Folk-Lore

A painstaking exploration of a society that has an essentially oral cultural history.

Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends; Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Penguin Rs. 195.






The Khasi language is an Austro-Asiatic language, which means that it is closely related to those spoken in South East Asia, particularly to Vietnamese and Khmer. But the literary history of the Khasis has been somewhat obscure since the language had no alphabet until the introduction of the Roman in 1842 by a Welsh missionary called Thomas Jones. That is why the orthography (the style of spelling etc.) of the Khasi language is quite similar to Welsh. Even today, when you hear Khasis speaking English, you can trace a faint Welsh accent.
Which is all quite fascinating and proves that the history of the human species is the history of migration. But since the Khasis migrated from South East Asia to North East India without a written script, a large number of their folk tales and legends became obscure. Add to that, 150-odd years of exposure, through missionaries, to Judeo-Christian tradition and the legends of the Khasis, passed down by oral tradition, were beginning to look rather ragged. That is why the publication of Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih’s book, Around the Hearth: Khasi Legends, is so important.
Geographical background
Dr. Nongkynrih has collected the 20 stories in this volume and told them like folk tales should be — with a wide-eyed sense of wonder at Nature, the ways of men and the infinite laws of the universe. Essentially, the stories are woven around the extraordinary geography of the East and West Khasi Hills districts of present day Meghalaya. Behind the names of many of the hills, waterfalls, rivers and animals there is a story.
For instance, Umiew and Umngot are two rivers that begin at Shyllong Peak and flow down to Bangladesh. As legend goes, they were the twin daughters of U Lei Shyllong (the God of Shillong); one twin was impulsive, the other calm. On one particularly clear day, they could see the plains of Bangladesh and the impulsive twin immediately wanted to go down to see the land below. She suggested that they disguise themselves as rivers. At first, the younger, calmer sister started flowing down gently, taking a long, serpentine, graceful route down to the plains. The older sister, according to her more aggressive nature, plunged down the hills and ravines, tearing her way down until she threw herself to the plains with such great force that she splintered into five branches, now the tributaries of the river. It is a folk tale that eloquently describes the riverine geography of the Khasi Hills and Sylhet district of Bangladesh.
Creation
Just as the Old Testament tells us how God created the universe in six days, the Khasis tells us about how U Blei (God) decided to send seven of the 16 clans living in heaven down to earth and create the Khasi people. The Khasi word for seven is ‘Hynniew’, and the Khasis are known as the ‘Hynniew Trep’ or the seven clans, comprising all the present sub-tribes, which are Khynriam, Pnar, Bhoi, War, Maram, Lyngngam and Diko. In other words, Khasi legends are not just folk tales, but important syntax for social anthropology. They explain, quite beautifully, the traditions and social structure of the society.
Around the Hearth is superbly illustrated by Pankaj Thapa and the cover of the book has a reproduction of a haunting painting by Benedict Hynniewta. To Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, who has explored and painstakingly put together the myths, legends, totems and taboos of a society that has an essentially oral cultural history, we owe a lot. We must say to him in Khasi: Khublai Shibun (thank you very much).