Jaintia Kingdom

The district of Jaintia Hills is an integral part of the Jaintia kingdom, which is otherwise called Sutnga Kingdom. In the society of Jaintia kingdom in Meghalaya, the villages that were located in a particular region formed a single political unit. The villages of this political unit were termed 'elakas'. The chief of each elaka was termed Doloi. He was elected from the senior population and could be expelled for his inefficiency or immorality.

A collection of many elakas consituted a Jaintia Syiemship or a kingship. The chief of the kingdom of Jaintias was the Raja. The Dolois represented their respective people in the Raja's Durbar. This old governmental setup excepting the Raja still exists. The respective durbars checked the power of the Doloi and the Raja. The Durbar, in turn, checked the government power. Initially, Jaintia Hills was called 'Ka Ri Khadar Doloi' or ' the land of the twelve tribal chiefs'. Initially, in Jaintia Hills there were twelve Dolois, who ruled twelve separate elakas.

The British abolished the Syiem office in the Jaintia kingdom of Meghalaya though they kept the concepts of Doloi and village headman or Waheh Chnong unchanged. The British brought the entire Jaintia Hills and a few other Khasi Hills villages under one administrative system. These regions were directly ruled by the British.

In 1972, after Meghalaya was declared a separate state, the Jaintia Hills and the Khasi Hills were put under the same administrative unit. In 1952, the concept of district council was introduced in these hilly regions. Consequently, both Jaintia Hills and Khasi were given separate district councils, though they remained parts of the same state.