Table Of ContentCULTURAL PROFILE OF
SHILLONG
Edited by
B. B. GOSWAMI
Foreword by
S. C. SINHA
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ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA
INDIAN MUSEUM
27 Jawaharlal Ne.hru Road
Calcutta• 7000 16
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Published jn April, 1979
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Published bJI
The Director
Anthropological Survey of India,
Government of India.
27, Jawaharlal Nehru Road
Calcutta-7000 16, India.
Printed By
The Reliance Printing Works,
219-A, Old Chinabazar Street,
Calcutta-7000 01, India.
Price : Rs. : £ : $
Without the expressed per1n.ission from the Director, Anthropological Survey of
India, any portion of this publication cannot be re-produced partly or wholly.
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-CONTENTS
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Contributors l
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Foreword 11
Introduction
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Inaugural Address
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First Session
1. SHILLONG AS AN _URBAN CENTRE
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The Study of Community-wise Distributio11 & the Growth
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of Population in Shillong: K. D. Saha 4
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Educational Profile of Shillong : N. Das Gupta
Impact of Christianity on the People of
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Shillong . : E. H. akyntein
Shillong as -an Administrative Centre :· B. Datta ·Ray 45
Politics in Shillong : A Study in Inter-ethnic Conflict
& Co-operation : S. K. Chaube 56
Second Session
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2. CULTURAL CORE & DIVERSITIES
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Shillong : A Geographic Analysis of Internal Variations :
J.
P. Singh 69
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A Profile of the Shillong Municipal Board :
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V. Venkata Rao 86
The Transition from the Village to the Town :
T. Cajee - 96
- Land System in Shillong : R. T. Rymbai 104
Students of Shillong : A Profile : R. B. Vieyra 109
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Jayanta 116
Sweepers of Shillong : Sarkar
Women Traders of Shillong : N. Saha
C. K. Shyam & S. K. Muk~erjee 132
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Seng Khasi : A. S. Khongphai
The Bat a Bazar ( lewdu h ) of Shillong : .
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Emlyn M. Roy 148
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Third Session
3. EMERGING CULTURAL FEATURES OF SHILLONG
Contribution of Shillong towards Khasi Literature :
Tngensi Rynjah 154
Archery in Khasi Hills : R. Jobrenson Khongwir 160
Pop Singers of Shillong : Martin Naryan Majaw 165
CONCLUDING REMARKS
What We Have Learnt from this Seminar :
S. C. Sinha 179
Name of Participants 184
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CONTRIBUTORS
Shri T. Cajee, I.A.S., Secretary, Government of Meghalaya,
Shillong.
Dr. S. K. Chaube, Fellow, Centre for Studies in Social Science,
Calcutta.
Shri N. Dasgupta, Lecturer in P. G. T. College, Shillong.
Dr. B. Dutta Roy, Head of the Department of Political Science,
St. Edmund's College, Shillong .
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Shri A . S. Khongphai, President, Seng Khasi, Shillong.
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Shri R. Khongwir, Lecturer in Khasi, St. Anthony's College.
Shillong.
Prof. M. N. Majaw, M.L.A., Meghalaya, Shillong.
Shri E. H. Pakyntein, I.A.S. (Retd). Member, Adviser Planning
Board, Meghalaya, Shillong.
Dr. V. Venkata Rao. Emiritus Professor, Department of Political
Science, University of Gauhati, Gauhati.
Shri E. M. Roy. Mylliem State Office, Shillong.
Shri R. . T. Rymhai, I. A. S. (Retd). Chairman, Land Reforms
Commission, Meghalaya, Shillong .
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Shri T. Rynjah, Lecturer in Khasi. Sankardev College, Shillong.
Shri K. D. Saha, Anthropological Survey of India, Shillong
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Dr. K. Sankar. Anthropological Survey of India. Shillong.
Shri J.P. Singh, Lecturer in Geography, St. Edmund's College,
Shillong.
Sarvashri N. Saha, C. K. Shyam & S. K. Mukherjee, Anthropo
logical Survey of India, Shillong.
Brother R. B. Vieyra, Principal, St. Edmund's College, Shillong.
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FOREWORD
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During 1962 to 1964 the late Professor Nir~al Kumar Bose,
the then Director, Anthropological Survey of India, organised
a socio-cultural survey of the city of Calcutta. The results of
the survey were published in the form of a book, Calcutta,
a Soeial Survey (/968) and an important article Calcutta, a Premature
Metropolis ( 1965). Professor Bose was mainly interested in
finding out to what extent the people of Calcutta continued
to remain socially segregated in terms of language and
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religion in location, occupation and voluntary associations.
This pioneering venture in urban anthropology encouraged
us to look into the complexities of cultural life in Calcutta
in a seminar jointly organised by the Anthropological Survey
of India and the Indian Anthropological Society during
January 22-23, 1970. The distinctive feature the seminar
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was to involve academicians and practitioners from discip. .
lines, such as, linguistics, social psychology, psychiatry,
history, natural science, literature and other creative artistic
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fields iri a dialogue with anthropologists in defining the
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cultural profile of the city. The seminar was organised
around three major themes : ••A City of Cultural Pluralism
and the Bengali Core'', ''A City of Grinding Poverty, Econo
mic Disparity and Social Disorganization'• and ••A City of
Creativity and Frustration''. The proceedings of the seminar
was published in 1972. .
The. above model, with some modification, was utilized
in drawing out the Social Profile of Mysore City in a seminar
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organised in · December, 1970 by Dr. Promode K. Misra,
qfficer-in-Charge of the South India Station of the .l\nthropo
logical Survey of India . A former member of this Survey,
Dr. Baidyanath Saraswati, conducted a similar seminar on
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•·Social and Cultural Profile of Kashi'' at Varanasi during
January 22-25, 1973 on behalf of Manab Vijnan Mandir: Bose
Memorial Foundation.
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From the above three seminars we .can .form an idea
how the three cities socially and culturally handle the
problems of diversity in terms of primordial groups and
socio-economic classes. We can also compare the distinct
cultural and organizational accents in the pursuit of excellence
in three cities. In none of the above three cities, however,
Scheduled Tribes form a significant constituent. We, therefo·re,
I decided that members of that Northeast India Station of this
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Survey at Shill·ong should initiate a seminar on the cultural
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profile of the urban milieu of Shillong where tribes of North-
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east India formed a very important element; Shillong has
for a long time been an important arena for nurturing the
process of cultural and political moderr1ization of the tribes
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of Northeast India, notabley the Khasi . Since April, 1970Shillong
has become the capital of the newly formed state of Megha
laya, where the tribal elites belonging to the Khasi, Garo
and~ the Jayanti tribes are vigorously engaged in carving
out a modern destiny while resolving encounters with the
massive Bengali population in the city.
In the seminar on cultural profile of Shillong organised
by Shri B. B. Goswami and his associates of the Northeast
India Station of the Anthropological Survey of India during
September 28-29, 1973, the majority of the participants were
not anthropologists. They represented a wide range of dis
ciplines like political science. human geography, literature,
music, administration and so on. Four members of the
Anthropological ,Survey of India .contributed papers on the
basis of field research. It is indeed a matter of great satis
faction to us that c·aptain Williamson A. Sangma, Chief Minister
of Meghalaya State has taken great interest in our modest
endeavour. We are grateful to him for inaugurating the
seminar. We are also very thankful to Dr. C. Devanesan,
Vice-Chancellor, Northeastern Hill University for presiding
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over the inaugural function. I have recorded my detailed
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responses to the various papers pres~nted in the seminar
in my concluding remarks appended to this volume.
I hope that the proceedings of the seminar which have
been carefully edited by Shri B. B. Goswami will be read
with interest by social scientists, administrators and leaders
of public opinion interested in the problems of No rtheastem
Region. This seminar also encourages me to plan a series
of seminars on the culture profile of the major urban centres
in the states and Union Territories in the north eastern hill
region. We expect that a quick succession of such seminars,
based on proper preparation, will bring into focus some of
the urgent socio-cultural problems of modernization in the
north eastern hill regions of India. They will also provide
very useful forums of critical and creative discourse between
social scientists and the growing· members of tribal intelli
gentsia in this region.
SURAJIT SINHA
Director
Anthropological Survey of India
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1NTR0DUCTION
The Seminar on the Cultural Profile of Shillong is the
4th Seminar in urban anthrop~ ology which was held in the
State Central Library Seminar Hall on the 28th and 29th and
September, 1973. The earlier Seminars on Cultural Profile
were held at Calcutta, Mysore and Varanasi where the An
thropological Survey of India was involved either as organiser
or collaborator. The idea for organising these Seminars
was initiated by Dr. S. C. Sinha, Director, Anthropological
Survey of India, who during the Seminar on Calcutta stated
i that this ••effort is to make the social scientists, in general,
and anthropologists in particular, aware about some of the
problems involved in systematic understanding of the complex
social and cultural reality of this city''. Dr. Sinha guided me
closely in the organisation and supervision of the Seminar.
He also participated very actively during the various
sessions of the ·Seminar.
The Seminar was inaugurated on the 28th September, 1973
by Capt. W. A. Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Dr.
Chandran D. S. Devanesan, Vice-Chanceller of the North
Eastern Hill University, Shillong, kindly presided over the
function. To draw the prefile of Shillong, the papers were
grouped under three broad headings, Shillong as an
viz.,
Urban Centre, Cultural Core and Diversities of Shillong and
Emerging Cultural Features of Shillong. The concluding ·
speech was delivered by Dr. S. C. Sinha. He in his speech
succinctly dealt with the main thursts of the discussions held
in various sessions.
· - To get involved in such a Seminar in Shillong was a
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rewarding experience for me. Initially, I was discouraged
by some about the utility to organise such a Seminar. But
in course of time, I observed that there were many who
were ready to participate in such an intellectual encounter .
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In the seminar, altogether 17 papers were pre$ented. They
were grouped in 3 sessions for discussions, which were
presided by Shri D. K. Bhattacharjee, Secretary, North Eastern
Council, Shri R. S. Lyng doh. Speaker, Meghalaya Legislative
As~embly and· Dr. S. C. Sinha, Director, Anthropological Survey
of India, Calcutta. Among the participant in the seminar
the member of the Anthropological Survey of India formed
a minority. It was because of two main reasons. Firstly,
with our limited technical personnel in the Station it was not
possible to extend rigorous anthoropological enquiry on the
varied facets of cultural life of a complex urban milieu like
Shillong. Secondly, we felt, in the light of the earlier
excersises in Calcutta., Mysore and Varanasi that like
growing field of urban anthropology will have to receive
successor from points of view of other disciplines as also
of endogamous urban intellegentsia in general. We
expect that this excercise will trigger off further stimulating
discussions in formal and informal manner among the .
academicians and infelligentsia of the town.
I h·ave much pleasure in recording that the entire
staff of this station took an active interest in the · Semi
nar. In this matter Sarvashri S. H. Ahmad, S. H." M. Rizvi,
M. M. Das, B. B. Das, S. K. Ghosh, C. K. Shyam, ·N. Saha
and S. K. Mukherjee rendered all possible help. The
typing work was mainly done by Shri Das and Mrs. D.
K.
Wahlang.
_ ~I .requeste.d- the . authors to revise their papers, if neces-
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