Makhel : Back to the Origin

9.8.2014  

We  arrived in Makhel 30 Km. south of the capital Kohima after a rough and bumpy ride on the Hero Honda Super Splendor bike.  Steering clear and keeping out  all the potholes that cover the disfigured NH 39 between Kohima and Mao,   affronted by  swarm of Indian army  convoy trucks and buses blowing storm cloud of dust and diesel fumes and tackling rude and rowdy policemen at the border checkgate  was intense both body and mind .  

Sacred Banyan Tree at Makhel 

Makhel is a name of a small hamlet here in Mao which also belongs to an important family of the Naga tribes with the  same name- Mao aka Ememei. My wife Akatoli was accompanying me to this short trip to Makhel.  I had first heard of Makhel from my hostel roommate  Joseph(Kaihrii) a resident of Makhel back during our post-graduation days in Shillong. Since then the legend about Makhel had always intrigued me and that feeling stayed with me . It was through him that I came in touch with Athini whom I had conversed with only once just few hours before the trip. We found out in the village later what a vain attempt it can be to try and find someone with their first names. Poor mobile network and my carelessness in forgetting to recharge my phone added salt to injury. Her surname wouldn’t have helped either . It was the name of her village that they wanted to know and all that we knew about  was her first name and that she was a student at Northeastern Hill University (NEHU). We saw two girls in umbrellas approach us and by sheer intuitive guesswork I knew one among the two must be Athini. The other girl was her friend Kothuni who was also at NEHU . I knew we had not met before.

10.8.2014

As Athini and Kazini got busy finding for us transport down to the site where the three monoliths are erected we were lucky to be waiting in the company of  Mr. S.P.Henry a village elder and one of the sons of the chief  of Makhel . The chief himself , we were informed, had gone off to Dimapur the nearest city to get the stories that we came to hear from Makhel  in print . The under construction road to the monolith site was considered too risky for vehicular movement as the one or two available Tata Sumo taxis in the village declined to take us down . 

However , this was no cause for disappointment  as the place is replete with myths, legends and histories of all kinds . We were led to the hilltop where the sacred banyan tree stands with its high branches spread far and wide .No one in the village could tell us for certain how old this Banyan tree was but it was here they believe that the ancestral mother Dziilimosiiro (crystal clear water in Mao language ) conceived the triumvirate of tiger, man and spirit from a crystal drop of water  . So the legend goes, Dziilimosiiro the  first woman whom the whole of mankind has descended was  one day asleep under a banyan tree when a column of clouds enveloped her and she conceived. She gave birth to 'Okhe' (Tiger), 'Orah' (God) and 'Omei' (Man), in that order with Okhe as the eldest and Omei the youngest. Life went on and many years passed. In her old age, the mother became weak and fell ill. One of the sons would  take turn to stay at home and care for her while the other two went away for work in the forest. The story goes that on the day when Okhe stayed at home with the mother, he would fondle her and point at the parts of her body saying it would eat such and such part after her death. On other days when Orah took his turn the mother would become ill with acute fever and headache and would grow worse. But the days Omei looked after her the mother felt at ease and relaxed because he would tend his mother with great care and affection.  Time passed, and fortunately the old mother died on a day when Omei was with her. Omei buried her under the family hearth as his mother instructed him to do before her death, and put the hearth stones back into place so as to make it look like nothing happened. He also dug at various places so that fresh earth could be seen everywhere. When Okhe came back home and noticed that the mother was not there he asked Omei about her. Omei then told him the truth about their mother’s death, but wouldn’t divulge where he buried her. Okhe pawed and dug at all could not find it but it did not occur to him that she could be buried under the hearth.

The chief’s house on the side of the  Banyan tree with its fine woodcraft motifs bore an abandoned look but the space around  the sacred tree was evenly dotted with flat stone  beds and tall menhirs each buried with a unique story . 

The chief's residence at Makhel 

12.8.14         
Makhel is a semiotic treasure trove filled with a gamut of invisible signs and symbols.  We found out later that a leaf taken, which my wife Akatoli unknowingly plucked off the banyan tree was against traditional wisdom  except in certain outstanding cases and the knowledge that the growth and fall of the its branches carry certain outcomes  and premonitions . A genna (a day of rest and contemplation or a taboo), for example, is observed in the entire village even if one of the branches falls down. A fallen branch from the Banyan tree is traditionally thought to accompany a great epidemic or famine. 

Branches from the Banyan Tree at Makhel 

13.8.14

                       

A Don Bosco School at the old Japanese Garrison at Makhel

The old Japanese Imperial Army (JIA) garrison from the Great War is today the site of a Salesian school .The sound of the roaring gun exchange between the Japanese (JIA) and the Colonial Liberation Front(CLF) from the hamlet deep in the forest  is snuffed underneath the anonymous war cemetery that has laid to rest here.

The Khubu Ridzu Tu ( Khubu' standing for gun, 'Ridzu' for male and 'Tu' for stone) -  the tombstone of the flying magic bullet which during its time could fire anywhere/anyone as it was commanded lay silently buried in one of the many stone beds fenced by small iron poles and chains . It is a fascinating case of a truce which the Mao people made with themselves for collective peace and goodwill of mankind and mother nature.

Makhel World War II memorial

A Makhel boy stands in front of the Khubu Ridzu Tu

  

Before their mother’s death, there was a dispute among the three brothers as to who should inherit the motherland (called the ‘navel’ of the earth, meaning the middle ground) For this purpose, she made a  grass-ball prodzii  and instructed  the three brothers that the one who touched the grass-ball first would inherit the motherland . 

Mr. Henry looks at the Pinoumai 3 Kosu Tamara Tu (Three Brothers Departure Stone )

Okhe overtook the other two, and reached the target first. However, their mother objected to it and accused Okhe of making an earlier, and therefore false start. In the rematch,  the mother instructed Omei to make a bow and arrow. With the help of the arrow he reached the target first and  thus claimed his right as the heir to the motherland to which the mother agreed.

The Cheti-Bu Kaji(Sacred Wild Pear Tree ) a tree believed to be as old as the history of the Nagas,  under whose shade they lived together and where 'Paichara' the godly woman ascended to heaven with a thread-line  has a magical aura that blur the boundary between the natural and the supernatural . Like the Banyan tree a branch broken off the tree is accompanied by a genna to be observed by all the Naga tribes. 

Stone memorial in front of the Cheti Bu Kaji

 14.9.14

Cheti Bu Kaji(Sacred Wild Pear Tree )

I thought about the many paths taken,  the many lives lived  that finally brought us here in Makhel.  As we departed from the foot of the 'Cheti Bu Kaji' I wondered how it must have felt when our Naga ancestors departed from this primeval site as it is believed in Mao folklore . 

It seemed like the tiger, spirit and man had come alive as if from the relic of my consciousness. A new sign of  life gently rattles inside this sack of bones that I was growing to  become.  As we depart the invisible bow and arrow is a special gift that I shall take back from Makhel and what I perhaps need is a little practice and precision . That will be the direction I shall take for now.

And as the world grapples with the Ebola epidemic in W.Africa, the Gaza strip deluged by rain of missiles and the Northeast India region gripped with fear over terror attacks on India Independence day I wonder if a branch from the  sacred trees of Makhel has snapped!

Martyrs Memorial Park, NH 39

On our way back we park near the ‘Martyrs Memorial Park’ where the bodies of two Mao Naga youth rest and a flex hangs on top with their photographs and captioned “GREAT FUTURES MURDERED BY THE MANIPUR STATE GOVERNMENT AND MARTYRED ON 6^th MAY, 2000 AT MAO GATE” .

It seems the tree of life is fast denuding and under apocalyptic attack from its ungrateful and war mongering human offshoot.  As the morning springs and the world broods on the violence of yesterday I believe, like our Naga forefathers, these are the days of genna to be observed and reflect on our folly as we head towards our own catastrophe.