At first this may seem like a small issue of terminology. But words matter. The way we describe communities influences how their history and identity are understood.
For a long time, I believed that the Pnar were simply a branch of the Khasi tribe. This assumption seemed natural because administrative and political language often groups communities together under the term "Khasi-Jaintia." However, when I started reading more carefully about the history, language, and culture of the region, I realised that this common belief hides a much deeper and more complex story.
The Jaintia people are a distinct tribal community with their own history, social institutions, political traditions, and cultural practices. Within the Jaintia community there are several internal groups. One of the most prominent among them is the Pnar, who form an important cultural and linguistic subgroup of the Jaintia people. Understanding this distinction is important because it explains why many within the Jaintia community do not see themselves as a sub-tribe of the Khasi.
Like the Khasi and some other related communities living on the Meghalaya plateau, the Jaintia people belong to the Austroasiatic linguistic family. Scholars believe that this language family has its roots in mainland Southeast Asia. Linguistic and genetic studies suggest that the ancestors of Khasi and Pnar speaking peoples gradually migrated from regions around present-day Cambodia and Myanmar into the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent many centuries ago.
This movement did not happen all at once. It was a slow migration that took place over many generations. Early communities first settled around the fertile areas of the Brahmaputra Valley and nearby foothills. Over time, some groups slowly moved further into the upland plateau that today forms the state of Meghalaya.
As these communities spread across the hills, they began to settle in different areas. Some groups occupied the western plateau, while others moved toward the eastern highlands that today form the Jaintia Hills region. Over time, these eastern settlements developed their own social structures and political organisation.
Across several centuries, networks of villages and communities in this region gradually evolved into a more organised political system that later became known as the Jaintia Kingdom. Historical records and regional traditions suggest that this kingdom connected the hill areas with parts of the surrounding plains, including regions in present-day Assam and Sylhet.Important centres such as Nartiang and Jowai became major political and cultural centres of this kingdom. These places were not only centres of governance but also hubs where trade, religious life, and social activities flourished.
Within this wider Jaintia society, the Pnar community emerged as one of the major groups living in the upland valleys of the region. Over time, Pnar settlements spread across areas that today include Laskein, Amlarem, and Saipung. These communities also maintained connections with neighbouring regions through trade routes that linked the hills with the plains.
Historical records also show that the Jaintia Kingdom played a role in the wider politics of the region. References to Jaintia rulers can be found in the Ahom chronicles, which recorded political developments in the Brahmaputra Valley. Ahom chronicles and oral regional histories record Pnar kingdoms long before colonial classifications, located across the Assam plains between the Kupili and Kalang rivers and extending into Sylhet and Jaintiapur with organised administration, permanent settlements, and trade routes linking Tibet, Bengal and the Brahmaputra valley. When political conflicts and invasions reshaped the region between the 13th-15th centuries, Pnar rulers and clans gradually moved into eastern Meghalaya, establishing centres around Sutnga and Jowai. Early historical records also indicate the presence of the Jaintia kingdom in regional political affairs. According to Hiram Ring in A Grammar of Pnar, the Ahom Buranji chronicles mention the Jaintia kingdom in the context of mutual assistance in repelling Mughal invasions during the seventeenth century. The emergence of this polity shows that the Pnar were not simply an offshoot of another group, but a community that had already established its own homeland, institutions, and historical trajectory in the eastern hills of Meghalaya.
According to linguistic scholar Anne Daladier and other researchers who study the languages of the region, Khasi and Pnar belong to a related language group but developed separately as communities settled in different geographical areas. In fact, Daladier's work argues that Pnar might have been the "central language" of the group, with Khasi branching off.
Language itself offers an important clue to understanding the identity of the Pnar and the wider Jaintia community. The Pnar language belongs to the Austroasiatic or Mon-Khmer language family. Although it shares some similarities with Khasi and other regional languages such as War and Lyngngam, it is still clearly distinct. In fact, Khasi speakers usually cannot fully understand Pnar without learning the language.
This difference in language reflects the historical fact that these communities developed in separate directions over time, even though they share older cultural roots.
Cultural traditions also show these differences. The Pnar community preserves its own oral traditions, rituals, and festivals, which form an important part of Jaintia cultural life. One well-known example is the festival Behdeinkhlam, which reflects the spiritual beliefs and historical memory of the Pnar people.
Communities across the Meghalaya plateau have long preserved their own traditions, stories, and practices. While some themes may appear similar across different groups, each community has developed its own ways of interpreting these traditions. These differences in belief systems and rituals highlight the unique cultural development of the Jaintia people within the wider cultural landscape of the hills.
For this reason, many within the Jaintia community prefer not to describe their people as a sub-tribe of the Khasi. The Khasi and Jaintia peoples certainly share historical connections and may have distant common ancestry. However, historical records, linguistic evidence, and political traditions all show that the Jaintia people developed as a distinct tribal community.
Within this broader Jaintia community, the Pnar represent one important cultural group among several others that together form the wider Jaintia identity.Recognising this distinction is not about creating division or rivalry. Rather, it is about recognising historical accuracy. When communities are described carefully and respectfully, it allows each group to preserve its own history while still acknowledging shared heritage.
The history of the Meghalaya plateau is rich precisely because it contains many cultures that are connected yet distinct from one another. Understanding this diversity helps us appreciate the past of the region more clearly. History should help us understand identities more clearly, not reduce them into simplified labels. The Jaintia people are not simply an extension of another tribe. They are a community with their own history, institutions, and cultural identity.Recognising this fact does not weaken the shared heritage of the region. Instead, it strengthens our understanding of the many different threads that together shape the history of the hills.
At a time when public discussions increasingly use the term "Khasi-Jaintia," it is important to remember that administrative convenience should not blur historical realities. Recognising the Jaintia as a distinct tribe, with communities such as the Pnar within it, is therefore not merely a matter of terminology, it is a matter of respecting history and identity.
(The writer is currently pursuing M.A. in Sociology at Savitribai Phule Pune University.)