Ka Niam Khasi

Ka Niam Khasi is the traditional religion of the Khasi, an Austroasiatic hill people of what is now Meghalaya, in northeastern India. It is monotheistic: U Blei Nongthaw, who is one and formless, is the supreme creator of the universe.

Khasi tradition says that the Lord Master first divided humankind into sixteen heavenly families, of which seven, the Hynñiewtrep, were left on earth. A ladder resting on a sacred peak let people pass to heaven, until they were tricked into cutting down a divine tree and lost the way for ever. Every Khasi village traditionally kept a sacred grove to appease the forest spirit.

The Khasis lived in about twenty-five independent states, each ruled by a chief, the syiem. They had no script of their own and handed their religion down by word of mouth.