Origin and History
The origin of the Khasis has not been satisfactorily explained by the historians. The Khasi language is classified as part of the Austroasiatic language family; Peter Wilhelm Schmidt believed that the Khasi people are related to the Mon-Khmer people.
The Khasi mythology traces the tribe's original abode to Hynniewtrep ("seven huts"). According to the Khasi mythology, "U Blei" (the Creator God) had originally distributed the human beings to 17 heavenly huts (Khad Hynniew Trep). The residents of seven of these households were allowed to descend on the Earth with the help of a ladder resting on the Sohpetbneng peak (located in the present-day Ri-Bhoi district).
The Khasis first came in contact with the British in 1823, after the latter captured Assam. The area inhabitated by the Khasis became a part of the Assam province, after the small Khasi Hill States entered into a subsidiary alliance with the British.
Read more about this topic: Khasi People
Famous quotes containing the words origin and/or history:
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)