Hidden behind Meghalaya’s rolling hills, dropping from a height of more than 1,100 feet, is India’s tallest plunge waterfall and perhaps its most captivating, Nohkalikai Falls. But there is more to it than just its sheer beauty, there is a tragic past to it, one that was so emotional and heart-wrenching that it has been given to the waterfall as its name: Noh-ka-Likai, which in Khasi refers to “Jump of Likai.”
A Tale of Love, Loss, and Madness
The tale goes back centuries to a village close to Cherrapunji, where there lived a young woman called Likai. Likai was widowed early in life. She fought hard to bring up her infant child alone. She spent her days working as a porter, loading heavy loads over hills, having her child placed in the custody of others for the day.
Subsequently, Likai remarried in the hope of restoring some normalcy to her life. But her second husband was envious that Likai gave so much value on her daughter. What followed is one of the darkest episodes of Meghalaya folklore.
One such day, while Likai was out, her child was brutally killed in cold blood by her husband. In an even more evil act, he roasted her body parts and prepared a meal for himself.
After some time, Likai came back home tired without knowing the terror that had happened behind her back. She sat for the meal thinking that her little daughter must be playing around, she had the food and realised there was something weird about it.
After a while, when she continued with the day, and her habit of munching on betel nuts, she saw there was something in that basket, it did not take her even seconds to realize that there was brutally chopped fingers of her daughter in that basket.
Realisation drowned in her with unbearable sorrow and remorse, Likai ran and ran until she was exhausted and stood on the edge of the cliff and leaped into the foaming waterfall below. It is for this reason that the area was named Noh-ka-Likai, which means the leap of Likai.
Likewise, Most Waterfalls Tourists nowadays are not just drawn by the sheer beauty of water cascading into a deep, cobalt blue pool, but by the eerie quiet that pervades the atmosphere. People who live in the area claim that the cries of Likai can still be heard echoing across the valley on certain misty mornings.
Nohkalikai is not just a tourist destination, it’s a reflective glance at human sentiment such as love, loss, betrayal, and heartbreak all wrapped up in one of nature’s more resilient forms.
The next time you’re standing at its edge, let the beauty move you, but remember the story that lies beneath.
