{"id":"SASIA-001","label":"Khasi Hills bamboo bullroarer","people_or_site":"Khasi / Khasia","country_current":"India","historic_region":"Khasi Hills","macroregion":"South Asia / Northeast India","local_name":"","source_term":"bamboo bull-roarer","source_language":"English","object_description":"A bamboo bullroarer 310 mm long, with its string attached, from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills; Roy's 1928 plate shows a second, 15-inch roarer from the same hills.","function_summary":"Believed to cause pestilence.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"PRM_1927_KHASIA_HILLS_BULLROARER","source_type":"annual_report","source_url":"https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/228-1927-annual-report.html","page_or_plate":"1927 Annual Report, Accessions presented by J.H. Hutton | Roy 1928, plate (Hutton specimens), item 4; PRM 1923.85.447","map_confidence":"medium","plot_status":"plot_with_caveat","coordinate_basis":"Shillong/Khasi Hills public regional anchor not museum","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"A bamboo blade from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills was believed, when swung on its cord, to carry pestilence into the hills — a bullroarer remembered not as play but as a bringer of sickness.","pull_quote":"bamboo bull-roarer, Khasia Hills","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Annual Report 1927, accessions presented by J. H. Hutton","term_gloss":"","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Annual Report 1927, accessions presented by J. H. Hutton","url":"https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/228-1927-annual-report.html","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20240222114106/https://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/sma/index.php/museum-annual-reports/228-1927-annual-report.html"},{"citation":"S. C. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (Ranchi, 1928), plate 'Bull-roarers in use among the Nagas of Assam', item 4","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215147/page/n29/mode/2up"},{"citation":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.85.447","url":"https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39600","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260917174840/https://prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39663"},{"citation":"William Shaw, Notes on the Thadou Kukis, ed. J. H. Hutton (1929), p. 156","url":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.500398"}],"source_citations":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Annual Report 1927, accessions presented by J. H. Hutton; S. C. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (Ranchi, 1928), plate 'Bull-roarers in use among the Nagas of Assam', item 4; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.85.447; William Shaw, Notes on the Thadou Kukis, ed. J. H. Hutton (1929), p. 156","source_display":"Pitt Rivers Museum, Annual Report 1927, accessions presented by J. H. Hutton; S. C. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (Ranchi, 1928), plate 'Bull-roarers in use among the Nagas of Assam', item 4; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 1923.85.447; William Shaw, Notes on the Thadou Kukis, ed. J. H. Hutton (1929), p. 156","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"A bamboo bullroarer 310 mm long, with its string attached, from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills; Roy's 1928 plate shows a second, 15-inch roarer from the same hills.","function_display":"Believed to cause pestilence.","confidence_display":"medium","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"khasi","display_name":"Khasi Hills bamboo bullroarer","image":{"full":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/SASIA-001_prm_1923_85_447.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/review_2026_07_15/thumbs/SASIA-001_prm_1923_85_447_thumb.jpg","credit":"Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford (1923.85.447)","license":"© Pitt Rivers Museum — non-commercial/educational reuse with attribution","source_page":"https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-39600","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Bamboo bullroarer from the Jaintia and Khasi Hills.","additional":[{"full":"assets/objects/shared_roy1928_ill17_assam.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/shared_roy1928_ill17_assam_thumb.jpg","alt":"Roy’s 1928 plate of six bullroarers from the Assam hills, suspended by cords from rods; no. 4 is the slim plain blade from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills.","credit":"S. C. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs (1928), illustration 17 — specimens supplied by J. H. Hutton","license":"Public domain (published 1928)","source_page":"https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.215147","rehosted":true,"representative":false,"caption":"Roy’s 1928 plate of bull-roarers from the Assam hills; no. 4 is from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills."}]},"slug":"sasia-001-khasi-khasia"}