www.subalternvoice.blogspot.com email: subalternstd@gmail.com

The Kulung People


                                                                                                - Prem C. Kulung, Sankhuwasava


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.

No comments: