Meghalaya's main ethnic communities, each having its own distinctive customs and cultural traditions are the Khasis (of Mon-Khmer ancestry), the Garos (of Tibeto-Burman origin) and the Jaintias said to be from South East Asia. The common trait binding all three communities is its matrilineal system in which the family linage is taken from the mother's side

The principal languages in Meghalaya are Khasi, Pnar and Garo with English as the official language of the State. It was at the initiative of the Christian missionaries that the Khasi, Pnar and Garo languages and literature have developed and emerged in the list of Modern Indian Languages. 

The Khasi language is believed to be one of the very few surviving dialects of the Mon-khmer family of languages in India today.

 I am afraid that there is a mix up in the terms mentioned in the email.

“One of the drums collected was from the Khasi of Meghalaya, a wooden
kettledrum named by the Khasi as ka naakraa. Sachs traces the etymology
through Arabic, Persian, Hindustani/Urdu (naqqaara, which is correct), and
Skt. naagaraa (?).

A second drum from the Garo of western Meghalaya, a double-headed wooden
drum, has the Garo name dama, for which Sachs indicates 'zu sanskr.
daamaamaa' (?). In South Asian tradition, damaamaa is a Persian and Urdu
name for a very large metal kettledrum in Mughal India.

http://megtourism.gov.in/garofest.html

Wangala Festival

The Wangala is a Garo post-harvest festival that marks the end of the agricultural year. It is an act of thanksgiving to the sun god of fertility, known as Misi-A-Gilpa-Saljong-Galapa. A nagara (a special drum used for calling the people on solemn occasions) is beaten.  The men wear dhotis, half-jackets and turbans with feathers. The women wear colourful dresses made of silk, blouses and a head-wrap with feathers. The highlight of the festival is when 300 dancers and 100 drums descend on the field in all their splendour in celebration.

http://musicforum.weebly.com/1/category/all/1.html

As far as the written form is concerned the Kashi language is like Tamil has a huge repository of poems in oral form depicting the valor, love and devotion to nature.  Attempt was made to introduce the script to kashi using Sylhet Nagai. The people of Meghalaya did not adopt the Bengali script.  The Britishers who a charter with the ruler of Meghalaya developed the Roman script and the Roman script is currently used.

In the field of music due to its proximity to Hindi belt and due to the dominance of Persian in the area many words could have entered into the daily usasge words in the speech community. As indicated below damaru is an Indian term and not an Islamic term.  Since the inquiry is is on ethnomusicology the following passage will be of help

The invasion of India by Persian and the Mongolian armies brought in a newer stream, though contacts with these countries were centuries older. The mercantile, religious and martial connections of northern Indian with its bordering lands had been in existence from ages, and with these also were linked the exchange of music and instruments. Various flutes and drums as depicted in our own murals as well as in those of Central Asia, besides certain common words in music, bear ample testimony to this fact. But, a drastic encounter began by about the 11th Century A.D. from when what is termed the Islamic influence noticeable begins. However, it may not be correct to call all this Islamic, except for the Sufi content and spirit, just as it would not be right to think of a musical instrument as of Hindu origin, except the damaru, the veena and the venu which have definite associations with the pantheon. Be that as it may, along with the fresh ingress, developed different musical forms and quite possibly even instruments such as the daff, the sitar, the sarode and the shehnai were brought by these aliens.

While it has to be conceded that number of instruments have come to us from outside, it is equally true that quite a large number have also traveled out. The Far East received many instruments from India, mainly through traders and Buddhist monks who went on missionary work; so has the Middle West. As a matter of fact, the general consensus of opinion is that bowed instruments originated here and then migrated to various parts of the world. Again, from the 8th Century A.D. till about the 15th Yavadveepa and Suvarnadveepa (present Indonesia) were highly Indianized musically, which fact is revealed in the names of their old instruments: padahi (Skt. Pataha), murava (Skt. Muraja, Tamil murasu), vangsi (Skt. vamsi), kahala, ghanta and bheri.

Dear List,

A colleague who is not on the list made the request, included below.

If anybody can throw some light on this I would be most appreciative.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Greg Bailey


“One of the drums collected was from the Khasi of Meghalaya, a wooden
kettledrum named by the Khasi as ka naakraa. Sachs traces the etymology
through Arabic, Persian, Hindustani/Urdu (naqqaara, which is correct), and
Skt. naagaraa (?).

A second drum from the Garo of western Meghalaya, a double-headed wooden
drum, has the Garo name dama, for which Sachs indicates 'zu sanskr.
daamaamaa' (?). In South Asian tradition, damaamaa is a Persian and Urdu
name for a very large metal kettledrum in Mughal India.

Though both local drum names could well be loan words from South Asian
culture, in my annotations I indicate that naagaraa and daamaamaa cannot
be traced in Skt. (Could not find either in my M.M-W. and Macdonell
dictionaries.)

Is this comment correct? If they are traceable, I imagine it would be as
very late loan words into Skt. but don't know of the sources to confirm or
deny this.

At the moment I'm retaining my 'not traceable' comment. Any light you can
shed on this relatively minor yet tricky issue, given the prestige of Skt.
in South Asia and Sachs in ethnomusicology, would be greatly appreciated.
It doesn't seem appropriate to let Sachs's Skt. connections stand, however
well intended, if they are a mistake. I simply don't know where he
obtained his ideas about Skr. naagaraa and daamaamaa, and question their
validity.”