M arak, Q. 2017. ‘ People, Societies and Cultures in M eghalaya: A revi ew of anthropological researches from the beginning to recent times’ . I n K . Jose and B. Das (Eds.), Soci al Sci ence Resear ches i n Nor th East I ndi a. Guwahati: DVS, 288-312. People, Societies, and Cultures in Meghalaya: A review of Anthropological researches from the beginning to recent times Queenbala Marak INTRODUCTION Once a part of undivided Assam, Meghalaya emerged as a full-fledged State within the Union of India on 21 st January 1972. The State has an area of 22429 sq. km. and is located between 24°57’ and 26°10’ North latitudes and 89°46’ and 92°53’ East longitudes. Predominantly a hilly terrain, it is bounded by the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in the North and Northwest, Cachar area of Assam in the East, the Surma valley (Bangladesh) in the South and partly in the Southwest. Meghalaya has about 443 kms of international border with Bangladesh. The capital of Meghalaya, Shillong was also undivided Assam’s capital from 1874 till January 1972. The state presently has eleven districts – West Jaintia Hills, East Jaintia Hills, East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, Southwest Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi, North Garo Hills, East Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, West Garo Hills and Southwest Garo Hills. The population of Meghalaya is predominantly tribal, the main tribes being the Khasi, Jaintia and Garo, besides other numerically smaller tribes like Koch, Rabha and Bodo. The Khasi and Jaintia inhabit the Districts towards the eastern part of Meghalaya, while the Garo inhabit the western part. The former belong to the Proto-Austroloid Monkhmer speakers, while the Garos belong to the Bodo family of the Tibeto-Burman group. Of great anthropological interest is the social system of the three major tribes – the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia – who follow a matrilineal system. Socio-cultural anthropology began in the Northeastern region of the country with the process of writing descriptive accounts of peoples, societies and cultures. In India, anthropological studies were first initiated and patronised by the Asiatic Society of Bengal since its inception in 1774. Some administrator-scholars contributed greatly to the body of anthropological knowledge by reporting on the tribes and castes of the country. These administrator-scholars who wrote ethnographic accounts on the people of India during the colonial period however had no formal training in anthropology. In Northeast India, anthropology assumed the status of a formal discipline when the Department of Anthropology was established at Gauhati University in 1948. In 1981, the Department of Cultural Anthropology was established at North-Eastern Hill University in its Shillong campus. This department was renamed as the Department of Anthropology in 1983. Alongside the establishment of anthropology departments, some research organizations were also set up, especially, for anthropological studies in the region. In 1956, a research department