Dkhar

Dkhar, alternatively spelled as Dikhar,[1][2][3] is a term used by the Khasis to refer to non-Khasi people in Meghalaya. It is a term used for people from mainland India who come to Meghalaya Shillong to earn a living. It is a general term use to generalise all non tribals who are occupying meghalaya. It is non derogatory but some perceived it as derogatory. For Khasis any non tribal is a dkhar and they address them by that term.[4][5]. According to former Director General of CAG India Govind Bhattacharjee, the term was coined by Khasi Students Union.[6] In real terms, the word mean the affluent, educated settler from West Bengal or the Hindu, Bengali-speaking "East Bengal" man who made Assam or Meghalaya his home 50 years or even 100 years ago.[3] The term is a Khasi word which means a foreigner.[7] It is sometimes abbreviated to Khar.

History

The 'Khasi-English Dictionary' published in 1906, lists Dkhar meaning non-Khasi.[8] The entry for its abbreviation 'khar, elaborates the non-Khasi aspect. Dkhar or 'khar could either refer to an inhabitant of the plains or a person from the Khasi clan having the same name.[9] Dkhar was originally meant to designate a clan among the Khasis to assimilate people of having partial Khasi ancestry, but differentiated from the indigenous Khasi clans.[10] However, in gradual usage the term came to represent non-Khasi people from the plains area surrounding the Khasi territory.[10] During the British period, Bengali Hindus from Kolkata, Dhaka and Sylhet settled in Shillong by acquiring government jobs and engaged in other white collar professions. They initially settled in Laban, then a small farming village and from then Laban became synonymous with dkhar.[11][12] The Bengali Hindu settlers were perceived as outsiders, foreigners to the Khasi Hills and were negatively referred to as Dkhars. The Bengali Hindu festival of Durga Puja is called Pomblang U Dkhar in the Khasi language, literally meaning the festival of the Dkhars.[13] After the Partition, many Bengali Hindus from East Bengal and Sylhet District, which was awarded to Pakistan, moved to Shillong. The Assam government settled the Bengali Hindu refugees in Umpling and other neighbourhoods of Shillong. During this period Nepalis, Biharis, Marwaris and Punjabis from various parts of Nepal and India settled in the present day territory of Meghalaya. The indigenous Khasi tribals began to consider the Dkhars responsible for their unemployment, poverty and the loss of 'tribal lands'. The growing resentment was usually directed on the Bengalis.[10]

Beh Dkhar

Bengali Hindu women and children in a refugee camp in Shillong in 1979

In 1979, as the anti-foreigner movement gained momentum in Assam, the ethnocentric Khasi organizations like the Khasi Students Union and the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council[14] raised the slogan of Beh Dkhar, literally meaning 'chase the Dkhars away',[15] directed against the non tribals migrants of the state. Martin Narayan Majaw, the mercurial leader of another ethnocentric Khasi group called Demands Implementation Committee stated clearly, "We don't like outsiders to stay here. We tell them, come here, appreciate the blue sky and the green hills, and then go away."[3]

The Beh Dkhar movement led to a communal violence against the non tribals migrants of the state in October, 1979 following the desecration of a Kali image by two Khasi boys in Laitumkhrah, Shillong. Following an order from the Laitumkhrah Dorbar, a traditional Khasi institution, the businesses belonging to non tribal migrants were shut down, those staying in rented houses were asked to leave the state and evacuate the buildings and tenants were issued quit notices by the Khasi owners and told them to go back to their own state. In the violence several people were injured from both the Khasi community and the non tribal migrants community some were killed in Shillong and elsewhere.

See also

• Bongal
• Mayang
• Malaun

References

1. Rammohan, E (2006). "Chapter 17: Indian Politics and the Scales of Justice". In Sen, Shankar (ed.). Reflections and Reminiscences of Police Officers. New Delhi: Concept. pp. 173–78. ISBN 8180692361. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
2. Bhattacharjee, Nabanipa (2010). "5". Communities cultures and identities a sociological study of the Sylheti community in contemporary India (PDF) (PhD). Shodhganga. p. 265. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
3. Mitra, Sumit (15 December 1979). "Unwanted millions". India Today. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
4. Mazumder, Jaideep (1 October 2007). "The Hills Are Alive". Outlook. Outlook Publishing. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
5. Dutta, Amrita (3 November 2013). "The Year We Left Home". The Indian Express. Express Group. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
6. Bhattacharjee, Govind (6 March 2020). "Tribal Vs Non-Tribal". The Statesman. Kolkata: The Statesman Ltd. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
7. Roy, Nilanjana (23 September 2002). "Outsider Perils". Outlook. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
8. Singh, U Nissor (1906). "Dkhar". In Gurdon, P.R.T.; Ropmay, U Dohori; Singh, U Hajom Kissor (eds.). Khasi-English Dictionary. Shillong: Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam. p. 65. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
9. Singh, U Nissor (1906). "'khar". In Gurdon, P.R.T.; Ropmay, U Dohori; Singh, U Hajom Kissor (eds.). Khasi-English Dictionary. Shillong: Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam. p. 27. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
10. Matta, Mara (2015). "The Khasi New Wave: Addressing Indigenous Issues from a Literary and Cinematic Perspective". Anglistica AION. Napoli: Università degli studi di Napoli "L’Orientale". 19 (1): 51–67. doi:10.19231/angl-aion.201515. ISSN 2035-8504.
11. Wahlang, R (12 September 2013). "Sorry Plight Of The Oldest Town In Shillong". The Shillong Times. Shillong. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
12. Hujon, Janet Moore (18 October 2017). "To Laban With Love". The Shillong Times. Shillong. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
13. Singh, U Nissor (1906). "Dkhar". In Gurdon, P.R.T.; Ropmay, U Dohori; Singh, U Hajom Kissor (eds.). Khasi-English Dictionary. Shillong: Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam. p. 162. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
14. Pariat, Janice (8 November 2013). "Inside/Outsiders". Motherland. New Delhi: Wieden+Kennedy. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
15. Lyngdoh, Margaret (28 March 2016). Transformation, Tradition, and Lived Realities: Vernacular Belief Worlds of the Khasis of Northeastern India (PhD). University of Tartu. OCLC 614785252. Retrieved 10 June 2018.