How did it all begin?

How did it all begin?

 

To answer this we need to delve into Khasi legend. Major Philip Richard Thornhagh Gurdon was the Deputy Commissioner of Eastern Bengal and Assam Commission, and Superintendent of Ethnography in Assam. His 1906 monogram, The Khasis, provides an authoritative account of the Khasi people.
According to Gurdon, one of the best known hill ‘godlings’ is the deity who is thought to inhabit the little wood close to the summit of the Shillong Peak[1] (even though this is the highest point in the Khasi Hills, perhaps, a better description would be Shillong Hill).  

This deity is said to have been discovered by a man named ‘U Shillong’ who gave his name to the Shillong Peak, and indirectly to the hill station[2] of Shillong. The Syiems (Chiefs) of the Khasi States of Mylliem and Khyrim (Nongkrem) revere U'lei Shillong, and there are certain clans who perform periodical sacrifices to this god. Probably the origin of the superstitious reverence with which U'lei Shillong is held by the Syiems of Khyrim (Nongkrem) and Mylliem is that their fabled ancestress ‘Ka Pah Syntiew’ took her origin from a rock not far from the Shillong Peak in the direction of Nongkrem. 

Shillong Peak is also at the centre of certain rather elaborate ceremonies that are observed in Nongkrem in relation to the death of a Lyngdoh (priest) and the appointment of his successor. According to custom, a Lyngdoh is a Lyngdoh for life. The funeral ceremonies of the old Lyngdoh having been completed, the Lyngdoh clan appoints his successor. The latter then, after performing his ablutions, proceeds, accompanied by the assembled members of the Lyngdoh clan, to the top of the Shillong Peak. The Lyngdoh and his clansmen advance along the road dancing, which is carried out all the way from the Lyngdoh's house to the Shillong Peak.  

All are clad in the distinctive Khasi dancing dress. Having reached the Shillong Peak, they pick the leaves of a tree called ‘ka 'la phiah’, which they spread on the ground. A goat and a rooster are then sacrificed, the new Lyngdoh acting as the sacrificer. There are the usual accessories, including branches of the Khasi sning or oak. Nine portions are cut from different parts of the victims and are offered to the god of the Shillong Peak, U lei Shillong. The Lyngdoh and his companions then perform obeisance three times to the god, and the Lyngdoh walks backwards some paces. The puja is then over, and they return dancing to the Lyngdoh's house.

One of the greatest festivals in the Khasi Hills is the Nongkrem dance. The Nongkrem dance is really part of what is known as the pom-blang, or goat-killing ceremony, performed by the Syiem of Khyrim (Nongkrem) with the aid of his Soh-blei (high priest) and the various Lyngdohs to Ka Blei Synshar (the ruling goddess), that the crops may prosper and that there may be a successful era in store for the people of the State. The Nongkrem ceremony and dance (now held at Smit) takes place in late spring, generally in the month of May. Later on the Syiem, with the high priest and other attendant priests, walks with extremely slow gait to a small hill where a stone altar has been prepared, and sacrifices a cock in honour of U'lei Shillong, or the god of the Shillong Peak.

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[1]The Khasis,By Major P.R.T. Gurdon, I.A. Deputy Commissioner Eastern Bengal and Assam Commission, and Superintendent of Ethnography in Assam.Published under the orders of the Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam, 1906.

 

[2]A high-altitude town, used by the British colonialists, as a place of refuge from the summer heat.