By HH Mohrmen
It’s that time of the year again, when the gusty wind blows on the rolling green hills and there is dryness everywhere. The sky and everything around it is grey; the earth is waiting for the first rain to help it rejuvenate again. The downpour that will help trees grow new leaves and bring new buds and the warm weather which make birds start chirping around the forest is eagerly awaited. According to the local lore this is also the time of the year when u Thlen’s (serpent) thirst for human blood is at its height and the keepers know that they must some way or the other try to quench its thirst. The nongri Thlen (keepers of the thlen) know that if they cannot feed or provide the serpent with blood then they will be in trouble so they hire the nongshohnoh to do the job.
The nongshohnoh were given some (khoo tyndep) magic rice, pipe like apparatus, and a scissor. When we were kids we were told that they even carry a gunny bad bag with them. I don’t know if the gunny bag is simply used to scare kids from venturing away from our homes, but it is something we believed that nongshohnoh carried with them. It is said that nongshohnoh can either be woman or man, hired by the keeper to help them feed the serpent. There were several methods that nongshohnoh uses to attack the victim. The most dreaded method was to use certain apparatus to extract blood from the victim’s body parts, usually from the nostrils. After the blood is drained, the victim is then left in a secluded place to die. In fact that is also why the name nongshohnoh was given to those believed to practice in the craft. Nongshohnoh can also throw magic rice on the victim and the spell will have an effect on the victim and enable the nongshohnoh to do whatever he likes with him. The other method use is to cut few strands of hair from the unsuspecting victim especially kids and offer the same to the Thlen. The Thlen will then cause sickness to the victim and if proper care is not taken the victim will even lose his life. Instead of strand of hair, the nongshohnoh can also cut pieces of cloth and the same is offered to the Thlen and the victim is believed to suffer till he or she dies a slow death.
From the context of the Pnar people only the Khynriam (Khasis)keep the Thlen. There is no account of any Pnar family keeping Thlen. The Pnar even have a kind of a derogatory term of calling the people from Khasi hills ‘ki khynriam chohnoh.’ And also there is no story of ki Khynriam keeping the Taro another belief where the keepers of this can cause harm to a person they wish to. The Pnars are always blamed to be the keepers of the Taro. Only ‘ka bih’ or ‘kymbad’ as it is known in Pnar is common to both the Khasis and Pnars.
I will save the readers of this column the long story of the origin of u Thlen and how the supernatural serpent came to dwell in the home and hearth of humans but would rather look at the story from a different angle. Like any other etiological stories in the world, the account about u Thlen is not meant to be taken literarily, but instead only what it represents. Rather than taking the story in letter and spirit, we should look at something more profound -the hidden message behind the myth.
U Thlen is a story about greed which knows no bounds and which can make a devil out of a man. It is a story of how a person who worships or holds greed in high esteem can go to any extent to achieve his goal, even if it means taking a human life.
The time is here again when the rumour mongers start spreading wild stories of nongshohnoh roaming around the village and kids are advised not to venture out. Everywhere the community becomes extra vigilant and organises night vigil to keep the nongshohnoh away. Rumours spread thick and fast and sometimes unsubstantiated stories are reported in the press to create more fear in the society. In Jaintia hills a family was recently attacked by a mob and the husband unfortunately lost his life while his wife is still in a critical condition in the hospital. Another story that was reported based on a FIR lodged with the police was that a Tata Sumo vehicle was lurking around the village near Jowai and the FIR even mentioned the registration number of the vehicle. But after the news was reported the owner of the vehicle came to complain that the car with the registration number mentioned in the FIR belonged to him and that it is not a Sumo but a Bolero. He also stated that he was nowhere near the village when the incident occurred.
The story about nongshohnoh lurking around the village does the rounds every now and again but have we been able to catch even one real nongshohnoh? In a village I visited recently a man narrated an incident when a nongshohnoh was caught by the community and they have even confiscated a bottle containing blood, a pair of scissors and what not from him. When I confronted him and asked him the specific location where they nabbed the nongshohnoh, he said he didn’t know the exact place because he overheard the story in a tea shop. This is how rumours are spread and we are party to the crime if we continue to spread the rumours without confirming the story. Instead of stories of the nongshohnoh being caught, what we have repeatedly read in the newspapers is the unfortunate loss of life when mobs attack a person suspected one. I wish this would be the last time that a mob will lynch people suspected to be nongshohnoh, but we know this is not going to happen. Few years ago we lost many precious lives in the name of the Nongshohnoh. All were cases of mob attacks on suspected nongshohnoh in Smit and Wahiajer to name few cases. There was no evidence to prove that those killed were Nongshohnoh. But there is also a nagging question as to how the village dorbar remains a mute spectator in the entire episode.
The other pertinent question that needs to be asked is, how can a mob attack anyone or how can anything happen in the village without the knowledge of the dorbar shnong or the Rangbah Shnong. The Rangbah Shnong cannot feign ignorance of what happens in the village, so it is fair to conclude then that a mob attack can only happen with the tacit support of the Rangbah Shnong?
I love traditions but I am not a traditionalist (to borrow from Rudi Warjri’s article Dorbar Shnong! Is it s sustainable institution? ST Tuesday February 23, 2016), Traditions are important only if they are not detrimental to the progress of the society. Still there some traditions which are like heirlooms; they are only meant as keepsakes. Traditions are necessary as long as they are relevant and are not static or that resist change. We should welcome change if need be. We should also be open to new insights and understanding of our tradition. I also believe that traditions and stories that are woven around them are open to new interpretations if they are to continue to be relevant to the contemporary society. Stories will have meaning only when we can tell them as we are given to understand them. After all many stories and narratives have lost their relevance in course of time.
When we read stories of nongshohnoh and loss of dear lives to a mob attack the question that needs to be ask is, who the real nongshohnoh is in this case. The real nongshohnoh is not the victim lynched and killed by the mob, but the perpetrators of the crime. But what happens to those involved in these kinds of attacks? The culprits and in many cases the mob is instigated by some vested interests are always allowed to go scot-free. So where is justice? What is it about this time of the year that we associate it with u Thlen and Nongshohnoh? I wonder!