U Blei Nongthaw, the creator god, and the clan and sacred grove deities of Ka Niam Khasi, the indigenous religion of the Khasi of Meghalaya in northeastern India. Khasi tradition holds that the created order rests on a covenant between divinity and humanity, and it is matrilineal in social structure, with religious office and clan identity passing through the mother's line. Welsh Presbyterian missionaries romanised the Khasi language in the 1840s, which shaped how the tradition was first recorded even as it was also the vehicle of large scale conversion to Christianity.
Facts
Structure
Structure of the PantheonA supreme creator above a working order of intermediary powers 1 Divine HeadshipA supreme creator who withdrew from active rule and receives little direct cult 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsOne divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1 The Creator and the Ruling GodsA supreme creator stands outside and above the gods of the pantheon 1 Attestation
Era of AttestationHeld from the beginning in the tradition's own terms; documented in the outside record from the 19th century and defended in writing by the Seng Khasi from 1899 1 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreNo single centre. The law kyntang sacred groves, among them Mawphlang, and the clan ossuaries are the places of observance 1 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonEvery place, clan and lineage adds its own 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonAncestors and founders become objects of cult 1 Sources
Primary SourceOral tradition held within Khasi clans, with the writings of the Seng Khasi from 1899 and published ethnography 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names India directly: "the Khasi of Meghalaya in northeastern India."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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