Meghalaya: The mysterious standing and lying stones of Meghalaya with unique stories are more fiction than reality.
It was a stroke of fate that took me one February afternoon to a rocky area in Nartiang, Meghalaya.
A decade or so ago, this northeastern part of India was generally considered a remote area for travelers, but today it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. Now there is such a crowd of tourists that often an unprecedented situation of traffic jams is created. That’s what happened that afternoon.
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We went on a day trip to Cherrapunji from the state capital, Shillong, with my family. Cheraponji is known as one of the rainiest places on earth. However, the long, snake-like queue of vehicles was moving inch by inch very slowly.
There were also throngs of people visiting other tourist spots, such as Dawki and Malinnong. Our patience was being tested with each passing moment. After being stuck in traffic for over four hours, it was suggested to go back to the city as a last-ditch effort to make the most of what was left of the day.
We started searching for places to visit around Shillong online. Most of them were familiar, but then an unfamiliar but interesting name came up.
In it, someone mentioned to ‘Visit Northyang for the Mysterious Monolith.’
It didn’t have many details, just a calm-looking image of tall standing stones with the word’mystery’ written on it.
Then Google Maps came to our rescue and told us that this place is barely two hours south of Shillong, and the route is also traffic-free.
Thus, we stood beside the giant monoliths of Northyang. Although similar granite block-carved structures in straight pillars or horizontal slabs are found at various places throughout Meghalaya, Northyang is the area where they are densest and most common.
As we reached the spot, we saw several hundred monoliths of all sizes on a small hill, some lying down while others stood tall with huge trees to attract the attention of the people. There was a kind of perpetual fog blanket that added to the mystique of the place.
There was no one there to tell about the place. However, there were some dusty signboards. One of the few facts mentioned in them caught my attention.
It read that ‘the tallest stone is eight meters high and 18 inches thick, and according to Jaintia folklore, it was erected by a giant named Mar Phalengki.’
My curiosity was piqued, and I was eager to know more about the stones. But there was no one else there except for a group of kids playing soccer in the adjacent park.
However, that evening I met an elderly lady from the village. His name was Mario Sambalai, and he told me the story of the monolith that has been passed down orally from generation to generation.
“Earlier, there was no market in Norteyang, and the nearest market was in Reliang,” said Mario Sambalai. On one such market day, a Jaintiadev named Mar Phalangki got caught in a heavy rain on his way back.
He asked the youngest daughter of the chief of Ralyang for an umbrella to protect him from the rain, but she wanted to test its legendary power instead of giving him the umbrella.
“Why don’t you pick up that big cloth from the bazaar and use it as an umbrella?” He proceeds to accept her challenge, but before he reaches North Yang, the rain stops, and it blows him away into the forest.
The story told by Sambalai sounded more like fiction than fact to my unacquainted ears. Seeing the expression of uncertainty on my face, he said, ‘Our ancestors were not the average five-foot-some-inch Meghalaya men of today; they were quite giants then. Mar Phalangki was seven feet tall and was a Seem (Chief) of Mars (an honorific title given to strong, powerful, and honest statesmen).’
Then I asked, How did so many monoliths gather in one place? According to Sambalai, people passing by the stone could hear sounds like a crowded market.
Then it was understood that this stone was sacred, and therefore the forest around it should be cleared to make a market.
More such monoliths were brought to beautify the place, resulting in a large collection of them today.
Folklore made it clear that these ancient monoliths have long been of great importance to the local people. Eager to learn more, I began researching both the Jaintia people and the stones.
The Jaintiapur state was a matriarchal kingdom that stretched from present-day Sylhet province in Bangladesh to the hills of Meghalaya, and its people were believed to be unusually tall and strong.
However, there is no official evidence of this. Given its cool climate and ideal location in the hills, Nartiang served as the summer capital of the Jaintiapur Empire and is believed to have been a monolith during their reign between 1500 AD and 1835 AD.
Dr. Vinay Kumar, assistant professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture and Archeology at Banaras Hindu University, says that monoliths in Meghalaya, including those at Nartiang, may have served as megalithic tombs.
He wrote in one of his essays that ‘the Khasi and Jaintia tribes of Meghalaya and the Nagas of Assam used to prepare standing stones or rows of stones in honor of the dead.’
He wrote these things in the Tribal Tribune. The magazine is an online educational publication focused on tribal communities in India.
Before the introduction of Christianity in the early 19th century under British rule, most Jaintas were Hindus, which meant that their dead were cremated.
Mr. Kumar says the ashes of the deceased were carried by clansmen and deposited in an open, raised grave made of huge single stone slabs, some as big as a small house.
He wrote that those structures still exist today as monolithic deposits at Nartiang, Cherrapunjee, Jawai, Mawphlang, and Lylagkot.
The flat horizontal stones, or dolmens, were for women, while the upright standing stones, or minars, were for men.
“Still, the Northyang case is a bit of an interesting case because there is no solid evidence that such a large number of these monoliths were gathered in one place,” said Samuel Savian, a history buff and travel company operator.
“Probably the tallest stone was erected for an important person in the clan, and the rest were added in a few generations for other members,” he stated.
“The place gradually became a market place, and the stone slabs were used as stalls for displaying and selling goods or for sitting and resting.”
With the advent of colonial rule, the state monarchy began to lose its power, but Yak Sangi continued to play an important role in Jaintia society.
After gaining a foothold in Bengal in the early 1800s, the British East India Company was eager to expand its land revenue territories. He started exploring the distant regions in the east and then reached the Jaintiapur kingdom in Sylhet. In an attempt to gain control over the region, the British exiled the Raja of Jaintiapur to the northern hills in 1835. He continued his political activity from there.
Historian and author of ‘Placing the Frontiers in North East India’, Dr. Riju Ray, said, ‘The political importance of Nartiang increased when the Raja of Jaintia was forced to give up his seat in the plains of Sylhet. At this time, along with the monolith, the area also became important for various activities, such as the coronation of kings or meetings on judicial and administrative matters. This suggests that the Nartiang monolith must have had some political significance as well.’
Although the folklore surrounding the Nartiang monoliths may sound appealing, it is clear that these structures must have served real purposes at different times.
Mr. Ray said, ‘There is a special combination of narrative and memory in the case of Nartiang Yak Sangi. The origin story of the local people is based on legends or folklore. But they also remember it for the purpose it served their ancestors as a weekly market, a memorial, and a place of political gatherings. This is how oral history works, and it integrates fact and fiction into collective memory.’
Today, the monoliths of Northyang have no purpose except to stand as great relics of a bygone era. Detailed archeological work is yet to be done to determine the exact why and how of the site. Although folklore and more substantiated historical accounts offer some insight into the site, the mystery of the stone giants remains.