Advent of Christianity
Significant developments in political situation motivated the initiation of Christian mission works in the Khasi hills. After the Treaty of Yandaboo post the Anglo-Burmese War 1824 and the subjugation of the Khasi Uprising in 1829-39, most of the Khasi States (Hima) came under the control of the British.
The changes in the political scenario gave an easy access to the western missionaries beginning with the Serampore Baptist Mission in 1813.3 However, the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission, later called the Welsh Presbyterian Foreign Mission, was the first to start a firm base for Christianity in the Khasi hills from 1841 onwards. During this time, the Khasi did not realise that this new development would be one of the agents with rapid acceleration towards socio-religious and cultural change. Although resistance to colonialism was expressed through the eruption of the Khasi Uprising of 1829 and the Jaintia rebellion in 1860, the transition that took place enabled the Christian missions to proceed without much difficulty. For the Christian mission enterprises, the Khasi Hills as any other part of Northeast India was a virgin field that was necessary for expansion of Christianity while for the British colonial power, the new region served as a lucrative area for economic ventures. Acceptance of Christianity initially by the Khasi was not in response to its doctrinal philosophy, but to attraction of temporal provisions made available by the missionaries. On this development, Snaitang writes:At the initial stage, the growth and development of Christianity in the Khasi Hills was a slow progress. It was only towards the end of the nineteenth century that it gained a significant foothold among all sections of the tribe. Schools, churches, and medical service were established and the tribal response to change was positive.
(Snaitang 1993:121)
The difference in approaches, ideas and objectives, and doctrines and philosophy between the different missions/denominations is clearly seen from the fact that the mission fields were strategically divided.
For instance, in the same period when Thomas Jones of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Foreign Missionary Society established Christianity in the Khasi Hills, Nathan Brown of the American Baptist Mission was trying to do the same at Sadiya, Jaipur and Sivasagar in Assam. Subsequently, other Christian Missions followed suit.4 It can be argued that the emergence of a number of new denominations or Christian movements seems more like an ideological and theological anxiety rather than a sociocultural influence.13.2.1 Reactions and Responses to Christianity
In the initial stage, opposition to Christianity had slowed down its expansion. The sudden emergence of a foreign religion was seen as a tool of intrusion into the traditional culture since many young people who began to follow the missionaries refused to join their family religious rituals (N Natarajan 1977:64-65 and 116-117). It became obvious that this ultimately led to the barring of girls from attending schools. We may point out that this opposition was not confined to common people only; even converts belonging to ruling clans were also targeted (Downs 1992:73). However, this was not only due to the attitude of the people towards the entry of new religious practices, but the church also played a key role. It may be noted that strict rules and regulations were applied to converts who desired to become members in the Welsh Presbyterian Church. In this case, it was decided that a person would not be accepted as member of the Church if one could not read, one who did not renounce traditional practices, and one who did not abstain from all kinds of intoxicants (Morris 1939:192-211). Seeing the reaction of the Khasi towards Christianity, the early missionaries adopted a common strategy in which preaching was considered secondary and learning of the language of the local became primary objective. They could have used an educated translator; however they tediously embarked themselves on this difficult task.
Soon they were able to speak and preach in the local language. In addition to this effort, the most remarkable achievement of Thomas Jones in particular was introduction of the Khasi script by adopting Roman alphabets and letters. It was until the introduction of formal education in the 1840s that the male and female students who attended missionary owned schools were able to read and write. Although the main objective of the missionaries might be to enable the young Khasi students to read the Bible; however, with the learning of other subjects, western education and its ideals gradually passed into the pupils; and finally, the gradual acceptance of Christianity was easier among them. The introduction of the script to the Khasi language and the start of Western Education revolutionised the whole thinking process and enabled the Khasi not only to develop their literature, but they were also able to explore Western literature and ideas too. Soon, the causes of prohibition against girls to attend schools proved baseless and subsequently led to increase in female education (GoM 1996:182). This was the turning point in Khasi society followed by various aspects of modernisation. The decision to use Roman script instead of Bengali script was done without any hesitation. It set the Khasi language and culture at a different social status, away from the influence of the Bengali in the plains, and moreover, enabled the Khasi intelligentsia to learn English at a rapid pace. The decision has given the Khasi the art of writing without which it would have been difficult for the Christian mission to go on and progress, and for the Khasi to come up with a new method of preserving their custom and tradition in black and white. It is also interesting to note how the language of Christianity from Latin culture to Spanish or English have taken roots in Khasi society by adaptation; and more importantly the barrier between the literate world and the society which possessed no scripts of its own was finally broken or collapsed. The background was set for Christianity to make an expansion into the Khasi Hills in which denominations worked their way from urban areas into the rural by gaining followers who then made up about sixty five per cent of the population. The role played by early missionaries along with the first converts among the Khasi is vital in this regard.13.3