- Prem C. Kulung, Sankhuwasava
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Reciting Ritual Rite |
The
Kulung people trace their lineage to descent from the Kirati ancestor Khambuho.
The ethno-linguistic region inhabited by Kulung is called 'The Maha-Kulung'
(Greater Kulung), located in Sagarmatha Zone. Kulung are the tribes of
basically Mongoloid race and descents of Kirats, concentrated in the Hills of
eastern Nepal, specifically in Solukhumbu, Sankhuwasava and Bhojpur districts.
They are related to the large Mongoloid population of the Tibeto-Burman
speaking tribal people spread eastward through the Sub-Himalayan regions and
the Hills of the county.
The
population of Kulung according the Census 2001 is 18,686; while some others
estimate it about 15,000 to 19,000 (Winter, 1991, p. 51 and van Driem, 2001, p.
699). However, estimation by some organizations working in the Kulung
communities shows more than 35,000. In fact, there is no alternative way to
find the exact number of Kulung population except waiting the result of the
recently conducted census.
Kulung
tradition and culture got good environment to flourish in The Hungu Valley of
the Maha-Kulung Area, a northeastern tributary of the Dudh Kosi River, and
further east, in the drainages of Sankhuwa and Sisuwa Rivers, which flow into
the Arun River. Kulung are a tribe of traditionally sedentary farmers whose
main crops are millet, maize and barley. They are used to prepare varieties of
foods and can be sold for cash in the local markets. Millet is not only the
ingredient from which a kind of paste is made locally called yu: which forms
the staple diet of Kulung. These crops are also used to prepare various types
of local beers. They sometimes bestow the crops to the god for their
prosperity.
Collecting
firewood and working in the fields are the main tasks of a Kulung household;
however, from the recent decades children are sent to schools for studying.
Their living tradition relates with hunting, farming, fishery and carrying on
trade with the natives of the plains in tusk, yak-tails, pony, shellac, herbs,
cardamoms etc. from the earliest periods. Marriage takes place between members
of different clans within Kulung and intercaste marriage is less practised but
is acceptable. Though, a number of new generation youths seem to be wondering
for intercaste marriage, too. Only in special circumstances members of the same
clan intermarry.
Ritual
tradition is the most wonderful aspect of the Kulung cultural life. Rites,
lasting for one or more days, are sometimes quite elaborate and are always
performed by a local shaman. To ensure good health and prosperity rites have to
be performed by a household at regular intervals, especially Uvəuli and Udhəuli
Puja and the neglect of rites is said to cause illness and material loss.
Unlike the Hindu people, Kulung bury their death. The main festival of Kulung
is Chakchakur, celebrated in the month of Pous 15 to 17. And also they
celebrate Chandi Purnima, Dhanya Purnima, Chaite Dashain, Maghe Sankranti,
Saune Sankranti as the local festivals.
Origin of the Kulung People
There
are many beliefs and folklores about the origin of Kulung people but it lacks
written history. The facts about the origin of Kulung written by different
scholars and local folklore are as follows:
Tilasankhar Kulung (cited in Thomros, B.
2050 VS): Khambuho, the priest of Kirati had six
sons: Chamling, Bantawa, Tumsoli, Dismi, Nasmi and Sajimi. Later the Dismi had
three sons: Khaling, Thulung and Kulung.
Charles McDougal (1979): Three
Kirati brothers, Khambuho, Menho and Meratup, followed the gorge of Sun Kosi,
Dudh Kosi and Arun Kosi. Once through the gorge the brothers separated, each
taking his respective followers, and set out independently, as they penetrated
up the different river valleys. The descendents of Meratup and Menho did not
flourish as did those of Khambuho. Later, Kulung, Khaling, Bahing etc. are
settled in the east-northern parts of the country as the descents of Khambuho.
Bhupadhwaj Thomros (2050 VS):
Tumno, the ancestral priest had three sons. They were Meche-Koche (ancestors of
Tharu); Khambuho and Limbu. Meche and Koche settled in the Terai region,
Khambuho and Limbu followed the gorge of Dudh Kosi and Arun River respectively
in the eastern region of Nepal. Later, Khambuho settled spreading in the hilly
and Sub-Himalaya region in the north-eastern parts of the country, historically
called the Middle-Kirat. They are known as Kulung, Khaling, Bahing, Bantawa,
Chamling, Mewahang, etc. The Limbu ancestors settled in eastern parts from the Arun
River, and the gorge of the Tamor Valley, historically in the Far-Kirat.
www.kulung.net.np (The official website of the Association
of Nepal Kirat Kulung Language and Cultural Development): Kulung ancestor,
Khambuho living in Rawakhola (Rawa River) had four sons: Khapdulu, Ratamkhu,
Tamsi and Chhemsi. Among them, Khapdulu went to Pilmong throughout Hungu,
Ratamkhu to Pomlalung throughout Darsandhunga, Chhemsi to Chhemsi throughout
Hulu and Tamsi to Chheskam throughout Hulu. Rawakhola is situated in the
south-west of the Hungu Valley and is a tributary of Dudh Kosi. In the New
Nepal, Maha-Kulung Area comprises of Gudel, Chheskam, Bung and Sotang VDCs.
Martino Nicoletti (2006, p. 15): The
figure of Khokchilip celebrates the ancestors' exit from the forest and
foundation of the first dwelling. The first dwelling is the concrete sign of
the sedentary transformation of the Kulung and their participation in an
agricultural and pastoral dimension. It is the dawn of a new world, which, with
a more marked pace, distances itself from the web of the sylvan world in order
to conquer deforested spaces suited to the needs of the village and of
agricultural life.
Kulung Oral Tradition:
Before getting settlement in the Hungu Valley the Kulung ancestors: Chhemsi and
Tamsi were living in Rawa Khola. To get settlement in the Hungu Valley they
waged war against the local people called Rupiyongchha. Eventually Rupiyongchha
were defeated and tried to escape to the sun with the aid of a ladder made of
piles of buckwheat-phaparko diro.
Eventually it collapsed and fell into Bung, killing many Rupiyongchhas.
The
statements above reflect the ancient and historical flashback about the origin
of Kulung. Most of them show that Khambuho (Khambuhang) is the ancestral father
of Kulung and other Kirati people. Tilasankar, McDougal Thomros stated Khambuho
as the ancestral father of Kulung which relates to the Nicoletti’s Khokchilip,
because Khokchilip has a great role in the folklores of Kulung. Chhemsi and
Tamsi, the descendents of Khambuho, settled in Chhemsi and Chheskam respectively
of Solukhumbu district. And all the generations after Chemsi and Tamsi are
called Kulung in these days. It is believed that the territories where Khambuho
had settlement and flourished are called Khambuwan in the present time.
The
Kulung peoples’ origin took place in the Maha-Kulung Area of Solukhumbu
district, though some foreign researchers (McDougal, 1979 and Nicoletti, 2006)
wrote Barahakshetra in the Terai region of the country. Native writers and
thinkers believe that Kulung people reached different places of the
Sub-Himalayan regions, Hilly regions and Low Lands of the east Nepal in order
to get good settlement. Meanwhile they reached to the gorge of the Kosi River
called the Barahakshetra and lived for long time and got back to the Maha-Kulung
Area, later.
The Kulung Settlement
Kulung
originally have settlement in the Hills and the Sub-Himalayan ranges, in the
upper eastern parts of Nepal at about 1400 to 3300 meters of elevation. Kulung
flourished in the Maha-Kulung Area of the Hungu Valley and scattered throughout
the eastern parts of the country. In the present time, they are settled in
Solukhumbu, Sankhuwasava, Bhojpur, Khotang, Sunsari, Tehratum, Panchthar, Ilam,
Morang and Jhapa districts (Winter, 1991, pp. 51-52) as well as in some parts
of India and Bhutan.
In
Solukhumbu district, Kulung community is found in the south-eastern corner of
the high Hills and Sub-Himalayan topography. The main Kulung living VDCs in the
district are: Gudel, Chheskam, Bung and Sotang. In Sankhuwasava, Kulung cover a
larger area and they live at least in the following VDCs: Sisuwakhola, Bala, Tamku,
Yaphu, Mangtewa, Makalu, Pawakhola and Diding as well as Khandbari
Municipality. These VDCs are situated in the west-northern and central part of
the district. In Bhojpur, Kulung people live in the north-eastern parts of the
district. Kulung are also found in Sikkim, West Bengal, Jalpaiguri, Dehradun
and Assam of India.
The Kulung Language
The
Kulung language is genetically affiliated to the Tibeto-Burman language family.
In the Languages of the Himalayas, van Driem (2001, p. 698) stated that the
Kulung language belongs to the Central Kiranti group that is divided further
into the Khumbu group and the Southern Kirati group.
The
native language of the Kulung people is Kulung
which is mostly called Kulu Ring in
the Kulung community. Kulung is one of the Kirati languages spoken in the hills
of eastern Nepal. The earlier census (CBS, 2001) reported 22 languages under
'the Kirat Rai language group'. Kulung language is an important member with its
own native speakers in that group.
According
to Tolsma (1994) Kirati languages are characterized by an elaborate system of
verbal endings. That is said to have
been the result of a historical process that traditionally has been called
'complex pronominalising'. Which is the incorporation of personal pronouns in
the verb system and Kulung language, being the member of the Kirati group of
language is no exception.
Dialects of the Kulung Language
Linguists
believe that Kulung has three dialects, namely Kulung, Sotang and Nachhiring.
The Kulung as a dialect is spoken in almost all the Kulung communities whereas
the Sotang and the Nachhiring dialects have got the limited areas of their
speech community, especially Sotang and Hulu respectively in Solukhumbu
district. Tolsma (2006, p. 1) says that ethnic Kulung living in the village of
Sotang call their language Sotto Ring (the Sotang language), but consider
themselves to be Kulung and easily understand the Kulung dialect spoken in
Chhemsi and Chheskam, the main Kulung speaking villages. He (p. 4) denotes that
further downstream in the village Hulu, people refer to call themselves as
Nachhiring, but their language may also be considered as a dialect of Kulung.
Thomros (2057 VS, p. 43) writes "Though, there is not found any difference
in the grammar of the language spoken in Bung, Chheskam, Gudel and Sotang, they
themselves prefer to name the Kulunge and the Sotange languages." All the
dialects of the Kulung language share the similar linguistic paradigm and
prevail mutual intelligibility among all (Winter, 1991, p. 48). Therefore,
Sotang and Nachhiring are the dialects of the Kulung language none other than
the distinct language. However this study is mainly based on the Kulung
language – its verb agreement system is compared with that of English verb
agreement system.
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