Megaliths, types, and its living traditions among the Jaintias of Northeastern India

Abstract

The Jaintias of India are a group of people who are even today known to use megaliths in their regular and ceremonial lives. One of the oldest villages with such traditions is a village named Nangbah in Jaintia Hills District in the state of Meghalaya. The present paper is an outcome of a study done on the megalithic remains in Nangbah village and its associated cultural practices in December- January 2010. Interestingly the megaliths number over five hundred, and can be classified into different types based on morphology and function. More interesting is the cultural meanings involved therein. These structures are not only an indication of living practices such as veneration of the dead, and abode of the village gods and goddesses, but also reiterates the social structure of their society- that of matriliny.