Payel Dutta Chowdhury
In the absence of a written literature and language
for ages, the oral tradition was one of the distinguishing characteristic
features of the various tribes of Nagaland and Meghalaya. In the case of the
Khasis of Meghalaya, “…their alphabet is of very recent history, no older than
when Thomas Jones, the Welsh Presbyterian missionary, introduced the Roman
script in 1842, to form the essentials of the Khasi written word.” (Nongkynrih
vii) For the Nagas, even the oral dialects spoken by the different indigenous
tribes are different and hence, it was not an easy task to keep the oral
tradition alive amidst so much of diversity.
The origin tales that find
mention in the oral narratives of both the Nagas and the Khasis play an
important role in the comprehension of the unique culture and tradition of both
the tribes. This paper is an attempt to explore the tales related to the origin
of the Nagas and the Khasis, to explore their rich oral tradition, how these
tales mirror the cultural identity of these tribes which have undergone several
changes in today’s time and most importantly, to read in between the lines of
the tales to explore their significance vis-à-vis the social and cultural
make-up.
Nagas, Khasis, Origin Tales,
Oral Narratives, Story-telling
VOL.12, ISSUE No.2, March 2020