in
Pashupati Aryaghat, Kathmandu, Nepal. Contemporary historians widely agree that widespread cultural exchange and intermarriage took place in the eastern Himalayan region between the indigenous inhabitants — called the Kirat — and the Tibetan migrant population, reaching a climax during the 8th and 9th centuries. Another wave of political and cultural conflict between Khas and Kirat ideals surfaced in the Kirat 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 A collection of manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries, till now unpublished and unstudied by historians, have made possible a new understanding of this conflict.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 scholar Khardar Jitmohan. For over two millennia, a large portion of the eastern
Himalaya was identified as the home of the Kirati people, of which the majority are known today as
Chamling,
Rai,
Limbu,
Sunuwar and
Yakkha. In ancient times, the entire Himalayan region was known as the
Kimpurusha Desha Kimpurusha Kingdom (also, Kirata Pradesh). For over a millennium, the Kirat had inhabited the
Kathmandu Valley, where they installed their own ruling dynasty. According to the
history of Nepal, the Kirats ruled for about 1100 years (800 BC–300
AD). Their reign had 29 kings. The Kirati population in the valley and the original
Australoids and Austro-Asiatic speakers form the base for what had developed into today's
Newar population. As time passed, other Kirat groups, now known as Rai, Limbu, Yakkha, Sunuwar and Shrestha settled mostly in the
Koshi region of present-day
Sikkim,
Darjeeling and eastern Nepal. The Limbu people have their own distinct form of
Kirat Mundhum, known as
Yuma Sammang or
Yumaism; they venerate a mythological goddess called
Tagera Ningwaphumang. In addition to ancestor worship, Kirati people also worship
Mother Nature. From around the 8th century, areas on the northern frontier of the Kirat 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 Kirat traditions. This influence first introduced 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
Nyingma, the oldest Buddhist order in
Lhasa and
Central Tibet, which led followers of the older religion to flee to the Kirat area for survival. The Tibetan cultural influx ultimately laid the foundation for a Tibetan politico-religious order in the Kirat regions, and this led to the emergence of two major Tibetan Buddhist dynasties, one in Sikkim and another in
Bhutan. The early political order of the Kingdom of Bhutan Hadgaon been established under the political and spiritual leadership of the lama
Zhabs-drung Ngawang Namgyal.
Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe Te-ongsi Sirijunga Xin Thebe was an 18th-century
Limbu scholar, teacher, educator, historian, and philosopher of
Limbuwan (pallo kirat) and Sikkim. Sirijanga researched and taught the Sirijanga
script,
Limbu language and religion of the Limbus in various part of Limbuwan (Pallo Kirat) and Sikkim. He revived the old Limbu script developed in the 9th century.
History of Limbuwan: Kirat people of Limbu nationality Limbuwan has a language spoken by the yakthung tribe which falls in the Sino Tibetan language family. Their language uses a form of brahmic script called "The Sirijunga Script" which was originally created by Sirijunga Hang during the 9th century A.D. The script lost prominence for some 600 years and was later revived by Limbu Scholar Sirijunga Sing-Thebe (Teongsi Sirijuga).
Limbuwan had a distinct history and political establishment until its unification with the kingdom of
Gorkha in 1774
AD. During King
Prithvi Narayan Shah's unification of Nepal, the present-day Nepal east of
Arun and west of
Mechi rivers was known as
Limbuwan (pallo kirat). It was divided into 10 Limbu kingdoms;
Morang kingdom was the most powerful and had a central government. The capital of Morang kingdom was Bijaypur (present-day
Dharan). The Gorkha conquest had reached the walls of limbuwan and were now battering on the doors. A total of 17 recorded battles took place between the Kingdom of Gorkha and the Kingdom of Limbuwan/Yakthunglajey. After the Limbuwan–Gorkha war and seeing the threat of the rising power of the
British East India Company the kings and ministers of some of the provinces of Yakthung laje ("thibong Yakthung laje") kingdoms of Limbuwan gathered in Bijaypur, and they agreed upon the Limbuwan-Gorkha Treaty ("Nun-Pani Sandhi"). This treaty formally merged some of the Limbu provinces into the Gorkha kingdom but it also had a provision for autonomy of Limbuwan under the "kipat" system.
Kiratology Kiratology is the study of Kirats the
Mundhum along with history, cultures, languages and literatures of Kirat ethnic people in
Nepal,
Darjeeling,
Sikkim,
Assam,
Myanmar, and so on. The Mundum or Mundhum is the book of knowledge on origin, history, culture, occupation and traditions of Kirati people. Noted scholars on Kiratology so far is
Iman Xin Chemjong who did ground breaking contributions on kirat Mundum/Mundhum, history, cultures, and languages. After Chemjong, PS Muringla, BB Muringla and
Bairagi Kainla also contributed towards Kiratology. After the end of Rana Regime in 2007 BS (1951 AD), when power came back to
Shah dynasty the autonomous power given to
Limbu Kings was reduced. When King Mahendra ascended the throne he banished the law which prohibits other tribes right to buy land without permission of Subba (Head of Limbu) of particular area as well as levy and taxes to Subba in 1979. == Modern ethnic groups ==