> By Biswajyoti Das
>
>SHILLONG, India, July 7 (Reuter) - On Sundays, the echo of church bells rolls
>over a pine-scented carpet of mist that unfurls gently upon the grassy hills
>of northeastern India.
>
>But the lazy ringing is no music to the ears of Casper Tariang, a bachelor
>who says he is not looking forward to getting married.
>
>He is one of the 200,000 men who belong to the Khasi tribe -- one of the
>world's few remaining matrilineal societies -- and Tariang says enough is
>enough.
>
>``I am a bachelor at the moment. Once I get married, I don't want to be a
>babysitter,'' the business-suited hotel executive says.
>
>TIME FOR A CHANGE
>
>Tariang is not alone.
>
>Many educated and well-employed Khasi men, who live in the tranquil hills
>surrounding the northeastern city of Shillong, are bristling against the
>matrilineal, or female-led, system.
>
>Members of Khasi society trace their descent through their mothers, taking
>their maternal ancestors' surnames. Property is also handed down from the
>mother, usually only to the youngest daughter of each family, but
>increasingly, to all female members.
>
>While men and women share the household work, women are considered the more
>aggressive entrepreneurs and work outside the home throughout the day.
>
>More than 80 percent of the 400,000 Khasis are Christians. The tribespeople,
>who are of Austro-Asian descent, have facial features like those of people in
>nearby Burma and Tibet.
>
>Their first brush with the outside world was in 1841, when a Presbyterian
>missionary, Reverend Thomas Jones, set up educational and religious centres
>in Khasi country.
>
>Located 1,500 metres (4,150 feet) above sea level, the hilly region shares
>its southern borders with Bangladesh and can be reached only after a
>three-hour bus journey from the nearest airport at Guwahati, about 100 km (60
>miles) to the northwest.
>
>The Khasis adopted the Roman script and Christianity a century and a half
>ago, but the matrilineal tradition, or Kharduh, lives on.
>
>BATTLE OF THE SEXES JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
>
>Male rebellion against female social supremacy is only one of the challenges
>faced by the traditional Khasi way of life.
>
>Tribal leaders are worried that non-tribal people, who already dominate the
>local economy, are marrying Khasi women purely for their inheritance rights.
>
>The controversy forms a slender strand within a complex web of regional
>rivalry. Many indigenous peoples of northeastern India accuse outsiders of
>exploiting their land and funding the election of candidates who do not
>represent tribal demands.
>
>The hostility has boiled over into inter-tribal warfare and spawned dozens of
>separatist movements in recent years.
>
>``We don't want any change in our traditional system, but some modifications
>should be made to the Khasi law of inheritance only,'' says Delly Moore
>Wankhar, a Khasi man.
>
>But Khasi women are not nearly as keen.
>
>``Since we have adopted this from the beginning I don't want a change. Rather
>I would like to continue with the tradition,'' says 18-year-old Donna Anne.
>
>Some Khasi women say they actually prefer to marry out of the tribe because
>the Khasi man, unaccustomed to earning a living, expects her to work hard
>while he takes it easy.
>
>One businessman from the nearby state of West Bengal, Bobby Dutt, says he is
>going to marry a Khasi girl, who happens to be the youngest in her family.
>
>``When we fell in love, we decided that she will follow her traditions and I
>will retain my surname,'' Dutt told Reuters.
>
>``As far as our children are concerned, I think we should give them an
>opportunity to decide for themselves whose name they would like to retain.''
>
>INCREASING WESTERNISATION, DRUGS ROCKING SOCIETY
>
>The Khasi way of life has become increasingly Westernised since satellite
>television became popular in India after 1991.
>
>Sociologists say teen marriage and pregnancy rates are rapidly rising. The
>average age of marriage has fallen to 14 years from over 18 a decade ago.
>
>Khasi women say it is unfair to blame the combination of Westernisation and
>female social supremacy for the increasing number of broken homes.
>
>``Broken homes exist in every society, not because we have to give a mother's
>name to a child,'' says one young Khasi woman,
>
>22:17 07-06-97
Maryelizabeth
Mysterious Galaxy 619-268-4747
3904 Convoy St, #107 800-811-4747
San Diego, CA 92111 619-268-4775 FAX
http://www.mystgalaxy.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:23 PDT