A talk on ‘Khasi Religion’ was today organised by the Philosophy Department of Shillong College as part of the celebration of 50th Anniversary of Statehood of Meghalaya.
Sngap Syiem College principal, Dr SS Khongkliam attended the talk as the resource person and highlighted on the concept of God (U Blei) in Khasi religion that the Khasi believes in One God.
Khongkliam said that though the Khasi attributed “U” or “Ka” (he/she) to God such as Ka ‘lei synshar and “U Nongbuh Nongthaw (Planner/Creator), U Nongsei nong pynlong (the Giver or Dispenser of life), etc, yet the Khasi believes that God is beyond gender because he is the Almighty God. He said all the names were referred to one God.
He also said that the Khasis also localise or contextualise the name of God such as U ‘lei Shyllong, U ‘lei muluk (God of territory), U ‘lei Umtong (God of Water), U ‘lei Longspah (God of wealth). In spite of the various names given to God (U Blei), yet these are only localised names but in reality he is a universal God, he added.
Pointing out that another important fact about the Khasis is that they believe that God is present everywhere, Khongkliam said the Khasis never speak to formulate the existence of God but they just take for granted that he exists from eternity to eternity. He also stressed that the Khasi believe that his religion is directed by God.
He further emphasised that the Khasi did not have Scripts or alphabets in the early days before 1841 when Thomas Jones came to Sohra and introduced the Khasi alphabet in Roman Scripts. Before this, the Khasi passed on their records through the words of mouth. So, the history of the Khasi religion was passed on orally from one generation to generation, he added.
Principal of Shillong College, Dr. E Kharkongor in her address talked about the importance of understanding Khasi religion for people to understand its facets, which is the basis of the Khasi culture and beliefs.
