If someone is looking for a good heart-warming book to read, this could be the best choice. There are twenty stories here which would absorb even the most reluctant reader. 

One feels proud that such wonderful stories exist in the Khasi oral tradition. The Khasi tribe is said to consist of Khynriam, Pnar, Bhoi, War, Maram, Lyngngam and Diko sub tribes.

Nongkynrih has drawn these stories from the rich repertoire of all the tribes. The characters in most of the stories are drawn from the flora and fauna of Northeast India and also the naturalised human beings of the Khasi tribe with all their virtues and weaknesses.

The world-view envisaged in the stories is that of oneness— gods, humans, animals, plants, mountains and the weather— all have an intense life of their own and they owe such existence to their cordial relationship with each other. Superiority of one over the other is not acceptable and such tendencies are curbed time and again by the struggle of one over the other. There are also stories about love, romance, power and struggle.      

The ingredients of Khasi folk lore— its myth, legends, beliefs, customs and practices are reflected in each story.

There are many interesting deviations from the already existing myths in the other Indian traditions.

One small example: Water, Wind and Fire (Surya, Varuna, Vayu and Agni) are major male characters in South Indian myths. But in the Khasi tradition, they are feminine entities. Similarly, the Moon (Chandra) is considered a female character in the other myths. But in the Khasi it is male. Such rich deviations, which are in abundance in the book, make reading more interesting and fertile.

In interactions

The interaction between the spirits that determine human existence in the first couple of short stories is not only interesting but reveals the moral, social and spiritual fabric of the Khasi tribe. The last two stories, ‘Ka Likai’ and ‘U Manik Raitong’, are longish ones which are poignant and at the end of each, the characters are mythified in some deviant social practice or some fact of nature. Such mythification is natural to the Khasi tradition and thus the stories become unique. 

The stories which were alive in the oral tradition are retold in English. One would also be wonderstruck by the malleability of the English language which could bring out the highly localised stories in English.

Some might be tempted to brand it a children’s classic because of its simple narrative, but it would be naive to term it that as it would restrict the larger concerns of the book.

Each story has a message about human relationships, society, governance and the environment. The illustrations of Pankaj Thapa give a wonderful background for each story.

AROUND THE HEARTH – KHASI LEGENDS: Kynpham Sinwoug Nonagkynrih
Pp.154: Penguin India 2007: Price-Rs.195