Long years ago, when humans were still hunting and foraging for food, there lived a man named Pengdorje. He would go into the forest looking for animals to hunt. He would find a game that the bounty of nature abundantly provided in the forest. On some occasions, he would return empty-handed. He met a woman, and they fell in love.
One day as he was walking in the forest to hunt, he saw a Danphe bird (Monal Pheasant) dancing around to entertain its mate. He kept watching the beautiful dance of the bird with rapt attention. Suddenly, a wild goat appeared near Pengdorje. He immediately shot the goat with his arrow and killed it.
It had been days since Pengdorje had eaten a proper meal. He immediately lit up a fire and roasted the goat meat above it. He stayed alone deep in the forest, hunting, and feasting. Over time, the goatskin had dried up in the sun. As he picked up the goatskin, he realized that it could make a sound when slapped. He chopped off a Bahunia tree and built a rounded frame. He placed the goat leather over it and strapped it with thirty-two bamboo spikes. As he banged on the instrument he created, it sounded beautiful, and he started to sing and dance to its beat.
Meanwhile, Pengdorje’s lover had begun to worry. It had been a long time since she hadn’t seen him. She ventured into the forest to look for him. As she was walking in the deep woods, he could hear the drum beats. She started to follow the sounds. From far she could see Pengdorji beating on his drum, dancing and singing in the forest. Her worries were over, and she went up to Pengdorje, and both of them started to dance together.
The Tamang people believe that this is how the Damphu (traditional Tamang drum) was first conceived.
Once upon a time, there were cordial and close relations between the Hangmangs and Sitmangs. Hangmangs are living beings, and Sitmangs are the dead human spirits. The relationship between these two entities was cordial, and they could see and feel each other. They lived together and also had marital relations with each other. There was no fear or animosity between these two entities. The only difference between these two entities was that any object that was large in the eyes of Sitmang (the dead) would look small in the eyes of Hangmang (the living) and vice versa.
In a village, there was a married couple. The husband was a Hangmang, and the wife was a Sitmang. They lived a quiet and happy life. One day Hangmang decided to visit his inlaws who lived in the next village. When he reached their house, his wife’s relatives were getting ready for a hunt in the forest. Seeing that their son-in-law had arrived, they rejoiced and immediately invited him to accompany them on their hunting expedition. When they reached the entrance to the forest, the relatives left the Hangmang son-in-law there and went deep into the woods in search of game. As the Hangmang son-in-law waited alone at the entrance, a tiny Bagchala (Grey Wagtail Bird) flew past him and entered a bush.
A few moments later, the hunters returned.
They asked him, ‘Have you seen any Yangbak (Wild Boar) come this way?’
For the Hangmang, it looked like a small bird, and so he said,
‘No, but I saw a small Bagchala bird enter that bush.’
‘Oh, that’s what we were searching for. Where did it go?’ asked the hunters.
‘I think I saw it enter this bush,’ said Hangmang, and he beat the bush with a stick. The stick accidentally hit the bird, and it came out of the bush and dropped dead at his feet.
‘Oh, this is it,’ cried the happy hunters. For them, it was a large bird, and with great difficulty, they picked it up and went back to the village.
Back home, they cut up the bird into large pieces. Then they packed a big chunk of the bird’s legs and gave it to Hangmang as a gift for their daughter. He took it back to his wife and opened the packed meat, and roasted it on the fire. As he was giving the bird meat to his wife, it slipped out of his hand and landed upon his wife’s legs. But for the Sitmang wife, it was much larger, and its weight crushed her legs. Soon the news of this incident spread across the village, and it reached the Sitmang wife’s relatives.
Both the Sitmangs and the Hangmangs decided that they could not live together as it would cause practical problems in their world. The Hangmangs declared, “Our rituals, traditions are different which have caused problems between our societies. We must have a pact that we shall never cross each other’s paths and live in our respective worlds. Let Hangmangs stay with their kind and let Sitmangs stay with theirs. We will not talk to each other, nor shall we meet. Let our worlds become demarcated by the Bahibak (Castanopsis). Let the boundaries created by the Bahibak be always respected.”
Everyone agreed. So the realms of the Hangmangs and the Sitmangs were divided. Bahibak became a symbol of this boundary between the two worlds. Since the Kirati Khambu people are nature worshippers, they worship seasonal flora and fauna, hills and valleys in the form of divine spirits and their ancestors. For most rituals from birth till death, they make use of Bahibak (Castanopsis).
Every great civilization has experienced an intrinsic need to own a calendar. Sometimes this necessity isn’t just to document solar or lunar cycles, seasonal changes, and find appropriate dates. It is also because a calendar’s presence helps define the glorious history of a people and exhibit that history to the world. For the Kiratis, who had ruled the Nepal valley (Kathmandu) for 1903 years (Gopalavamshali) and have found mention in countless manuscripts and chronicles across the world, a calendar commemorating their reign and history had become an important, albeit an exaggerated need. Hence, Yele Samvat (Yele Neri) was introduced a decade ago.
Yele Samvat is the name of the Kirati calendar and Yele Dong, the New Year, means the year of Yalambar. It is named after the first Kirati King Yalam, who initiated the Kirati dynasty that lasted for almost two millennia. About a decade ago, Kirati Khambu Rai organizations from Nepal, Darjeeling, and Sikkim came together to invent a Calendar that would be called Yele Neri or Yele Samvat. The calendar’s first date was chosen on the presumed day that Yalambar had marched into the Nepal valley, defeated the Mahisapala King Nimisa, and established the Kirati dynasty.
Of course, the date and year are highly debatable as history during that period wasn’t documented all too well. Much of Kirati history in the Himalayas rely upon a single manuscript named Gopalavamshali which mentions that the year Yalambar ascended the throne wasn’t some 5000 years ago but falls close to around 1750 BCE. However, in 2021, the Yeledong year is 5081 and how the organizations came up with the specific date and year of Yalambar’s consolidation of the Kirat Empire is a mystery. There is also no evidence that Yalambar conquered the Nepal valley on the first day of the month of Magh.
While innocent Khambus have accepted this calendar without questioning its reliability or need, most remain confused regarding the Yele Dong New Year date. The first day of the year was chosen to coincide with the Hindu festival of Maghe Sankranti but that has created a massive misunderstanding among gullible Khambus. Maghe Sankranti is the Nepali equivalent to the Hindu Makar Sankranti, a solar-related event. In contrast, all Khambu events, festivals, and rituals are observed according to the lunar cycles. Perhaps there were logical reasons behind the choice of this particular date but for the common Khambus this has become a confusing event and a large number of them have come to believe that Maghe Sankranti is a Kirati festival.
Yele Samvat, which was initiated by modern human intervention has a limited social context among Kirati Khambus. We do not see any major social celebration or events of significance linked to this calendar. Most Khambus don’t even know at any given day in a year as to what date of Yele Dong it is. This is perhaps the reason why Khambus have started to believe that the Hindu Maghe Sankranti is their festival instead of simply celebrating it as the New Year.
For the Hindus, Makar Sankranti, also called Uttarayan, marks the end of winter. It is the period in which the sun enters the zodiac sign of Capricorn (Makar) which marks the end of winter months and the beginning of longer days. Such a festival or occasion doesn’t find mention in any Kirati tradition or the Mundhum (Kirati oral narrative). Khambus have tried to link this occasion to the “Gali Sarap Bagaune” ritual but this ritual can happen on any given date and isn’t a unique Khambu tradition either. Gathering by the river to celebrate it creates further confusion because it’s prevalent among the Hindus to observe the ritualistic Makar immersion/dip during Maghe Sankranti.
There is no doubt that in many South Asian countries, especially where Hinduism had at some point in history been dominant, the first day of Magh is considered auspicious. To the Kiratis, who had always looked at seasonal changes in nature and lunar cycles to create a timekeeping system, a solar event wasn’t particularly significant. If the first day of the Yele Samvat calendar has been fixed and changing it would become more confusing, it is up to the Khambus to understand and inform that the celebration of Yeledong has got nothing to do with Maghe Sankranti.
Today, the Yele Samvat calendar doesn’t hold any social relevance among the Khambus. Sakela, which is the biggest festival of the Kirati Khambus, follows the Bikram Samvat calendar. Rawa and Nuagi too, do not correspond to Yele Samavat. So if the Khambu Rai community collectively, does not demonstrate any traditional, emotional or intellectual response to this new calendar, its relevance perhaps only attempts to answer to a persistent identity crisis. Granted, it is important but a successful propagation of a cultural event must also be viewed through the prism of distinctiveness and authenticity. However, this calendar has failed to exude that.
Among innumerable Khambus, who have spent their lives predisposed to Hindu ideology, creating cultural awareness demands caution and responsibility. Yeledong is supposed to respond to the impact of organized religions upon Khambu tribal culture in a way that reflects and asserts identity and relevance through Kirati history and its glory. It should have played a role in providing an exalted narrative and facilitating a sense of agency, which could have allowed the tribe to form a coherent sense of self. But it’s the year 5081 and many Khambus are more confused than ever!
As Yalambar conquered Nepal valley (Kathmandu) beginning from Sangha (East Kathmandu) to Gokarna (north Kathmandu), he consolidated his empire completely by taking over Jolpringram (modern-day Thankot) in around 1700 B.C (Date Source: calculated according to Gopala Vamshali). Thankot was named “Jolpringram” by the Kiratas. The word “gram” used as a suffix in the name “Jolpringram” suggests that it was an important town during the Kirata era.
The Kiratas also used the term “Pringa” to denote any settlement or village on a “hill”. The name “Jol-prin-gram” uses both the suffixes respectively, “Pringa” and “gram”. Needless to say, anyone who has ever been to Kathmandu knows that Thankot is located on a hill. When the Lichhavis took over the Nepal valley, they also took over already existing Kirata towns and made it their own. The Lichhavis changed the name “Jolpringram” to “Jayapalikagram” and made it their trade hub. Thus, most towns of the Kirata era are today important centers of modern Kathmandu.
There isn’t many historical data from which we can derive what the Nepal valley Kiratas were like in ancient times. There are a few documents and Lichhavi inscriptions from which we can decipher their social and religious understanding. It is certain that the Kiratas spoke a very distinctive language that didn’t have any relation with the Sanskrit language of the Lichhavi people. The word “gram” in Lichhavi inscriptions is of Sanskrit origin but the word “Pringa” isn’t. So we can fairly ascertain that the word gram was a suffix added by the Lichhavis. The word Pringa, is believed to have changed into “Pang” today, which is a popular word among the modern Kiratis, which means village.
We can safely assume that the words for the three prominent cities during the time must have been Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. Lichhavi inscriptions mention that there was a city named Yala (which must have been Patan) and Khopringga, which was Bhaktapur. Even today, Newars call these cities Ya, Yala, and Khope.
The Kiratas lived mostly in Gokarna (Ahidumgram), building a palace and in their spare time killing jackals around it. But a number of places in the Kathmandu valley had become important to the Kiratas. Even before the Kiratas moved to Gorkarna and their fortified palace there, Yalambar is believed to have built his capital at the confluence of the Bagmati and Bishnumati rivers. Once he built his palace there, he named it Huwang. Today, the locals know the place as Vadha. While the confluence of these rivers may have shifted to today’s “Teku” (since the rivers significantly dried up), in the ancient days, it was situated around the “Kuleswor/Balkhu” area.
Later on, Patan is where Patuka Hang built his palace, thereby naming the place “Yala” (after Yalambar). Patan itself is a name that comes from Patuka. However up around the Lele region in Lalitpur, there seems to have been a Kirati palace which was destroyed by the Lichhavis to again reconstruct it as their own.
As I mentioned before, Jolpringgram (Thankot) is still of exclusive importance to analyze if we are to know more about the history of the Kiratas. It is important to note that the Lichhavi King Basantadeva left an inscription here which talks about the 18 skills of the Kiratas, also known as the “Astadasa Prakritin”. The 18 skills are as follows:
1. Wood work 2. Mud Brick work 3. Stone Work 4. Pottery 5. Textile 6. Fishing 7. Wool Production 8. Armory & Weaponry 9. Hunting 10. Farming 11. Business 12. Brewing 13. Metal Work 14. Architecture 15. Road/Bridge Building 16. Music 17. Medicine 18. Religious work
Could it be that these 18 skills or Division of Labor was what led the Hindus to develop their own 18 sets of skills or divisions? The Kirata “Astadasa Prakritin” was so influential to the social setup that various dynasties that came after them could not disapprove of it even when the Kiratas had completely left the Kathmandu valley. In fact, they based their social setup on this, and also with the other 18 skills they later developed, the social structure was divided into 36 gilded skills, hence leading to the infamous “Char Jaat, Chattis Varna” in Nepal.
Festivals in the Himalayas have always been a medium through which tribal communities expressed their understanding of the world. It allows them to assert their actions and reactions to social, natural, and environmental circumstances. The idea here is to claim indigenousness and celebrate festivals that have been informed by local sensibilities, practices, and perceptions. For the Newars, this idea is articulated in a way that seems indigenous instantly but where the influence of Hinduism is also largely dominant. Or at least their interpretations are!
Over the many centuries of its journey, Newari traditions have meandered along with a series of religious practices. While these practices are exclusive only to the Himalayas they still have absorbed influences along the way. Perfect examples are set around the Kathmandu region, like the “Ghanta Karna” festival.
Ghanta Karna, often known as Gathemuga or Gathemangal was a ruthless monster who mercilessly killed his victims and was particularly notorious for picking up children and killing them. Ghanta Karna means “Bell Ears”. On each ear, he wears a bell that jingles as he walks. He does that so he can avoid the chants made in the names of the Gods. His depraved sexual orgies and appalling overindulgences with his innumerable wives horrified the pious people of the Kathmandu valley. This festival is about burning the effigy of the monster Ghanta Karna, a manifestation of evil energies, and burning him cleanses the land and helps rejuvenate the spirit of the living.
In Newari belief systems, men and women being haunted by evil spirits, demons, and witches aren’t unfathomable. These spirits, good or bad, roam the lands and even visit homes. In Newari society, the existence of the evil eye, the practitioners of black magic and spells are not considered irrelevant or sources of mere superstition. The festival of Gathemangal, therefore, is still significant to the Newars. The festival falls on the fourteenth day of the dark lunar fortnight in July or early August, which is traditionally the last day of rice transplanting. This is the Night of the Devil when Nepalese celebrate their victory over the most dreaded of all monsters who terrorized the countryside in ancient times.
It is said that the tormented people held a great meeting and together prayed to the old Gods for help. One God complied, appearing amongst them in the guise of a common frog. The frog approached Ghanta Karna and started to imitate and mimic every move of the monster. Enraged at the creature’s insolence, Ghanta Karna leaped towards it, but the frog jumped beyond his reach and jumped into a well, and the monster, thinking victory was his, plunged in after and met his death. Then in a festive procession, the people dragged the gigantic, corpse of the monster to the river for cremation, throwing his ashes into the water, and there was peace in the land again.
Gathemangal festival is in honor of the frog but also about the defeat of the Ghanta Karna. On the day of this festival, in the morning, little children collect money from different homes and erect simple arches and cross made up of tree twigs at the street intersections. They ask for money from all pedestrians who take this route-funds that are used to create a grand mock funeral of the devil. This is done to recreate the funeral of Ghanta Karna where his wives had to enlist little children to beg for funds to cremate their fiendish husband.
Ghanta Karna effigies, made up of bamboo and rice straw, are erected at crossroads around the city, the bordering villages as well, made from leafy bamboo poles, bound near the top to form a tall structure. A painted, frowning face of a monster is affixed to the body. At dusk, an eager crowd gathers around the bamboo effigy awaiting the untouchable Ghanta Karna. Then it is set on fire and dragged toward the river where a final farewell to the Devil is made. The ashes are thrown in the river.
Many Newars also associate the Gathemangal festival with Shinajya, where folklore narrates the story of ghosts and spirits helping the farmers of Kathmandu but these creatures couldn’t be fed enough and had to be burned or drowned. Some associate Ghanta Karna to the Aju Dyo, an incarnation of Lord Bhairav. Today, not much is known about when this festival began but its stories, approach, and performance are unique to Kathmandu and the Newars. The Ghanta Karna festival indicates beyond all doubt that cultural festivals endorse an experience of social inclusion, positive community engagement, and a way to preserve age-old traditions.
The Ghanta Karna festival is one of the few consistently positive events for indigenous Newars to assert a more positive view of themselves, both traditionally and for recognition as a distinct culture in a global context. It is a festival that is more cultural than a religious one, successfully inherited by today’s Newars from their forefathers which is why it is a significant event. Throughout the ages, such festivals have helped maintain cultural integrity and the transfer of tradition to a whole new generation of people.
On the foothills of the beautiful towering mountainside in Central East Nepal, the Upper Helambu Highlands are tucked up against the massive Himalayas and ringed by jungle-covered hills on all sides. This is home to the Hyolmo or Yolmo people, a small tribe, who may look traditionally Tibetan at a glance but actually hold a distinctive individual identity and story. The Helambu Highland which actually derives its name from the Hyolmo people themselves is also one of the best trails for trekking and features regularly in Nepal’s tourism posters and rosters yet the people who live in this region remain marginally unknown to Nepal and the rest of the world.
The main settlements of the Hyolmo people are Melamchi Ghyang, Tarke Ghyang, Sermathang, and Kangyul which together form the region of Helambu. Yolmo or Hyolmo is a community of people who have resided in the Helambu region for many centuries. A sizable minority also live in Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Bhutan and they refer to themselves as “Yolmopa” The term Yolmo in Tibetan means “a place of snow and glaciers”. Anthropologists like Graham E. Clark (A Helambu History) and Naomi Bishop (Himalayan Herders: Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology Series) are of the opinion that the Yolmos arrived in the Helambu region more than 300 years ago from the Kyirong region in Tibet. Their language, although similar to the Sherpas and the Tibetans, bears a close resemblance to the Kyirong-Kagate Tibetan dialect.
The Helambu Highlands
The Yolmos also share a strong affinity with the indigenous Tamangs and the Helambu and Melamchi regional folklore speak about Tamangs being the ones who had initially invited the Yolmos from Tibet. These regional folklores which are oral narratives are stories that explain the ritual dependence of the Tamang upon the Yolmo people because of the latter having ties with religious institutions in Tibet.
Other stories of the Hyolmo, as they communicate and narrate it, is that a powerful tantric master (probably Sakya Zangpo) would frequent between Samye in Tibet and Kathmandu, Nepal, which were power centers of tantric wisdom. Helambu became an important stopover between these two destinations thereby making it a sacred land that provided refuge between these two power centers that revolved around the legend of Yolmo Tulku Shakya Zangpo. Graham E. Clark also writes about how the Yolmo social life is influenced by the vital location of Helambu not only for pilgrimage but also as a trade route.
The Hyolmos are Buddhists with a strong background in Shamanism. Anthropologist Stephen Sparks (Ethnic Minority Development Plan) classifies the Yolmo religious belief system into two groups. One group of Yolmos practices Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism and the other group believes in Shamanism. Their festivals include Lhosar (New Year) and Nara (which fall during the time of Hindu Dashain). The other festivals that the Yolmo people observe are Dukpa Tsechu, Hyulka Tsechu, and Torpe. Much like other hill tribal communities, harvest festivals like Udhauli and Ubhauli are also celebrated by the Yolmo people.
But while the influence of Nyingmapa Buddhism is strong among the Yolmos and defines their religious culture, it isn’t always the crux of their identity and social life. Much like various Himalayan communities, they also have a pre-Buddhist shamanistic spiritual practice. A Hyolmo Shaman is called a Bompo or Bombo, who is a significant ritual expert whose animistic role involves divination, healing, and worship of tutelary deities and divine spirits. Apart from these, a Bompo is also a myth narrator and the upholder of oral narratives passed on by divine ancestors. But there does seem to be a tussle between Shamanistic traditions and Buddhism in Yolmo society.
Much of their folklore deals with the conflict between Bompos and Buddhist Lamas. In his book Landscape, Ritual and Identity among the Hyolmo of Nepal, David Torri writes, “Particular attention is given, in those stories, to the right to perform funeral rites, which, in one way or the other, the shaman is at some point always forced to relinquish. Even today, Hyolmo Bombo, despite claiming formal adherence to Buddhism, still nurture an ambivalent and ambiguous stance towards it, keeping to their tradition, and transmitting their oral lore along continuing spiritual lineages.”
The Yolmo people have many stories to tell. Their stories define the merging of different cultural contexts to evolve into a community that has constructed their identity, their self, according to their own renditions through the ages. From the Helambu Beyul (hidden land) to a significant Himalayan tribe, Yolmo people prevail upon their lore – the verbal expressive narrative deposited in the memories of their people over countless generations. These stories, which embody their knowledge, beliefs, values and which guide their people, form the true identity of their community.
In The Gorkha Soldier, a publication by Major H.R.K Gibbs of the British Army in 1944, he wrote, “the great Magar tribe is divided into seven clans viz:-Ale; Bura or Burathoki; Gharti; Pun; Rana; Roka and Thapa. While Northey and Morris’ famed research titled The Gorkhas, their manners, customs and country had mentioned only six “original” sub-tribes of the Magars in their publication, Gibbs added Roka to his list.
All are equal in social status and inter-clan marriages are usual and normal. A tribe can generally be considered a social section based on a genealogical notion of social structure. This is important to understand while studying sub-tribes – a concept that is more or less localized social units that sets them apart from each other. Often the term lineage is used but within the sub-tribe, there is a whole new clan structure which can be aptly called lineage that is exogamous in nature.
Much needed information about the Magar tribe can be found in the document archives of the British army. The records of the Gurkha regiment has been well documented. Though inter-clan marriages seemed to have been common in the Gurkha regiment, anthropologists say that this was obviously not the case in the villages, especially in the rural zones. There, the group was completely homogenous. This was because different clans of the Magars lived apart from each other. There were no means of communication between those clans and proper roads were uncommon. The clans also spoke unintelligible languages and followed different dietary restrictions.
Eden Vansittart, in Notes of Nepal (1894), also omitted the Buda and Roka Magars claiming that they became Magars not because of ethnicity but by settlement. He claimed that only “Allea, Burathoki, Gharti, Pun, Rana, and Thapa” were real Magars. Today, both Roka and Buda Magars are considered a part of the Magar tribe. Both clans inhabit the Baglung region and inter-clan marriage between them and the other Magar clans are quite common. Today it has been widely accepted that there are seven sub-tribes within the Magar tribe. But within these tribes, there are further branches or lineages that the Magars zealously adhere to.
In his research titled, The Hill Magars and their Neighbors, Jiro Kawakita classified the Magar tribe into two basic clans – 18 Magars and 14 Magars. This classification was done based on linguistic differences between the two groups. A marked distinction in their languages seemed to have come from living in different geographical regions. The 18 Magars live around the North-Western Himalayan region whereas the 14 Magars live around the Gandaki basin and the Terai regions of Lumbini.
Within each of these sub-tribes, there are various lineages that essentially form the Magar tribe. These lineages within the Magar sub-tribes weren’t merely created to demarcate or claim an inheritance. A close analysis of the names of these lineages tells us that many names have come from location, work, skills rather than just patrilineal descent.
Lineage names that come from places and locations seem to be prevalent among the Magars. For example, those Magars who lived close to the Bhuji River came to be called Bhujel Magars. Those who had migrated from Palpa to other places became Palpali Magars. Though such systems hardly fulfill the criteria of being called “lineage”, this practice within the Magar tribe seems normal because the Magars give more importance to the sub-tribe rather than lineage.
Writers like Eden Vansittart called these “lineages” kin groups. It was noticed by Vansittart that many men who aspired to join the British forces would falsify their documents by claiming their own “caste” to be a lineage of the great Magar tribe. “So many tribes nowadays claim to be Magars,” he wrote, “that to definitely settle which are, and which are not, entitled to the name, becomes a matter of great difficulty.”
Vansittart who claimed that only “Allea, Burathoki, Gharti, Pun, Rana, and Thapa” were real Magars said that the Bura Magars were actually a part of the Matwali Khas tribe of the East and not from the actual Magar tribe. However, this observation doesn’t hold much ground because Bura Magars are known to have always been speaking Kham Kura while the Matwali Khas speak Nepali.
Many scholars also believe that to claim to be a kin group of the Magars had always been desirable in the past. And this was not only because of the enticement of joining the British Army in the 19th century. This practice was prevalent as early as the 10th century when Mukunda Sen ruled beyond the western borders of Kathmandu. Mukunda Sen (though not himself a Magar), had hired various soldiers from the Magar tribe and provided position and prestige to the Magar surname. It is also believed that in addition to military prestige they also had a higher social status derived from massive wealth accumulation.
“You live in houses now, we lived in caves then. This was our home”, spoke a deep masculine voice out of a female body which sat in a calm meditative trance. It was like your grandfather telling you stories where you listened, attentive and in awe. This was the experience that I had when I first visited the caves of Thang’kuh in the year exactly ten years before.
Pic: Anil Rai
Located in an idyllic roadside village below Pubong Fatak, enroute Sukhiapokhari, it is about 15 km south west of Darjeeling. It also goes famously by the name ‘Galdang-Guldung’ meaning ‘tumbling or to tumble’ , chiefly because of how the caves are formed, as if the big rocks have tumbled and formed them by landing on top of each other. The Ancestors, however, have a different tale to tell.
Yaboh Sam Sum Chu, the Supreme Ancestor of the five primordial ancestors, explains in an ancient oral discourse, Mundhum, that Yaboh Chendum carried the big rocks with his big bare hands and flew from “Himsekh”, the mountains to shelter the ancestors who had decided to rest here. They spent eons here until one day Yaboh Yanghayang – the Warrior and his consort Yangangini went into Samadhi in one of the caves to return to Sa’mah’yoh, the eternal world
Pic: Anil Rai
“They played here and they made merry, your clan”, continued Yaboh Sam Sum Chu as he stroked his beard from a feminine chin of the Numaang, Sabi Subba, who was still in a meditative state. The beard was invisible to us, a small crowd of believers, seated on the stony floor of the main cave but the stroking was unmistakably precise. I have a similar beard so I know.
“Oh, the playful, the mischievous Yaboh Chyapu would bother the quiet and wise Yaboh Pfapa Sangey”, he reminisced and suddenly exclaimed, “Sa’wa’la!”, signalling for the chöd drum and chöpen to be brought to him. Anil Rai, a long haired attendant of the Numaang, rushed instantly with his head bowed in reverence and on his knees, to hand over the instruments to Yaboh Sam Sum Chu. The atmosphere inside the cave was that of an era that was not of this age. The serene forest cover and the clear blue sky outside complimented the astral experience.
Pic: Anil Rai
Almost abruptly the ringing of a mobile phone from the crowd brought me back to the millennium.
Yaboh Sam Sum Chu wasn’t perturbed by the ringing phone as he continued to sing the Mundhum with a perfect beat of the drums never missing the tempo.
Khambu, a tribe so vast and once so mighty, dispersed in clans (tharrs), languages, now spread across the globe but united with the spirit of Sakela. Albeit not without its own share of the now legendary curse of dissent amongst the multitude of us, to some it is also known as Sakewa, Sakenwa and so on. Khambus of the Himalayan belt have been celebrating Sakela since the legends of Sumnima & Paruhang have been chronicled. Somewhere along the line, we have deviated from receiving the blessings of our ancestors who had worshipped mother nature and the father universe. Since then we have blamed the regime that was, the faith conversions that have followed and in the name of new found Gods, have conveniently forgotten to worship our mother, who has selflessly nurtured us for ages and for generations ever so unfailingly.
Every Khambu must be inquisitive enough to seek an answer for any question that pertains to the very foundation of being Khambu itself. For what are we without our story?
But this is not about how the story begins or how it ends. It is about how the story must continue.
One of the major predicaments of Sakela is in its inability to reach a consensual date of its observation. What was in the past a ritual combined with the time of harvest, nomadic movement of the clan, positioning of the moon and the migratory flights of the birds, is now conveniently observed from the month of Mangshir to the month of Baisakh following less of the tradition apart from the Udhauli and the Ubhauli. Different regions observe Sakela at different dates. Although there is a vast difference in essence, in character, Sakela is similar to the Buddhist festival of Tshechu, which is also observed throughout the year during auspicious months corresponding to the Tibetan lunar Calendar. Like the monks who burn midnight lamps to work out auspicious dates for Tshechus, the Nakchongs of Khambus also task upon themselves to ascertain appropriate time for Sakela.
But unlike the Tshechu which is celebrated in the honor of Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Vajrayana Buddhism in the Himalayas, Sakela is observed in our obeisance to Mother Nature. Like the Tshechus, where the focal point of the ceremony is the Chaam; in Sakela, the Sili takes centerstage to impart us the valuable lessons of life.
With so many clans co-existing together in the Himalayan belt since ages, most of them have succeeded in corresponding their festival to certain calendar dates today. The Khambus have yet to reach a unanimous decision on selecting a calendar date. Hence, by virtue of being a populous Himalayan clan, the dissent has been a boon and bane.
It may seem discordant to observe a five month long festival without a universal calendar marking and without proper organization. However, like nature, which is beyond rules and still within, the Khambus must also find harmony in the variablity of celebrating Sakela while staying true to its spirit.
The spirit of Sakela is the coming together of little children playing in the laps of their mother.
Alcohol abuse is a major public health issue in India, especially among tribal communities. This is not just in India and the rest of the Himalayan region but has always been a worldwide problem. In the United States, alcohol abuse is the leading cause of death among Native Americans. Various studies in India have also shown that alcohol consumption among tribal people is significantly higher in other social groups. For a vast majority of tribal communities, the custom of drinking is persistent and widely pervasive during traditional practices and can be viewed as a part of a behavioral domain that has become so alarming that it has garnered academic interest! Should tribal people who repeatedly consume liquor be overlooked as it is a cultural practice, or is it now time to call it an unhealthy custom and reforms be brought in?
Communities listed as India’s Scheduled Tribes constitute 8.2% of the total Indian population. But the capability to meaningfully study the extent and nature of tribal health patterns in India still remains limited. What we do know for sure is that the death rate due to alcohol abuse is far greater among tribals than non-tribals. The production of alcoholic beverages throughout the Himalayan region has its roots in various cultural and religious practices of these communities. The consumption of such beverages has strong traditional significance among ethnic people. In many cases, alcohol libations are also made upon the sanctums or shrines of tribal people. Then, there are also social conventions that allow for the consumption of alcohol.
Alcohol production and drinking customs among tribal communities are explicitly embedded in the role, function, significance, and traditions of tribal social groups but they do not necessarily dictate the circumstances which make its people drink or abstain, and perpetuate their tradition through subsequent generations. Moreover, the alcohol produced by most Himalayan tribes has always been mild beers or other fermented soft beverages, which are generally used only for ritualistic and ceremonial purposes. The use of other forms of alcohol came into the knowledge of tribal people only after they made contact with the mainstream non-tribal populace.
While there are many who argue that because of genetic differences, alcohol is more harmful to ethnic indigenous tribal people, no scientific data supports this argument. It is a myth but many studies show that while the effects of alcohol could be the same for tribals and non-tribals, tribal people are more likely to consume alcohol than others. Tribals are also likely to consume alcohol at risky levels. But is this the entire reason for the increasing number of fatalities among tribals? Here we must also investigate the extent to which the tribal/non-tribal health divide goes and also the differences in socioeconomic well-being between the two groups.
The difference in socioeconomic resources directly accounts for tribal and non-tribal health inequalities. The extent to which socioeconomic well-being predicts health outcomes within a populace is self-evident. Health inequalities are fundamentally social in nature though not exclusive to just tribal populations. The patterns of tribal health deprivation and socio-economic condition of the group have been investigated time and again. In a paper titled Caste and Tribe Inequality: Evidence from India, 1983-1999, Yoko Kijima cites various writers who have reported the “disparities of living standards” between tribals and non-tribals. We can therefore deduce that these reasons alone are the main causes of alcohol becoming lethal for tribal people.
Most of the tribes in India, despite Government support, face a persistent economic disadvantage. They also suffer from high rates of unemployment, illiteracy, and a severe dearth of stable income. According to a report by the Planning Commission of India, in rural areas, 47.3 % of communities listed as Scheduled Tribes of India, live below the poverty line. In the urban areas, it is 33.3%. Tribal communities also have below-average rates of high school and college completion with very few graduating from college each year. These communities are less likely to have health insurance and access to adequate medical care. The overall economic disadvantage, characterized by illiteracy, poverty, and scarce resources, likely contributes to the prevalent abuse of alcohol. Less availability of medical treatment also causes more deaths due to alcohol abuse.
Other than severe health problems, tribal populations are also forced to endure the unfortunate stereotype that they are alcoholics. The infamous Muluki Ain is a famous example. Published in 1854, this Constitution of Nepal, categorized the entire indigenous tribal population of the Nepal Himalayas as “Masinya Matwali” which literally means “expendable alcohol drinkers”. Even after more than 150 years, the Himalayan tribes in Nepal as well those living in the neighboring Sikkim and Darjeeling have not been able to shake off the label of being called a “Matwali” or “Alcohol Drinker”. Many a time, a person belonging to a tribal group can be heard saying “hamile ta jaat le pako” (we have inherited drinking).
There is an inherent sense of cultural loss, identity crisis, and historical trauma among tribal people. They have suffered many years of oppression and persecution which not only affect socio-economic situations but also bring about psychological distress. While there may not be any discrimination today but the impact of centuries of socio-economic, moral, physical, psychological trauma is likely to affect many generations because it disturbs the subconscious nature of thinking. Moreover, those tribal populations which have been influenced by a Hindu way of thinking are already fatalistic in their approach to life and the world. The grip of fatalistic thinking, identity crisis, and poverty is almost impossible to evade. Centuries of oppression, loss of land, and identity crisis can easily cause unresolved anguish to be transmitted across generations, which likely leads to drinking as a coping mechanism though there may be no official data to prove it.
Tribal people have not only lost their lands in ancient times but continue to do so today. They have constantly sold off their ancestral lands to acquire alcohol. Many expanded cities and residential areas today have been built upon Tribal lands. While the Government of India has banned the tribes from selling off lands to non-tribals presently, much of the damage has already been done and so the woes of many tribal communities that come from losing their lands seem to continue. Research has shown that tribal people suffer from chronic stress, which subsequently increases the risk of alcohol abuse and addiction.
There are very few rehabilitation programs available for tribal social groups. There are no organizations that assist people suffering from substance abuse. While treatment for alcohol-related problems is already low, tribal populations also suffer from various ailments. According to a paper titled, Doctors for Tribal Areas: Issues and Solutions, Mavalankar D writes that among tribal populations, communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, malnutrition, mental health, and addictions complicated by poor health-seeking behavior have quadrupled over the years.
If not for proper treatment plans, recovery programs, and other healing approaches, alcohol abuse among tribal populations will continue to rise. While Governments and non-profits might be trying to help, the participation of community elders, spiritual leaders, families, and groups within a tribal community must come together and create culturally sensitive treatment programs to overcome this challenge.
In 1987, the International Labor Organization put up a report that provided the most accredited definition of indigenous tribal peoples. It said, “Indigenous peoples usually maintain a strong attachment to particular geographical locations and ancestral territorial origins. They typically seek to remain culturally, geographically, and institutionally distinct from the dominant society, resisting assimilation into the greater national society. In this way, they tend to preserve their own socio-cultural, economic and political ways of life.” This might be a generic statement considering that different tribes around the world, though similar, might exude different group behaviors but it is also partially true.
In a country like India which has the largest population of communities classified by the Government as tribal, the criteria to categorize a community as a tribe requires more than just the aforementioned description. Article 342 of the Indian Constitution provides for the specification of tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which are deemed to be for the purposes of the Constitution the Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory. For a community to be included as a scheduled tribe of India, it must have five characteristics.
Primitive traits or way of life
Geographical Isolation
Shyness of Contact
Distinctive Culture
General/Economic Backwardness
A tribe is a group of people that is distinguished from other groups mainly through lifestyle, locations, values, and belief systems. Although basic attributes have been acknowledged, there can be no universal, generic, and absolute classification to define indigenous tribal people. However, there are certain parameters that can be accepted for a broader understanding or classification. There can be functional definitions that are balanced on foremost characteristics, such as those related to culture, languages, and beliefs, which provide a good practical basis for identifying the presence of “tribal traits” while also leaving categorization sufficiently wide to accommodate various socio-cultural disparities.
The challenges of classifying or categorizing communities into Castes and Tribes, differentiating them from the mainstream to the backward, are much greater in a country like India which has over 700 different tribes. The tribes in other parts of the world, especially in the West, are usually ethnically, socially, and culturally very different from the rest of their mainstream populace but in India, many tribes sometimes have broad connections with non-tribal communities. It is difficult to separate or classify populations because different communities have influenced each other over the centuries. Many tribal groups have also assimilated Hindu gods and goddesses in their religious beliefs because Hinduism is quite pluralistic in essence. Other tribes have gone on to embrace Buddhism and Christianity is predominant among a majority of tribes in the North East of India.
Such challenges also mean great variety and diversity that exist across regions and tribal groups. Therefore it is important to study the peculiarities and contextual characteristics of particular tribes, while also identifying and acknowledging their shared ethnicities and principles. A tribe should have some functional interdependence within the community. A tribe must have a sense of unity among themselves. They must follow a proper clan and lineage structure. British Anthropologist F.G Bailey says that a tribal community is one that is entirely segmentary in nature- a society based on lineage, that has equivalent parts held together by shared values. According to him, tribal people are also those who have control over natural resources.
Tribes also have a definite geographical and social region that they inhabit. They usually are seen living in remote corners, such as on hilly and forest areas. In Sikkim and Darjeeling, people mainly come across names of places such as Rai Gaon, Tamang Gaon, Lapchetar, Limbu Busti, Mangarjung, etc. This is all because tribal people share a definite common topography. Even in urban areas like Kathmandu, we can see this pattern replicating itself time and again. While the Rai people live mainly in Lalitpur, around regions like Talchikhel, Nakhipot, the Magars are abundantly found around Koteswor, and Gurungs live around Maharajgunj and Lazimpat. Living in this common topography is a trait that comes from instincts developed since ancient times while living as a tribe. This behavior not only hints at a need for a sense of unity but also shows the “Shyness of Contact” traits of a tribal community.
D N Mazumdar writes, “The concept of Tribe has further been defined as a social group with territorial affiliations, endogamous, with no specialization of functions, ruled by tribal officers, hereditary or otherwise, united in language or dialect.” While endogamy may not be prevalent among some tribes presently, it is usually preferred. Tribes are an integrated social organization that thrives on the basis of primary blood relationships. Cultural homogeneity is the main characteristic of a tribal community. This is not only the ‘shyness of contact’ trait but also fulfills the ‘primitive way of life’ classification.
A tribal society is also based on egalitarian principles. While all tribal people share common values, it also gives rise to a value system centered on equality. We find that among tribes, there are no institutionalized inequalities like the caste system or gender-based inequities. Thus men and women enjoy equal status and freedom. Tribes also understand the importance of kinship and share a common dialect which helps them feel united, safeguarded, and equal among themselves. This collective unity can be found in tribal communities in which people from a very young age are integrated into sturdy, cohesive bonds, which always continue to protect them in exchange for loyalty and ethnic values.
Ghatu or Ghaptu is a narrative song and dance tradition of the Gurung people. Ghatu song and dance performances are one of the richest and beautiful forms of artistic expression in the Himalayan region. Yet it remains unheard of and invisible in common knowledge and popular culture. It is prevalent, however, among the rural Gurung communities of Western and Central Nepal. Ghatu is performed not only for fun and entertainment but also because it is primarily a socio-cultural display and has historically played a key role in achieving amplified social cohesion among the native Gurung, Magar, and other indigenous communities of Central West Nepal.
Ghatu is a slow group dance performance that involves enacting scenes from local mythology and is accompanied by song and music. This performance goes on for hours and dancers invariably go into a state of trance during the performance. No one knows the origins of Ghatu. Today, it is observed not just by the Gurungs but also by the Magars, Tamangs, and a few other communities living in the Western Himalayas. The tribes in the Himalayan region have always been deeply spiritual who have enjoyed a rich ceremonial life that was profoundly expressed through music and dance. So, Ghatu being added to this profoundly rich repertoire is good for artistic traditions. Moreover, music and dance form the core means through which the tribal people have always communicated their values and beliefs and asserted their unique identities.
There are three types of Ghatu dances. The Barahmase, Kusunda, and the Sati Ghatu. While the Barahmase Ghatu is more common than others and doesn’t adhere to strict regulations and is performed during celebrations, the Kusunda Ghatu depicts scenes of a Jogi, living as a hermit in a place called Kusunda and an interaction with the Kusunda forest Gods. Here, we must understand that the Sati Ghatu is the complete story and performance while the Barahmase and the Kusunda Ghatu are merely some scenes picked up from the complete Sati Ghatu. This traditional Ghatu dance is intimately connected with a song and the beat of the Maadal, for hours on end.
Ghatu is a long, oral epic and its form can be divided into three basic categories – Dhile, Chamke and Yalala. Dhile performance is slow and gradual while Chamke is fast and Yalala is something in between. Ghatu depicts the story of Ambawati and Parashuram, a queen and the king of Lamjung. They have a wonderful love and a complete life together along with a son named Balkrishna. Parashuram soon has to go fight a war and he subsequently dies on the battlefield. The queen self immolates along with her husband, in grief. It is this grief which forms the climatic crux of the entire Ghatu performance. Each lyric and corresponding dance move is typical and of a fixed nature depending on the song and the purpose of the gathering in which it is performed. In fact, it is so common to incorporate these elements in unison that it forms to become one unified element.
In some places, the ritualistic beginnings of the Ghatu performance happen in January during the festival of Shree Panchami, when the dancers are selected. Originally, Ghatu rituals begin in the month of Baisakh when the main dance always took place on a full moon night. There is continuous dancing for three days and three nights. After the rituals are done, rice and other crops are planted. It is the belief of the Gurung people that a good Ghatu performance pleases the nature spirits which will, in turn, help them with a good harvest.
Ghatu dance always begins with the invocation of nature’s forest, river, and mountain spirits such as Hiuchuli, Barchali, and Deuchuli. The Ghatusari, (dancers) move their body and hands gracefully in a complete trance during a typical performance with their eyes closed following the songs. These moments of trance are the most important aspects of any Ghatu performance. Music and dance have been and are essential parts of Gurung culture and act as a banner or badge with which to affirm their cultural identity and belief system. This is why Ghatu is of great social and cultural importance.
There is always a prerequisite to calling a community, a tribe. It’s the clan structure, a custom which a tribe must ascertain to tracing descent and to follow a lineage. The Tamang community is usually classified as Baara Tamangs (Twelve Tribes) and the Atharah Jaat (Eighteen Sub-Tribes). This was the Tamang rhetoric when asked about the sub-tribes of the Tamang tribe. It should be noted that the word “Jaat” is colloquial and comes from the Nepali word which literally means Caste. The Tamang word for “Clan” is Rui.
Every tribe had its own custom for tracing descent. There may be tribes who trace it through their male members while some do it through matrilineal clan structure. The Tamang clan system serves as a foundation for social control and religious protocol for honor and respect. This system is a patrilineal affiliation where clan membership is passed by the father to the children.
The Tamang people who do not fall into the Hindu system of caste should not have been using the term “Jaat” to denote a clan or a sub-tribe, but over the many centuries of being in close proximity to the Hindu cultures, Tamangs freely use the terms Bara Tamang and Atharah Jaat to describe their clan structure. It should be noted here that the 12 Tamang Tribes usually consider themselves pure and above the rest. Eden Vansittart in his book, The Gurkhas (published in 1906) names the twelve Tamang sub-tribes as:
According to NJ Allen, in his study titled, Fourfold classifications of society in the Himalayas, he says that the Tamangs originated from the four families living in Wuijhang, Tibet and they were Bal, Yonjon, Moktan, and Ghising. This notion, according to Allen, comes from the origin story of the Tamangs themselves. The Tamangs, like the Gurungs, are usually described as consisting of a superior and an inferior stratum having numerical names.
Traditionally Tamangs have been known to associate different clans with specific areas, settlements, and villages as their Bapsa, (the land of belonging). The different Rui or clans, each has their own association with the Bapsa distributed across the region and which have been their original settlement. The various kinds of connections, associations, and relationships between different clans connect these lands and titles and layout common and shared territory. The larger territory is further joined by linkages between the territorial divinities which protect the Bapsa. Many names of these sub-tribes or clans within the Tamang homogenous tribe seem to have come from the Bapsa.
It can be determined that in the ancient Tamang Tribal set up every facet was built around a certain amount of respect to clan roles. These would set precedents and these roles defined the conduct of individuals. The Tamang tribe in totality was an endogamous unit while the sub-tribes among themselves remained exogamous. Many scholars believe that those who married away from the tribe would often be considered an outcast, thereby creating variants of the 12 main sub-tribes. This gave rise to the mixed Atharah Jaat Tamangs. These “mixed-breed” Tamangs, however, were provided the same amount of social standing in comparison to the original 12.
While the original term deems the numeric value to be 18 Tamangs, the numbers are far more than that.
Most Himalayan ethnic communities come from strong, spiritual oral traditions. Oral traditions are verbal narratives that could consist of spiritual messages, mythology, and folklore. In the Himalayan region, where there is an abundance of language but the unavailability of mutually intelligible scripts, folklore is transferred to the next generation through stories and legends. It can also be in the form of songs and conveyed ceremonially at appropriate settings. In the original telling of the stories, elders highlighted the symbiotic relationships between humans and the rest of the natural world.
Folklore could include poetry, riddles, songs, music, dances, and also traditional wisdom based on plant varieties grown by farmers, and plant extracts developed by local medicine men. In the Himalayan community, much of the folklore is based on various stories that have been passed down from one generation to another. These stories contain moral values but also the history of the community and how they branched off to settle in one place and how they connect with other tribes in the region. Obviously, many such stories have been influenced by Hindu or Buddhist stories, plots, and characters. But where there seems to be no influence at all, these stories incorporate the idea of closeness between man and nature.
How important are these folklores in an age when children are no longer told these stories and two generations have entirely grown up on Enid Blyton and Fairy Tales? There’s nothing wrong with fairy tales but indigenous folklores aren’t just stories of incredible imagination, plots, and characters. They are about world views, perspectives, philosophies, and morals. Many of these stories, legends, and myths express a responsibility to maintain harmonious relations with nature because all of it is considered to be alive and that the abundance of nature must always be shared equally. Most of these stories are also stories of creation but the beauty of indigenous tribal folklore is that such mythology is rarely enforced upon others. Nor are these stories and mythology regarded as the ultimate truth.
These stories of philosophy about man and nature which start at the beginning of time continue through the telling of cultural tales and songs. No one knows when these stories began. The Khambu Rai people’s Sumnima Paruhang or the Tamang stories of Mhendomaya and Gole Bonbo, inform about the essential philosophy of symmetry, balance, and harmony which are quietly suggested through the adventures of these characters. These stories, therefore, seem to have come from places that have given rise to a symbiotic relationship between man and nature, between genders, thereby creating a circular, ongoing world. Folklore is at the core of Himalayan indigenous culture. It is nothing short of an oral history that explains and records vital aspects of a community. These comprise stories of creation stressing on principles and moral values of the tribes. These are also a part of the Shaman’s songs performed during worship rituals.
Perpetuating history or a belief system through a medium such as oral tradition often leaves room for interpretation for the teller of that story and the listener. Many folk stories of indigenous Himalayan communities also help in not just the understanding of cultural identity but also display the richness of their languages. The narratives within these stories use diverse vocabulary and descriptions which are articulate and expressive. Given linguistic differences, cultural and traditional contexts and nuances, and the transfer from cognition to language, it is important that these stories be read and heard in the native language.
Indigenous folklore must be preserved. The accumulation of wisdom that has been passed down for thousands of years is a treasure trove that can help understand humanity’s past. It could help us find ways to protect and preserve our natural habitats and resources. Such wisdom must be assembled, organized, digitized, and archived but also the traditions of transferring folklore from one generation to another must continue. Individuals and ethnic organizations must identify and help preserve these systems. Folklores reflect the essence of a community’s cultural attributes as a mirror and provide a basis for its cultural and social identity. It is time that communities become protective of this valuable heritage and find a way to preserve their precious folklores that have enlightened countless generations throughout history.
The following video is a Magar folktale narrated by Maya Maski Rana in the Western Magar Language. Translated and Transcribed by Marie-Caroline Pons Source: linguistgeek.wixsite.com/themagarlanguage
