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Chapter Eleven. Sacred Chiefs |
| caption: |
house of the Ang of Longkhai and carvings - snake devouring a frog; sexual motifs |
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Other posts of the men's house bore carvings of animals, and Mauwang showed me proudly one of his latest works: the high relief of a snake in the act of devouring a frog. Here too sexual motifs were numerous and there can be no doubt that they aimed at enhancing in a magical way the fertility of the inhabitants. On the open space before the house of the Ang there were two stone seats: great round slabs on a support of rough boulders. The larger seat was used by the Ang of Mon when he visited Longkhai and the smaller by Mauwang himself. No commoner and none of the men of Small Ang clan would ever sit on these thrones. The Ang of Mon was the overlord of a whole group of villages which included Longkhai; indeed Mauwang belonged to the chiefly house of Mon. |
