Sacred Number, Sacred Geometry

and
Exploring the ‘Sacred’ in Karbi Ontology
Dharamsing Teron
Email: terondspost@gmail.com

Introduction -
Karbi traditional belief system is rooted in prominent features such as worship of ancestor and a host
of benevolent and malevolent spirits. In Karbi vernacular religion, spaces and landscapes are revered as
sacred which are guarded by unseen spirits and are shared by inanimate and animate beings. Creation
myths of the universe, rituals of worships and death are loaded with the sacred symbols of Nine. The
reverence and worship of the main ‘pillar of the house’ and the belief in the ‘navel of the earth’ are
important aspects of Karbi worldview. Placenta is held as sacred and it is associated with the myth of the
origin of Jambili Athon, a Karbi version of the ‘tree of life.’ The concept of ‘thekar’, which is associated
with the keeping or observance of purity, is the most important ritual in Karbi religious practices, so much
so that the people are known as the ‘thekar kibi aso’ or the ‘keeper of purity’.
A worldview is created to ‘give a sense of order and control to life’ which ‘explains the creation of
life and provides a means for maintaining and renewing it.’(Bassie-Sweet, Karen, 2008; 53) The term
worldview is applied here in the sense that ‘All peoples, regardless of whether they are labeled
“primitive” or “modern,” have described the world. They can be said to have a “worldview.”’(Cordova,
2007; 61) For the purpose of the present discussion, the term worldview is applied to understand the
cultural universe of the Karbis and how they relate to the implications of sacred numbers and the
phenomenon known as ‘sacred geometry’ in their folk belief. It hardly needs emphasis that ‘Geometry
exists everywhere in nature: its order underlies the structure of all things from molecules to galaxies; from
the smallest virus to the largest whale.’(Pennick, 1980; 7) Researchers assert that ‘the people in Inner
Asia are typically numerological in their shamanic rituals and cosmography’(Wang, 2011; 91-127), and
Karbi religious worships seem to be similarly influenced and guided by particular numbers. There seems
to be a convergence of opinions among noted scholars that the ‘numbers three, seven, and nine…are
replete with symbolic meanings across cultures.’ (Wang, 2011) In the words of Eliade, ‘the universe in
general is conceived as having three levels – sky, earth, underworld – connected by central axis.’(Eliade,
1964; 259)
Ritual worships that are practiced today reveal some vital and interesting traces of the
philosophical construct of the Karbi ontology. This brief discussion is however only concerned with some
recurring practices and the use of symbols associated with existing rituals which are validated by sacred
verses.

Thekar and the Belief in the Sacred–

Karbis call themselves the keepers of the tradition of ‘thekar’- an act of spiritual ‘purification’. Every
religious Karbi worship is accompanied by the ritual performance of ‘thekar’ in order to purge or chase
away evil influences and to invite or summon the ‘sacred’. The ‘sacred’ in Karbi sense is expressed by the
term – ‘kangthir’, which may also means the act of consecration. Conceptually, ‘thekar’ is not confined to
the inherent duality of pure and impure, sacred and profane. The opposite of ‘kangthir’ is ‘kangthir-the’,

1
or ‘not sacred’. In ritual language, what is ‘profane’ or ‘not sacred’ is expressed by the term ‘ningni-
ning’ot kepadam’ or the ‘purging of the impure’. However, various rituals are performed to purge the
impure in a wider sense. Therefore, both the ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ co-exist in the same parallel. A
traditional Karbi worship is therefore performed in a venue which is situational and is not fixed.
Temporary earthen altar and ritual paraphernalia are sanctified before the commencement of a worship at
the randomly selected venue. Every space or landscape has an unseen protector spirit and treated as
sacred, and therefore propitiated annually or when indicated. Certain spaces are ‘identified as arnam keso
or under the spell of an “angry god” and are therefore sacred or sanctified…’(Teron, 2018; 68)
Purification rituals are many and segmented to deal with various circumstances of the ‘impurities’. Tigers
are feared and in a situation when any person killed or devoured by a tiger is regarded as ‘longle kerem’
(lit. defeated earth) and such a person cannot be reborn even after purification. However, there is a class
of tiger priests known as ‘Ucha’ who must lead and maintain a Spartan lifestyle that is regulated by a
strict do’s and don’ts. Tiger priests are also tiger tamers who propitiate the tiger spirits annually.

Sacred Numbers in Karbi Ontology-

Karbi belief system employs a series of numbers which are held as sacred. The use of numbers in
divinations, ritual worships and healing practices is numerous. The numbers 3, 5, 6, 9 and 12 are
frequently used. These sacred numbers are deeply ingrained in Karbi philosophy of life. But the most
prominent sacred number is 9 (nine) which manifests in various ways in Karbi ritual/religious practices.
Many ancient cultures subscribe to the belief that the world is standing on one or many pillars. For
instance, both Hindu (Varenne, 1989; 21) and Judaic traditions (Schwartz, 2004; 96) speak of ‘cosmic
pillars’ on which the universe stands. There are many theories and versions too. A version of the Karbi
creation myths speaks of the earth as standing on ‘Nine’ cosmic pillars referred to as ‘Nujok
Sirkep/Nujam Sirkep’ across ‘Nine Breadths and Nine Lengths’ - ‘Arpan Sirkep/Arjon Sirkep’, which are
bound together by ‘Nine Black Yarns’ and ‘Nine White Yarns’, referred to as ‘Tak’ik Sirkep/Tak’lok
Sirkep’.
The protective spirit of the house, called ‘Peng’, is kept in a woven basket (ton) and placed on the
entrance to the inner quarter of the house. The bottle gourd (bongkrok) symbolically representing ‘Peng’
is placed over Nine fistfuls of rice inside the ‘ton’ (small woven basket). Similarly, in the annual
propitiation of Peng, the spirit is offered Nine fistfuls of soaked rice over a banana leaf placed on a
slightly raised earthen mound used as the altar. The worship concludes with a prayer, the main feature of
which is the reference to the sacred number, Nine. Peng is an ‘other than human entity’ which is
universally propitiated by Karbis in annual worship of ‘Hem Angtar’, the guardian spirits of a household.
In the annual worship of Chojun, ancestor spirits and a host of spirit deities are propitiated. Arnam
Kethe, the most Exulted One in the Karbi pantheon, is worshipped during Chojun. The altar dedicated to
Arnam Kethe is full of the symbolisms of the sacred number of Nine. In fact, the entire processes of
Chojun employ the Nine symbolisms very prominently.
The sacred number nine is also associated with death rituals. The deceased is symbolically tied to a
pole (bier) by nine strands of bamboo cordages. The bamboo stretcher used to carry the deceased to the
cremation is built like a dola or palanquin which has four sides with two horizontal bamboo posts. The
floor of the ‘dola’ is constructed with nine bamboo splits and the four sides or walls also have five and
four bamboo splits respectively facing each other that combine to nine. A purification ritual of the
household is performed three days after cremation.

2
 A purification ceremony called ‘Klongklo a’Thekar’ is performed for a new born and six white yarns
are tied to its right wrist. For a female baby, five white yarns are tied to her left wrist.

Miringrang and the Sacred Labyrinth -

Miringrang is a sacred symbol used during ‘chomangkan’, the traditional Karbi funeral festival.
Colored threads of red, white, and black, in that order, or white, black, and red, are strung around a pair of
bamboo sticks forming a ‘plus’ sign giving the miringrang a geometrical shape of a rectangle. In Karbi
ontology, miringrang is a symbol of life, death and rebirth, and a doorway between the world of the living
and the dead – a liminal space. The sacred symbol of the labyrinth is placed over the effigies of the dead.
Chomangkan also involves a complex ritual process that dramatizes the momentary reanimation of the
deceased ancestors for whom the festival is held. Each effigy is the reanimated representation of the dead
person.
The symbol is also placed at the ‘door’ of miniature houses called ‘vothung chopat’ for each of the
dead constructed at the cremation ground during chomangkan. Significantly, this miringrang so placed at
the ‘door’ symbolizes a liminal space between life, death and regeneration. It is a universal symbol
through which ‘people desire the divine world and wish to identify life and death with the cosmos.’(Zou,
2012;80-95) The Charhepi, the female dirge singer, sings the most elaborate and lengthy of all Karbi oral
verses during a chomangkan, to guide the soul of the dead through a journey to the ‘village of ancestors’
(phu-phi arong). The labyrinth symbolism is regarded as the representation of a ‘journey through life,
death and rebirth, the spiritual journey…’(Rian Evans, 2004;91)

Jambili Athon and the ‘Tree of Life’ –

The ‘Tree of Life’, which is a universal concept, has a parallel in Jambili Athon in Karbi tradition.
According to a version of the origin of Jambili Athon, a species of tree known as ‘Bengvoi Ke’er’
(Wrightia Coccinea Sim.) germinated from the buried placenta of a baby boy. The placenta itself is
sometimes regarded as the tree of life.(Eisenbruch, 1997;105) The tree was sculpted into a Jambili Athon
with a central axis (athonpi) on top of which a racket-tailed drongo, locally known as ‘Voraju’, sat
majestically. The main axis of the Jambili Athon has several segments with designs sculpted into it with
cultural motifs. There are four smaller branches, at least 2 feet below from the drongo, sprouting out of
the main axis at a reclining angle of 45 degrees from four equidistant corners, each with four smaller birds
sitting atop. Towards the base of the axis, at least 3 feet from the ground, another set of four smaller birds
sprout from four corners, making the total number of birds to nine. The Jambili Athon carries a universal
symbolism of interdependence and inter-connectedness of lives and their being rooted to the earth that
sustains all. It is common knowledge that - ‘Most ancient cultures have a Tree of Life concept in which
all organisms on Earth are connected, intertwined, as are branches and leaves on a tree.’(Soltis & Soltis,
2019; xi) E O James has explained that –
‘If at first it was maternity that held the field with the life-producing mother and the symbolism of
the Tree of Life as central figure in its personification and imagery, the extension of the process
and vivification to the dead brought the mystery of death into relation with that of birth and
fertility. Therefore, throughout its long and checkered history the theme of the Tree of Life has
always been connected with the cult of the dead in its various aspects.’(James, 1996; 201)

There are at least three different versions of the sacred origin of the Jambili Athon each
demonstrating slight variations, but they nevertheless point to the sculpted artifact being exclusively

3
associated with the funeral festival. In fact, the Jambili Athon is an unavoidable ritual object in
‘Chomangkan’. Without the presence of Jambili Athon, a Karbi funeral festival cannot be held. The
elaborate Karbi chomangkan is a celebration of life, death and regeneration when gestures and verbal
communications loaded with explicit sexual and erotic contents are sanctioned for the entire duration of
the festivity. In fact, the entire festivity has erotic and sexual connotations expressed through dances,
songs and dramatized performances which bring in to play ‘human fertility and sexual symbolism ...a
theme often encountered in funeral rites.’(William and Ladwig, 2012; 16) However, Jambili Athon,
which is recognized and accepted as the universal symbol of Karbi identity, is taboo under the Killing
cultural/administrative jurisdiction. The object cannot be used, under any circumstances, not even during
the chomangkan, within the geographical boundary of Killing region which is strictly adhered to this day.

Nujokpi, Navel of the Earth, and ‘Axis Mundi’-

Karbis believe that the earth has a centre which is referred to as ‘longle-achete’ or the ‘naval of the
earth’. The secretive chant of ‘Hoi’ and the migration myth of ‘Mosera’ have references to the ‘naval of
the earth’ from where the Karbi ancestors migrated in mythical antiquity. The universal concept of the
axis mundi ‘…in its generic, anthropological sense…’ (Van der Sluijs, 2011; 50) finds some connections
with the Karbi worship of ‘nujokpi’ or ‘numpe’ – the main pillar of a house that is of immense cultural
and religious significance. The regular worship of the main pillar is still practiced among majority of
Karbis of Guwahati proper. Among the Karbis of the hills, a raised traditional house is supported by nine
pillars, with special religious, cultural and ritual significance attached to the one in the middle. The space
around the middle pillar is a restricted zone privy only to the owner of the household, or someone who is
the highest in the clan hierarchy or descent, or someone who is offered the rare privilege to share or
occupy the space. The sacred symbolism of the number Nine, and the central pillar or axis of the Karbi
house all point towards a deeper ontological significance.

Conclusion:
Many older traditional practices have gone out of fashion today. Traces of these practices can only
be found in ritual songs much of which have remained undocumented, or have vanished. The few
documented and printed versions are yet to receive any academic attention. The idea of the ‘sacred’ has
also acquired many newer interpretations. The idea of ‘profanity’ is subsumed within the broader ideas of
avoidance or taboo which is ‘aker’ in Karbi ontology. The commission of ‘aker’ is understood as the
violation of the ideas of avoidance. Since there is no equivalent term for ‘sin’ in Karbi vocabulary, the
violation of ‘aker’ or taboos is held as the commission of ‘sin’. Impurity in the spiritual sense is broadly
expressed by the term ‘Ningni-ning’ot’ which in the current ritual usages is equated with the Assamese
term ‘suwa’. But conceptually, this borrowed term that does not reflect or cover the Karbi ideas of
impurity. For instance, there is no taboo among Karbis about menstruation. Another borrowed term that is
in current ritual usage is ‘shani’, which is associated only with unnatural deaths. The ‘bad planetary
condition’ in Karbi sense is confined only to unnatural deaths and such victims are purified. A bad death
is broadly called ‘thi-phalangno’ in Karbi usage and the purification ritual has many stages, the
preliminary stage known as ‘munso kepadam’ which only involves the cutting of an ‘egg’.
In older time, a house built necessarily carried the sacred symbolism of Nine. In many traditional
stilt houses built and in use across NC Hills by Karbis, they continue the practice of erecting nine pillars
assigning the central one with multiple ontological meanings and significance. Traces of the practice are
also found in the ritual to identify a constructed house in a ritual called ‘hemthur kelang’. The formal

4
occupation of a new house is accompanied by a purification ritual known as ‘Arbung-Arphe ahi’i kiti’,
which is performed unavoidably. The worship of the main pillar of the house was prevalent among older
generations of Karbis. The ‘mehip’ or ‘fireplace’ is held as sacred, so also the ‘noksek’ where the
sacrificial sword is kept. The entrance to a Karbi house, guarded by the guardian spirit, Peng, is held as
sacred and therefore, it is restricted. The violation of this code requires purification and this practice is
still in force in many areas.
The western notion of the sacred and the profane cannot be used as a yardstick to understand and
interpret the Karbi ideas of purity or impurity indiscriminately.

Bibliography –

1. Bassie-Sweet, Karen, 2008 – Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities, University of
Oklahoma Press, Norman
2. Cordova, VF – ‘How It Is – The Native American Philosophy of VF Cordova’; The University of
Arizona Press, 2007.
3. Pennick, Nigel, 1980- Sacred Geometry-Symbolism and Purpose in Religious Structures;
Turnstone Press Ltd., Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
4. Wang, Penglin, 2011 – The Power of Numbers in Shamanism: A Patterned Explanation of
Shaman Names in Inner Asia; Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 55, No. 1; Harrassowitz Verlag
5. Eliade, Mircea, 1964 – Shamanism – Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy; Arkana, Penguin Books
6. Teron, Dharamsing – ‘Angry Gods’ and the Ecological Tradition in Ecocriticism and
Environment – Rethinking Literature and Culture edited by Debashree Dattaray and Sarita
Sharma, Primus Books, 2018
7. Varenne, Jean, 1989 – Yoga and the Hindu Tradition, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi
8. Schwartz, Howard, 2004 – Tree of Souls, The Mythology of Judaism; Oxford University Press
9. Zou, Hui,– The Idea of Labyrinth (Migong) in Chinese Building Tradition; Source – The Journal
of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 46, No. 4 and Published by the University of Illinois Press; (2012)
10. Rian Evans, Abigail – Healing Liturgies for the Seasons of Life, Westminster John Knox Press,
Louisville, London; (2004)
11. Eisenbruch, M – The Cry for the Lost Placenta: Cultural Bereavement and Cultural Surviving
among Cambodians... in Miranda van Tilburg and Ad Vingerhoets edited ‘Psychological Aspects
of Geographical Moves’ (1997), Amsterdam Academic Archive, Tilburg University Press,
Tilburg
12. Soltis, Douglas E & Soltis, Pamela S, 2019 – The Great Tree of Life, Academic Press (An
Imprint of Elsevier)
13. James, EO, 1966 – The Tree of Life: An Archaeological Study, EJ Brill, Leiden
14. Williams, Paul and Ladwig, Patrice (ed.), 2012 – Buddhist Funeral Cultures of Southeast Asia
and China, Cambridge University Press
15. Van Der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony, 2011 – Traditional Cosmology, Volume 1, All-Round
Publications