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In the elaborate divinatory ceremonies of the Ahoms of Southeastern Asia, the conductors, who are highly considered in the community, are priests; these people are partly Hinduized, but probably retain much of their ancient religious forms.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century we hear that the king of the Ahoms summoned Brahmans to his Court and adopted many Hindu rites and beliefs, and from this time onward Śâktism was patronized by most of the Assamese Rajas although after 1550 Vishnuism became the religion of the mass of the people.
But amongst the Ahoms there is the difference that auguries are obtained, not from the entrails, but by examining the legs of the fowls. The Ahoms are Shans belonging to the Tai branch, another great division of the Indo-Chinese group of the human race. The covenant of the cock as thus explained shows the importance of this sacrifice to the Khasis.
It is of interest to mention that amongst the Ahoms the tradition is that Khunlung and Khunlái brought down from heaven the kái-chán-mung, or pair of heavenly fowls, and that to this day the sacrifice of the fowl is considered by the Deodhais, or priest-soothsayers of the Ahoms, a most important feature of the ancient Ahom ritual.
Owing to the Khasis having possessed no written character before the advent of the Welsh missionaries there are no histories as is the case with the Ahoms of the Assam Valley, and therefore no record of their journeys. Mr.
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