KHASI HILLS

physical region, central Meghalaya state, northeastern India. The area consists mostly of hilly regions and includes the Shillong plateau; it is drained by tributaries of the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers. The Cherrapunji scarp in the south has one of the highest average annual rainfalls in the world. The Khasi Hills region is sometimes called the Scotland of the East because of its scenic beauty. The vast majority of the population outside of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, are engaged in agriculture, with wet rice, the largest crop, being cultivated in the valleys and on hillside terraces. Other farmers in the region practice shifting cultivation, burning the trees and farming the land for one or two years before moving on. The government discouraged this wasteful method, urging instead settlement on conventional farms. The distinctive culture of the Khasi people includes a traditional matrilineal social system that has been modified by outside religious and modern legal influences. Many of the hill peoples have become Christians.