Kirata
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It has been suggested that Kirat be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2011. |
The Kirāta (Sanskrit: किरात) is a generic term in Sanskrit literature for people who lived in the mountains, particularly in the Himalayas and North-East India and who are postulated to have been Mongoloid in origin.[1][2] It has been theorized that the word Kirata- or Kirati- means people with lion nature.[3] It is derived from two words Kira (meaning Lion) and Ti (meaning people).[3] The reference of lion as well as them staying in the Himalayan Mountains may suggest their possible relation to the mythical lion-headed tribe called Kimpurusha.
They are mentioned along with Cinas (Chinese), and were different from the Nishadas.[4] They are first mentioned in the Yajurveda (Shukla XXX.16; Krisha III.4,12,1), and in the Atharvaveda (X.4,14) . In Manu's Dharmashastra (X.44) they are mentioned as degraded Kshatriyas,[5] but outside the ambit of Brahminical influence. It is speculated that the term is a Sanskritization of a Sino-Tibetan tribal name, like that of Kirant or Kiranti of eastern Nepal.[6]
Mythology gives an indication of their geographical position. In the Mahabharata, Bhima meets the Kiratas to the east of Videha, where his son Ghatotkacha is born; and in general the dwellers of the Himalayas, especially the eastern Himalayas, were called Kiratas.[7] In general they are mentioned as "gold-like", or yellow, unlike the Nishadas or the Dasas, who were dark.[8]
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.
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[edit] Religious beliefs
The Kirat people practice shamanism but they call it "Kirat religion". The Kiratis follow Kirat Mundhum. Their holy text is the Mundhum, also known as the Kirat Veda.[9] Kirat Rai worship nature and their ancestors. Animism and shamanism and belief in their primeval ancestors, Sumnima and Paruhang are their cultural and religious practices. The names of some of their festivals are Sakela, Sakle, Tashi, Sakewa, Saleladi Bhunmidev, Chyabrung, Yokwa and Folsyandar. They have two main festivals: Sakela/Sakewa Ubhauli during plantation season and Sakela/Sakewa Udhauli during the time of harvest.
Mundhum or "Kiranti Veda"' (also known as Peylan) is the religious scripture and folk literature of the Kirat people of Nepal, central to Kirat Mundhum. Mundhum means "the power of great strength" in the Kirati language.[10] The Mundhum covers many aspects of the Kirat culture, customs and traditions that existed before Vedic civilisation in South Asia.[11][12][13][14]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Radhakumud Mukharji (2009), Hindu Shabhyata, Rajkamal Prakashan Pvt Ltd, ISBN 9788126705030, http://books.google.com/books?id=vhUZrj975BAC, "... किरात (मंगोल) : द्रविड़ भाषाओं से भिन्न यह भाषाओं में किरात या ..."
- ^ Shiva Prasad Dabral, Uttarākhaṇḍ kā itihās, Volume 2, Vīr-Gāthā-Prakāshan, http://books.google.com/books?id=o0lXAAAAMAAJ, "... प्राचीन साहित्य में किरात-संस्कृति, किरात-भूमि ..."
- ^ a b Tanka Bahadur Subba, Politics of culture: a study of three Kirata communities in the eastern Himalayas, Orient Blackswan, 1999, ISBN 9788125016939, http://books.google.com/books?id=8wPq9ay0CF8C, "... a Kirata scholar, Narad Muni Thulung ... To him, it is derived from two words: Kira meaning 'lion', and ti meaning 'people', or 'people with lion's nature' ... "
- ^ (Chatterji 1974:26)
- ^ (Chatterji 1974:28)
- ^ (Chatterji 1974:28)
- ^ (Chatterji 1974:30)
- ^ (Chatterji 1974:31)
- ^ P. 56 Kiratese at a Glance By Gopal Man Tandukar
- ^ Hardman, Charlotte E. (December 2000). John Gledhill, Barbara Bender, and Bruce Kapferer (eds.). ed. Other Worlds: Notions of Self and Emotion among the Lohorung Rai. Berg Publishers. pp. 104–. ISBN 9781859731505.
- ^ Dor Bahadur Bista (1991). Fatalism and Development: Nepal's Struggle for Modernization. Orient Longman. pp. 15–17. ISBN 8125001883.
- ^ Cemjoṅga, Īmāna Siṃha (2003). History and Culture of the Kirat People. Kirat Yakthung Chumlung. pp. 2–7. ISBN 9993380911.
- ^ Cultures & people of Darjeeling
- ^ Gurung, Harka B. (2003) (PDF). Trident and Thunderbolt: Cultural Dynamics in Nepalese Politics. Nepal: Social Science Baha. ISBN 9993343447. OCLC 57068666. http://www.himalassociation.org/baha/Trident-and-Thunderbolt.pdf.
[edit] References
- Chatterji, S. K. (1974). Kirata-Jana-Krti. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society.
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