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The PEOPLE of Jaintia Hills |
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The people living in Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya are ethno linguistic group of people and are believed to be of Indo-Mongoloid race although speaking a distinct Austric language belonging to the Mon-Khmer group. With regard to the social origin of the Jaintia people there is an indigenous theory according to which they belonged to a common race which occupied a large area of Northern India, Burma, Indo-China and parts of South China in the Neolithic period. The vast majority of population include Scheduled Tribe: 210558, Scheduled Caste: 747 and remaining others. The people residing in the central region of Jaintia Hills are called "Pnars" by those living in the southern and northern regions and who are in turn called as "Wars" and "Bhois" respectively by the Pnar. All three are collectively known by the generic name : Jaintias" or "Synteng" The people inhabiting the District are Pnars, Wars, Bhoi(Karbis) and Biates mainly. In the Pnar Society the family is the core of social organization. Though it is mother-centred, the authority of the house of Iung lies with the eldest Maternal Uncle. He is the head of the clan & represents the same in any village matters. But Marital & other institutional affairs are based on the Matrilineal System. Matriarchy in its true sense does not exist in the Pnar Society. Inspite of the female ownership of property the woman's elder brother is the actual head of the household & when the husband after the initial matrilocal residence establishes independent house, he is the undisputed lord of the Family. In the case where there is no female child, the Mother is succeeded by her son, thus the system is called matriarchal only by courtesy. Nowadays there has been tremendous change in the way of life of the Jaintia People & it is not uncommon case for a man to live together with his wife & children in separate houses & the house is solely run by the Father of the house and not by Uncles. Matriliny in Jaintia Hills does not mean that the female are more supreme than the males but it is that tracing of descent is done through a female side. The father no doubt is the head and occupies an honored position in a family. Marriage among the Jaintia is an elaborate one though many changes are noticeable due to factors like Christianity, education and exposure to the outside world. Women are entrusted to take care of property as the legal custodian, the family purse, valuable, movable and immovable properties. In Jaintia Hills traditionally, inheritance of real property passes from mother to the youngest daughter called as 'khadduh'. Other sisters also share the property but the youngest one shares more because of her responsibility to the family. No man in the uplands of the Jaintia Hills can possess landed property, unless it is self acquired, if a man dies and leaves behind acquired property, his heiress will be his mother, if alive, excluding wife, sons and daughters. If the wife however, undertakes not to remarry, she will inherit half of her husband property, which at her death will descend to her youngest daughter by him. The youngest daughter who inherits the property has the obligation, that she must look after the family idols and bear all its puja offerings out of her own pocket, if the youngest daughter changes her religion she loses her position in the family and is succeeded by her next youngest sister as in the case of death. The people are often been described to be fond of amusements and happy-going. The cheerful disposition of the people is an attraction to strangers. In general, they are simple, open hearted, honest people with a very good sense of obligations and capable of sincere gratitude. The bond of blood relationship is very strong. |
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The Pnar or the Jaintia people maintained their unique culture and religion called Niamtre. The British paramountcy during the seventeenth century brought about the winds of change in many aspects of the Jaintia society, a good percentage of the people are embracing Christianity as their religion . Apart from Christians, there are other religions too, like the Unitarians, the Muslims etc. The coming of the Welsh Missionaries brought about significant changes in their value system, beliefs, speech, etiquettes, food habits, life styles and most importantly in the fields of health, education and economic condition. The Economic changes among the Jaintia people has certain affects in the religious and traditional life of the people. Traditionally, if anyone died in the village, the whole village would stop their work and gather at the deceased person's house. People still follow the custom inspite of the hectic schedule of everyday modern life. |
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The people inhabiting the District are the Pnars, Wars, Bhoi (Karbis) and Biates mainly. So it is obvious that not one language is spoken. But the main language widely used by the inhabitants of this district is the Pnar Language: which is different in every sense from the Khasi language of the East and West Khasi hills districts of this State of Meghalaya. As is known there is no written script for this language and Khasi is used for educative purposes. English is the only medium of instruction used in some schools e.g. Adventist Training School. Other schools use the vernacular dialect in Roman letter ( Khasi dialect Cherra) and English as the medium of instruction. However for high school section, English was adopted as the medium of instruction and Khasi dialect was studied as a vernacular subject. It is known that a few local learned people are trying to device the alphabets for the Pnar language: work is in progress. Besides English, Hindi , Nepali, Bengali, Assamese, are spoken by outsiders for communication. A lot of outsiders can speak the Local language pretty well, making work and communication easier. |
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People of Jaintia hills undertake various occupation nowadays. some are working as civil servants, engineers, doctors, laborers, cultivators, traders, potters, basketry, business etc. Originally the main occupation of the Jaintia people is agricultural work and it is being practiced in most villages until now. The Jaintias have a more advanced method of cultivation than many other hill peoples in the north-eastern region of India. The process of converting highland into paddy fields was ever increasing with the demand of the people. Irrigation was known as resorted to whatever sources of water could be turned to use. The
Jaintia people are industrious and enterprising. They evince keen
interest in trade and commerce inspite of low literacy rates.
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