Abstract
CARVED STONES IN ASSAM.—In vol. 20, New Series, No. 5 of the Journal, and Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Dr. J. H. Hutton gives some further notes on two groups of carved menhirs in Assam, one at Dimapur in the Dhansiri Valley and another, which is scarcely known, at Kasomari-patbar near Jamuguri in the Dayang Valley. Adjacent to the latter are remains, previously undescribed, consisting of a couple of carved stones and a broad upright slab surrounded, by the remains of a brick wall. One of the stones is carved into a hollow like a basin. Outside its rim is a trough ending in a spout. The second, an oblong stone, is carved into a wedge-shaped trough. The upright slab, at the foot of which a hollow has been excavated, is broken at the top at a point originally pierced by two round holes. As the basin must have been connected with a libation ceremony, it is possible that an offering was poured through the two holes as is done by the Angami to-day in the lisü ceremony at which wooden phallic symbols, corresponding to the monoliths at Dimapur, are erected. The Kasomari monoliths presumably are also phallic, or connected with fertility, as is shown by two pairs of"domes on one stone which undoubtedly represent breasts.
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Research Items. Nature 116, 589–590 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116589a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116589a0