Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.25

c48.s6.25

§ 94. (c) **The Khāsi and Sainteng** (159,500). These tribes belong to the same stock and speak the same language. The former reside in the western portion of the range bearing their name, whilst the Sainteng share with the Lālung the Jaintyā portion of the same range. In treating of languages it was pointed out that these two, with two smaller communities of the same tract, appear to be the remnants of a wave of the Mōn-speaking race, left stranded by the main body. They have no traditions of any other home, and differ considerably from the surrounding tribes in customs as in speech. The numerous exogamous Khāsi clans, for instance, are based upon descent from a female ancestor. Inheritance is in the female line, and the woman is the head of the family. No money or gift passes on marriage, and the young couple do not set up house until a child is born. The religion is the usual propitiation of evil spirits, with a faint and dim notion of a future state in which husband and wife rejoin each other, unless a widow has married again, in which case she belongs to her second. Of late the Khāsi have been converted in considerable numbers to Christianity, and a few have become Brāhmanists. The Sainteng show less disposition to change. On the other hand, though sharing the religion and customs of the Khāsi, they appear to have received a greater admixture of foreign blood, due, it is thought, to the greater accessibility of the Jaintyā hills from the plains on the south. The Khāsi, again, are divided into petty States or independent groups of villages, each forming a little republic under its own head. In the sister hills, the country is altogether under the Chief of Jaintyā, who appoints twelve local officials to carry on the village affairs. The Chief himself is a Brāhmanist, but his example, as just mentioned, has not been contagious, and the annual tribal devildrive, in which every male takes part, is as popular as ever.