Nongbri Kur
Khasi
At a glance
- Called a
- Kur
- Community
- Khasi
- Found in
- Meghalaya
About
Nongbri is a Khasi kur, a clan traced through the mother. It appears in both of the lists of exogamous clans that Gurdon drew up in 1907, for the Cherra and Khyrim states. In the Khyrim list it may not intermarry with the Nongkynrih clan, a tie the Khasi call iateh kur, and the list also has a separate clan named Nongbri Partuh. It is a Khasi clan in its own system, not a gotra.
What “Kur” means for the Khasi
A kur (also called jaid) is the Khasi clan, and it is traced through the mother: a child belongs to the mother's kur, and marriage within one's own kur is forbidden. It is a matrilineal clan, not a gotra and not a patrilineal surname.
Every kur of the Khasi, with how the clan system works: the Khasi page.
Name and Origin
The sources read do not explain the name or name the clan's ancestress. Gurdon writes that Khasi clans trace their descent from a first ancestress, the 'grandmother of the root', but he does not give hers for this clan.
Historical Journey
Gurdon drew up his lists of exogamous clans from information given by the Siems of Cherra and Khyrim, as examples of the many Khasi clans. Nongbri appears in both, as number 65 in the Cherra list and number 142 in the Khyrim list. Against it in the Khyrim list he notes that intermarriage with the Nongkynrih clans is prohibited, and the same note stands against Nongkynrih. The next entry in that list is a separate clan, Nongbri Partuh. Gurdon gives no account of where the Nongbri clan began, and no source read adds to his lists.
How the Kur Is Kept
Like every Khasi kur, Nongbri is exogamous and traced through the mother. Its ban on marriage with Nongkynrih is what Gurdon calls iateh kur: clans believed to share descent may not intermarry, and such a marriage is sang, taboo. Whether the ban also covers Nongbri Partuh the sources do not say. They do not name a family deity of the clan.
Presence Across Regions
Hima Khyrim, Khasi Hills
Tribal - Khasi
Listed among the Khyrim clans, barred from marriage with Nongkynrih; Nongbri Partuh is listed beside it.
Cherra (Sohra), Khasi Hills
Tribal - Khasi
Listed among the exogamous clans of the Cherra state.