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The Chlen Still Stalks in Murders Mysterious
By Sumar Sing Sawian
Newspaper reports had flashed the killing of youth and also others who had strayed at Maraikaphon which lies just a few kilometres from Sohra (Cherrapunjee) in Meghalaya, arguably the region which receives the most rainfall in the world. These killed were questioned about their antecedents and were accused of being blood hunters (Nongshohnoh) especially since an airlines pilot had just disappeared in the Sohra region and was later found dead, lying at the bottom of a gorge.
The agitated locals of Maraikaphon and Mawkisyiem were in no mood to respond or listen to the explanations of the victims who had strayed into the localities and they had become suspects of being the cause of the mysterious disappearance of the pilot, believed to have been killed by the dreaded blood hunters also known as ‘Nongshohnoh’, in order to appease the snake like monster known as the ‘Thlen’ which thrives on human blood and which, when satisfied, brings about material wealth to the family that keeps or rears it in their homes.
The victims, before they could give any explanations of their presence in the localities, were manhandled and gradually a mob had gathered and thereby proceeded to kill the suspects on the spot. It has become a matter of law and order in which the police had descended, made inquiries and arrested people suspected of being involved in the public killing of the strangers who had strayed into the localities.
Such incidents and occurrences have taken place now and again and from time to time not only in the Sohra region but also in other parts of the Khasi Jaintia Hills. It is a story as old as the hills, it is also a belief traced from the old age legend about the dreaded monster the ‘Thlen’, whose remnants are till today found to be engraved on the top of the cliffs of the famous waterfalls at Sohra known as the ‘Kshaid Dain Thlen’, the falls where the ‘Thlen’ was cut into pieces, which has become a famous tourist spot.
Following the lynching of those who had strayed into the villages in the first week of October, ten people were arrested including a woman. Investigations that followed revealed that the victims were innocent passersbys who had come for personal work to the village. One of the victims was a young man of 35 years of age who happened to be a mentally handicapped person.
The ‘Thlen’ cult is synonymous to the present day situation of the greed for easy and ill – gotten wealth even when a person has to soil one’s hands with blood and commit heinous acts such as cold blooded murder. Behind the ‘Thlen’ cult is a fable which speaks of stark realities of a continuous struggle going on within a person’s conscience and the society and humankind at large.
The ‘Thlen’ in the Khasi context, is a snake – like demon which had sworn that it would earn wealth and riches by devouring the essence of humankind. Along these lines of haughty pronouncement, a story is woven around this philosophy of the evil of greed, the lust for easy and ill – gotten wealth represented by this obnoxious creature called the ‘Thlen’.
The story begins with the ‘Thlen’ literally eating and swallowing up human beings that pass through its den, specially choosing the unlucky person who is an odd number in a group. The locale of the story is set against the backdrop of a forested scene, usually covered by a veil of thick fog especially in the summer months on the cliff - tops of Sohra. It is here that the ‘Thlen’ resided and its characteristic nature manifests today in the appetite and craving for ill – gotten wealth.
Where there is evil, honesty also prevails when a knight of honour U Sormoh devised a strategy of wits and bravery, passing through the ‘Thlen’s’ den and paying it courtesy by feeding it with the choiciest white flesh of pork every market day. Finally, one day, instead of the pork, the ‘Thlen’ was fed burning white pieces of hot iron nuggets brought from the nearby iron smelting forge at Rangjyrteh, famous for manufacturing iron implements which were exported to the Bangla plains.
The ‘Thlen’ was then cut into pieces on the cliff – tops of the beautiful waterfalls known as ‘Kshaid Dain Thlen’. Today, one can see stone carvings by natural elements, the serpentine shape of the ‘Thlen’, the knives and axes used in cutting the creature to pieces which are testifying relics of this ancient philosophy. The ‘Thlen’ had however survived, as an old woman had taken home a piece of the ‘Thlen’ with the intention of giving this piece to her grandson. However, she forgot all about it. The ‘Thlen’ surprised the old woman, like a genie emerging out of the basket and tempted her with wealth and riches, if only she could feed it once in a while with human blood.
The woman engaged hired blood hunters known as the dreaded ‘Nongshohnoh’ who are feared till this day for this morbid task. Any suspect of being a ‘Nongshohnoh’ is caught and publicly lynched. This led to cases such as the recent incidents at Sohra where innocent people were lynched on suspicions of being ‘Nongshohnohs’ without being given fair chances to prove their identity thus becoming victims of mob psychology. The ‘Nongshohnoh’ are therefore a symbol of mercenaries in the darker side of the present political and social fabric in the complexities of the race towards materialism.
