This is the second part in the series of articles on the Ramayana Parampara of North-East India. After Assam, the pristinely beautiful state of Meghalaya (also popularly known as the ‘Abode of clouds’) has been taken up for this purpose, with reference to the story of Shri Ram still prevalent in its own unique and distinctive style among the Khasis, the Garos, and the Jaintias, who constitute a significant percentage of the state’s population. Even today, not many people in other parts of the country are aware of the different stories of mass conversions of these vanavasis into Christianity, at different periods of time in history.

The overall storyline of the Ramayana that used to be popular among the people of Meghalaya before the advent of Christianity is very much the same as that of Valmiki’s Ramayana, the only difference being the names of the different characters and as well as the names of the places which have a local, regional touch. In this context, we need to understand that the different religious belief systems and modes of worship of the Khasis, Garos, and Jaintias share a close resemblance with Hindu Dharma. This, in part, explains the cultural and spiritual significance of Shri Ram and the Ramayana as a text in their lives.

Very often, we have heard from the Left academia that Shri Ram has absolutely no connection whatsoever with the Northeast, especially with regard to the predominantly Christian hill states of Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. This is a motivated narrative; a very well-crafted propaganda to present before us a bunch of lies and deceptions which have, at times, even gone to the extent of claiming that the North-East was never a part of Bharatvarsha and more so, the religious belief systems and lifestyles of the people here have had no resonance with people in the rest of the country.

Meghalaya is a sparsely populated, landlocked hilly state situated along the southwestern borders of Assam and Bangladesh. Besides Mizoram and Nagaland, Meghalaya is the third predominantly Christian state in the Northeast, with almost 90% of the Khasis and the Garos professing Christianity. However, Dharmic faiths and belief systems still continue to prevail among a section of the Jaintias. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, all these three communities – the Khasis, the Garos, and the Jaintias – have their own versions of the Ramayana.

It was at the beginning of the 19^th century that well-known social reformer Babu Jeebon Roy, who was also the founder of the Seng Khasi Movement in Meghalaya, first brought out the story of Shri Ram in the Khasi language. It was titled Ka Ramayon. We shall briefly understand the significance of the word Ka in the Ka Ramayon, with reference to the Seng Khasi movement. Seng Khasi was all about reviving the lost cultural and civilisational heritage of the Khasis of Meghalaya from the aggressive evangelist mission of the Church.

The conversion spree in Meghalaya during the late 18^th and the early 19^th centuries and Christian missionaries’ hostile attitude towards Ka Niam Khasi, i.e., the traditional Khasi religion, did not go well with the leaders and followers of the Niam Khasi belief system. Along with Babu Jeebon Roy, Chandranath Roy, Shiv Charan Roy and a few other senior Khasi leaders decided to revive the lost practices and traditional religious belief systems among the people of the Khasi and the Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya.

They, therefore, worked towards the establishment of an organisation exclusively devoted to restoring the lost cultural and civilisational heritage of the Khasis. Since Bhagwan Shri Ram constituted an integral part of this heritage, it was aimed at spreading the message of the Ramayana among the younger generation of the Khasis. Leaders of the Seng Khasi movement were also supposed to look after the welfare of those in the community who had been the victims of persecution at the hands of the missionaries, only because of the reason that they refused to embrace Christianity.

Preservation of the traditional Khasi culture in general and the Niam Khasi belief system in particular, was, by and large, focussed on educating people about their ancestral religion in which the life of Shri Ram and the Ramayana, and as well as that of Shri Krishna and the Bhagawad Gita, occupied a position of immense importance. Eventually, it was on 23, November 1899 that the Ka Seng Khasi Movement was inaugurated in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya, with Babu Chandranath Roy as its first Secretary. In the Khasi language, the term Seng implies ‘the beginning of a new dawn’.

During this period, there was a rapid spread of Christianity in the Khasi Hills through the establishment of missionary schools, hospitals, and Churches. Hence, the Seng Khasi Movement was a struggle for the survival and preservation of the cultural and traditional value systems of the Khasis. Official patronage provided to the evangelists made it apparent that the traditional Niam Khasi religion would be extinct very soon. Accordingly, Babu Jeebon Roy, who is even today adored as the apostle of the Khasi Renaissance, and his men, introduced several measures aimed at the preservation of their religion, language and culture.

It was this cultural awakening which eventually found its expression through a literary movement initiated by Babu Jeebon Roy himself. The Seng Khasi movement was strongly influenced by the cultural and religious belief systems of the Bengali Hindus. There is thus an overwhelming influence of Krittivasa’s Ramayana in Bengali in the different stories of the Ramayana prevalent among the Khasis. Babu Jeebon Roy himself had a profound knowledge of Hindu religious texts such as the Bhagawad Gita, Puranas and Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other masterpieces in Sanskrit and Bengali religious literature.

He regarded the Niam Khasi religion as inseparable and indistinguishable from Hindu Dharma. The Ramayana and the story of Shri Ram were at the core of this culture, which was dying a slow death after Christianity had set foot in the land of the Khasis. Thus, the Seng Khasi movement strengthened the bonds of solidarity and brotherhood among the Khasis to a large extent. The gradual revival of the story of Ram and Lakshman helped the Khasis as a community to unite and put up a valiant resistance against the onslaught of Western civilization in their lives through a foreign religion.

It needs to be mentioned here that the regional versions of the Ramayana have survived in Assam, precisely because of the reason that Hindu Dharma is still the predominant religion there. But the advent of Christianity in the other North-Eastern states virtually pushed the different vanavasi versions of the text into oblivion and out of circulation. The Khasi Ramayana was a part of the ballad tradition that used to be sung and narrated by the elder members of the family to the younger ones while sitting and cooking food near the fire.

Earlier, Ram and Lakhan were very popular male names for twins in the traditional Niam Khasi religion. The leaders of the Seng Khasi Movement were inspired by their deep-rooted allegiance to traditional values ​​as enshrined in the Ramayana. With the idea of promoting religious unity among the non-Christian Khasis, Babu Jeebon Roy wrote two books on Niam Khasi – one was titled Ka Niam Jong Ki Khasi (The Religion of the Khasis) and the other was Ka Kitab Shaphang Uwei U Blei (A Book on One God). The story of Shri Ram and his war with Ravana constituted an important moral aspect of both these writings.

Soon thereafter, Jeebon Roy translated into Khasi the Hitopadesa, Buddha Deb Charitra, and the Ramayana. Jeebon Roy's Ka Niam Jong Ki Khasi opens with an invocation to other Khasis to write about their rich Vedic heritage, thereby pointing towards a shift that was gradually beginning to take place in the community and the need felt by writers, as early as 1897, to preserve a culture, which would otherwise be forgotten. Until the publication of this text, i.e., Ka Niam Jong Ki Khasi, most writings on the lives and culture of the Khasis were by people who were not from the community.

Ka Niam Jong Ki Khasi is a short but detailed account of several religious and socio-cultural practices of the Khasis which were considered strange and alien by both the colonial state and the Church. The use of the word Niam served to highlight not only religious practices and rituals but also social customs and conventions which were a part of the day-to-day lives of the Khasis. In fact, Ka Niam Jong Ki Khasi happens to be the first Khasi book written by a local writer, who uses writing as a tool to emphasize the ability of the natives to represent their Hindu civilizational heritage with pride.

In this book, Babu Jeebon Roy provides an alternative narrative based on the lives and deeds of Shri Ram and Shri Krishna. It questioned the dominant narratives of the Church and the State to undermine Niam Khasi cultural beliefs by explaining the basic tenets of the Khasi religion. It has often been heard that the Khasis, or for that matter, the Nagas, the Mizos, the Garos, and the Jaintias alike were not Hindus. But there is substantial material evidence that proves that they were, indeed Hindus and most importantly, their pre-Christian religious faiths and belief systems were not different from Hindu Dharma.

For example, places such as Dāwki and Syndai in Meghalaya are known for huge ancient rock-cut sculptures of Sri Ganesha, and also various other local Devis and Devatas. But, why is the traditional religion of the Khasis also known as Ka Niam Khasi? What is the religious and cultural significance of the word Ka in this context? A popular belief that prevails in the region is that the famous Saktipeeth of Ma Kamakhya in Assam was originally a sacred Khasi site. This has been acknowledged by the Kamakhya Temple Management Committee in several of their publications as well.

Kamakhya, in the ancient times, was referred to as Ka Mei Kha by the Khasis. Over time, it came to be pronounced as Kamakhya. Interestingly, among the Khasis, the Garos, and the Jaintias, the matriarchal family system is still prevalent and the non-Christians among them are of the firm belief that the supreme authority of the Universe is feminine. In fact, the Khasis and the Jaintias are believed to be the original worshippers of Ma Kamakhya. Even today, a considerable section among the Jaintias worships Devi Sakti as Ma Jayanteswari at the Nartiang Durga temple in Jowai, Meghalaya.

Inside the Durga temple at Nartiang village, Jowai, Meghalaya

Many attempts have been made by Christian Khasis backed both overtly and covertly by the Church and the state to discourage the celebration of Seng Khasi festivals and functions from time to time by imposing strict and ruthless curbs upon them. In the 1980s, Doordarshan had successively televised both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata in the form of serials. These serials, although they were in Hindi, had an unprecedented response from the vanavasi communities of North-Eastern India, including Meghalaya. Especially, their impact on the impressionable young minds was quite visible.

This disturbed the Church organizations hugely. They viewed it as the unnecessary influence of Hinduism and the imitation of Hindu ways and lives by the vanavasis. In several areas of Mizoram and Meghalaya, the Church had to finally issue a diktat ordering parents to stop viewing these serials so that their children can be restrained from playing games inspired by their different episodes. The Church’s attempt was to ‘sanitize’ the Christian culture from “external” cultural influences. But this was not quite an easy task to accomplish since cultural memory passes through several generations, naturally and unpretentiously.

But, very conveniently, the Church whitewashed the fact that the Ramayana was not just a sacred text of the Hindus in the rest of the country but an indispensable part of the oral traditional and cultural heritage of the people of the Northeast too. In due course of time, the manipulation of facts and evidence associated with the Hindu heritage of the vanavasis in North-Eastern India has been responsible for giving rise to a host of unending problems. Followers of Niam Khasi are continuously on the decline because of various factors, the foremost among them being the open threats issued to their religious Gurus by the Church.

Among the Garos of Meghalaya too, the Ramayana parampara continues to thrive in myriad different forms. In terms of the size of their population, the Garos constitute the second largest community of people in Meghalaya after the Khasis. They have always shared a close linguistic, religious and cultural affinity with the followers and practitioners of Hindu Dharma residing in the plains of Assam, including the Koch-Rajbongshis, Kacharis, Dimasas, and Bodos. The American Baptist Missionaries were the first to have come to the Garo Hills after the British occupation of this district was complete in the year 1872.

With the aim of propagating their Christian dogma through education as the most convenient means, they first learned the A’we and A’Tong dialects of the Garos which were then used to write school textbooks. The Bible was translated so as to make it the standard literature in the Garo language and establish Jesus as the Supreme God in place of Shri Ram and Shri Krishna. The rich cultural repository of epic narrations of the Garos known as Katta Agana or Katta Doka and local songs of various kinds, were also translated by the missionaries into local Garo dialects.

Very soon, elements of the traditional Garo religion called Songsarek which the missionaries were not able to comprehend, were dismissed as ‘superstitious’ and ‘irrational’, while the rest were digested into the Christian theological and religious doctrine. A sharp rise in the share of Christians among the Garos has meant the near complete extinction of the followers of their traditional Songsarek belief system. The number of followers of the Songsarek religion declined from more than 88,000 in 1991 to about 17,000 in 2011.

Several ritualistic elements of their traditional theatre forms such as kirtan and sankirtana have been deceivingly appropriated by the missionaries into the Christian literary and religious framework. It is true that the number of Niam Khasi followers among the Khasis has also declined, but it has not been as drastic as that of the followers of Songsarek. Songsarek in the Garo language implies dakbewalandniam, i.e. a way of life that worships and respects nature in all its forms. It is associated with their most prominent agricultural activities during the year.

The chief deities in the Songsarek religious pantheon – Dakgipa Rugipa Stugipa Pantugipa or Tatara Rabuga Stura Pantura and Nokgipa Biambi – are believed to play an important role in the process of creation, besides ensuring the survival and protection of the lives and properties of all in the community. The Garo version of the Ramayana shares many aspects in common with the tradition of the Ramayana popular among the Hindu Rabha and Koch communities in particular, residing in the state of Assam and also scattered over a few areas of Meghalaya in Tura, bordering Bangladesh.

A traditional dramatic art form called Bhari Gan or Bhar Gan (Bhar=acting; Gan=song) has deeply influenced the life and society of the Garos. Closely related to the Ramayana, Bhari Gan is a declining performing art tradition of Hindu Dharma. It is almost on the verge of near extinction today and only stray references are to be found. However, it still prevails in a few pockets of Goalpara district in Lower Assam and its adjoining areas bordering Garo Pahaar in Meghalaya. Those Bhari Gan dance-drama performances which are inspired by the Ramayana are locally known as Ratir Gan, meaning, ‘the play of the night’.

The Bhari Gan performances customarily used to be held in religious places of worship called Thaans dedicated to the worship of various local Devis and Devatas. Before Christianity had made inroads, it was almost a ritual to organise at least one Bhari Gan performance on different religious occasions of the Garos. In various villages of the Garos and the Rabhas adjoining Assam, even today, a Bhari Gan performance is a must on Hindu religious festivals and ceremonies such as Ai Than Mela, Vanavasi Thakurani Puja (Bhagawati Puja), Durga Puja, Hamnang Puja, Sivaratri, etc.   

In ancient times, it is said that a Bhari Gan play among the Garos took 45-65 nights for the presentation of the complete Ramayana. Characters like Ravana, Mahiravana, Hanuman, Sugriva, Jambavan, and Vibhishana constitute an integral part of the Garo Ramayana. In a Bhari Gan performance, almost all these characters wear heavy wooden masks. It needs to be mentioned here that the Ramayana was translated into the Garo language by Redin Momin who was himself a Garo, but it was published years after his death in the year 1992.

Just like the Khasis and the Garos, the Jaintias too, still reckon their descent through the female line. They believe that the world is ruled by the supreme Devi called Ka Blai Synshar (Ka meaning ‘She’). Just like the Khasis, a popular tradition among the Jaintias too is that if twin boys are born in any Jaintia household, they are to be named Ram and Lakhon (signifying Ram and Lakshman). There is a popular belief associated with the Ramayana among those Jaintias inhabiting Meghalaya’s famous orange-producing area of Ri-War bordering Bangladesh.

Since the oranges of Ri-War are delectably fleshy and extremely sweet in taste, the Jaintias believe that they were brought by Shri Ram himself from Lanka after defeating Ravan. In fact, the presence of good oranges and limestones in the Khasi and Jaińtia Hills of Meghalaya is also attributed by a certain section among these communities to the miraculous powers of Shri Ram. Among the Jaintias, the story of the Ramayana shares much in common with that of the vanavasis of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in present-day Bangladesh since the Jaińtia Rajas controlled a sizeable territory in that country in the past.

The Karbis of Assam also had their own kingdom adjacent to the Jaintia kingdom in Meghalaya. They are among a community of people who occupy a prominent place in the socio-cultural life of Assam. It was during the reign of the Kachari kings that a significant section of the population of the Karbis was driven to the neighbouring hill regions. Some of them happened to enter the Jaintia hills, the erstwhile Jaintia kingdom and lived under Jaintia suzerainty for a long period of time. There were several exchanges of cultures and traditions between the Karbis and the Jaintias during this period of time.

There has thus been an overwhelming influence of the Karbi Ramayana, i.e. Sabin Alun, on the Jaintia Ramayana. Among the Jaintias, the story of the Ramayana became much more popular because of the persistent efforts of the Jaintia Rajas who once stood at the forefront of protecting and preserving Hindu traditions not just against the Islamic invaders but as well as in the later period against the British and the Christian missionaries. For the Hindu Jaintias of Meghalaya, the Ramayana is not simply a performance; it represents the victory of truth over untruth, merits over sins, and permanence over non-permanence.

The Jaintias respect and worship the Ramayana as one of those rare texts whose values and principles need to be imbibed by both the Rājā and his Prājās. So, there exist certain do’s and dont’s for the characters while performing the Ramayana among the Jaintias. The characters of Ram and Sita were not allowed to consume non-vegetarian food during the performance, and at the end of the performances, it was mandatory for them to worship their respective deities; meaning, the actor who played the role of Ram worshipped Ram.

Stories of birth, marriage, exile, abduction, battle, victory and return are told differently by the Khasis, Garos, and Jaintias. So, Ram may be a nomadic hero (as in the case of the Khasi Ramayana) or a king (in the Jaintia Ramayana). But Lakshman stands out as the main hero in these tales. He is the most powerful character in the story. He appears as a calm and wise young man, devoid of any aggressive behaviour but ready to take to violence if the situation so demands. Thus, Shri Ram has thus always been an indispensable part of the vanavasi culture of Meghalaya.

About 60-70 years from now, during any social event or religious ceremony and even weddings, the narration of different themes and episodes from the Ramayana in the form of songs was a common practice in the villages of the Khasi and Jaińtia Hills. In the 16th century, Gurus like Narottam Ata, a Naga, Govinda Ata, a Garo, Balai Ata, a Mikir, and several others played a pioneering role in spreading the message of the Ramayana in their respective hills which are today known as Nagaland, Garo hills, Karbi Anglong, etc. in the North-East. All these different stories will be taken up in subsequent articles on this same subject.

A special note of thanks to Late M. Sangma Mama Ji and Bhadreswar Sarma Ji for providing me with materials on the Garos and the Jaintias respectively.

Image source: Centre for Indic Studies