By HH Mohrmen
On a personal note the only Gwalia connection that I had was in the year 1989 before I travelled to England. A relative who was a retired matron of the KJP Hospital Jowai showed me a black and white photograph and said that this is the photo of Marian Pritchard lovingly called Miss Prichard by the people of Jowai. She served as a Matron in the hospital but now she has moved back to Wales. The matron told me that if I happen to meet Marian Pritchard then I should convey her greetings to the lady. When I asked her if she had Ms Pritchard’s address? She said she only remembered that Marian named her house ‘Jowai.’
The Matron was E. Kharlukhi mother of Dr WR Kharlukhi, President of the NPP state and this incident had slipped out of my mind till one day I met Dr Aled Jones a Professor at the University of Manchester who is from Wales. During one our discussion I told him that we are indebted to the Welsh because they have helped put our language into writing. When I told him that I am from the Khasi Hills he immediately asked me, if it was the same place that he remembered as a kid. He said their church used to raise money for the mission work in the area. I nodded my head and said he was right.
Later on his return from Wales he brought a booklet about the Welsh mission in North East India and lo and behold, one of the contributors was Marian Pritchard herself and it was a pleasant surprise to see that the book also printed the address of all the contributors and indeed Marian named her house Jowai. I immediately wrote a letter to her and told her about Ñiasan E Kharlukhi and she invited me to visit them during Christmas. Few months before the Christmas of 1989, I wrote her a letter again and asked if she can tell me the best time to visit them in Wales, but it was her sister Mona who replied to my letter and told me that Marian was not well and unfortunately it is pointless for me to visit her.
The Welsh not only helped put Khasi language into written form using the Roman script, but they have help start one of the largest church which has influenced the spiritual lives of a large section of the population in the hills. Another Welsh saying that I learned is ‘diolch yn fawr’ which means thank you but I learned that Gwalia was an old name of Wales from the travelogue Gwalia in Khasia by Nigel Jenkin. Another impact of the Welsh on these hills that has not as much been explored is the trans-cultural exchange between the Khasi Pnar and the Welsh. And it was the performing Journeys by the Khasi-Wales Collective which rekindled the deep and strong bond that the Welsh and the Khasi Pnar have. This connection goes beyond Thomas Jones and the putting of Khasi language into written form and the Presbyterian connection too.
The performance was based on Khasi folk tales and the letters written by Welsh Missionaries who took the long and arduous journey to preach the word in the hills. It is a different way of telling stories using music, visuals and performance by artists. The letters used were written at different points of time and by different missionaries stationed in the Khasi and Jaiñtia hills then. The first letter used in the play was by none other than Thomas Jones written before he embarked on the journey to the Khasi and Jaiñtia hills. The letter was about a man who responded to the call to preach the gospel in the distant land and took the journey to the place, he had no clue as to what awaited him. The letter included those which were in the form of a report by the missionaries about the first chapel build in the hills and also described in detail the structure of the building. It explained the reason why the front of the church faces to the West, towards the mother church in Wales and the letter also spoke about the excitement of the preacher who took to the pulpit and for the first time preached his sermon in Khasi. Letters were also used to provide firsthand experience about the great earthquake which shook the earth on June 12, 1897. These letters gave eyewitness account from the missionaries’ eyes about the catastrophe which had razed almost everything to the ground.
The play based on the letters was beautifully knitted together with the folk tales of the Khasi Jaiñtia people starting from the story of the seven huts and the seven nests, the lost script and u Sier Lapalang. The show was also played to the tunes of Khasi and Welsh music by Gareth Bonello from Wales and Benedict Hynñiewta from the Khasi Jaiñtia hills using both Western and Traditional musical instruments. The play was jointly directed by Lisa Lewis who is working at the University of South Wales in collaboration with filmmaker Aparna Sharma of the University of California Los Angeles. The group originally started out of a performance research project based at the University of South Wales and North Eastern Hill University and the other local contributors to the making of the play were Esther Syiem and Desmond Kharmawphlang.
The message of the play was brought alive by the splendid performance of the two great actors Rhys ap Trefor from Wales and our own Lapdiang Syiem. Rhys ap Trefor was trained at Aberystwyth University and Lapdiang Syiem was trained at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Commedian School Copenhagen. The audience were spellbound throughout the 50 minutes long performance and Lapdiang’s enacting of the cry and the wailing of u Lapalang’s mother at the loss of her son brought tears to the eyes of most of the spectators.
Perhaps it is not out of place to mention that the play was appreciated by the people of Jowai also known for their tradition of organising dramas. Certain communities in Jowai are famous for their Bamphalar or the annual community Theatrical festival. The multi-layered story telling method has definitely inspired and given more ideas to the traditional dramatists of the town. The play received a standing ovation from the audience at the Thomas Jones College and it was followed by lively interaction between the artists and the audience.
But it was the outcome from the interaction which had stimulated the idea for this write-up. Lisa Lewis a theatre director said during the interaction that the National Library in Wales still has huge amounts of material from the period when the Welsh missionaries were in the hills. The records which include letters, photographs and other items would be of immense use to the people here but were sparingly used in the place they are located now. These archives are of great historical value to the people here but the point is how can the archival materials be made accessible to the researchers and the learners from this end of the globe?
Visiting Wales to do research and access these files will be a luxury that only few can afford, but thankfully the geographical divide can be bridged if these archives are digitised. The Government or maybe some of the Universities in the state and even the Presbyterian Church can explore the idea of making these records accessible to the people who need them the most.
The short play has not only helped stir interest about the time gone by, but it has also shed light on the importance of these old records in reconstructing the history of the people. The letters, the photographs and other archival materials from the century and half intercultural connection between the Khasi Pnar and the Welsh would be of immense help to understand the people and the place during that period of time. The more than a century cross culture connection between the Khasi Pnar and the people from Wales had had a profound impact on the lives and the culture of the people here and further study in this area is needed.