Delinker at 13:57, 31 July 2023

2023-07-31T13:57:46Z

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{{short description|Term}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2019}}
'''Dkhar''', <ref name="rammohan">{{cite book|last=Rammohan|first=E|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YwZs02kZSxAC|title=Reflections and Reminiscences of Police Officers|publisher=Concept|year=2006|isbn=8180692361|editor-last=Sen|editor-first=Shankar|location=New Delhi|pages=173–78|chapter=Chapter 17: Indian Politics and the Scales of Justice|access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="nabanipa">{{cite thesis |last=Bhattacharjee |first=Nabanipa |date=2010 |title=Communities cultures and identities a sociological study of the Sylheti community in contemporary India |type=PhD |chapter=5 |publisher=Shodhganga |chapter-url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/18565/9/09_chapter%205.pdf |page=265 |access-date=6 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="it15121979">{{cite news|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/assam-meghalaya-in-the-throes-of-widespread-communal-trouble/1/427575.html|title=Unwanted millions|last=Mitra|first=Sumit|date=15 December 1979|work=India Today|access-date=31 August 2015}}</ref> is a term used by the [[Khasi people|Khasis]] to refer to non-Khasi people in [[Meghalaya]].<ref name="dict-def"/> It is non derogatory but some perceived it as derogatory. For Khasis any non-tribal is a ''dkhar'' and they address them by that term.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/the-hills-are-alive/235660|title=The Hills Are Alive|last=Mazumder|first=Jaideep|date=1 October 2007|work=Outlook|publisher=Outlook Publishing|access-date=26 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/the-year-we-left-home/|title=The Year We Left Home|last=Dutta|first=Amrita|date=3 November 2013|work=The Indian Express|publisher=Express Group|access-date=5 June 2018}}</ref> In real, the term is mostly used against affluent Bengali Hindu settlers from West Bengal or the Bengali Hindu refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan<ref name="outlook23092002">{{cite news|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Outsider-Perils/217283|title=Outsider Perils|last=Roy|first=Nilanjana|date=23 September 2002|work=Outlook|access-date=5 September 2014}}</ref> It is sometimes abbreviated to ''′Khar'' and may also denote a Khasi clan with the same name.<ref name="khar"/>

== History ==
The 'Khasi-English Dictionary' published in 1906, lists ''Dkhar'' meaning non-[[Khasi people|Khasi]].<ref name="dict-def">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Singh|first=U Nissor|editor-last1=Gurdon|editor-first1=P.R.T.|editor-last2=Ropmay|editor-first2=U Dohori|editor-last3=Singh|editor-first3=U Hajom Kissor|encyclopedia=Khasi-English Dictionary|title=Dkhar|url=https://archive.org/stream/khasienglishdict00singrich#page/64/mode/2up/search/dkhar|access-date=10 June 2018|year=1906|publisher=Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam|location=Shillong|language=en|page=65}}</ref> The entry for its abbreviation ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>khar'', elaborates the non-[[Khasi people|Khasi]] aspect. ''Dkhar'' or ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>khar'' could either refer to an inhabitant of the plains or a person from the [[Khasi people|Khasi]] clan having the same name.<ref name="khar">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Singh|first=U Nissor|editor-last1=Gurdon|editor-first1=P.R.T.|editor-last2=Ropmay|editor-first2=U Dohori|editor-last3=Singh|editor-first3=U Hajom Kissor|encyclopedia=Khasi-English Dictionary|title='khar|url=https://archive.org/stream/khasienglishdict00singrich#page/26/mode/2up/search/dkhar|access-date=10 June 2018|year=1906|publisher=Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam|location=Shillong|language=en|page=27}}</ref> ''Dkhar'' was originally meant to designate a clan among the Khasis to assimilate people of having partial Khasi ancestry, but differentiated from the indigenous Khasi clans.<ref name="matta2015">{{cite journal|last=Matta|first=Mara|year=2015|title=The Khasi New Wave: Addressing Indigenous Issues from a Literary and Cinematic Perspective|journal=Anglistica AION|publisher=Università degli studi di Napoli "L’Orientale"|location=Napoli|volume=19|issue=1|pages=51–67|issn=2035-8504|doi=10.19231/angl-aion.201515|url=https://www.anglistica-aion-unior.org/copia-di-18-2-1}}</ref> However, in gradual usage the term came to represent non-Khasi people from the plains area surrounding the Khasi territory.<ref name="matta2015"/> During the British period, Bengalis of all religions, mainly Hindu from [[Kolkata]], [[Dhaka]] and [[Sylhet]] settled in [[Shillong]] by acquiring government jobs and engaged in other white collar professions. They initially settled in Laban, then a small farming village and from then Laban became synonymous with dkhar.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2013/09/12/sorry-plight-of-the-oldest-town-in-shillong/|title=Sorry Plight Of The Oldest Town In Shillong|last=Wahlang|first=R|date=12 September 2013|work=The Shillong Times|access-date=19 October 2018|location=Shillong}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2017/10/18/to-laban-with-love/|title=To Laban With Love|last=Hujon|first=Janet Moore|date=18 October 2017|work=The Shillong Times|access-date=19 October 2018|location=Shillong}}</ref> The Bengali Hindu settlers were perceived as outsiders, foreigners to the Khasi Hills and were negatively referred to as Dkhars. The Bengali Hindu festival of [[Durga Puja]] is called ''Pomblang U Dkhar'' in the [[Khasi language]], literally meaning the festival of the Dkhars.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Singh|first=U Nissor|editor-last1=Gurdon|editor-first1=P.R.T.|editor-last2=Ropmay|editor-first2=U Dohori|editor-last3=Singh|editor-first3=U Hajom Kissor|encyclopedia=Khasi-English Dictionary|title=Dkhar|url=https://archive.org/stream/khasienglishdict00singrich#page/162/mode/2up/search/dkhar|access-date=10 June 2018|year=1906|publisher=Government of Eastern Bengal and Assam|location=Shillong|language=en|page=162}}</ref> After the [[Partition of India|Partition]], many [[Bengali Hindus]] from [[East Bengal]] and Sylhet District, which was [[1947 Sylhet referendum|awarded to Pakistan]], moved to [[Shillong]]. The Assam government settled the [[Bengali Hindu refugees]] in Them Rynjah (R.R Colony) and other neighbourhoods of [[Shillong]]. During this period Nepalis, Biharis, Marwaris and Punjabis from various parts of Nepal and India settled in the present day territory of [[Meghalaya]]. The indigenous Khasi tribals began to consider the Dkhars responsible for their unemployment, poverty and the loss of 'tribal lands'. The growing resentment was usually directed on the [[Bengali Hindus|Bengalis]].<ref name="matta2015"/>

== Beh Dkhar ==

In 1979, as the anti-foreigner movement gained momentum in Assam, the ethnocentric Khasi organizations like the Khasi Students Union and the [[Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council]]<ref name="pariat2013">{{cite web|url=http://www.motherlandmagazine.com/insideoutsiders/|title=Inside/Outsiders|last=Pariat|first=Janice|date=8 November 2013|work=Motherland|publisher=Wieden+Kennedy|access-date=10 June 2018|location=New Delhi}}</ref> raised the slogan of ''Beh Dkhar'', literally meaning 'chase the Dkhars away',<ref name="lyngdoh2016">{{cite thesis |last=Lyngdoh |first=Margaret |date=28 March 2016 |title=Transformation, Tradition, and Lived Realities: Vernacular Belief Worlds of the Khasis of Northeastern India |type=PhD |publisher=University of Tartu |oclc=614785252 |url=https://dspace.ut.ee/handle/10062/51059 |access-date=10 June 2018}}</ref> directed against the non tribals migrants of the state. Martin Narayan Majaw, the mercurial leader of another ethnocentric Khasi group called Demands Implementation Committee stated clearly, "We don't like outsiders to stay here. We tell them, come here, appreciate the blue sky and the green hills, and then go away."<ref name="it15121979"/>

== See also ==
* [[Bongal]]
* [[Mayang (term)|Mayang]]
* [[Malaun]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{ethnic slurs}}

[[Category:Persecution of Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:Meghalaya]]
[[Category:Ethnic and religious slurs]]
[[Category:Racism in India]]
[[Category:Shillong]]

Dkhar - Revision history

Delinker at 13:57, 31 July 2023