By H.H. Mohrmen
Jaintia Hills may not have megaliths the size and beauty of Stonehenge in England but the area does have quite a few megalithic structures unique to the place. It was late Prof. B. Pakem who had made this observation that when we talk about the Megalith structures in Jaintia hills, it does not only include the large stone-like monoliths in Nartiang and Sutnga etc but in Jaintia Hills the term would also include big stone bridges at Thlumuwi and Syndai and in fact whatever stone structures erected and artistically decorated can be broadly categorized under the term megalith. (Megalithic Problem of Meghalaya: A case study of Megalith of Jaintia Hills in journal of North East India Council of Social Science Research, Vol.16, No.1, April 1999) While the popular standing stones and table stones can be found almost everywhere in the Khasi and Jaintia hills regions of the state but as Pakem himself noted, there are micorliths like stone jars in Saipung, stone figurines in at Dawki, axe of thunder (U Sdai pythat) at Jowai are some of the examples of monolithic structures found in Jaintia hills.
Nangbah village too has a considerable collection of monolith at a place called Iawmusiang, but not as big a collection as those in Nartiang. Perhaps the tallest monolith in the state can be found in Nartiang and the biggest table stone is the one now located across the border in Jaintiapur of Bangladesh. Although monoliths in Jaintiapur are not properly kept by the Government of that country, but in my opinion the biggest flat stone is the one located on the other side of the border near the palace of the erstwhile Jaintia kingdom in Jaintiapur.
In Jaintia hills apart from the large collection of monoliths found in Nartiang, there are also similar collections of monoliths at Tuber Shrohshrieh near the Tuber sacred grove. S.K. Lato informs that there is another collection of monoliths at Moopat village in east Jaintia hills district. But close to the monolith park in Nartiang there is a unique stone structure – a stone-arched gate behind the Durga temple and a few round-shaped stones (the size of a Maruti car tyre) called ki ‘Mookhrah’ used in the traditional stone throwing competition called ‘Kyntiñ mookhrah/rah mookhrah.’ Mookhrah are also found in different parts of the district. I was told there is an image of a man sculpted on a stone in Nartiang but it is yet to be located.
In Jowai apart from the mentioned U Sdai Pyrthat there is the famous ‘Moosniang’ or pig stone where an image of a pig was sculpted on a stone on the erstwhile Jowai to Jaintiapur path. And on the Shillong Jowai road at Mookyndur village there is a horse-shape stone called ‘Moo kule’ which as the story goes the horse belong to a King of Malngiang who was captured by the Jaintia King and his horse changed to stone.
Talking about other megalith structure in Jaintia hills, there are more than five stone-bridges in the War Jaintia areas under the Amlarem subdivision of various shape ans size. Thlumuwi Stonebridge which is located near Chkentalang village on the Jowai Amlarem road is the most prominent of them all, but south of Thlumuwi there are two bridges at Umiaknieh/Amjakniah near Amlarem. There is one stone bridge over the river Umpubon near Syndai and there also is another stone bridge near Syndai village adjacent to the Jowai Muktapur road. In Syndai apart from the stone bridges and the stone sculpture of Ganesha and an elephant image near the river Umpubon, the most important stone sits. The other structure is the Rupasor bathing pool – huge pool carved on a single rock with elephant images sculpted in many places around the pool. It is like a modern day swimming pool with drains that continuously bring fresh water to the pool and another to drain the used water from the pool using gravity only. This unique and simple engineering work helped bring regular fresh water to the pool and similarly drained out dirty water from it. South of the Rupasor pool there is a stone path leading to the plains. Along the path there are stone bridges but these are more artistic than the bridges at Thlumuwi or Syndai. These bridges are supported by few pieces of stones assembled in the form of an arc. The pieces of stones are carved in such a way that they interlock each other to form an arch which supports the bridge. It was an advanced masonry work and neither lime-powder nor cement was used to fix the different pieces of stones together. On a closer look we realize that the mason used pieces of iron to join the pieces of stones together.
In Nongtalang there is a huge flat stone believed to be the ‘Shaladiang’ a round shield made of bamboo and leaves used for protecting the front portion of human body during rainy season. Legend has it that the ‘shalading’ is believed to be used by the village’s famous Mar (giant) known as Bir Nongpoh. At Nongtalang there is another stone believed to be the same giant’s crotch and towards the east of the village there is a unique collection of stones known as ‘Phlong’ which serve as a gateway to the village.
In the same war Jaintia area in a village call Nongbareh, like in Nongtalang there is a collection of stones with an arch which also acts as a gateway to the village, but the Nongbareh rock garden though small in size has a beauty of its own.
At the centre of the Padu village there is a huge rock with an equally huge crater. The rock is called Krang hati or an elephant crater because legend has it that the crater was caused by a rogue elephant which tried to reach to a woman who was sitting on the rock. When the attempt failed the elephant then went to the stream nearby and collected water on its trunk and on reaching the rock blew the water which created a hollow on the rock. In the same Amlarem subdivision near Kharkhana I was told by the locals that an image of a crocodile was carved on a huge rock near the river. It could very well be that crocodiles used to live in these rivers.
In a certain valley at Barato village there is a stone image of two oxen which as legend goes belongs to Miat Rynsut with whom the famous ka Latympang fell in love in the famous story of the Princess Latympang of Shangpung. On the way from Barato to Mukroh there is another collection of rocks which look like a herd of animals. The figures are believed to be of animals belonging to Ka Latympang which turned to stone.
Near a village call Daistong which falls under the Nongkhlieh eleka there are three huge circular rocks placed like steps one after the other on the top of the tallest hill in the area. The three spherical rocks with the approximate diameter of 4 or 5 feet and 12 inched thick are called ‘Ki kjat u Sajar’ because in one of the flat rock there is an imprint of a huge human foot that the locals believe, belongs to the legendary u Sajar Niangli. Close by in the Saipung area Loia Nampui informed of another unique structure, an image of a female breast carved on a rock.
Jaintia hill is blessed with these unique megalith structures and I am sure there are still many more that find no mention in this short write up. The stone structures are not unique but each image or stone has a story of its own or a story to tell, hence this is one area which needs to be study further and sooner.