By KK Muktan, MCS (Retd.)
The Gorkhas are the first non-local immigrants to come and settle down in Meghalaya. They came together with the British as their soldiers. The origin of the Gorkhas settlement in Khasi and Jaintia Hills can be traced in the establishment of the Sylhet Light Infantry headquarters at Cherrapunjee in 1832. This infantry was shifted to Shillong in 1864 and stationed there permanently where it was converted into 8th Gorkha Rifles in 1907. Since then, retired Gorkha soldiers settled permanently in Shillong. The British Government encouraged the Gorkhas to settle down in Assam after their retirement. They were provided with jobs of office peons, chowkidars, chaprasis etc., as they were found to be loyal, faithful and hard-working.
From the available evidence, we know that the government acquired a plot of land situated in the northern periphery of the army cantonment, north of the river Umshyrpi from the Syiem of Mylliem and established a ‘Gorkha Regimental Home’ for providing permanent accommodation to the retired Gorkha soldiers and their families. Thus, the Gorkha Regimental Home, popularly known as ‘Gorkha Village’ at Shillong, was established in 1891, which accommodated two battalions of the 8th Gorkha Rifles. Within a short period of time, the Gorkha village grew into a thickly populated village named ‘Jhalupara’ where the inhabitants were mostly the descendants of the retired Gorkha soldiers. The government also granted lands to Gorkha ex-servicemen who had brought their families with them at a very moderate rate of eight Annas per Pura annually. As the Nepali population increased, they spread out from Jhalupara to Barapathar and then to Upper Mawprem. The population extended further to Naspatighari in the north-west and farther towards the present Lower Mawprem area where a retired Captain Gambhir Singh Lama Sardar Bahadur, O.B.I had his sprawling ‘Lama Villa’ estate. Later on the Nepali population spread around the peripheries of Shillong like Lawsohtun, Laimail, Lanchanbasti, etc.
In the same way, the Gorkha community settled down in Garo Hills before any other non-Garo community. The British annexed Garo Hills in 1879 and set up a civil administrative unit at Tura where a small force of Frontier Police composed of 300 men raised chiefly from Gorkhas was stationed. The Frontier Police, later on, became the Garo Hills Military Police. The Government provided the retired Gorkhas with land and jobs to settle down there permanently. Gradually the Gorkha population grew up centering around Tura Police Headquarters, and by the year 1901, the population of Gorkhas in Garo Hills rose to 753.
The Nepalis lived peacefully in close and cordial relationships with the local people. They learnt the Khasi language, adopted their customs and traditions, and even mixed their blood in matrimonial alliances. The Khasis also found the newcomer similar to themselves in many ways, in their style of living, thinking and eating; and importantly, they did not compete in their economic pursuits. “Often it is difficult to gauge whether a person is a Nepali or not because there is no obvious distinction from the Khasis and Jaintias in dress and speaking” – said Amena Nora Passah, Professor of History Department, NEHU[i]. The Nepalis living in North East India are yet the most cosmopolitan-minded, accommodating and open to other cultures and languages. Wherever they settled down, be it hills or plains, they adjusted themselves with the lifestyle of the local tribe or community, adopted their language, dresses and culture and shared with their problems and prospects. Perhaps, it would not be exaggerated to say that, in the present context, the Nepalis in India are the only community who adopts other cultures without a whimper and, at the same time, keeps their own too. AC Sinha, noted social scientist, remarked – “The Nepalis have a great capacity to assimilate themselves with the hill communities. They adopt the language of their neighbourhood, contract marital alliances and turn out to be an inseparable part of the local economy”.[ii]
Living side by side with the Christian Khasi community, the Nepalis too were allured to Christianity and many of them left their religion and became Christians. The missionary’s interest turned towards the Nepalis and they successfully converted them into Christianity. The first Nepali who got converted to Christianity was one Lal Dev of Shillong. He was converted to Christianity by Welsh Calvinistic missionaries and he attended Mawkhar Presbyterian Church regularly. Another Nepali, Goman Singh of the Gorkha Rifles, was a staunch believer in Jesus who used to preach Christianity, among other Nepalis standing at the road junction. During the 1930s, Ellen Hughes took a special interest in working among the Nepalis of Shillong. She opened a small Nepali school in her compound at Laitumkhrah, which later on she shifted to Mawprem in 1937. Jang Bahadur Lama, a retired soldier and a dedicated Christian worker, met Ellen Hughes in 1935 and helped her in the work of evangelization as a Bible man. It was with his sustained efforts that in 1935, the first Nepali Church was established at Mawprem as a branch of the Mawkhar Presbyterian Church[iii]. Nar Bahadur Chhetri, a truly dedicated Christian worker, passed out the degree of Bachelor of Divinity on his own initiative and became a Nepali Pastor.
Rev Thomas Pradhan and his wife Radha Pradhan came from Darjeeling, to spread Gospel among the Nepalis in Khasi and Jaintia Hills. He opened up a Nepali wing of Presbyterian Church at Nongpoh with the help of a Christian family of Rais, who came from Kalimpong and settled at Nongpoh. Making Nongpoh his headquarters, Rev Pradhan covered from Upper Shillong down to Ri-Bhoi area, which he brought under Nongpoh Nepali Ministry. In 1947, a new Nepali church by the name Nepali Christian Fellowship (NCF) was established at Laitumkhrah under the management of Beth Allinger and Elaine Crane from UK. The church grew up under Rev KB Thapa and by 1980, there were about 90 Christian families. After the death of Rev Thapa his son Prabhat Thapa, was ordained as a pastor in 1997. At present the church is running smoothly with a total of 150 members with the Women wing under the leadership of Purabi Shrestha. Thus, Christianity helped the two communities to come even closer to each other.
Today, the Nepali community has formed an integral part of the population of Meghalaya state. As permanent citizens, they love Meghalaya as their motherland and want to live in close co-operation and brotherhood with all towards the building up of a new prosperous state. They are now socially, politically and economically better organized. They are educationally much advanced and have gradually shifted their occupation from cattle rearing to service, academics, trade and other business. The dairy farming occupation which they carried out as a monopoly is now taken over by others. They have a rich and diverse culture and a language (Nepali) which has found a place in the 8th Schedule of the constitution of India. They like to identify themselves as Indian Gorkhas in exclusion of the Nepali nationals from Nepal.
The Nepali community greatly contributed to the development of Meghalaya in many ways. The hard-working Nepali farmers, grazers and coal mine workers contributed to the economic development of Meghalaya. They introduced, for the first time, the culture of cattle rearing and dairy farming in Meghalaya. The Nepali herdsmen, mostly Brahmin and Chhetri initially kept their cattle Bathans (Goths) in the open green hills and valleys (kirting) of Shillong town. It is recorded in the Assam District Gazetteers, 1901 (Khasi-Jaintia Hills) Chapter III, page 81 – “Buffaloes are kept in the neighbourhood of Shillong by Nepalese herdsmen”. Laitumkhrah, Mawlai, and Nongthymmai areas of Shillong were all dense forests where Nepali grazers had kept their cattle bathans since before 1878. A few Khasi villages existed in these areas, but stood far between and intervened by patches of pastures for the cattle sheds. The Nepalis, later on, spread up their cattle sheds in the interior areas of Mairang, Nongstoin, Mawsynram etc., in the south and Barapani, Nayabangla (Umsning), Bhoilombong etc., in the north. The far-flung regions from Barapani (present Umiam lake) down to Nongpoh on both sides of the Shillong-Guwahati Road and the interior forest areas of Mylliem and Khyriem Syiemships were occupied by Nepali grazers. Clusters of cattle bathans and Nepali villages grew up in Nayabangla, Gunte, Nongri, Mawhati, Umran, Umroi and Bhoiryngbong. For their mutual benefit, the Nepali grazers formed Primary Milk producers’ Co-operative Societies, with as many as nine Grazers Primary Co-operative Societies in the whole of Bhoi areas. These nine Co-operative Societies again combined together and formed one Bhoi-Area Co-operative Union, which supplied milk and milk products to the whole city of Shillong, hospitals and individual consumers. The Khasi traditional heads like Syiems, Sirdars and Lyngdohs welcomed the Nepalis for setting up cattle sheds (Bathans) as they earned revenue for them by way of cattle taxes. In Garo Hills, the Nepali grazers set up their cattle Bathans in far-flung areas like Rongram, Asanangiri, Mendipathar, Rongjeng, Baghmara, Dalu, Sibbari, Kherepara, etc.
The Nepalis established a number of schools and colleges for the development of education in and around Shillong, such as Bhanu-Buddha-Saraswati (BBS) college at Mawprem, including Higher Secondary schools at Upper Shillong, Mawprem and Nongthymmai. These institutions are providing educational facilities to both Nepali and non-Nepali students. Besides these, there are many schools in different parts of Meghalaya like – Nayabangla Gorkha Pathsala, Nongpoh Nepali ME School, Gorkha Pathsala Upper Shillong, Gorkha LP School Umran, Tursha Upper Primary school, Gorkha LP School Pam-phlang, Gorkha Upper Primary school, Byrnihat and Surjyodai Upper Primary and Secondary school at Eleventh Mail, Mawsmai Basti, Jorabat. The traditional village authorities, Syiems and Sirdars were very kind and co-operative with the Nepalis in giving lands for schools free of cost, including financial assistance.
Defending the country’s integrity and sovereignty has been the prime responsibility of the Gorkha soldiers, which they have faithfully discharged at the cost of their lives. During the Chinese aggression in 1962, the Gorkha soldiers fought with grit and valour to defend India’s borders and made supreme sacrifices of life and blood. India’s first Field Marshall, Sam Manekshaw, said – “If anyone says that he is not afraid of death, then he must be a liar or a Gorkha”.
The Gorkhas also contributed immensely to the maintenance of internal peace and security of Northeast India, which is in constant disturbance and turmoil by armed insurgencies. Both in the regular army as well as para-military forces (Assam Rifles), the Gorkhas played a pivotal role in the task of keeping peace and order in the country.
[i] . Dr. Amena Nora Passah, Nepali Christians in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, in The Nepalis in the N.E. Edt. A.C.Sinha/T.B.Subba, 2003, p 278.
[ii] . A,C.Sinha, 1990, The Indian North East Frontier and Nepali Immigrants in Himalayan Environment and Culture, Edt.by N.K.Rustomji and Charles Ramble, New Delhi, pp 236.
[iii] . Amena Nora Passah, Nepali Christians in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, in The Nepalis in the North East India, edt. AC.Sinha/T.B.Subba, 2003, p 282.