Shillong, Aug 25: As part of the commemoration of the 50 years of Meghalaya’s statehood, the Department of Khasi of Shillong College, Shillong on Thursday released a book titled “The Khasi States – A brief Historical Timeline 1771-2017” which has been co-authored by John F Kharshiing alongside Dr. Bodhi S Ranee.

In 2019, John F Kharshiing had released another book on the indigenous Khasi institutions titled – “The Federation of Khasi States: History, Epistemology and Politics”.

Shillong College’s Principal, E. Kharkongor, stated that the book is very precious. “It documents events from 1771. It illustrates history of the society,” he said while encouraging all the students to take interest in the released book to learn and educate themselves more about the Khasi Society.

The Khasi States: A Brief Historical Timeline- 1771-2017 is a book that marks out dates, years and events of the Khasi state from the mentioned years. The main aim of presenting the book in such a manner is to provide an easy read for political and thoughtful leaders of the Hynniewtrep (Khasi) Society and also to act as an informative archival text for academicians engaging in the said subject domain.

Kharshiing, in his speech, said, “This book is just narrating facts with documentary evidence we had. Since the publication of the earlier book, we’ve received very important feedbacks, some historical, some critical and some praiseworthy and some downright rejection.”

Nevertheless the book is to maintain documentation for future reference and information of the coming generation, he added.