certain
limits of size were prescribed.
Major Gurdon, the author of the following pages, who is also, as
Superintendent of Ethnography in Assam, editor of the whole series,
has enjoyed a long and close acquaintance with the Khasi race,
whose institutions he has here undertaken to describe. Thoroughly
familiar with their language, he has for three years been in charge
as Deputy-Commissioner of the district where they dwell, continually
moving among them, and visiting every part of the beautiful region
which is called by their name. The administration of the Khasi and
Jaintia Hills is an exceptionally interesting field of official
responsibility. About half of the district, including the country
around the capital, Shillong, is outside the limits of British India,
consisting of a collection of small states in political relations,
regulated by treaty with the Government of India, which enjoy almost
complete autonomy in the management of their local affairs. In
the remainder, called the Jaintia Hills, which became British in
1835, it has been the wise policy of the Government to maintain
the indigenous system of administration through officers named
_dolois_, who preside over large areas of country with very little
interference. All the British portion of the hills is what is called a
"Scheduled District" under Acts XIV and XV of 1874, and legislation
which may be inappropriate to the conditions of the people can be,
and is, excluded from operation within it. In these circumstances the
administration is carried on in a manner well calculated to win the
confidence and attachment of the people, who have to hear few of the
burdens which press upon the population elsewhere, and, with the peace
and protection guaranteed by British rule, are able to develop their
institutions upon indigenous lines. It is now more than forty years
since any military operations have been necessary within the hills,
and the advance of the district in prosperity and civilization during
the last half-century has been very striking.
The first contact between the British and the inhabitants of the
Khasi Hills followed upon the acquisition by the East India Company,
in consequence of the grant of the _Diwani_ of Bengal in 1765, of the
district of Sylhet. The Khasis were our neighbours on the north of
that district, and to the north-east was the State of Jaintia, [1]
ruled over by a chief of Khasi lineage, whose capital, Jaintiapur, was
situated in the plain between the Surma river and the hills. Along this
frontier, the Khasis, though not averse from trade, and in possession
of the quarries which furnished the chief supply of lime to deltaic
Bengal, were also known as troublesome marauders, whose raids were
a terror to the inhabitants of the plains. Captain R.B. Pemberton,
in his Report on the Eastern Frontier (1835), mentions [2] an attack
on Jaintia by a force under Major Henniker in 1774, supposed to have
been made in retaliation for aggression by the Raja in Sylhet; and
Robert Lindsay, who was Resident and Collector of Sylhet about 1778,
has an interesting account of the hill tribes and the Raja of Jaintia
in the lively narrative embodied in the "Lives of the Lindsays." [3]
Lindsay, who made a large fortune by working the lime quarries and thus
converting into cash the millions of cowries in which the land-revenue
of Sylhet was paid, appears to have imagined that the Khasis, whom
he calls "a tribe of independent Tartars," were in direct relations
with China, and imported thence the silk cloths [4] which they brought
down for sale in the Sylhet markets. A line of forts was established
along the foot of the hills to hold the mountaineers in check, and
a Regulation, No. 1 of 1799, was passed declaring freedom of trade
between them and Sylhet, but prohibiting the supply to them of arms
and ammunition, and forbidding any one to pass the Company's frontier
towards the hills with arms in his hands.
The outbreak of the first Burma War, in 1824, brought us into closer
relations with the Raja of Jaintia, and in April of that year Mr. David
Scott, the Governor-General's Agent on the frontier, marched through
his territory from Sylhet to Assam, emerging at Raha on the Kalang
river, in what is now the Nowgong district. This was the first occasion
on which Europeans had entered the hill territory of the Khasi tribes,
and the account of the march, quoted in Pemberton's Report, [5] is the
earliest authentic information which we possess of the institutions
of the Khasi race. Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton, who spent several years at
the beginning of the 19th Century in collecting information regarding
the people of Eastern India, during which he lived for some time
at Goalpara in the Brahmaputra Valley, confused the Khasis with the
Garos, and his descriptions apply only to the latter people. The name
Garo, however, is still used by the inhabitants of Kamrup in speaking
of their Khasi neighbours to the South, and Hamilton only followed
the local usage. In 1826 Mr. David Scott, after the expulsion of the
Burmese from Assam and the occupation of that province by the Company,
entered the Khasi Hills in order to negotiate for the construction of
a road through the territory of the Khasi Siem or Chief of Nongkhlaw,
which should unite Sylhet with Gauhati. A treaty was concluded with
the chief, and the construction of the road began. At Cherrapunji
Mr. Scott built for himself a house on the plateau which, two years
later, was acquired from the Siem by exchange for land in the plains,
as the site of a sanitarium. [6] Everything seemed to promise well,
when the peace was suddenly broken by an attack made, in April 1829,
by the people of Nongkhlaw on the survey party engaged in laying
out the road, resulting in the massacre of two British officers and
between fifty and sixty natives. This led to a general confederacy of
most or the neighbouring chiefs to resist the British, and a long and
harassing war, which was not brought to a close till 1833. Cherrapunji
then became the headquarters of the Sylhet Light Infantry, whose
commandant was placed in political charge of the district, including
the former dominions in the hills of the Raja of Jaintia, which he
voluntarily relinquished in 1835 on the confiscation of his territory
in the plains.
Cherrapunji, celebrated as the place which has the greatest measured
rainfall on the globe, became a popular station, and the discovery
of coal there, and at several other places in the hills, attracted
to it many visitors, some of whom published accounts of the country
and people. The first detailed description was apparently that of the
Rev. W. Lish, a Baptist missionary, which appeared in a missionary
journal in 1838. In 1840 Capt. Fisher, an officer of the Survey
Department, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
[7] an account which showed that the leading characteristics of the
Khasi race had already been apprehended; he mentions the prevalence of
matriarchy or mother-kinship, notes the absence of polyandry, except
in so far as its place was taken by facile divorce, describes the
religion as a worship of gods of valleys and hills, draws attention to
the system of augury used to ascertain the will of the gods, and gives
an account of the remarkable megalithic monuments which everywhere
stud the higher plateaus. He also recognizes the fact that the Khasis
as a race are totally distinct from the neighbouring hill tribes. In
1841 Mr. W. Robinson, Inspector of Schools in Assam, included an
account of the Khasis in a volume on that province which was printed
at Calcutta. In 1844 Lieut. Yule (afterwards Sir Henry Yule) published
in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society [8] a much more detailed
description of the hills and their inhabitants than had been given
by Fisher. This formed the basis of many subsequent descriptions, the
best known of which is the attractive account contained in the second
volume of Sir Joseph Hooker's _Himalayan Journals_ [9] published
in London in 1854. Sir Joseph visited Cherrapunji in June 1850,
and stayed in the hills until the middle of the following November.
Meanwhile the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission, originally
located at Sylhet, had extended their operations to Cherrapunji,
and in 1842 established a branch there. They applied themselves to
the study of the Khasi language, for which, after a trial of the
Bengali, they resolved to adopt the Roman character. Their system of
expressing the sounds of Khasi has since that time continued in use,
and after sixty years' prescription it would be difficult to make a
change. Their Welsh nationality led them to use the vowel _y_ for the
obscure sound represented elsewhere in India by a short _a_ (the _u_
in the English _but_), and for the consonantal _y_ to substitute the
vowel _i : w_ is also used as a vowel, but only in diphthongs (_aw,
ew, iw, ow_); in other respects the system agrees fairly well with
the standard adopted elsewhere. Primers for the study of the language
were printed at Calcutta in 1846 and 1852, and in 1855 appeared
the excellent "Introduction to the Khasia language, comprising a
grammar, selections for reading, and a Khasi-English vocabulary," of
the Rev. W. Pryse. There now exists a somewhat extensive literature
in Khasi, both religious and secular. An exhaustive grammar, by the
Rev. H. Roberts, was published in Trübner's series of "Simplified
Grammars" in 1891, and there are dictionaries, English-Khasi (1875}
and Khasi-English (1906), besides many other aids to the study of the
language which need not be mentioned here. It is recognized by the
Calcutta University as sufficiently cultivated to be offered for the
examinations of that body. Two monthly periodicals are published in
it at Shillong, to which place the headquarters of the district were
removed from Cherrapunji in 1864, and which has been the permanent
seat of the Assam Government since the Province was separated from
Bengal in 1874.
The isolation of the Khasi race, in the midst of a great encircling
population all of whom belong to the Tibeto-Burman stock, and the
remarkable features presented by their language and institutions,
soon attracted the attention of comparative philologists and
ethnologists. An account of their researches will be found in
Dr. Grierson's _Linguistic Survey of India_, vol. ii. Here it will
be sufficient to mention the important work of Mr. J. R. Logan, who,
in a series of papers published at Singapore between 1850 and 1857 in
the _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_ (of which he was the editor),
demonstrated the relationship which exists between the Khasis and
certain peoples of Further India, the chief representatives of whom are
the Mons or Talaings of Pegu and Tenasserim, the Khmers of Cambodia,
and the majority of the inhabitants of Annam. He was even able, through
the means of vocabularies furnished to him by the late Bishop Bigandet,
to discover the nearest kinsmen of the Khasis in the Palaungs, a tribe
inhabiting one of the Shan States to the north-east of Mandalay on the
middle Salween. With the progress of research it became apparent that
the Mon-Khmer group of Indo-China thus constituted, to which the Khasis
belong, was in some way connected with the large linguistic family
in the Indian Peninsula once called Kolarian, but now more generally
known as _Munda_, who inhabit the hilly region of Chutia Nagpur
and parts of the Satpura range in the Central Provinces. Of these
tribes the principal are the Santhals, the Mundas, and the Korkus. In
physical characters they differ greatly from the Indo-Chinese Khasis,
but the points of resemblance in their languages and in some of their
institutions cannot be denied; and the exact nature of the relation
between them is as yet one of the unsolved problems of ethnology.
The work of Logan was carried further by Prof. Ernst Kuhn, of Munich,
who in 1888 and 1889 published important contributions to our knowledge
of the languages and peoples of Further India. More recently our
acquaintance with the phonology of Khasi and its relatives has been
still further advanced by the labours of Pater W. Schmidt, of Vienna,
whose latest work, _Die Mon-Khmer Völker, ein Bindeglied zwischen
Völkern Zentralasiens und Austronesiens_ (Braunschweig, 1906),
has established the relationship of Khasi not only to the Mon-Khmer
languages, but also to Nicobarese and several dialects spoken by wild
tribes in the Malay Peninsula.
There still remains much to be done before the speech of the Khasi
nation can be considered to have been thoroughly investigated. In
the _Linguistic Survey_ four dialects are dealt with, the standard
literary form, founded on the language of Cherrapunji, the _Pnar_ or
_Synteng_, of Jowai, the _War_, spoken in the valleys on the southern
face of the hills, and the _Lyngngam_, spoken in the tract adjacent to
the Garos on the west. Major Gurdon (p. 203) mentions a fifth, that
of Jirang or Mynnar, spoken in the extreme north, and there may be
others. A great desideratum for linguistic purposes is a more adequate
method of recording sounds, and especially differences of tone, than
that adopted for the standard speech, which though sufficient for
practical purposes, does not accurately represent either the quantity
or the quality of the vowels, and leaves something to be desired
as regards the consonants (especially those only faintly sounded or
suppressed). These things, no doubt, will come in time. The immense
advance which has been made in education by the Khasis during the last
half-century has enabled some among them to appreciate the interesting
field for exploration and study which their own country and people
afford; and there is reason to hope that with European guidance the
work of record will progress by the agency of indigenous students.
It remains to summarize briefly the principal distinctive features of
this vigorous and sturdy race, who have preserved their independence
and their ancestral institutions through many centuries in the face
of the attractions offered by the alien forms of culture around them.
In the first place, their social organization presents one of the
most perfect examples still surviving of matriarchal institutions,
carried out with a logic and thoroughness which, to those accustomed
to regard the status and authority of the father as the foundation
of society, are exceedingly remarkable. Not only is the mother
the head and source, and only bond of union, of the family: in the
most primitive part of the hills, the Synteng country, she is the
only owner of real property, and through her alone is inheritance
transmitted. The father has no kinship with his children, who belong
to their mother's clan; what he earns goes to his own matriarchal
stock, and at his death his bones are deposited in the cromlech of his
mother's kin. In Jowai he neither lives nor eats in his wife's house,
but visits it only after dark (p. 76). In the veneration of ancestors,
which is the foundation of the tribal piety, the primal ancestress
(_Ka Iawbei_) and her brother are the only persons regarded. The
flat memorial stones set up to perpetuate the memory of the dead are
called after the woman who represents the clan (_maw kynthei_ p. 150),
and the standing stones ranged behind them are dedicated to the male
kinsmen on the mother's side.
In harmony with this scheme of ancestor worship, the other spirits
to whom propitiation is offered are mainly female, though here male
personages also figure (pp. 106-109). The powers of sickness and
death are all female, and these are those most frequently worshipped
(p. 107). The two protectors of the household are goddesses (p. 112),
though with them is also revered the first father of the clan,
_U Thawlang_.
Priestesses assist at all sacrifices, and the male officiants are
only their deputies (p. 121); in one important state, Khyrim, the
High Priestess and actual head of the State is a woman, who combines
in her person sacerdotal and regal functions (p. 70).
The Khasi language, so far as known, is the only member of the
Mon-Khmer family which possesses a grammatical gender, distinguishing
all nouns as masculine and feminine; and here also the feminine
nouns immensely preponderate (p. 206). The pronouns of the second
(me, pha) and third person (u, ka) have separate forms for the sexes
in the singular, but in the plural only one is used (phi, ki), and
this is the plural form of the feminine singular.
It may perhaps be ascribed to the pre-eminence accorded by the
Khasis to the female sex that successive censuses have shown that the
women of this race considerably exceed the men in number. According
to the census of 1901, there are 1,118 females to every 1,000 male
Khasis. This excess, however, is surpassed by that of the Lushais,
1,191 to 1,000, and it may possibly be due to the greater risks to life
encountered by the men, who venture far into the plains as traders and
porters, while the women stay at home. Habits of intemperance, which
are confined to the male sex, may also explain a greater mortality
among them.
It would be interesting to investigate the effect on reproduction
of the system of matriarchy which governs Khasi family life. The
increase of the race is very slow. In the census of 1891 there were
enumerated only 117 children under 5 to every hundred married women
between 15 and 40, and in 1901 this number fell to 108. It has been
suggested that the independence of the wife, and the facilities which
exist for divorce, lead to restrictions upon child-bearing, and thus
keep the population stationary. The question might with advantage be
examined at the census of 1911.
The next characteristic of the Khasis which marks them out for special
notice is their method of divination for ascertaining the causes of
misfortune and the remedies to be applied. All forms of animistic
religion make it their chief business to avert the wrath of the
gods, to which calamities of all kinds - sickness, storm, murrain,
loss of harvest - are ascribed, by some kind of propitiation; and in
this the Khasis are not singular. But it is somewhat surprising to
find among them the identical method of _extispicium_ which was in use
among the Romans, as well as an analogous development in the shape of
egg-breaking, fully described by Major Gurdon (p. 221), which seems
to have been known to diviners in ancient Hellas. [10] This method has
(with much else in Khasi practice) been adopted by the former subjects
of the Khasis, the Mikirs; but it does not appear to be prevalent
among any other of the animistic tribes within the boundaries of India.
The third remarkable feature of Khasi usage is the custom, which
prevails to this day, of setting up great memorials of rough stone,
of the same style and character as the _menhirs_ and _cromlechs_ which
are found in Western Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia. It
is very surprising to a visitor, unprepared for the sight by previous
information, to find himself on arrival at the plateau in the midst of
great groups of standing and table stones exactly like those he may
have seen in Brittany, the Channel Islands, the south of England,
or the Western Isles. Unfortunately the great earthquake of June
1897 overthrew many of the finest of these megalithic monuments;
but several still remain, and of these Major Gurdon has given an
excellent description (pp. 144 sqq.), with an explanation of the
different forms which they assume and the objects with which they
are erected. Other races in India besides the Khasis set up stone
memorials; but none, perhaps, to the same extent or with the same
systematic purpose and arrangement.
In conclusion, I have only to commend this work to the consideration
of all interested in the accurate and detailed description of primitive
custom. I lived myself for many years among the Khasis, and endeavoured
to find out what I could about them; but much of what Major Gurdon
records is new to me, though the book generally agrees with what I
was able to gather of their institutions and characteristics. It is,
I think, an excellent example of research, and well fitted to stand
at the head of a series which may be expected to make an important
contribution to the data of anthropology.
C. J. Lyall.
_November_, 1906.
THE KHASIS
CHAPTER I
General
Habitat.
The Khasis reside in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills district of
Assam. They number 176,614 souls, which total is made up of: -
Khasis 107,515
Syntengs 47,883
Christian Khasis 17,125
Khasis inhabiting other districts 4,091
176,614
The Khasi and Jaintia Hills district is situated between 25° 1' and 26°
5' North Latitude, and between 90° 47' and 92° 52' East Longitude. It
contains an area of 6,157 square miles, with a total population at
the Census of 1901 of 202,250 souls. In addition to the Khasis there
are some members of Bodo tribes inhabiting parts of the district.
The Lynngam tribe appears to have been reckoned in 1901 as Khasi,
there being no separate record at the last Census of these people.
The district is split up into two divisions, the Khasi Hills proper
and the Jaintia Hills. The Khasi Hills form the western portion of
the district and the Jaintia Hills the eastern. The Khasis inhabit
the Khasi Hills proper, and the Syntengs, or Pnars, the Jaintia
Hills. The latter hills take their name from the Rajas of Jaintia, the
former rulers of this part of the country, who had as their capital
Jaintiapur, a place situated at the foot of the Jaintia Hills on the
southern side, which now falls within the boundaries of the Sylhet
district. The Lynngams inhabit the western portion of the Khasi Hills
proper. A line drawn north and south through the village of Nongstoin
may be said to form their eastern boundary, and the Kamrup and Sylhet
districts their northern and southern boundaries, respectively. The
people known as _Bhois_ in these hills, who are many of them really
Mikirs, live in the low hills to the north and north-east of the
district, the term "Bhoi" being a territorial name rather than
tribal. The eastern boundary of the Lynngam country may be said to
form their north-western boundary. The Wárs inhabit the precipitous
slopes and deep valleys to the south of the district. Their country
extends along the entire southern boundary of the district to the
Jadukata, or Kenchi-iong, river where the Lynngam territory may be
said to commence towards the south. There are some Hadem colonies
in the extreme eastern portions of the Jaintia Hills. It is these
colonies which are sometimes referred to by other writers as "Kuki
Colonies." They are settlers from the North Cachar Sub-division of the
Cachar district within recent years. It is possible that the title
Hadem may have some connection with _Hidimba_, the ancient name for
the North Cachar Hills.
Appearance.
The colour of the Khasi skin may be described as being usually
brown, varying from dark to a light yellowish brown, according to
locality. The complexion of the people who inhabit the uplands is of
a somewhat lighter shade, and many of the women, especially those who
live at Nongkrem, Laitlyngkot, Mawphlang, and other villages of the
surrounding high plateaux possess that pretty gipsy complexion that
is seen in the South of Europe amongst the peasants. The people of
Cherrapunji village are specially fair. The Syntengs of the Jaintia
Hills are darker than the Khasi uplanders. The Wárs who live in the
low valleys are frequently more swarthy than the Khasis. The Bhois
have the flabby-looking yellow skin of the Mikirs, and the Lynngams
are darker than the Khakis. The Lynngams are probably the darkest
complexioned people in the hills, and if one met them in the plains
one would not be able to distinguish them from the ordinary Kachari or
Rabha. The nose in the Khasi is somewhat depressed, the nostrils being
often large and prominent. The forehead is broad and the space between
the eyes is often considerable. The skull may be said to be almost
brachy-cephalic, the average cephalic index of 77 Khasi subjects,
measured by Col. Waddell and Major Hare, I.M.S., being as high as 77.3
and 77.9, respectively. According to these data the Khasis are more
brachy-cephalic than the Aryans, whose measurements appear in Crooke's
tables, more brachy-cephalic than the 100 Mundas whose measurements
appear in Risley's tables, more brachy-cephalic than the Dravidians,
but less brachy-cephalic than the Burmans, whose measurements also
appear in Crooke's tables. It would be interesting to compare some head
measurements of Khasis with Japanese, but unfortunately the necessary
data are not available in the case of the latter people. The Khasi
head may be styled sub-brachy-cephalic. Eyes are of medium size,
in colour black or brown. In the Jaintia Hills hazel eyes are not
uncommon, especially amongst females. Eyelids are somewhat obliquely
set, but not so acutely as in the Chinese and some other Mongols. Jaws
frequently are prognathous, mouth large, with sometimes rather thick
lips. Hair black, straight, and worn long, the hair of people who
adopt the old style being caught up in a knot at the back. Some
males cut the hair short with the exception of a single lock at the
back, which is called _u niuhtrong_ or _u niuh-' iawbei_ (i.e. the
grandmother's lock.) The forepart of the head is often shaven. It
is quite the exception to see a beard, although the moustache is not
infrequently worn. The Lynngams pull out the hairs of the moustache
with the exception of a few hairs an either side of the upper lip.
Physical and General Characteristics
The Khasis are usually short in stature, with bodies well nourished,
and the males are extremely muscular. The trunk is long in proportion
to the rest of the body, and broad at the waist; calves are very
highly developed. The women, when young are comely, of a buxom type,
and, like the men, with highly-developed calves, the latter always
being considered a beauty. The children are frequently remarkably
pretty. Khasis carry very heavy burdens, it being the custom for the
coolie of the country to carry a maund, or 82 lbs. weight, or even
more occasionally, on his back, the load being fixed by means of a
cane band which is worn across the forehead; women carry almost as
heavy loads as the men. The coolies, both male and female, commonly
do the journey between Cherrapunji and Shillong, or between Shillong
and Jowai, in one day, carrying the heavy loads above mentioned. Each
of the above journeys is some thirty miles. They carry their great
loads of rice and salt from Therria to Cherrapunji, an ascent of about
4,000 feet in some three to four miles, in the day. The Khasis are
probably the best porters in the north of India, and have frequently
been requisitioned for transport purposes on military expeditions.
The people are cheerful in disposition, and are light-hearted by
nature, and, unlike the plains people, seem to thoroughly appreciate
a joke. It is pleasant to hear on the road down to Theriaghat from
Cherrapunji, in the early morning the whole hillside resounding with
the scraps of song and peals of laughter of the coolies, as they run
nimbly down the short cuts on their way to market. The women are
specially cheerful, and pass the time of day and bandy jokes with
passers-by with quite an absence of reserve. The Khasis are certainly
more industrious than the Assamese, are generally good-tempered,
but are occasionally prone to sudden outbursts of anger, accompanied
by violence. They are fond of music, and rapidly learn the hymn
tunes which are taught them by the Welsh missionaries. Khasis are
devoted to their offspring, and the women make excellent nurses for
European children, frequently becoming much attached to their little
charges. The people, like the Japanese, are fond of nature. A Khasi
loves a day out in the woods, where he thoroughly enjoys himself. If
he does not go out shooting or fishing, he is content to sit still
and contemplate nature. He has a separate name for each of the
commoner birds and flowers. He also has names for many butterflies
and moths. These are traits which are not found usually in the people
of India. He is not above manual labour, and even the Khasi clerk
in the Government offices is quite ready to take his turn at the
hoe in his potato garden. The men make excellent stonemasons and
carpenters, and are ready to learn fancy carpentry and mechanical
work. They are inveterate chewers of _supari_ and the pan leaf (when
they can get the latter), both men, women, and children; distances in
the interior being often measured by the number of betel-nuts that
are usually chewed on a journey. They are not addicted usually to
the use of opium or other intoxicating drugs. They are, however,
hard drinkers, and consume large quantities of spirit distilled
from rice or millet. Rice beer is also manufactured; this is used
not only as a beverage, but also for ceremonial purposes. Spirit
drinking is confined more to the inhabitants of the high plateaux
and to the people of the Wár country, the Bhois and Lynngams being
content to partake of rice beer. The Mikirs who inhabit what is
known as the "Bhoi" country, lying to the north of the district,
consume a good deal of opium, but it must be remembered that they
reside in a malarious _terai_ country, and that the use of opium,
or same other prophylactic, is probably beneficial as a preventive
of fever. The Khasis, like other people of Indo-Chinese origin,
are much addicted to gambling. The people, and especially those who
inhabit the Wár country, are fond of litigation. Col. Bivar remarks,
"As regards truthfulness the people do not excel, for they rarely
speak the truth unless to suit their own interests." Col. Bivar might
have confined this observation to the people who live in the larger
centres of population, or who have been much in contact with the
denizens of the plains. The inhabitants of the far interior are, as
a rule, simple and straightforward people, and are quite as truthful
and honest as peasants one meets in other countries. My impression
is that the Khasis are not less truthful certainly than other Indian
communities. McCosh, writing in 1837, speaks well of the Khasis. The
following is his opinion of them: - "They are a powerful, athletic
race of men, rather below the middle size, with a manliness of gait
and demeanour. They are fond of their mountains, and look down with
contempt upon the degenerate race of the plains, jealous of their
power, brave in action, and have an aversion to falsehood."
Khasis of the interior who have adopted Christianity are generally
cleaner in their persons than the non-Christians, and their women dress
better than the latter and have an air of self-respect about them. The
houses in a Christian village are also far superior, especially where
there are resident European missionaries. Khasis who have become
Christians often take to religion with much earnestness (witness the
recent religious revival in these hills, which is estimated by the
Welsh missionaries to have added between 4,000 and 5,000 converts