Kirant, Kirati or Kirat refers to the Kiranti group or Kirat confederation that includes the Limbu, Rai and Sunuwar ethnic groups of Nepal. they were the earliest inhabitants of nepal.

Language

The distinct Tibeto-Burman languages of the Limbu , Rai and Sunuwar are known as Kiranti.

Religion

The Kirant follow their own religion, Kirant Mundhum, which is distinct from Hinduism and Buddhism. Their holy book is the Mundhum. They believe in a supreme male deity, Paruhang, and a supreme female deity, Sumnima. Other deities they worship include Sakela, Sakle, Toshi, Sakewa, Saleladi Bhunmidev, Chyabrung, Yokwa, Folsadar and Chendi. They have two main festivals: Sakewa Uvauli, during plantation season; and Sakewa Udhauli, in the time of the harvest. They believe they are descended from an ancestor called Chandi.

History

mentioned as kiratas in mahabharat epic

Main article: Kirata Kingdom

The Kiratas (Sanskrit: किरात) mentioned in early Hindu texts are the tribals or Adivasi of the land. They are mentioned along with Cinas (Chinese). Kiratas are believed to be of Tibeto-Burman origin. Kiratas have been identified as the present day Rai, Limbu and Sunuwar of Nepal. Ghatotkacha of Mahabharata fame (Son of Bhima) was a Kirata Chieftain.

In Yoga Vasistha 1.15.5 Rama speaks of kirAteneva vAgurA, "a trap [laid] by Kiratas", so about BCE Xth Century, they were thought of as jungle trappers, the ones who dug pits to capture roving deer. The same text also speaks of King Suraghu, the head of the Kiratas who is a friend of the Persian King, Parigha.

The most famous Kiratas in Hinduism are the Kiratra avatar of Shiva, Lord Buddha and sage Valmiki.

Background

Historians today are convinced that a widespread cultural conflict took place in the eastern Himalayan region between the indigenous inhabitants – called the Kirant – and the Tibetan migrant population, reaching a climax during the 18th and 19th centuries. Another wave of political and cultural conflict, between Gorkhali and Kirant ideals, surfaced in the Kirant region of present-day Nepal during the last quarter of the 18th century. A collection of manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries, till now unpublished and unstudied by historians, have made possible a new understanding of this conflict. These historical sources are among those collected by Brian Houghton Hodgson – a British diplomat and self-trained Orientalist appointed to the Kathmandu court during the second quarter of the 19th century – and his principal research aide, the Newar scholar Khardar Jitmohan.

For over two millennia, a large portion of the eastern Himalaya has been identified as the home of the Kirant people, of which the majority are known today as Rai, Limbu, Yakha and Lepcha. In ancient times, the entire Himalayan region was known as the kimpurusha desha, a phrase derived from a Sanskrit term used to identify people of Kirant origin. These people were also known as nep, to which the name nepala is believed to have an etymological link. The earliest references to the Kirant as principal inhabitants of the Himalayan region are found in the texts of Atharvashirsha and Mahabharata, believed to date to before the 9th century BC. For over a millennium, the Kirant had also inhabited the Kathmandu Valley, where they installed their own ruling dynasty.This kirant population in the valley, along with original Austro-asiatic and negretoid settlers form the base for later Newar population. As time passed, however, those Kirant, now known as the Limbu settled mostly in the Koshi region of present-day eastern Nepal and Sikkim.

From around the 8th century, areas on the northern frontier of the Kirant region began to fall under the domination of migrant people of Tibetan origin. This flux of migration brought about the domination by Tibetan religious and cultural practices over ancient Kirant traditions. This influence first imposed shamanistic Bön practices, which in turn were later replaced by the oldest form of Tibetan Buddhism. The early influx of Bön culture to the peripheral Himalayan regions occurred only after the advent of the Nyingma, the oldest Buddhist order in Lhasa and Central Tibet, which led followers of the older religion to flee to the Kirant areas for survival. The Tibetan cultural influx ultimately laid the foundation for a Tibetan politico-religious order in the Kirant regions, and this led to the emergence of two major Tibetan Buddhist dynasties: in Sikkim and Bhutan. The early political order of the Kingdom of Bhutan had been established under the political and spiritual leadership of the lama Zhabs-drung Ngawang Namgyal. Consequently, Bhutan used to be known in the Himalayan region as the ‘kingdom of [Buddhist] spiritual rule’ (in old Nepali, dharmaako desh). The Tibetan rulers of Sikkim were also known as Chögyal, or spiritual rulers.

Both of these kingdoms adopted policies of suppression of indigenous practices, replacing them with those of Tibetan Buddhism. Bhutan’s religious rulers established a tradition of appointing religious missions to other Himalayan kingdoms and areas, through which they were able to establish extensive influence in the region. Bhutan’s ambitious missions were sent as far west as Ladakh. Even before the founding of modern Nepal by Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha in 1769, Bhutan’s rulers were able to establish spiritual centres in several parts of what was to become the former's territories, including Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Gorkha and Vijayapur in the midhills, and Mustang, north of the central Himalayan range.

Sikkim had long been home to Lepcha Kirant people and culture. Under the guidance of Tibetan Buddhist lamas, however, their self-rule and cultural independence was suddenly taken away. Sikkim kings were even able to subdue the entire far-eastern part of the Kirant region – historically known as Limbuwan – for at least a short period of time. Here, the new rulers adopted policies of religious and cultural subjugation, encouraging Sikkim lamas to travel to places of strategic importance in order to establish monastic centres. But the indigenous population did not easily surrender themselves to this cultural invasion. Limbu and Lepcha manuscripts collected by Brian Houghton Hodgson in Darjeeling indicate significant resistance by the Kirant against Tibetan Buddhist rule and cultural domination. While much of this struggle consisted of attempts to strengthen cultural awareness, there were also violent engagements between Kirant communities and their new rulers.

Sirijanga Singthebe and Kirant revival

Limbu society’s first known literary figure and reformer was a talented young man from Tellok, in present-day Taplejung District of far-eastern Nepal. Born around 1704, he was formally known as Sirichongba, but his more popular name was and remains Sirijanga. A Limbu-language instruction book found in the collection reveals Sirijanga’s real name: Rupihaang. The haang part of the name is a common Kirant term indicating a family of high or royal origin. Sirijanga had accepted his Lepcha nickname by claiming to be the incarnation of a legendary figure also called Sirijanga. It has been widely believed that it was this supposedly 9th century hero who invented the ancient chong or Limbu script; but many now feel that the Sirijanga legend was most likely created by the 18th century Sirijanga himself, with the intention of making the Limbu and Lepcha people more ready to believe and follow his teachings. Sirijanga Singthebe re-invented the old chong script, and also developed a new Kiranti alphabet, today known as Sirijanga. With the use of his newly developed script he collected, composed and copied huge amounts of Kirant literature pertaining to history and cultural traditions. He traveled extensively through remote regions, attempting to amass sources of Limbu knowledge and culture. Eventually, he began going from village to village, publicising his findings and establishing centres of Kiranti learning. In doing all of this, Sirijanga laid the foundation for a Kirant ethnic revival, and contributed significantly to the resistance against Tibetan Buddhist cultural domination. Sirijanga preached that acquiring broad cultural knowledge and experience was the key to the revival and enrichment of a community. In an attempt to trace the sources of his culture, he at first studied with local Tibetan Buddhist lamas, who at the time were the only means in the region of connecting to a learned tradition. Sirijanga was also witness to the influx of the Hindu-based Khas culture from the western hill districts of today’s Nepal. As such, along with his preliminary studies under the local lamas, he also practiced reading and writing in contemporary Khas, now known as Nepali. In order to better understand the dynamics at play in the region and to gather support for his movement, Sirijanga traveled far and wide to establish contact with rulers and powerful personalities. In one of these adventures, it seems that he had either contacted or met King Jayaprakash Malla of Kathmandu. This multi-lingual and multi-cultural exposure to Buddhist and Hindu standards enabled Sirijanga to grasp the fundamentals of both of the region’s dominant cultures. During Sirijanga’s life, the Bhutani and Sikkimi quest for greater control over the eastern Himalaya led to many wars between Limbu and Sikkimi Bhotiya (Bhotiya indicating Tibetan origin) authorities. In due time, the lamas of Sikkim were able to extend their monastic centres into the northern areas of that part of Limbuwan that now lies in Nepal. After a time, this cultural encroachment enabled the Bhotiya rulers to repeatedly subdue and take control of the entire Kirant territory.

The root of this state of conflict can be seen to lie in the politics of culture and knowledge at play in the region. Sikkimi Tibetan rulers and Buddhist spiritual leaders were able to subjugate the entire far-eastern Kirant region by means of their hold over the established learned traditions and the systematic spiritual culture of Buddhism. It was realisation of this that led Sirijanga to emphasise the necessity of a peaceful, knowledge-based movement. In present-day terms, Sirijanga’s ethnic movement can be said to be one of Kirant empowerment through education. Sirijanga’s movement came to represent a significant threat in particular to the Sikkimi Bhotiya rulers and their spiritual gurus. The man’s writings and teachings, his Kiranti alphabet and the literary texts he collected, attracted significant numbers of Limbus and Lepchas, and led to the start of an ethnic awakening. Sirijanga was able to establish centres of Kirant cultural and religious learning in many places throughout the eastern Himalayan hills. The Sikkimi authorities felt enough under threat to want Sirijanga eliminated. He was killed in 1741, somewhere near the Pemiyongchi Monastery in Sikkim. The Kirant learning centres were subsequently destroyed, and Sirijanga’s disciples murdered or brutally suppressed.

Gorkhali hegemonies

The next phase of military and cultural threat faced by the Kirant people was at the hands of the Gorkhali expansionists of Nepal, shortly after Sirijanga's death. The nature and intensity of this hegemony was to prove significantly different from that of the earlier Tibetan one, however. From the very beginning, the Gorkha court’s intention in the region was not the extension of its Hindu-based culture. Rather, Gorkha’s was a clear military campaign of territorial expansion.

After the completion of the conquest of the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, the Gorkhali army marched east towards the Kirant territory. The Sen rulers of eastern Nepal, known as Hindupati, had established a weak rule in the Kirant region by adopting a policy of mutual understanding with the local Kirant leaders. The Gorkhali military campaign, in contrast, brought with it a forceful and brutal occupation. During the conquest, the invading authorities adopted a harsh divide-and-rule policy: they first asked the Kirantis to surrender, assuring them that they would retain local rule and their traditional order. After many took up this offer, however, the conquerors instead demanded that Gorkhali rule be obeyed and Gorkhali traditions be followed. Manuscripts in Hodgson’s collection make mention of Kirant men, male children and pregnant women having been murdered in great numbers. The Gorkhalis ultimately divided the Kirantis into two groups, the sampriti and the niti: the former were those who had surrendered to Gorkhali power and cultural traditions, while the latter maintained their own traditions. The Gorkhali authorities naturally favoured the sampritis, killing the nitis or forcing them to flee their lands. As a result, much of the niti population migrated towards Sikkim and Bhutan. But Gorkhali wartime policy changed, particularly after the conquest of the territories of Kumaun and Garhwal far in the west. By the end of the 18th century, the authorities in Kathmandu were in need of more state revenue, and implemented a policy to bring people into Nepali territory in order to make barren land arable. The Kirant who were ousted from their lands during the Gorkhali military conquest were also asked to return home, albeit under the condition that Gorkhali rule and traditions were strictly followed. Relatives and friends of those who had fled were recruited to call them back, and people moved again between the state-given identities of niti and sampriti.

See also

• Kirata Kingdom
• Limbuwan Gorkha War history
• Wambule

External links

• Kirat Rai
• Online kirat community
• Ethnographic Museum