Despite presenting only 5% of the whole world population, Indigenous communities own, occupy, or use more than 25% of the world’s surface area and safeguard 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity. Among them, a small portion of the credit belongs to the Khasia people for their intriguing way of living. Khasia(or Khasi) is one of the major matriarchal community in Bangladesh majorly residing in the hills of Meghalaya in north-eastern India(a small fraction of Khasi people are also seen in the bordering state of Assam). Unlike the other ethnic groups, Khasi people break the stereotype of running a patriarchal culture. For the last few decades, they have been consistently trying to survive the vicissitudes the world is throwing at them.
The Khasi people are among the few Austroasiatic-speaking peoples in South Asia. The Khasia language does not have alphabets. Tradition says that once they had a written scripture, which was destroyed by a calamity. They are bilingual and can speak in the Khasia language. The Christian missionaries introduced the Roman script to give shape to the Khasi written word (1841). Khasi has been an associate official language of some districts within Meghalaya since 2005, and as of May 2012, was no longer considered endangered by UNESCO. There are certain demands to include this language in the Eighth Schedule to the constitution of India.
The most interesting fact about the culture of Khasis is that they have a matrilineal society. Customs like property rights going to the daughter instead of the son set the Meghalaya society. There might be a clue in the word Khasi itself . Linguists say it is a combination of two words: Kha (born) and si (ancient) mother. In short, born of the ancient mother.
From getting exiled by the British to getting land grabbed by Bangladeshi criminals, the Khasi tribe has been fighting adversity for a long time just like most other indigenous tribes in Bangladesh. One of the recent incidents include "The kulaura land grabbing and looting case"
where up to 20 local Bengali land grabbers forcedly occupied Panjum and looted Panjum (betel leaf Jum farm) at Katabari Panpunji in Karmadha union of Kulaura Upazila of Moulvibazar district. Panjums are one of the most important segments related to the identity of the Khasi people as they live on JHUM( Cultivation for their survival). The Khasi people made some honorable sacrifices through the context of history. U Tirot Sing, a Khasi freedom fighter gave his life to the British for the independence of the Indian subcontinent. U Kiang Nangbah, a freedom fighter who later got martyred.
During covid: Khasis have been running community-based organizations such as "Khasi Social Council" which ran awareness campaigns in the local language since many of them don't understand Bengali. In each punji, people had been put under strict lockdown: only those who are sick could leave – to get medical assistance. Residents who had been elsewhere been asked to maintain a 14-days quarantine outside before they could enter. Not even relatives of the residents had been allowed to enter during that time. So far they helped each other with necessary utensils such as distributing food to other families, helping in restricting public gatherings, etc.
The khasia community indeed has been a survivor of the huge adversities they had to face years after years, decades after decades , centuries after centuries .Overcoming some of the up and downs, they proved they carry a strong will and an unimaginable adapting ability . Just like other indigenous people, they consistently showed how bio-diversity is still surviving through the diverse context of time.
Written by Sushmit Chakma
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