United States or Svalbard and Jan Mayen ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The number seems to bear a similar significance in other matters of Khasi ritual, e.g. the pouring out of libations, which is always done three times. It is sang or taboo for a Khasi widow to re-marry within one year from the death of her husband, there is a similar prohibition for a husband re-marrying; but such sang can be got over by the payment of a fine to the clan of the deceased.
On these occasions incantations are muttered, and a small drum, called, "Ka 'sing ding dong," is beaten. It is not unlikely that the Khasi household deities, Ka lei iing and Ka ksaw ka jirngam, to whom pujas are offered for the welfare of the house, are also Ka Iawbei in disguise.
In the case of 5, if we cut out the prefix m in the Mon word m'san, we have fairly close agreement with the Khasi san. In the Khasi words for 7 and 8 the syllable hin is but a prefix. It will be seen that there is considerable similarity in the numerals of the different languages up to six, the correspondence being most strongly marked in the numerals 1, 2, 5, and 6.
The third remarkable feature of Khasi usage is the custom, which prevails to this day, of setting up great memorials of rough stone, of the same style and character as the menhirs and cromlechs which are found in Western Europe, Northern Africa, and Western Asia.
These stones are popularly supposed to have been erected long ago by two men, U Lah Laskor and U Mar Phalyngki, to commemorate the establishment of Nartiang market, which is called Iew Mawlong. "Laskor" is the Synteng equivalent of the Khasi lyngskor, or prime minister.
The name Garo, however, is still used by the inhabitants of Kamrup in speaking of their Khasi neighbours to the South, and Hamilton only followed the local usage. In 1826 Mr.
Amongst some of the tribes of the Malay Archipelago also the Gaji-Guru or medicine-man "can see from the yolk of an egg, broken whilst sacramentally counting from one to seven, from what illness a man is suffering and what has caused it." Here we have an almost exactly parallel case to the Khasi custom of egg-breaking.
In many places, however, in the Khasi Hills the lyngdoh is much discredited, owing, no doubt, to the advance of Christianity and education. Ceremonies and Customs Attending Birth and Naming of Children. The Khasi birth ceremonies and customs are as follows: When a child is born the umbilical cord is cut by a sharp splinter of bamboo; no knife can be used on this occasion.
In the Khasi Hills, especially on the southern side, there are numerous rivers, sometimes of considerable size, which find their way to the Sylhet plains through very deep valleys, the rivers flowing through narrow channels flanked by beetling cliffs which rise to considerable altitudes.
Both Bivar and Shadwell say the reason why the Khasis do not eat the flesh of the dog is because he is in a certain sense a sacred animal amongst them. There is a Khasi folk-tale relating how the dog came to be regarded as the friend of man.
Word Of The Day