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{{Short description|1995 travelogue by Nigel Jenkins}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Gwalia in Khasia
| border = no
| image = Gwalia in Khasia.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Cover of the second edition (1996)
| author = [[Nigel Jenkins]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = Wales
| language = English
| genre =
| published = 1995
| publisher = [[Gomer Press|Gomer]]
| media_type = Print
| pages = 342
| isbn = 9781859021842
| dewey =
| oclc =
}}

'''''Gwalia in Khasia''''' is a 1995 [[Travel literature|travelogue]] by [[Welsh people|Welsh]] author [[Nigel Jenkins]]. Published by [[Gomer Press|Gomer]], it won the [[Wales Book of the Year]] in 1996.<ref name="Stephens2014">{{cite news |last=Stephens |first=Meic |date=12 February 2014 |title=Nigel Jenkins: Politically engaged and outspoken poet whose work often landed him in trouble with the officials he meant to offend |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/nigel-jenkins-politically-engaged-and-outspoken-poet-whose-work-often-landed-him-in-trouble-with-the-9124685.html |accessdate=25 October 2017 |newspaper=[[The Independent]]}}</ref>

==Synopsis==

''Gwalia in Khasia'' tells the story of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists' Mission to the [[Khasi Hills]] in [[north-east India]] between 1841 and 1969. Three different narrative strands interweave throughout the book: the first being the life and work of [[Thomas Jones (missionary)|Thomas Jones]] (1810–1849) of [[Montgomeryshire]]: the first Calvinist Methodist missionary to reach the hills in April 1841.<ref name="indiatoday.in">{{Cite web |last=Choudhury |first=Samrat |date=15 October 2001 |title=Author Nigel Jenkins talks about his book 'Through The Green Door' |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/books/story/20011015-author-nigel-jenkins-talks-about-his-book-through-the-green-door-774437-2001-10-14 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=JONES, THOMAS (1810 - 1849), the first Calvinistic Methodist missionary on the Khasia Hills (Assam) {{!}} Dictionary of Welsh Biography |url=https://biography.wales/article/s-JONE-THO-1810#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&manifest=https://damsssl.llgc.org.uk/iiif/2.0/4673346/manifest.json&xywh=254,332,1422,1148 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=biography.wales}}</ref> Jones became a Calvinistic Methodist minister in 1840, and shortly afterwards set out for [[India]] with his wife Anne. His practical skills were valued by the Khasi community, and he learned their language by living among them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News {{!}} Wales {{!}} Indian poet retraces literary heritage |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/508582.stm |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Jones recorded the [[Khasi language]] in Roman script, and the inscription on his gravestone in the Scottish Cemetery in [[Kolkata]] calls him "the founding father of the Khasi alphabet and literature". He was expelled from the church in 1847 for, amongst other things, involving himself in the commercial venture of farming. As a result of his criticisms of a local industrialist, Harry Inglis, Jones was later forced to leave the Khasi hills. During his escape through the jungle he contracted [[malaria]], and died on 16 September 1849.

The second narrative strand in ''Gwalia in Khasia'' is the tale of the mission in the time after Thomas Jones, including the impact of the [[1897 Assam earthquake]], which destroyed most of the mission buildings but also drove hundreds of Khasis into the arms of the Church.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-18 |title=Nigel Jenkins - Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort |url=https://cherrapunjee.com/nigel-jenkins/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |language=en-US}}</ref> This narrative strand wraps up in 1969, when the remaining missionaries left India.

The third strand is the account of Jenkins' own travels in the Khasi hills during the early 1990s.<ref name="indiatoday.in"/>

==Reception==
In 1996, '''''Gwalia in Khasia''''' won the [[Wales Book of the Year]] award. In 2002, the book was republished in India by [[Penguin Books|Penguin]] under the title ''Through The Green Door: Travels Among the Khasis.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Through the Green Door - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts |url=https://archives.library.wales/index.php/through-the-green-door |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=archives.library.wales}}</ref>

In the [[obituary]] for Jenkins published in ''[[The Independent]]'' in 2014, [[Meic Stephens]] noted that ''Gwalia in Khasia'' "was compared by competent critics to the work of such travel-writers as [[Jan Morris]] and [[Paul Theroux]]."<ref name="Stephens2014" />

== Documentaries ==
The story of the Welsh mission to the Khasi hills detailed in ''Gwalia in Khasia'' was also the subject of two television documentaries, both written and presented by Jenkins. The first was ''Gwalia yng Nghasia'', a three-part [[Welsh language|Welsh-language]] documentary series for [[S4C]], which aired during March and April 1994. The second was a one-hour documentary for [[BBC Cymru Wales|BBC Wales]], this time in the [[English language]], which aired a year later in 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Radio & Television |url=http://www.nigeljenkins.wales/radiotv.htm |website=www.nigeljenkins.wales}}</ref>

==''Khasia in Gwalia''==
Jenkins also edited an accompanying anthology of poetry and prose from the Khasi Hills, entitled ''Khasia in Gwalia''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khasia in Gwalia - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts |url=https://archives.library.wales/index.php/khasia-in-gwalia |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=archives.library.wales}}</ref> The first collection of Khasi literature to appear in [[Western world|the West]], it featured the writing of Desmond L. Kharmawphlang, [[Robin Ngangom|Robin S. Ngangom]], Lealle Hardinge Pde, Kynpham Singh Nongkynrlh and Gweneth Alicia Mawlong. Released by Alun Books in June 1995, the anthology was published to coincide with a tour of Wales by the five writers involved, who were joined on tour by three Khasi musicians: Brek Wansett, Jurimon Risaw and Sanjarawain Risaw. All of the poems appeared in the anthology their original languages of either Khasi or English, with the poems in Khasi translated by the poets into English and some poems additionally translated into Welsh by the poet [[Dafydd Rowlands]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Khasia in Gwalia |publisher=Alun Books |year=1995 |isbn=0907117708 |editor-last=Jenkins |editor-first=Nigel |location=Swansea |pages=3–19 |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1995 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:British travel books]]
[[Category:English-language non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Welsh non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Books about India]]

Gwalia in Khasia - Revision history

OlivaWilhite3: Creating New Biography