As millions across India thronged Durga Puja marquees on the
penultimate day of the festival Wednesday, so did the Jaintias,
an indigenous tribe of Meghalaya comprising Christians,
continuing a 400-year-old unique tradition. Worshipping Goddess
Durga with the same fervour and devotion but with a different
set of rituals, hundreds of Jaintias, both Christians and
believers of an indigenous faith, thronged the ancient temple at
Nartiang, about 65 km east of Shillong. The Pnar people, as
Jaintias are known, were also joined by tourists. The tradition
goes back over 400 years. Perched on a hill top, overlooking the
Myntang stream, the Durga Bari at Nartiang in the Jaintia Hills
district was built by the Jaintia kings in the 16th-17th
centuries. "Twenty-two generations of Jaintia kings worshipped
Durga and Jayanteswari, the ancestral deity of the Jaintia
kings," said the young temple priest, Molay Desmukh. Desmukh,
20, took charge of the Durga temple five years ago after the
demise of his father Gopendra Desmukh.