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Meeting the Khasis

Five North Americans travelled halfway around the world this past September, to spend a week with the Khasi Unitarians in Meghalaya, a state in the Northeast of India. It was a memorable experience!

The three Americans had had previous experience in India. Terry Robinson, a retired US serviceman, had visited three times before; Stephen Smith, a professor of development economics, had spent nine weeks in Delhi on a project. Stephanie Doucette, a young adult from California, had lived in Poona for a year, several years before the trip. Ellen and Doug Campbell, from Canada, stopped in New Delhi on the way, but were on their first visit to India. None of the group had been to Meghalaya before, however and found it a very different place from the rest of India. Our base was in Shillong, the state capital, and our principal hosts were Pearl Green Marbaniang, currently secretary of ICUU, and Darihun Khriam, who escorted the travellers when we visited outlying villages or took other trips.

Early in the week, Darihun took us to visit six villages for which she is the "Church Visitor," a lay person who provides support and service to congregations. Because we were visiting on a weekday, most of the people we met were the children and the teachers in Unitarian schools in the villages, as well as some of the older people. In each place we stopped, we were greeted enthusiastically and welcomed warmly. Darihun provided translations of Khasi for us and translated our brief remarks into Khasi. While at the beginning we were asked to make presentations, in some of the later visits the children or adults asked us questions, giving us a better opportunity for interchange.

We had more opportunity for discussion in a session with Pearl Green, who gave us some background about the how the Khasis came to Unitarianism. Derrick Pariat, another Church Visitor whose "day job" is producing TV documentaries, had put together an overview of Khasi culture and music, and shared with us some information about the political situation in Meghalaya. Carleywell Lyngdoh, General Secretary of the Unitarian Union of Northeast India, invited us to the headquarters in Jowai, where we had lunch with him and with HH Mohrmen, who has returned from ministerial training in Great Britain. We met Barishisha Mukhom, a young agronomist, with whom we had some interesting conversations about possibilities for a development project. Stephanie Doucette sought out and interviewed several young adults for an article in the UUA young adult newsletter.

There was time as well to do some sightseeing, both in and around Shillong and further afield. This is beautiful, green hill country, with lush forests of bamboo, banana, and other tropical plants, and a moderate, though very wet, climate. Waterfalls abound.

The story of the Khasi Unitarians is a fascinating one. In 1887, Hajom Kissor Singh, a young man who had been converted to Welsh Presbyterianism, began reading the Bible and questioning many of the doctrines he had been taught. A member of the Brahmo Samaj, a reform Hindu group, put him in touch with Charles Dall, a Unitarian missionary working in Calcutta, who sent him material about Unitarianism. Singh saw parallels between what he was reading and traditional Khasi beliefs and practices. By September 1887, Singh had formed a "Unitarian Union," with five members. That was the beginning of what now includes about 10,000 members (including children) distributed among 34 congregations and six fellowships. Most of the congregations are in rural villages. There have been one or two ministers in the history of the Khasis, and Margaret Barr, a British Unitarian, spent thirty-five years with the Khasis. At present, about fifteen Church Visitors provide leadership to the congregations.

The centrepiece of the visit was September 18, the 116th Anniversary of the Founding of Unitarian Religion in Northeast India, which is celebrated each year with great enthusiasm by the Khasis. On that day, we visitors attended three celebrations. At 1:00 p.m. we participated in the service at the Madan Laban church in Shillong, a congregation with about 400 members. There was a capacity crowd, filling the church and spilling out into the courtyard around it. This was a relatively formal service, which included a lot of music, short addresses by Pearl Green Marbaniang and three of the visitors, and the awarding of prizes to children and young people for their achievement in religious education examinations.

Then we were taken by car to Nongkrem, one of the villages we had visited earlier. When we arrived, most of the congregation, especially the young people, were celebrating the anniversary with enthusiastic dancing to quite jazzy versions of hymn tunes. Shortly after we arrived, a hot-air balloon, decorated with Unitarian symbols, was sent up into the sky, with lots of singing and shouts of delight. After tea, we moved on to Nongthymmai. There we joined the congregation for dinner and a vespers service. There was a lot of hymn singing here, and we noticed that most of the people, including quite young children, know all the words to the hymns, many of which were written by Hajom Kissor Singh. And then we were invited to join with them in a torchlight parade, which would move through the streets in the neighbourhood for several hours. We didnÕt make it the whole way, but joined them for the start of the parade.

Those of us who struggle to get even a small scrap of publicity for our congregations were impressed by the "paparazzi"—several TV stations and all the local papers were represented at the Madan Laban service. There was coverage of Founder’s Day events on all the local stations and in local papers in several cities.

Our week with the Khasis was challenging, surprising, sometimes overwhelming, and heart-warming. Stephanie commented on how wonderful it was to come so far, and to find people who share our values, our faith and our commitments. We felt the warmth of friendship, and it was hard to leave. If you are looking for a remarkable experience with fellow Unitarians who live in a different world, watch for news of the next Khasi Hills study tour.