A seething cauldron of iniquity, sin and blasphemy

What was Shillong like in the early years?

Cholera made its appearance in the Hills in May 1869, travelling from the direction of Jaintiapur, on the borders of Sylhet[1]. It only showed its presence by a few sporadic cases from time to time until the 11 July 1869 when the disease broke out in an epidemic form among the police and in the jail.

The police and the prisoners were at once moved into camp, and communication restricted as much as possible. These precautions probably had the effect of preventing the spread of the disease at Shillong.

The epidemic lasted a week, it attacked 24 persons, of whom 15 died. From Shillong the disease travelled southwards, the people deserting their villages as the plague broke out. In the pre-eminently filthy villages on the Cherra Punji plateau the epidemic appeared to have found a fitting home, for it stayed among them for a period of nine weeks and a half.

On 28 September 1871, Reverend John Roberts of the Welsh Mission and his wife sailed for India. About the time Mr. Roberts arrived in Shella, Mr. Griffith Hughes moved to Shillong, 30 miles to the north of Cherra[2]. Due to the transfer of Government Offices and the Military Head Quarters, Shillong, in consequence, had grown rapidly in size and in importance.

The immorality of the place scocked the Welsh Missionaries. Bad characters from among the Bengalis, and the worst characters from among the Khasis, were drawn together from all parts of the country, and combined to make the town "a seething cauldron of iniquity, sin and blasphemy."

For three or four days every year, holidays were declared, when full liberty was given to all to gamble without restraint. On these days hundreds flocked to Shillong for the sole purpose of gambling. According to Jerman Jones:

"old and young, men and women, Khasis and Bengalis, darting to and fro, a rowdy, noisy crowd, swearing and cursing, drinking and fighting, gambling all day long and all night long. This is the place most like my idea of hell of any place I have yet seen on earth.”

A branch of the Welsh Mission was set up at Mawkhar when the capital of the province was shifted to Shillong. During the first quarter of a century the Mission made very little progress and only 500 persons were converted till the year 1871. The cordial and generous support of the Europeans was also a great encouragement to the Welsh Mission workers. They contributed £90 towards the erection of the first chapel on the station of Shillong.

Shillong in its formative years was sparsely populated and the census report of 1872 significantly describes Shillong as a Sanatorium serving as Military Station and Head Quarter of the District, no better than a mere bazaar and its population was too insignificant to be mentioned in the reports - a mere 1,363[3].  

In November 1871 the Lushai were guilty of making inroads into British territory and committing numerous offences. The 44th (Sylhet) Regiment of Bengal Native (Light) Infantry was deployed and peace was restored. By April 1872 the Regiment was back in Shillong, having lost 43 men during this little campaign conducted in the most difficult country.

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[1]A statistical account of Assam, Volume 2, 1879, William Wilson Hunter, Trubner & Co., London. University of Michigan, Pg.214-264.

[2]The History of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists’ Foreign Mission to the end of the year 1904, John Hughes Morris, 1910.

[3]The Gurkhas, settlement and society : with reference to Shillong, 1867-1969 / Sanjay Rana. New Delhi : Mittal Publications, 2008.