In ancient times the Khasis used to decide certain cases by means of water ordeal (ka ngam um). Yule, writing in 1844, mentions a water ordeal, and one of my Khasi friends remembers to have seen one during his boyhood. There were two kinds of such ordeals. The first, called ka ngam ksih, was as follows:—The two disputants in a case would each of them fix a spear under water in some deep pool. They would then dive and catch hold of the spear. The man who remained longest under water without returning to the surface was adjudged by the Siem and durbar to have won the case. Colonel Maxwell, late Superintendent of the Manipur State, witnessed a similar ordeal in the Manipur State in the year 1903, when two Manipuris dived to the bottom of a river and held on to stones, the result being that one man, who remained under water in the most determined way, was very nearly drowned. Amongst the Khasis sometimes the supporters of the contending parties used to compel the divers to remain under water by holding them down with their spears. Another form of trial was to place two pots, each of them containing a piece of gold and a piece of silver wrapped up in cloths, in shallow water. The two contending parties were then directed to plunge their hands into the water and take up, each of them, one of the packets. The party who brought up a piece of gold was adjudged the victor. If both parties brought up either gold or silver, then the case was amicably settled by the Durbar, and if it was a land case, the land was equally divided between the parties. No instances of trial of cases by such ordeals have come to notice of late years. Yule, referring to water ordeals, says: "I have been told that it was lawful to use the services of practised attorneys in this mode of trial; so that long-winded lawyers have as decided a preference in these regions as they have elsewhere."
Ordeal by U Klong, or by U Klong U Khnam, in the Wár Country.
Of all the ordeals these are the most dreaded by the Khasis. They believe that if a person swears falsely by u klong or u klong u khnam, he will die or, if he represents his family (i.e. wife and children) or his clan (kur), that his family and his clan will die out. Siems, Wahadadars, Lyngdohs, &c., do not order litigants, or even propose to them, to have their cases decided by this ordeal, fearing to incur blame for choosing it, owing to possible evil consequence thereafter to the parties. One of the parties must propose and the other must accept the ordeal, of their own accord and in open Court or Durbar. A gourd (u klong) containing fermented rice (ka sohpoh) is provided, and a feathered arrow with a barbed iron head is planted in the fermented rice. The following is the procedure:—
The person who wishes to take the oath brings a gourd of fermented rice, or a gourd with an arrow stuck in it, as the case may be, and makes it over to the judge, or a deputy appointed by such judge for this duty. The latter, before returning it to him, invokes the goddess as follows:—
"Come down, and bear witness, thou goddess who reignest above and below, who createst man, who placest him (on earth), who judgest the right and the wrong, who givest him being and stature, (i.e.) life. Thou goddess of the State, thou goddess of the place, who preservest the village, who preservest the State, come down and judge. If this man's cause be unrighteous, then shall he lose his stature (being), he shall lose his age (life), he shall lose his clan, he shall lose his wife and children; only the posts of his house shall remain, only the walls of his house shall remain, only the small posts and the stones of the fireplace shall remain; he shall be afflicted with colic, he shall be racked with excruciating pains, he shall fall on the piercing arrow, he shall fall on the lacerating arrow, his dead body shall be carried off by kites, it shall be carried off by the crows, his family and his clan shall not find it; he shall become a dog, he shall become a cat, he shall creep in dung, he shall creep in urine, and he shall receive punishment at thy hands, oh, goddess, and at the hands of man. If, on the other hand, his cause be righteous (lit. lada u kren hok) he shall be well, he shall be prosperous, he shall live long, he shall live to be an elder, he shall rise to be a defender and preserver of his clan, he shall be a master of tens and a master of hundreds (immensely rich), and all the world shall see it. Hear, oh, goddess, thou who judgest." (The whole of this invocation is uttered while a libation is poured out from u klong.)
U klong is next invoked as follows:—
"Thou, u klong, with whose assistance—according to our religion and our custom, a man when he is born into the world is named—hear and judge. If he speaks falsely (his cause be false), his name shall be cut off (by thee) and he shall surely die."
The fermented rice is then invoked as follows:—
"Thou yeast, thou charcoal, thou rice of the plough, thou rice of the yoke, thou, too, hear and judge. If he speaks falsely, eat off his tongue, eat away his mouth."
The arrow is lastly invoked as follows:—