It was a stroke of luck that introduced me to the monoliths of Nartiang in Meghalaya on a February afternoon. Up till a decade or so in the past, India’s north-east, together with the state of Meghalaya was thought-about too distant for many travellers. At the moment, it is one of many nation’s most sought-after locations, a lot so {that a} deluge of vacationers typically creates unprecedented site visitors conditions, as on that afternoon.
My household and I had set out on a day journey from state capital Shillong to Cherrapunji, a city recognized for being one of many wettest locations on Earth. Nevertheless, the serpentine queue of automobiles that was additionally headed there and to different widespread locations reminiscent of Dawki and Mawlynnong budged inch by inch, testing our persistence with each passing minute. After being caught in site visitors for greater than 4 hours, a suggestion was made to double again to town as a last-ditch try to avoid wasting no matter remained of the day. A fast on-line search revealed different must-visit spots within the neighborhood of Shillong. Most had been acquainted, however one intriguing new identify emerged.
“Go to Nartiang for its mysterious monoliths,” one listicle talked about, taking part in up the “mysterious” angle with an eerie-looking picture of tall stones huddled collectively whereas failing to furnish any additional particulars. Google Maps got here to the rescue; the place was barely two hours south of Shillong and the route was devoid of site visitors too.
The place was barely two hours south of Shillong and the route was devoid of site visitors too (Credit score: Satarupa Paul)
That’s how I discovered myself standing within the shadow of the enormous monoliths of Nartiang. Whereas comparable constructions, roughly carved from single blocks of granite into upright pillars or horizontal slabs, are discovered at places all through Meghalaya, Nartiang is house to the densest and largest assortment within the area.
As we entered the location, I might see a number of hundred monoliths of all sizes packed on a small hillock, some mendacity prostate, others rising tall and vying for consideration alongside large timber. A perpetual mist hung concerning the place, including to the charisma.
The location was unmanned and there was solely a dusty signboard to offer info. Among the many few info listed, one grabbed my consideration: “The tallest menhir is 8 metres excessive and 18 inches thick and in line with Jaintia legend was erected by an enormous named Mar Phalyngki.”
My curiosity piqued, I needed to know extra concerning the stones. However the place was empty other than a bunch of youngsters taking part in soccer in an adjoining park. Nevertheless, later that day I met a village elder named Maryo Symblai who instructed me the story of the monoliths that has been orally handed down over generations.
“Again within the day, Nartiang did not have a bazaar and the closest one was at Raliang,” she stated. “On one such bazaar day, a Jaintia large named Mar Phalyngki was caught in torrential rain on his manner again. He requested to borrow an umbrella from the Raliang chief’s youngest daughter, however she needed to check his legendary energy as an alternative. ‘Why do not you go elevate that vast stone within the bazaar and use it as an umbrella?’ she teased. Emboldened by her problem, he did simply that, however earlier than reaching Nartiang, he positioned it in a forest when the rain had ceased.”
The anecdote that Symblai narrated sounded extra fiction than reality to my untrained ears. “Our ancestors weren’t the typical 5ft-something Meghalaya males of at the moment; they had been fairly the giants again then,” she added earnestly, noticing the look of incredulity on my face. “Mar Phalyngki was recognized to be 7ft tall and was a Syiem (chieftain) of the Mars (an honorary title granted to sturdy, highly effective and trustworthy statesmen).”
The location was unmanned and there was solely a dusty signboard to offer info (Credit score: Satarupa Paul)
However how did so many monoliths come to be in a single place, I requested? In accordance with Symblai, individuals passing by the stone might hear noises like that of a thriving market. It was decreed that the stone was sacred, and that the forest round it’s cleared for a bazaar. Extra such monoliths had been introduced in to beautify the place, ensuing within the massive assortment seen at the moment.
The folktale made it clear that these historical monoliths have lengthy been of nice significance to locals. Desirous to know extra, I began researching each the Jaintia individuals and the stones.
The Jaintiapur kingdom was a matrilineal kingdom that prolonged from the province of Sylhet in present-day Bangladesh to the hills of Meghalaya, and their individuals had been believed to have been exceptionally tall and powerful, though no official proof exists. Given its cool local weather and splendid location within the hills, Nartiang served because the summer time capital of the Jaintiapur kingdom and the monoliths are believed to have been erected throughout their reign between 1500 CE and 1835 CE.
In accordance with Dr Vinay Kumar, assistant professor within the Division of Historic Indian Historical past, Tradition & Archaeology at Banaras Hindu College, the monoliths in Meghalaya together with Nartiang could have served as megalithic tombs. “The Khasi and Jaintia individuals of Meghalaya and the Nagas of Assam erected single standing stones or alignments of stones in honour of the useless,” he wrote in The Tribal Tribune, an internet tutorial publication focussed on India’s tribal communities.
Earlier than the appearance of Christianity within the early nineteenth Century underneath British rule, many of the Jaintias had been Hindu, which meant that their departed had been cremated. The ashes of the deceased had been taken by clan members, and in line with Kumar, deposited in a free-standing cist (an historical burial chamber) constructed of huge single stone slabs, some as massive as a small home. These constructions stay at the moment because the monoliths of Nartiang, Cherrapunji, Jowai, Maoflong and Lailugkot, he wrote.
The flat horizontal stones, or dolmens, had been meant for girls, whereas the upright ones, or menhirs, had been for males. “But, Nartiang stays a curious case, for there is not any concrete proof of how and why such a big focus of those monoliths got here to be current in a single place,” stated Samuel Sawian, who runs a journey firm providing offbeat experiences centered on the historical past and heritage of Meghalaya.
The flat horizontal stones, or dolmens, had been meant for girls, whereas the upright ones, or menhirs, had been for males (Credit score: Thierry Falise/LightRocket by way of Getty Photographs)
“Presumably, the tallest stone was erected for somebody essential within the clan, and the remainder had been added for different members over a couple of generations. The location progressively turned a market, and the stone slabs had been used as stalls to show and promote wares or to take a seat on and relaxation,” he stated.
The monoliths continued to play an essential function in Jaintia society, even after the dominion started to lose its energy with the appearance of colonial rule.
Within the early 1800s, after establishing its foothold in Bengal, the British East India Firm was desperate to develop its land income areas. They started exploring areas farther east and came across the Jaintiapur kingdom in Sylhet. Of their makes an attempt to achieve management of the territory, the British exiled the Jaintiapur raja (king) to the hills within the north in 1835. The raja selected his summer time capital Nartiang deep within the northern hills as his new seat of energy and continued his political affairs from there.
“Nartiang’s political significance grew as soon as the Jaintia king was compelled to abdicate his seat within the Sylhet plains. The realm with the monoliths too gained prominence for various actions, such because the coronation of rajas or for conducting judicial and administrative deliberation,” stated Dr Reeju Ray, a historian and creator of Inserting the Frontier in British North-East India. “It thus seems that the Nartiang monoliths could have had some political significance too.”
Regardless that the folktales surrounding the Nartiang monoliths sound fantastical, it is evident that these constructions served actual functions by way of the ages.
“There’s a sure overlap of delusion and reminiscence within the case of the Nartiang monoliths. The locals’ account of how the place got here to be is predicated in delusion or folklore. However in addition they keep in mind it for the aim it served their ancestors – as a weekly market, a memorial, a spot for political gatherings. That’s how oral historical past works, it blends reality and fiction into collective reminiscence,” Ray stated.
At the moment, the Nartiang monoliths serve no function besides to face as towering relics from a time passed by. Detailed archaeological work is but to be carried out to discover the precise whys and hows of the location. Regardless that the folklore and extra substantiated historic accounts provide some perception to the location, the thriller of the stoic stone giants lingers on.
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