IMBIBING TRADITIONAL VALUES FOR PEACE IN THE CONTEMPORARY KHASI SOCIETY….

Book excerpt: There are several traditional values for peace in the Khasi Contemporary society similar to what Bareh has discussed in his book The History and Culture of the Khasi People. These traditional values include knowing God knowing man, earning righteousness, knowing maternal and paternal kinship. In addition to that, politeness count, living a simple life, justice, truth, respect, discipline, hard work, and sanctity of marriage, forgiveness, cooperation, community spirit, hospitality, honesty and the spirit of compromise. These traditional values for peace were found to be practiced among Khasi community in the realm of social, economic, political, religious, and ecological aspect. The Khasi traditional values are still relevant in the so-called modern Society. Therefore, there is a need to imbibe those values in order to contribute to peace in the society. Imbibing the traditional values in the present context is very much needed because as we see in today’s world there are a lot of discriminations, corruption, injustice and lack of respect to one another which is domineering the world. This is a cry of every human being and cosmos that, peace is the need of the hour. Individuals, scholars, various groups, institution and so on, have initiated the thought that the concept of peace is not extinct and should not be push to the periphery but it should be used to overcome this 21st century culture and lifestyle.