ELIAS A FORGOTTEN HERO

By Barnes Mawrie

Fate is sometimes cruel for it ignores greatness and spurns worthiness. This could be described about Hopewell Elias Sohliya, a much forgotten poet and writer of the Khasis. Hopewell Elias was born on 23^rd May 1907. He was one of the first Khasis to have completed college studies outside Shillong at St. Xaviers, Kolkata. After being in the Government service for a short time, he discontinued in order to study for priesthood. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1941. This year 2016 occurs the fiftieth anniversary of his death and the 75^th anniversary of his sacerdotal ordination. For some reasons unknown, the literary contribution of H. Elias has been played down while that of Soso Tham has been over highlighted in the Khasi literary circles. No doubt Soso Tham was a great poet but comparison between the two is odd for each one of them was a class of his own. While the former was a born poet without much of education, the latter was a highly educated person who had great knowledge of classical literature. Soso Tham himself confessed in his writing that his poetry did not result from knowledge and expertise but from a spontaneous welling of his heart. H. Elias on the other hand studied Greek classical literature and knew well the form and structure of poetry and prose. His critical essay on poetry which appears in his well known collection of poems Ka Pansngiat Ksiar, bears this out.

According to late Prof. R. S. Lyngdoh “H. Elias can be considered as the first to trace the development of Khasi poetry from the rudimentary form of Khasi phawars. He can also be considered as the first to classify Khasi poetry with Khasi names. He was the first to evolve Khasi prosody with original Khasi metrical laws”. From this perspective, he was truly an exceptional poet who has enriched Khasi poetry with our own proper names and forms. His classical work Ka Pansngiat Ksiar consists of three parts: the first part gives a theory of poetry and the Khasi equivalent terms; the second part consists of poems under the title Ka Saron Ksiar. These are of great historical value for they trace the rise and fall of four Khasi states. The third part consists of various poems where some of Elias’ best lyrics are found.

In one sense H. Elias was way above Soso Tham not merely because of his educational qualifications, but because he was not merely a great poet like the latter but he was as well a competent prose writer. His contribution to school and college education cannot be underestimated. From Class I to Class XII, his Khasi text books are still being used. He has 9 volumes of prose collection, 1 Mathematics text book, 1 Khasi Grammar, 22 other religious literary works which are mostly translations from other languages and others. Some of his classical works are also used as text books in colleges and at the University level. From this it is evident that H. Elias was a prolific writer who had undertaken writing as a God-given mission. In fact, once he was known to have said “I wish to write some more books if God permits me some more time, because I am very concerned about our students and the backwardness of our people”. His well known watchword was “language (literature) builds the people” and this motivated him to write with indescribable passion.

1. Elias was a multi-talented person. Besides being an accomplished poet and writer, he was also a good musician and had contributed a lot of hymns to the hymnal Ka Lynti Bneng. A number of his songs are found in the collection Ki Sur Syiang which have been rendered into tonic sol fa.
2. Elias was probably one among the first Khasis to have been fired by nationalism. His stay in Kolkata during his college studies brought him face to face with the patriotic movement. Thus he was able to transcend regionalism and acquire a national spirit. Perhaps he was the first Khasi to have written a patriotic poem entitled “Hail Mother India” way back in 1947. Through this he was able to widen the perspective of many Khasis and to inculcate a national feeling in them.

Many things can be said about H. Elias as a luminary of Khasi society. Endless reflections and critical studies can be done on his literary works. Perhaps during this year of jubilee many Khasi scholars, educational institutions (NEHU included) would undertake to organize seminars, symposia and workshops on the academic contributions of this great person. However, it is deplorable to see how his literary contributions have not received their due recognition. The Khasi Authors’ Society and the Khasi Department of NEHU are the responsible bodies to highlight the greatness of this great son of the soil. I hope that many more students of Khasi literature will be encouraged to undertake researches on the Opus magnum of this poet.

In this jubilee year it would be the right gesture on the part of the government to erect a monument of H. Elias somewhere in the city of Shillong like the one of Soso Tham. Another suggestion would be to have the stretch of road from Jylli’s Shop junction to Jingkieng Pohkseh named as H. Elias Road. H. Elias deserves to be treated better than he is now. He deserves more respect, more appreciation and more recognition by the Khasi society at large.