Nohkalikai Falls, Cherrapunji
– Legends
As per legend, a young widow
named Ka Likai with her infant daughter lived in a called Rangjyrteh, upstream
from Nohkalikai
Falls. In order to sustain herself and feed her child, she took on the
arduous job of a porter. Her work required her to leave the child unattended
for long periods. Realizing the difficulties facing in the parenting, she
decided to remarry for the sake of her daughter.
Accordingly, she married a guy. However,
as mother to an infant, she was obliged to give her daughter constant
attention, at the expense of giving her wicked second husband the love he
thought he deserved. A fit of jealousy grew in her second husband which
manifested into hatred towards his step daughter. One day, he killed the infant
and cooked her flesh. He threw the severed head and bones of the infant in
order to hide his heinous crime.
When Ka Likai returned, she
found the house empty, but she found his husband had prepared a meal. She
wanted to go and look for her daughter, but she was so hungry due to her heavy
works. She consumed the food prepared by his husband. Ka Likai used to chew betel
leaves and nuts after her meal. She was horrified to discover a severed finger
near the place where she usually prepare her betel
nuts and betel leaves.
Realizing the heinous act of her husband, she went mad with anger and grief and began to run frenziedly, all the while swinging a hatchet in her hand. She finally ran right off the edge of the plateau, plunging to her death, unable to bear any longer the thought that she had unknowingly cannibalized her murdered daughter. The waterfall, from which she leaped was named Nohkalikai Falls as a grim reminder of the tragedy that had befallen the unfortunate Ka Likai.
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