JainsemWomen
Two lengths of cloth, each knotted or pinned over one shoulder so that the fabric hangs from both shoulders and falls to the ankle. Worn over a blouse, and layered up or down with the weather.
Worn for: Everyday and formal
Khasi & Jaintia Hills · Northeast Hill Massif
Dress and textiles
Khasi dress is built from lengths of cloth pinned or knotted rather than stitched to shape, which is why the same garment reads as workwear in a field and as formal dress at a dance with only a change of fabric. The ceremonial version at Shad Suk Mynsiem and Nongkrem is heavy silk, a metal crown and solid gold and coral, and it is worn by unmarried girls who move slowly in the middle of the ground while the men circle them at speed — the costume and the choreography make the same statement about who is being protected and by whom.
What is worn
DharaWomen
A single length of cloth pinned at both shoulders and worn over the jainsem, usually in mulberry or eri silk. The dressier of the two, and the one worn to church, to weddings and to dance.
Worn for: Formal and ceremonial
JainkyrshahWomen
A checked cotton cloth tied at the waist as an apron over the jainsem while cooking, farming or carrying. The check is the everyday visual signature of the hills, and it is the garment you actually see most often.
Worn for: Work
JymphongMen
A long sleeveless collarless coat fastened at the front with thongs, worn with a turban and a sash. Retained mainly for dance and for formal dorbar occasions.
Worn for: Ceremonial
Thoh khyrwangWomen, Jaintia
The checked woven cloth of the Pnar, worn as a wrap and as a shawl. Jaintia dress runs to bolder checks and stripes than the Khasi plateau's.
Worn for: Everyday and festival
Ryndia shawlMen and women
A shawl of hand-spun eri silk, undyed cream or coloured with lac, turmeric and tree bark. Warm, matte, and heavier than mulberry silk — the working cold-weather cloth of the plateau.
Worn for: Everyday and ceremonial
Weaves and textiles
Ryndia (eri silk)GI tagRi Bhoi (Umden–Diwon), East Khasi Hills
Eri silk spun from cocoons the moth has already left, hand-spun and handwoven, and dyed with lac, turmeric, iron-rich mud and bark. Umden–Diwon in Ri Bhoi was designated Meghalaya's first eri silk village in 2021, and Ryndia was granted a geographical indication in 2025.
Khasi handloom productsGI tagEast Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi, West Jaintia Hills
The wider handwoven output of Khasi, Bhoi and Jaintia weavers — shawls, jainsem and dhara lengths, and the checked cottons — granted a geographical indication in 2025.
Pnar checked weavingWest Jaintia Hills
The Jaintia loom tradition, worked in stronger colour and larger check than the Khasi plateau's, and used for both everyday wrap cloth and Behdienkhlam dress.
Jewellery
Pansngiat — the gold or silver crown worn by women dancing at Nongkrem and Shad Suk MynsiemKynjri ksiar — the gold pendant hung at the throat with the ceremonial dharaPaila — heavy red coral bead necklaces, worn in strandsSilver and gold earrings and armletsCeremonial ornament is generally understood as belonging to the ancestral house rather than to the wearer, and it is kept there and lent out for the occasion.
Traditional dress of Khasi & Jaintia Hills — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (9)