DHIRAJ SINGH
Nothing quite prepares you for the beauty of this northeastern state of India. It is a place that has been so undersold that you begin to wonder why only few of us up in the north know about it. Meghalaya is home to some of our most fascinating natural wonders. The name’s actually a give-away of the state’s best- known feature: it is not only the ‘home of clouds’ (in Sanskrit ‘megh’ = clouds, ‘alay’ = home) but also the world’s wettest place receiving an annual average rainfall of up to 12000 millimeters.
The place which receives highest rainfall is Cherrapunji and we have often read about it in our GK classes. However, today this place has been taken over by Mawsynram as the world’s wettest city. It is actually no loss to Meghalaya because Mawsynram also lies in this state. The reason why Meghalaya is such a cloud magnet is because of its unique topography. When evaporation over the Bay of Bengal gives rise to clouds, they really have nowhere to go but to circulate over the north Bangladesh where they smoothly pass over its plains, until they come across an obstruction called the East Khasi Hills. Gliding over these hills the clouds experience a sudden drop in temperature that results in record-breaking rains on the hills’ windward side. Weather watchers call this kind of a rain pattern the ‘orographic lift’.
The culture of Meghalaya is as unique as its geography and climate.The constant rains have given rise to a green cover that shines brilliantly under the shape-changing clouds. The people of this lower Himalayan state have developed their own sense of ecological awareness and conservation. I travelled to the border village Mawlynnong to find out an amazing example of this spirit of harmony with nature. The thing that struck me the most on my arrival at Mawlynnong was how clean it looked. It was only then I found the reason behind its spic-and-span look. The villagers here have a keen sense of taking from nature only that which is absolutely necessary and returning to her nothing more than well-deserved gratitude.
Today this model village has a worldwide renowned name often described as the ‘cleanest village in South Asia. Mawlynnong has developed into a sort of showcase for nature-friendly community life. Visitors are encouraged to come and spend their vacations in the villager’s house. They also encourage us to get a skyscraper experience in the middle of the rainforest. It is a tree house, so high that you can see its neighboring country – Bangladesh from it.
The cleanest village also has another must-see feature. Every day eager tourist travels to India-Bangladesh border outpost; to see what I feel is truly a wonder of the world. Like Cherrapunji and now Mawsynram, this area also receives a very high average annual rainfall. This kind of bounteous rainfall gives rise to many perennial streams that are often too small or too precariously situated to be bridged by conventional methods. Some smart thinking villagers have devised a really ingenious bridge-making technique for this.
Living bridges were set in motion about 80 years ago by villagers who after having studied the growth pattern of ‘ficus elastica’ or the rubber tree, decided to put it to some good use. All they had to do was create a system of guiding and supporting the roots to grow in such a way that they intertwined to form an organic grid. The bridge today is stronger than any manmade material. The new roots follow the old grid making it newer and giving stronger connections on what is technically a suspension bridge made of living plant tissue. These ‘living bridges’ don’t just connect to two sides of a stream but also bridges the gap in our understanding of indigenous cultures. It makes us understand, how a society of thrift and minimal intervention reap enormous benefits from nature.
Meghalaya makes us question on our notions about tribal cultures. They are often portrayed several notches below our city-based civilizations. Is this simply because much documentation exists today about how our cities came? This is in stark contrast with tribal civilizations that are largely depended on oral myths and traditions. To help me understand this better, I met Idahun Bareh, a researcher doing PhD on traditional Jaintia faith of ‘Niamtre’. Niamtre is the indigenous faith of the east Khasi Jaintias. Today, when 75 per cent of Meghalaya is Christian, the Niamtre faith has fewer adherents touching a little over 18 per cent.
The Niamtre faith revolves around propitiating various nature deities that are eventually under the control of Tre Ki Rot or simply ‘the one above’. It can be summed up in three principles: ‘kamai yei hok’ which means earning one’s livelihood honestly; ‘tipbru tipblai’ meaning knowing god by knowing man, and ‘tipkur tipkha’ which translates as respecting one’s mother and father’s clans. Like most indigenous faiths, Niamtre believes that its gods are beyond time and history.
The standing monoliths of Nartiang make a striking image of man’s desire to celebrate the unseen aspects of ‘the one above’. While stories and theories differ much like they do for the Stonehenge in England. One thing is certain, that the early tribes from the deep forests of Indo-china that came and settled here had very clear ideas about the divine and had an almost give and take relationship with it. According to one legend, the monoliths were erected by Jaintia siems or kings as commemorative symbols of their kingdom. However, another myth attributes the setting up of the menhirs and dolmens to a king who, during a heavy downpour sought shelter in the house of an old matron. Where, the matron told him not to bother her. The king in his anger pulled a huge slab of stone and erected a temporary roof over his head. Since then it has become a customary for Niamtre followers to erect menhirs and dolmens. Interestingly the upright menhirs represent male spirits and the flat dolmens, the female.
The old kingdom of the Jaintia rulers may have been left behind in today’s Bangladesh but the Pnars of Meghalaya have settled in well. Jowai is today the unofficial capital of the tribe and it is also the venue of the annual bacchanalian festival of Behdien khlam. Jowai is like many other hill cities except for the fact that the trusty Maruti 800 is almost like second skin here. Jowai is proud of its 800 taxis as much as Kolkata is of its Ambassadors.Though not exactly brightly flagged on the tourist map, Jowai is known more as an industrial town than boasts of coalmines and cement plants.
In the month of July this place becomes alive to the sound of some hypnotic drumming and loud cheering to celebrate festival of Behdienkhlam that marks the end of the sowing season and the arrival of monsoon. The festival is spread over four days and the first day is marked by a ritual of animal sacrifice. Day two of the festival witnesses the men of the community going to the forests in search of trees. This act plays a starring role in this festival.
As the story goes, in the beginning the area was presided over by five deities. Four of which stood guard at the four corners in the shape of four monoliths and the fifth one was a river goddess. Having no human population, these five asked ‘the one above’ to grant them the company of humans and soon enough the area was populated by a wandering tribe from down south. Much later, there was a great famine in the region and so U-Mokhai, the eldest of the five deities suggested to the people of the hills that they perform a thanks giving festival every year.
Literally, Behdienkhlam means driving away the pestilence or plague or famine. On the third day, the Dien Khlam is represented by small trees that are put outside each house in the town. It is believed that the freshly brought forest tree will take away all the evil and bad spirits hovering around the house.
The fourth and final day is the thundering climax of the festival. It all starts at an unearthly hour in the morning when Niamtre priests comes out to perform the final puja which takes place in the main localities of the town. The Niamtre priests are all from a particular clan of priests. They are taught about the ways of their religion from an early age and are called in to preside over all public and private religious ceremonies.
The final day’s puja is shown by the symbolic breaking of the small tree. This signifies that the bad spirits have successfully been driven away. Later the priests or ‘doloi’ will read out to those collected outside the head priestess or ‘lyndoh’s’house stories from the days gone by. These are also meant to be moral lessons about the things that make a society just and upright. This is followed by the ritual converging of sticks and lifting of log representing three ancestress of Jaintia society.
The Pnars of Meghalaya follow a matrilineal system of family names and inheritance where the youngest daughter is given the responsibility of taking care of the family home, which also means that her husband would come and stay in her ancestral home.
Rice beer from a dried gourd is ritually circulated and poured to mark the end of this part of the ceremony. Finally, the drum rolls for the big moment. Where the lavishly decorated ‘rots’ made of wood and paper are taken out in grand processions. Every locality has its own special ‘rot’ that is made in the same style as a Jaintia tomb which in in turn is like menhir. Today the ‘rots’ are used as carriers of social messages against drug and alcohol abuse, protecting women and signifying the importance of peace.
The final destination of the rots is a massive sea of people frolicking in a mix of water and mud. It’s a bit like Holi but comparisons are quite unnecessary especially when you can get sucked into the mood of the place. As a festival Behdienkhlam has no parallels across India. Like the place it is celebrated in, the festival too is truly fun and truly magical. It’s a pity one has to wait the whole year to get into the spirit of Behdienkhlam especially in a place where rains and mud are so much inabundance.
