death." The Khasi father is revered not only when living, but also
after death as _U Thawlang_, and special ceremonies are performed to
propitiate his shade. Further remarks on the subject of marriage will
be found in the Section which deals with religion.

Divorce.

Divorce amongst the Khasis is common, and may occur for a variety of
reasons, such as adultery, barrenness, incompatibility of temperament,
&c. The rule amongst the Khasis is that both parties must agree,
but amongst the Wars, especially the people of Shella, the party who
divorces the other without his or her consent must pay compensation,
which is called _ka mynrain_, or _ka thnem_. Amongst the Khasis
it is not the custom to enforce restitution of conjugal rights;
as a rule, when husband and wife cannot live together amicably,
they agree to divorce one another; but occasionally it happens that
either the husband or the wife will not agree to a divorce. Usually
the husband would be willing to live with his wife; but when the
latter consents neither to live with her husband nor to accept a
divorce, a difficult situation arises, and it is in the event of such
a contingency happening that the necessity of assessing _ka mynrain_,
or _ka thnem_ (compensation), occurs. The latter is computed by the
village elders. Parties who have been divorced cannot afterwards
remarry one another, but they are at liberty to marry into other
families. A woman cannot be divorced during pregnancy. The following
description of the divorce ceremony is taken from U Jeebon Roy's note
on the Khasi religion. If the marriage has been celebrated according
to the _pynhiar synjat_ rite, a _ksiang_ (go-between) is necessary
on each side, also the _kni_, or maternal uncles of the parties,
to witness the divorce. In other cases the presence of the _ksiang_
is unnecessary, but some acquaintances and friends as well as the
relatives on both sides should witness the ceremony. The husband and
the wife each bring five cowries (_sbai_), or, more commonly nowadays,
five pice. The wife gives her five cowries or pice to her husband, who
places them with his, and then returns the five cowries or coins to his
wife, together with his own five. The wife then returns the ten shells
or coins to the husband who throws them on the ground. A crier (_u nong
pyria shnong_) then goes round the village to proclaim the divorce,
using the following words:--"Kaw--hear, oh villagers, that U----,
and K---- have bec