Khasi Family Case Study

There seemed to be a general opinion among the Khasis that the traditional matrilineal clan system with avunculate leadership as the core of customs and tradition in the Khasi society had undergone drastic changes today. According to A. Mawlong (1998: 82-92), Christian teaching about the sanctity of marriage and conjugal life has indirectly resulted in greater importance given to nuclear families consisting of husband, wife and children. Mawlong was of the view that with conversion to Christianity, the institution of Ka Khadduh which was closely connected to the Khasi religion had lost its true meaning, and the cohesion of the clan which primarily centred on the land had naturally disintegrated, and hence, the influence of kinship ties had diminished to a large extent diminished. J. War (1998: 28-29) was of the view that the influx of patriarchal societies and emergence of inter-religious marriages have greatly weakened the Khasi concept of family. …show more content…
Sylvanus Sngi Lyngdoh, a renowned thinker among the Khasis is of the view that the original Khasis’ original matrilineal system does not exist anymore, except in some cases in the Jaintia Hills. He opined that the Khasi family system is at the moment in a period of transition from the traditional family system of a mother, children and maternal uncles, to that of a nuclear family of father, mother and children, while at present there is no centre of real authority and economy in the Khasis’ home, and many Khasi women are passing through terrible trauma of divorce in their life because of the breakdown of the original matrilineal system. He also opined that since the maternal uncle is no more in his sister’s home, hence if the father does not bother about the economic well-being of his children, the mother and her children are oftener than not, half-fed and half clad. Hence, he went to the extent of saying that the Khasis’ matrilineal system began to give way to a change for the worse (Lyngdoh, 1998: