Matrilineal society of Meghalaya

Last updated

Khasi women Khasi Girls.jpg
Khasi women

Multiple tribes in the state of Meghalaya in northeast India practise matrilineal descent. Often referred to as Khasi people and Garo people, among the Khasi people which is a term used as a blanket term for various subgroups in Meghalaya who have distinguishing languages, rites, ceremonies, and habits, but share an ethnic identity as Ki Hynniew Trep (The Seven Huts) whereas the Garo people refers to the various groups of Achik people. The Khasi, Garo, and other subgroups have a proud heritage, including matrilineality, although it was reported in 2004 that they were losing some of their matrilineal traits. The tribes are said to belong to one of the "largest surviving matrilineal culture[s]" in the world.

Contents

"This system will survive because the people zealously guard this system. It has support from many quarters, including the indigenous religious systems.... The NGOs in Meghalaya also support this system." – C Joshua Thomas, regional director, Indian Council of Social Science Research [1]

Background

Khasi, among multiple tribes in the state of Meghalaya in northeast India, practise matrilineal descent. [2] They are referred to as Khasi people; Khasi is used as an umbrella phrase to refer to many subgroups in Meghalaya who have distinguishing languages, rites, ceremonies, and habits, but share an ethnic identity as Ki Hynniew Trep (The Seven Huts). [3]

Khasi are an ancient tribe said to be the "largest surviving matrilineal culture[s]" in the world. [4] who, along with other subgroups, such as Garo, live in Meghalaya, as well as bordering areas of Assam and Bangladesh. Khasis are believed to be migrants with ancestral links to the Mon-Khmer people of East Asia. The matrilineal tradition which the Khasi and other subgroups practice in Meghalaya is unique within India. Matrilineal principles among the Khasi are emphasised in myths, legends, and origin narratives. [5] Khasi kings embarking on wars left the responsibility of running the family to women and thus their role in society became very deep rooted and respected. [2] [1] Reference to Nari Rajya (female kingdom; or land of matriarchy) in the epic Mahabharata likely correlates with the Khasi and Jaintia Hills and Meghalaya's present-day matrilineal culture. [6] [7] The proud heritage of the Khasi, Garo, and other subgroups is matrilineality; however in 2004 it was reported that their matrilineal traits were on the wane. [8]

Rights, roles, responsibilities

Women have a dominant role in the matrilineal society of Meghalaya. The youngest daughter of the family, the Ka Khadduh, [9] inherits all ancestral property. After marriage, husbands live in the mother-in-law's home. The mother's surname is taken by children. When no daughters are born to a couple, they adopt a daughter and pass their rights to property to her. The birth of a girl is celebrated while the birth of a son is simply accepted. [2] There is no social stigma attributed to a woman remarrying or giving birth out of wedlock as the "Khasi Social Custom Lineage Act" gives security to them. Women are known to intermarry outside their tribe. [1] The women who enjoy all the rights live an independent life, dress well, attend church, and many prefer not to get married. They enjoy total security, unlike in the rest of the country. [10] A successful career women of the Khasi society feels that "their societal anomaly" has enabled her to be successful in every way. [9] Most small businesses are managed by women. [1]

In 1994, Bina Agarwal compared characteristic features between the Garo and Khasi. She reported that Garo practiced matrilineal inheritance, matrilocal post-marital residence, a preference for cross-cousin marriage, acceptance of pre-marital sex by women, but adultery by women is punished, while the Khasi practised matrilineal inheritance, matrilocal and duolocal post-marital residence (in which the husband lives in a separate house while the wife stays at her parents’ residence), an aversion to cross-cousin marriage, and again, acceptance of pre-marital sex by women, but adultery by women is punished. [11]

Care of children is the responsibility of mothers or mothers-in-law. [10] The youngest daughter of this society who inherits the ancestral property holds a pivotal role of looking after the welfare of her parents in their old age, as well as the welfare and education of her siblings. [2] [1]

Some Khasi men perceive themselves to be accorded a secondary status. They have established societies such as the Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT) [2] (3,000 members) [1] and Sam Kam Rin Ku Mai (Societal Restructuring Association) to protect equal rights for men. They express that "Khasi men don’t have any security, they don’t own land, they don’t run the family business and, at the same time, they are almost good for nothing." [2] However, Patricia Mukhim, who edits the Shillong Times feels: "I tend to think Khasi men feel diminished in their manhood compared with outsiders... it's a pity, because that's what distinguishes us from the others". [10]

While the society is matrilineal, it is not matriarchal. In past monarchies of the state, the son of the youngest sister of the king inherited the throne. Even now in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly or village councils or panchayats the representation of women in politics is minimal. [10] As of 2013, in a Meghalaya Legislative Assembly of 60 members, there are only four women. In the male-centric Dorbar Shnong, which is the basic political arm of the tribes, women are not permitted to hold office. [1] However, women feel that they take better care of money matters than men and they enjoy economic freedom. [12]

Related Research Articles

Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers – in other words, a "mother line". In a matrilineal descent system, an individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as their mother. This ancient matrilineal descent pattern is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of patrilineal descent from which a family name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal or "agnatic" ancestry.

Meghalaya State in north-eastern India

Meghalaya is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: the United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, and the Garo Hills on 21 January 1972. Meghalaya was previously part of Assam, but on 21 January 1972, the districts of Khasi, Garo and Jaintia Hills became the new state of Meghalaya. The population of Meghalaya as of 2016 is estimated to be 3,211,474. Meghalaya covers an area of approximately 22,430 square kilometres, with a length-to-breadth ratio of about 3:1.

In social anthropology, matrilocal residence or matrilocality is the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain living in the mother's house, thereby forming large clan-families, typically consisting of three or four generations living in the same place.

Khasi people Ethnic group in India

The Khasi people are an ethnic group of Meghalaya in north-eastern India with a significant population in the bordering state of Assam, and in certain parts of Bangladesh. The Khasi people form the majority of the population of the eastern part of Meghalaya, and is the state's largest community, with around 48% of the population of Meghalaya. They are among the few Austroasiatic-speaking peoples in South Asia. A cultural tradition of the Khasi people is that they follow the matrilineal system. Under the Constitution of India, the Khasis have been granted the status of Scheduled Tribe.

Garo people

The Garos are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent, notably found in the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, and some neighboring areas of Bangladesh, notably Madhupur, Mymensingh, Netrokona, Jamalpur, Sherpur and Sylhet, Rangamati who call themselves A·chik Mande or simply A·chik or Mande - the name "Garo" being given to them and used by non-Garos. Historically, Garo name was used for wide range of people in southern bank of Brahmaputra but today, Garo means Hill tribes who call themselves A'chik Mande. They are the second-largest tribe in Meghalaya after the Khasi and comprise about a third of the local population. The Garos are one of the few remaining matrilineal societies in the world.

Garo Hills

The Garo Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited mainly by tribal dwellers, the majority of whom are Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.

Khasi Hills Region in Meghalaya, India

The Khasi Hills is a low mountain formation on the Shillong Plateau in Meghalaya state of India. The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range and connects with the Purvanchal Range and larger Patkai Range further east. Khasi Hills, and the whole Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range, are in the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.

The Pnar, also known as Jaiñtia, are a sub-tribal group of the Khasi people in Meghalaya, India. The Pnar people are matrilineal. They speak the Pnar Language, which belongs to the Austro-Asiatic language family and is very similar to the Khasi language. The Pnar people are natives of West Jaintia Hills and East Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya, India. They call themselves as "Ki Khun Hynñiew Trep". Their main festivals are Behdeinkhlam, Chad Sukra, Chad Pastieh and Laho Dance.

The indigenous people of Bangladesh refer to ethnic minorities in Chittagong Hill Tracts (southeastern), Sylhet Division (northeastern), Rajshahi Division (west), and Mymensingh Division (north-central) areas of the country. The total population of indigenous ethnic minorities in Bangladesh was estimated to be over 2 million in 2010. They are diverse ethnic communities including Tibeto-Burman, Austric and Dravidian people.

Meghalayan cuisine

Meghalayan cuisine is the local cuisine of the Indian state of Meghalaya. Meghalaya is home to three tribes; it has a unique cuisine, different from the other Seven Sister States of northeast India. The staple food of the people is rice with spicy meat and fish preparations. They rear goats, pigs, fowl, ducks and cows and relish their meat.

Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council

The Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council is a militant organization operating in Meghalaya, India. It claims to represent the Khasi-Jaintia tribal people, and its aim is to free Meghalaya from the alleged domination of outsiders from the Indian mainland. It was proscribed in India on 16 November 2000, but the ban was later lifted, before banning it again in 2019.

Hajong people Ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent

The Hajong people are an ethnic group from Northeast India and northern parts of Bangladesh. The majority of the Hajongs are settled in India and are predominantly rice farmers. They are said to have brought wet-field cultivation to Garo Hills, where the Garo people used slash and burn method of agriculture. Hajong have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India and are the fourth largest tribal ethnicity in the Indian state of Meghalaya.

The Banai is a sub-tribe of the Koches, a tribe of India. The Banai first finds mention in the census report of 1891, which states about the sub-communities of the Koches as follows : Six sections are recorded namely Harigaya, Satparia, Dasgaya or Banai, Chapra, Wanang, Tintekiya which rank in order in which named. The first five are said to be named after the places where they formerly resided, and the last, or Tintekiya, from the dress of the women, who wear one cloth round the waist, another over the body and the third on the head.

Williamson Ampang Sangma, a Garo leader, was the founder Chief Minister of Meghalaya, twenty-first state of India on 21 January 1972. He was also the first ever Governor of Mizoram among the Garos in 1989.

Conversion from indigenous to Christianity began in the 19th century under the British era. In the 1830s, American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society had become active in Northeast to convert indigenous tribes to Christianity. Later, they were offered to expand and reach into Cherrapunji Meghalaya, but they lacked the resources to do so and declined. Welsh Presbyterian Mission took the offer and they began work at the Cherrapunji mission field. By the early 1900s, other Protestant denominations of Christianity were active in Meghalaya. The outbreak of World Wars forced the preachers to return home to Europe and America. It is during this period that Catholicism took root in Meghalaya and neighbouring region. Currently, Presbyterians and Catholics are two most common Christian denominations found in Meghalaya.

Insurgency in Meghalaya

The Insurgency in Meghalaya is a frozen armed conflict between India and a number of separatist rebel groups which was taking place in the state of Meghalaya. The Insurgency in Meghalaya is part of the wider Insurgency in Northeast India, and was fueled by demands of the Khasi, Synteng and Garo people for a separate state.

Hamlet Bareh Ngapkynta (1931-2012) was an Indian writer, historian and film director from the Northeast Indian state of Meghalaya. He is known as the first person from the Khasi tribe, an indigenous ethic group of the state, to secure a doctoral degree (PhD) and as the maker of the first feature film in Khasi language, Ka Synjuk Ri ki Laiphew Syiem. He was the chairman of the executive committee of the Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh and a recipient of the 2004 Meghalaya Day Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2004,

Peoples Democratic Front (Meghalaya) Political party in India

The People's Democratic Front (PDF) is a regional political party in the Indian state of Meghalaya. The PDF was founded in 2017 and was led by P. N. Syiem and Auspicious L. Mawphlang.

Hill tribes of Northeast India

The hill tribes of Northeast India are hill people, mostly classified as Scheduled Tribes (STs), who live in the Northeast India region. This region has the largest proportion of scheduled tribes in the country.

James Joy Mohan Nichols Roy

James Joy Mohan Nichols Roy was a Christian minister and politician from what is now the state of Meghalaya, India. Before the independence of India he agitated for autonomy of the tribal peoples of northeast India. After independence this was enshrined in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India through his efforts.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bhaumik, Subir (16 October 2013). "Meghalaya: Where women call the shots". Aljazeera. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rimmer, Sandra. "The ancient Indian tribe where the women are in charge and activists lobby for men's rights". Planet Earth & its Life Forms. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Schweizer & White 1998.
  4. ↑ Laird, T. "A woman's world: Meghalaya, India – matrilineal culture". ICIMOD. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Sen 2004, p. 48.
  6. ↑ Mann 1996, p. 42-43.
  7. ↑ Gupta 1984, p. 7.
  8. ↑ Lyndem & De 2004, p. 280.
  9. 1 2 Allen, Timothy (19 January 2012). "Meghalaya, India: Where women rule, and men are suffragettes". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Bouissou, Julien (18 January 2011). "Where women of India rule the roost and men demand gender equality". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Agarwal 1994, p. 141.
  12. ↑ Nick Kirkpatrick (17 April 2015). "Kingdom of girls: Women hold power in this remote Indian village". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.