Guwahati, Thursday, June 29, 2006
NORTH EAST
A new thesis on the origin of Khasis
By Ajit Patowary
GUWAHATI, June 28 So far there was a readymade answer to the question concerning the origin of the Khasis, the predominant tribe of Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. This answer was basically worked out by European scholars. But here is a thesis that provides some differing views concerning the origin of these people.
Hitherto, much of the works on the origin of the Khasis was directed in the line of the Austric origin of these people. But is the Austric ingredient the sole component that formed the Khasi sub-nationality? No, there is the probability of some other elements, possibly of Caucasoid or even Keltic, also providing some basic components to the making of this sub-nationality. These elements exert no mean influence in the evolution of the Khasis, goes the new thesis.
An Austric group of people is one who belongs to the Austric language group. Again, this language family is divided into two major sub-groups Austroasiatic, that is, eastern Indian and Indo-Chinese like the Mundas or Kolarian, Mon-Khmer and Khasi groups and the languages of the Semang and Sakai and the Austronesian including the Indonesian or Malay, Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian groups.
And about the Kelts? They are the first prehistoric people to rise from anonymity in the European territories north of Alps mountains. They dominated the Western and Central European scene till the rise of the Roman civilisation.The so far most known Keltic people are the Bretons, Welsh, Cornish, Irish, Scottish Highlanders and Manx.
If that be the case, how the practices and more similar to the Keltic ones, like matriliny, stone (megalithic and monolithic) culture, and some linguistic similarities with the Kelts have come to exist among the people in the Khasi Hills of Meghalaya?
These questions have been examined by city-based surgeon Dr Satyakam Phukan. His thesis has something serious to stir the minds of the linguists and the scholars of social anthropology as well.
For, he has claimed that though the Austric ancestry beyond doubt forms the primary basis of the Khasi structure, there are other elements of influence embeded in this milieu. Probably, some people migrating from the west, most likely of Caucasoid stock, mixed up with some pre-inhabiting Austric people to form the Khasi sub-nationality. The new comers probably were responsible for giving the people of this fusion the nomenclature Khasi, said Dr Phukan.
In this connection, he has referred to the Himalayan migratory route also. The northern face of the Himalayas by the southern border of Tibet contains a historical migratory route of people translocating between the western edge of Himalayan range and Southeast Asia. He has also claimed that what distinguishes the Khasis is the presence of the Khasi element, with probable affinities to the people variously described as Khastiu (Egypt), Khas (Iran/ Persia), Kasshu/ Kassites/ Cossaei (Ancient Mesopotamia) or Khas (southern Himalayan region) or even with the Scots, Picts and other Kelts. This portion forming a minor part in the overall genetic structure of the Khasi community, plays significant role in the shaping of their identity and in the integration of the various entities that constitute the Khasi nationhood, Dr Phukan asserted.
Further, he said, the similarity between Khasi and Persian languages far exceeds that which is found in other neighbouring people. How much of the Persian-Khasi commonality is also common with the Kurdish language as well needs to be studied, he said.
For, he has argued, the word khas in Persian means a mountain dwelling community. Kurds are the very mountain people supposedly descending from the ancient folks known variously as Kasshu, Cossaei or Kassites, one time rulers of Sumer. Further, the Khasis have a name for the Himalayas. They call it Lum Mangkashang. The Khasi Hills are isolated from the main ranges of the Himalayas. In such a situation, how come the Khasi people know about the Himalayas so well, so as to give it a unique name, wondered Dr Phukan. Can it not be presumed that some ancestors of the Khasis travelled along the Himalayan mountains, Phukan suggested. This may be true not only for the Khasis, but also for many other communities of the NE India and SE Asia, he said.
These assertions of Dr Phukan, a resident of Jorpukhuri area here, are published in the form of a book Ecossais:The Khasi Saga.
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