Khāsi

Khāsi, people of the Khāsi and Jaintia hills of the state of Meghālaya in India. The Khāsi have a distinctive culture. Both inheritance of property and succession to tribal office run through the female line, passing from the mother to the youngest daughter. Office and the management of property, however, are in the hands of men identified by these women and not in the hands of women themselves. This system has been modified by the conversion of many Khāsi to Christianity, by the consequent conflict of ritual obligations under the tribal religion and the demands of the new religion, and by the right of the people to make wills in respect of self-acquired property.

The Khāsi speak a Mon-Khmer language of the Austroasiatic stock. They are divided into several clans. Wet rice (paddy) provides the main subsistence; it is cultivated in the valley bottoms and in terrace gardens built on the hillsides. Many of the farmers still cultivate only by the slash-and-burn method, in which secondary jungle is burnt over and a crop raised for one or two years in the ash.

Under the system of administration set up in the district in the 1950s, the Khāsi’s elected councils enjoy a measure of political autonomy under the guidance of a deputy commissioner. In addition, seats in the state assembly and in the national parliament are reserved for representatives of the tribal people.