Nongkynrih Kur
Khasi
At a glance
- Called a
- Kur
- Community
- Khasi
- Found in
- Meghalaya
About
Nongkynrih 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, and he notes that it was one of the myntri clans of Khyrim, the leading clans whose heads took part in choosing the state's Siem. In the Khyrim list it may not intermarry with the Nongbri clan. 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 two lists of exogamous clans from information given by the Siems of Cherra and Khyrim. Nongkynrih appears in both: as Nongkynrih in the Cherra list, with the note that it is one of the myntri clans of the Khyrim State, and as Nong-kynrieh in the Khyrim list, with the note that it may not intermarry with Nongbri. In Khyrim, Gurdon writes, the lyngskor, the spokesman of the Siem's durbar, proposes a new Siem to the six lyngdohs and the heads of the twenty-four myntri clans, who decide in durbar whether to appoint him or to elect another. Each of the six divisions of the state, the raj, has its own durbar, which approves the election of the heads of the myntri clans, subject to the Siem's approval; the Siem, sitting with that durbar, may dismiss a myntri for bad conduct or disability. Gurdon does not say which raj the Nongkynrih belonged to.
How the Kur Is Kept
Like every Khasi kur, Nongkynrih is exogamous and traced through the mother. Its ban on marriage with Nongbri is what Gurdon calls iateh kur: clans believed to share descent may not intermarry, and such a marriage is sang, taboo. The sources read do not name a family deity of the clan.
Presence Across Regions
Hima Khyrim, Khasi Hills
Tribal - Khasi
One of the myntri clans of the state in Gurdon's time; listed as Nong-kynrieh, barred from marriage with Nongbri.
Cherra (Sohra), Khasi Hills
Tribal - Khasi
Listed as Nongkynrih among the exogamous clans of the Cherra state.