The Seven Huts (first human clans)
Khasi · mortal · time of origins (descent of the first clans) · Recorded classification
Collective first-ancestor tier (the founding human clans), classed as mortal per the first-ancestor distinction. This is the central Khasi origin myth foregrounded in this batch. The full formula Hynñiew Trep Hynñiew Skum means 'seven huts, seven nests/roots' (skum = nest); the ñ uses the Khasi Roman letter for the palatal nasal. Sex varies (the families comprised both). Gurdon 1907 records the cosmogony and the tree-felling.
Domains
- first ancestry and clan origin
- stewardship of the earth
Powers
- descend the golden bridge to keep the earth
- fell the sacred tree and lose the way to heaven
Relations
- descendant of: Creator GodThe Seven Huts are of the sixteen heavenly families of God; the seven descended to earth by the golden ladder on Sohpetbneng. Expressed as descent, not parentage, since they emerge as clans, not begotten individuals.P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis (1907) (secondary)
Sources
- The Hynñiew Trep ('Seven Huts/Nests') are the seven primordial human families who, of sixteen heavenly families, descended a golden bridge at Lum Sohpetbneng to keep the earth, becoming the ancestors of the Khasi.: P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis, Macmillan, 1907 (ethnography)
- The bridge between heaven and earth was lost when the sacred iei tree at Sohpetbneng was felled, severing humankind from direct access to God.: P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis, 1907 (ethnography)