ngdoh_, under pressure from
his wife, tried to sell Ka Iaw-Iaw as a slave, but no one would offer
more than 20 _cowries_ for her (_shi-bdi_); this decided the _lyngdoh_
to keep her. Out of gratitude for this kindness, Ka Iaw-Iaw brought
her wealth from beyond the Kopili to the _lyngdoh's_ house, when the
son of the _lyngdoh_ was given her in marriage. They lived happily for
some time, when some adventurers from beyond the Kopili came to Jowai
with the intention of carrying off this rich bride. The _lyngdoh_,
however, received warning of their intent, arranged for the escape of
Ka Iaw-Iaw, and they fled to Sohphohkynrum, a place near Nongkrem in
the Khasi Hills, where she established a village. Here Ka Iaw-Iaw was
called _Ka Iaw-shibdi_, because she paid every man who was engaged
by her in founding a market there 20 cowries (_shi-bdi_) per day for
their labours. Here also she is credited with having first introduced
the art of smelting iron, and she is said to have made various iron
implements which she exported to the plains. She is also said to have
kept a huge herd of pigs which she fed in a large trough hollowed out
of a _diengdoh_ tree; it is to this fact that the Diengdoh clan owes
its name. After _Ka Iaw-shibdi_ and her children had lived for some
years in prosperity at Sohphohkynrum, they were attacked by the Swarga
Raja (the Ahom King), U long Raja (probably the Raja of Jaintia), and
the Assamese Barphukan. They fled to a place called Lyndiangumthli,
near Lyngkyrdem. Finding this place unsuitable as a home, the family
split up into four divisions. One division returned to Jowai, where
it increased and multiplied and afterwards grew into the Lalu clan,
another went to Nongkhlaw and became the Diengdoh Kylla clan; another
went to Mawiong and formed what is now known as the Pariong clan;
the fourth, after some vicissitudes of fortune, went to Rangjyrteh and
Cherra, at which place it established the powerful Diengdohbah clan,
and became afterwards one of the chief _mantri_ or minister clans of
this state. I have quoted the history of the origin of the Diengdoh
clan at some length, to show what I consider to be an example of
the Khasi conceptions of how the clan was formed, i.e. from a common
ancestress, all of the clans having traditions more or less of descent
from some particular _Kiaw_ or ancestress. This story moreover is
remarkable as pointing to a Khasi migration from beyond the Kopili
river to their present ab