By H.H.Mohrmen
There is a small locality in Jowai called Wah Nangbah later renamed as Kiang Nangbah road. No, this is not just another tribute that the Jaintia people pay to U Kiangbah i.e. by naming the locality or a street in his name. In fact the name Wah Nangbah is unique and different. Unlike the common practice of naming a street after famous persons like M.G. road in memory of the father of the nation etc., Wah Nangbah or the renaming of certain road in the locality as Kiang Nangbah road is unique because this particular place has a profound connection with u Kiang Nangbah’s own life.
While u Kiang Nangbah was alive, he lived in a locality now known as Tpep-pale in Jowai town which is about five minute’s walk from ?awmusiang. Local sources have it that the family’s hut is located on the top of the hill near Wah Nangbah. Hence the place down the hillock where Nangbah’s hut was located is called Wah Nangbah because it literarily means the place below or down hill (wah) of the Nangbah family’s residence. The name of the locality in Jowai provides us with the approximate location of the place where U Kiang Nangbah lived before he was captured and hanged by the British. In the Pnar parlance the valley or chasm below where the Nangbah family lived ( i wah ki yong Nangbah), is how the area is known since the days of u Kiang Nangbah.
Another important place in u Kiang Nangbah’s life is Ialong, a village about 9 KM from Jowai. The incident in the village which is connected to Kiang Nangbah was in fact one of the major causes of the resistance. It was at Ialong village where the British soldiers abruptly confiscated people’s gear including swords and shields used as part of the legendary chad-pastieh. The intrusion into the warrior dance which is a religious festival was an act of sacrilege; it was the last straw that led to the Jaintia rebellion. Of course people complained about the house tax imposed by the foreign government and taking into account the land ownership tradition and the profound connection that people have with their land, it was unacceptable that they had to pay taxes to a foreign power for what is rightfully theirs in the first place. But the tipping point in leading to the rebellion was the disruption of foreign soldiers when the people were still performing their religious rites. I visited Ialong and tried to locate the exact location of the area and I was told that Ialong village was originally located near Myntdu river so, the place where the Pastieh was performed will be in the area where the old Ialong village is located. The action of the Daroga and his police was nothing but an act of sacrilege which provoked the people to rebel against the British.
Madiah Kmai Blai is part of Syntu Ksiar where the Kiang Nangbah memorial is located. This place is important because it is where U Kiang, a young man with no military experience and who was not even an elder in the dorbar was unanimously selected and anointed as the leader of the people’s rebellion against the British. After the incident in Ialong, the leaderless rebels met on the bank of the river Myntdu to choose the person who would lead the movement. This of course is after the divine intervention which proved beyond doubt that he was the chosen leader of the people.
Perhaps the other important places of interest in the Jaintia rebellion is Lad Tuber and Nartiang where British emissaries who included Rabon Singh Raja of Khyrim state, the Kurs of the Jaintia dynasty and others met the rebels and tried to convince them to gave up arms struggle and surrender. But Chillianraid a locality in Jowai has a place in the legend of u Kiang Nangbah because it was here that young Kiang intervened and stopped the Daloi of Jowai from forcibly collecting house tax on behalf of the British government from a lone woman ka Lakhi Pyrdiang.
Ka Kut Sutiang or the Sutiang fort is located in the Nongkhieh elaka and is believed to the last resort of u Kiang Nangbah and his volunteers. In the kut Sutiang there is also cave known as Krem Kut Sutiang or the Sutiang Fort’s cave much has been described about Ford but one important finding was made by the cavers of the Meghalaya Adventure Association who found pieces of broken pottery inside and which authenticates the claim about the hideout.
Another important hideout of u Kiang Nangbah was in Umkara near Khyrwang a village now in Karbi Anglong district which was then under the jurisdiction of Nartiang Daloiship. Umkara is probably a place where the Pnar rebels trained themselves and launched their attack on the enemy. According to British records U Kiang and other rebels from Jowai were captured from Umkara while they were hiding in the village. The British soldiers with the help of few treacherous natives captured u Kiang Nangbah from his hut in Umkara, a village bordering Assam.
Where did the British hang Kiang Nangbah? It was generally believed that U Kiang Nangbah was hanged in the Iawmusiang market, but where exactly in Iawmusiang was he hanged has plagued my mind since I was a young boy. I grew up in Iawmusiang and initially thought that Kiang Nangbah was hanged from a eucalyptus tree which still stands at the Madan Kasari or Madan Siat Thong in front of the D.C’s office now. Then there were two other opinions that he was hanged on a scaffold in a place where the house of Ke Lamare or Ke Sutnga is situated and the other opinion is that Kiang was hanged in a place near the Masan Book stall, of today’s Jowai.
The other enigma is also about the place where he was he was cremated. A tradition still followed by the followers of Niamtre is if a person meets with an unnatural death he/she cannot be cremated at the Loom Thangbru of the Clan (each clan has its own cremation ground). U Kiang died on the scaffold hence it was an unnatural death so his cremation must have been performed outside the village as per tradition. It was only after the body was cremated outside the village that the final rites were performed at u Loom Mooliksoo, as per thang mynsoo (last rites of a person who dies unnaturally) tradition which was followed by the tradition call ‘dood khoo’.
Apart from Jowai, the villages that are prominent in the life and struggles of U Kiang Nangbah are Nangbah, Nartiang, Shangpung, Mynsoo, Raliang, Darang, Amkoi, Nongbareh and other villages. The most remarkable achievement of the Jaintia rebellion was the fact that entire hill section of the Jaintia Kingdom was with u Kiang Nangbah in his struggle. From Amkoi and Darang in the War Jaintia area to the last village of the eleka Nartiang and Raliang bordering Assam, they all stood united and fought bravely against the British raj. One wonders how was he able to unite the entire area whose people spoke different dialects and comprising of huge areas with difficult terrains. It is there perhaps where the greatness of this Jaintia warrior lies and why he is deserving of our respect.