On her 18th birthday, Emily Lyngdoh’s grandma surprised her with a gift she thought her young and pretty granddaughter needed most to turn away her stubborn suitors.

It is neither a pepper-spray nor a stun gun. It is rather an innocuous-looking tiny harp – ‘muin’ to Khasis of Meghalaya.

For the Khasi tribal women of remote Khatar Nonglyngdoh in the Ri Bhoi district of the hill-State, the four-inch-long musical instrument resembling the Jew’s harp has been a traditional ‘weapon’ to keep off the unwanted suitors.

The women have been playing a particular tune – beh khynraw – on the muin to spurn men they are unwilling to tie the knot with. “It has been the politest way to say no to those swains,” chuckles septuagenarian Rosemary.

Thanks to the traditional civility of men in the matrilineal society of the Khasis, playing ‘muin’ has also been the most effective repellent for even the most tenacious of the suitors.

“Once a woman picks up the muin and plays beh khynraw to ward off a man, he wouldn’t dare to bother her again,” says Bris.

The elderly woman – in her late 60s – flashes a grin on her wrinkled face, as she counts how many times she had to play the muin and break hearts in her salad days. The tradition of playing the muin – made of bamboo – to say what words often cannot, has been in vogue in seven villages in the district.

“The music that comes out of a ‘muin’ is really haunting. Sometimes, it may not be music to a man’s ears though,” says folklorist Desmond Kharmawphlang, who heads the Centre of Cultural and Creative Studies under the North Eastern Hill University in Shillong. He has been researching on ‘muin’ for several years now.

There are muin tunes for other occasions too – like the ‘jam lu’, a tune played to mourn the dead.  There are also tunes to accept a suitor or to celebrate a birth.

But the grannies of Khatar Nonglyngdoh are worried as the tradition is on the wane.

Only a few can make ‘muin’ now and fewer can play it. “Not many of the younger lot are interested to learn the art of playing the instrument,” rues Ms Bris. Mumbles Ms Rosemary: “My granddaughter says, these days, young men are not courteous enough to be kept at bay merely with a beh khynraw on the ‘muin’ ”.