IAWPAW (Krem)

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

What appears to represent a (former?) Pagan temple cave sacred to the mother goddess Ka Iawpaw is said to be found somewhere on Lum Iawpaw, her prominent table hill above the village of Nongnah (N25°15'57”: E091°19'33” WGS84: ca. 1020 m asl). ETYMOLOGY: The compound Khasi expression -shnong ka Iaw-Paw- (village of Lady Death) translates literally into the village on the top of the hill where ka Iaw-Paw dwells (SINGH, N 1906: 80). The noun -ka iawpaw- stands for a grave --an allegory of death. The story runs that whoever goes into her village never returns. Unacknowledged informants (no names mentioned) translated in December 2002 Lum Iawpaw (Iawpaw's Hill) into what Barbara am Ende interpreted as Great Grandmother Appearance Mountain or Plateau of Death on (accessed 2003.03.27). CULTURAL HISTORY - cave legend: There is a folkstory according to which ka Iawpaw (a pagan mother goddess?) appears in the entrance to her cave (Kharpran Daly 2002.12.1, personal communication).