The recent infamous attacked on a
family alleged to be “the keeper of u thlen” (nongri-thlen) at Mawlymbnang in
the East Khasi Hills District, again brought to light the dichotomy between
traditions and modernity that exist in the Khasi Pnar way of life. I don’t
think it is a clash at all but the truth is that the mystery exists and the
society is caught between traditions and modernity. The truth is what has
happened in Mawlymbnang is the reflection of what is happening in the society,
it is the manifestation of a society entangled in a tribal culture and
tradition and the modern way of life.
U Thlen, the Taro, ka Bih etc has
been part of Khasi Pnar beliefs system which has been inculcated in the mind of
the people from one generation to another. We grew up believing Nongshohnoh
exist when our parents in an effort to make us stay put at home; would tell us
of the Menshohnoh who is lurking around the locality to catch us. We were given
strict instruction not to partake food share by certain family in the society
because they keep Taro, ka Kymbad, ka Bih etc.
My grandfather died when I was one year old, I was told that Dr. Norman
Tunnel of the Welsh Presbyterian Hospital, Jowai diagnosed that the cause of
his dead is due to cancer, but friends and relatives believed that he died from
‘Kymbad’ (ka Bih) the symptom of which is similar to cancer. In this case it is
obvious that the Khasi Pnar did know about cancer and maybe cancer in the
mouth, throat and the many part of stomach is known as Kymbad/ka Bih in the
local parlance. The only problem is that the sickness is believed to be the
curse of certain family and the family was blamed for causing the same.
In the Khasi Pnar Society, family of
patient who suffers from a chronic ailment is often advised to take both
allopathic and traditional shamanist treatment. It is often concluded as (ioh
dei ba leh ki briew) it could be the spell of someone’s evil eye, or the curse
of some evil person, so it is important to take necessary precaution by
consulting a local shaman as well as taking allopathic medicines. People are in
a dilemma and because it is a matter of life and dead; they neither have full
faith in the allopathic medicine nor in the traditional treatment. There are
many cases of patient with orthopedic problem who would simultaneously consult
a qualified orthopedics as well as a local herbal medicine practitioner to save
them from the predicament.
In matter of bad health people always
take the help of both world of medicine, in fact frail as any human, the Khasi
Pnar too; consult any available healing system be it ayurvedic, homeopathic etc
to get themselves cure. I know belief is personal matter; it is within an
individual right to choose what to believe and not to believe hence it comes as
no surprise to know that even practicing Christians sometimes perform sacrifice
if that is what it takes to cure the person. My take on the issue is not to
denounce this incident or any such incidents as superstitious act, because it
is too complex an issue to understand. But would rather like the educate Khasi
Pnar to look at the wisdom behind these legends and beliefs and interpret them
in the new light.
Rather than looking at the traditions
and beliefs as superstitious we can examine these issues in a much broader
sense with deeper insight and try to understand and see the relevance this
Khasi Pnar wisdom in the modern day context. I am not condoning the violence
and madness that has happened in Mawlymbnang and other villages, such act of
vandalism need to be condemned in the strongest term, but my call is to try and
understand these legends and folktales in the light the modern world and to see
its relevance in our world today. We also know that there are folk beliefs which
have positive impact in our life if we only have time to study them carefully. On
a closer look; we sometimes realized the profound wisdom of our ancestor even in
those act that we initially denounced as superstitious.
We have barely crossed this year’s
halfway mark yet; I consider 2013 a spiritually fulfilled year because I was
able to fulfill my long cherished dream. I was able to visit the two sacred
groves and probably the biggest sacred forest in the Khasi Jaintia, the Raij Tuber
Sacred forest in Chohchrieh village and the two sacred forests in Raij Chyrmang,
the Khloo Langdoh in Chyrmang and Ka Khap-yaba in Iongnoh village. In my visit to the Khap-yaba sacred forest
very recently; I was not only amazed at the sheer size of the forest but was
equally surprise at the fact that the forest was really free from any human
interference. The forest was thick and green and there were no sign of human
activity anywhere. The reason is because the people who live in the vicinity of
the forest believe that the goddess Khap-yaba is very powerful and it punishes
those who trespasses its territory and transgress its domain. We were told that
the local seldom wander to the forest and if they have to do so, they would
always pay obeisance to the goddess Khap-yaba. I then realized why it was very
difficult to convince the two young men to take us to Khap-yaba, and when we
reach near the forest, they told us that they would not go any further and even
refused to point their fingers towards the forest. Before that we also passed
through the hut of an old lady and when we told her of our intention to visit
the forest, she read us the do’s and don’ts and advised us to ask forgiveness
for trespassing into the goddess territory. Sacred forests are considered
sacred because it is believe to be the dwelling place of the gods and
goddesses, on a cursory look; some would consider this superstitious but it is
this belief system that has help keep our sacred forest. In the tradition of keeping
sacred forest, we can see the wisdom of our ancestors, their profound
understanding of how the nature work and the need to protect and preserve it.
In the same way let us examine other
Khasi Pnar traditions and legends and try to interpret its relevance in our day
to day life. The ‘keepers of thlen’ are those, whose greed has overtaken their
sane self, they are those people who would do anything to garner more wealth.
They would exploit people even force them to do odd job and pay them a very
small return for doing so. They would go to any extend to exploit both human
and nature for their own selfish gain- these are the modern day Nong-ri-thlen,
because their only concern is to get money and more money. The ‘Nongshohnoh’
are those who work for the Nongri Thlen and would go to any extend to serve
their master even if it means taking somebody’s life for money.
The keepers of ‘ka Taro’ are those
who are envious of others. Their hearts is full with envy and are incessantly
jealous of their friends, neighbor and relatives’ success, beauty and wealth.
They would secretly wish to possess their friends and neighbours unique character
albeit with evil design. And when they were not able to achieve those qualities,
they would curse their friends and neighbours.
The ‘Badon bih’ are mean,
close-fisted people they are so stingy that they would reluctantly part
anything with others. Even if they would have to provide food to others, they
would do so with grudge and would even curse those with whom they share their
food.
Culture and traditions are not
something that we can just wish away, the legends, the belief systems was
imbibed in our psyche for generations, it will take time if not impossible to
rid off the same from the person. The way to the future for the Khasi Pnar
Society is that we take the best of both world and move forward. The Khasi-Pnar
tradition and modern way of life can go hand in hand; the two can co-exist
albeit with new interpretation of the legends and traditions. Then only we’ll
realize that u Nongri thlen, u Nongshohnoh, ka Taro, ka bih et al are alive in
every age, caste and creed and the Khasi-Pnar wisdom is ever-relevant; it lives
beyond race and time.
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