, or by old men well
versed in the arts of necromancy, and as the _lyngdoh_ or wise man
deals with good as well as evil spirits, and, as often as not, with
the good spirits of ancestors, the propitiation of these spirits
may be said to partake of the nature of Shamanism. A very prominent
feature of the Khasi beliefs is the propitiation of ancestors; but
this will be described separately. There is a vague belief amongst
the Khasi of a future state. It is believed that the spirits of the
dead, whose funeral ceremonies have been duly performed, go to the
house or garden of God, where there are groves of betel-nut trees;
hence the expression for the departed, _uba bam kwai ha iing u blei_
(he who is eating betel-nut in God's house), the idea of supreme
happiness to the Khasi being to eat betel-nut uninterruptedly. The
spirits of those whose funeral ceremonies have not been duly performed
are believed to take the forms of animals, birds, or insects, and to
roam on this earth; but this idea of transmigration of souls has been
probably borrowed from the Hindus. Bivar writes that although the
ideas of a Godhead are not clearly grasped, yet a supreme creator
is acknowledged, and that the following is the tradition relating
to the creation of man. "God in the beginning having created man,
placed him on the earth, but on returning to look at him, found he
had been destroyed by the evil spirit. This happened a second time,
whereupon the Deity created first a dog, then a man; and the dog,
who kept watch, prevented the devil from destroying the man, and the
work of the Deity was thus preserved." The Khasis, apparently, do not
believe in punishment after death, at least there is no idea of hell,
although the spirits of those who have died under the ban of _sang_
remain uneasy, being obliged to wander about the earth in different
forms, as noted above. The spirits worshipped by the Khasis are many in
number; those of the Syntengs being specially numerous. The particular
spirit to be propitiated is ascertained; by egg-breaking. The offering
acceptable to the spirit is similarly ascertained and is then made. If
the particular sacrifice does not produce the result desired, a fowl
is sacrificed; the entrails being then examined, an augury is drawn,
and the sacrifice begins afresh. As the process of egg-breaking is
believed to be peculiar [27] to the Khasis amongst the Assam hill
tribes, a separate description of it is given in the Appendix.