Ri‐thlen
Lit., “snake‐keeping”. It is a terrible kind of sorcery practised at Cherrapoonjee in the Khasi‐Hills. The former is the ancient capital of the latter. As the legend tells us : ages ago a thlen (serpent‐dragon) which inhabited a cavern and devoured men and cattle was put to death by a local St. George, and cut to pieces, every piece being sent out to a different district to be burnt. But the piece received by the Khasis was preserved by them and became a kind of household god, and their descendants developed into Ri‐thlens or “snake keepers”, for the piece they preserved grew into a dragon (thlen) and ever since has obsessed certain Brahmin families of that district. To acquire the good grace of their thlen and save their own lives, these “keepers” have often to commit murders of women and children, from whose bodies they cut out the toe and finger nails, which they bring to their thlen, and thus indulge in a number of black magic practices connected with sorcery and necromancy. (TG).
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- Quotes: H. P. Blavatsky
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Shortly: Lit., “snake‐keeping”. It is a terrible kind of sorcery practised at Cherrapoonjee in the Khasi‐...