A glimpse on Khasi Tribes of Meghalaya
Khasi Tribes are popular among the Indian tribal population. They were the expeditious immigrant tribes who travelled from Myanmar who slowly settled down in the Eastern Plains of Assam. The word 'Khasi' is derived from Shankaradeva's 'Baghavata Purana' which is an Indo Aryan literature.
The Khasi people have majority of their population in the eastern part of Meghalaya and are the state’s largest community of around 48% of its total existing tribal population. Their habitats are seen in the Khasi, Jaintia hill districts of Assam and in certain parts of Bangladesh too. After a period of time they are also in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, West Bengal and Jammu Kashmir.
Khasi people in Meghalaya have various sub groups with distinctive languages, rituals, customs and traditions but share an identical ethnicity known as ki Hynniew Trep (The Seven Huts). They are well renowned tribes with matrilineal descents in certain parts of India and their popularity is spread all over the world.
The matrilineal principles of these Khasi people reveal the handing over of the entire responsibility of running the family to women giving them the vital role in the society which is deeply respected. The youngest daughter of the family is supposed to inherit the ancestral properties. The husbands live in their mother in law’s house and the children bear their mother’s surname as their initials. When in case there is no daughter born to a couple, they readily adopt a baby girl and she is made the primal custodian of the entire property of the family. The women out there, have rights to live life independently as their individual’s wish and many opt to live unmarried concentrating on their work career. The women also bear the dominant role to end the marriage with concern from her man. In total women of Khasi community enjoy the total privilege and reliability.
The Khasi Tribes are kind-hearted, good-natured people with music and dance as their major attachment. They play musical instruments such as flutes, drums, guitars, metal cymbals and metal pipes. The traditional wear of a Khasi men is a long dress which is sleeveless and has thongs in its front. It is called Jymphong. The women are allowed to wear colorful dress with several layers of clothing.A golden crown with spikes and few feathers on it is worn by them.
The language spoken by Khasis is a Austro-Asiatic language called as Khasi. Their normal diet consists of Rice with some meat or fish. They also drink Rice Beer during their festival days. The major festival celebrated by them popularly known as Ka Pomblang Nongkrem is in mid November.
