Posted by: JPEG June 19, 2009
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Saving Kusundas beauty
The Kusundas are on the verge of extinction - most of us know this and it is not a pleasant fact. The Kusundas are getting ‘extinct’ - as it appears at the moment. But, there is a small hope that we could save this ethnic group of people provided we become committed and start working together, at once, for their welfare as there still live some Kusundas in the central hills of the country. And, the already ‘extinct’ Kusunda language could also be ‘revitalised’, since the Kusundas there speak their mother tongue. The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq are a tribe of former hunter-gatherers of the forests of western Nepal, who are now intermarried with neighboring peoples and settled in villages.
The Nepali word Kusunda originally meant "savage", as the neighboring Chepang and other groups traditionally thought of them as savages, but the Kusunda do not mind the term when speaking Nepali. The Ban Rajas reside in Gorkha, Kaski, Rolpa, Dang, Pyuthan and Tanahu districts of
Nepal. Various reports and stories have reported that Ban Rajas are currently living in these areas. According to the National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, the Ban Rajas reside in jungles of Dhading, Gorkha, Tanahu, Kaski and Makwanpur to the districts of the Midwestern Region. According to the Nepal Population Reports 2002 the total number of Ban Rajas (Kusundas) existing are 164. Therefore Kusundas are the most endangered species of the aboriginal ethnic groups in Nepal.
Points to be taken:
The Kusunada language is now extinct - it is so believed. The Summer Institute of Linguistic-SIL has published a report stating the Kusunda language as extinct. An Austrian scholar Jhoan Reinhard had reported in mid-seventies that there were ‘only few speakers left alive, only two’ so he had urged to carry out a thorough research on the Kusunda language. Did Nepal's government listen to him then?
The Kusunda language is supposed to be dead before being well studied and classified. Professor Bandhu has this sort of belief. The SIL has already classified this language as falling in Tibeto-Burman family. Here's some tallied few words with other Tibeto-Burman family languages having common elements in them. For example: a banana is ‘mucha’ in Kusunda, ‘mocha’ in Magar and ‘moje’ in Tamang language. Kusundas say ‘tang’ for water, Shaukas say it ‘ti’ and Magars ‘di’ - there are alveolar ‘t and d’ present in these words. Millet is called ‘mangmi’ and ‘tu’ for a snake in Kusunda and the Sherpa people say them ‘manjya’ and ‘du’ respectively. Similarly, Magars say “langha’ for village, ‘dishya’ for fish and ‘bhokta’ for clothes whereas the Kusundas say for these words ‘langhai’ , ‘nsa’ and ‘bukta’ respectively. In Tamang language a crab is called ‘kakhare’ and in Kusunda it is called ‘Kakchi- there are other words too which have some similarities with other Tibeto-Burman languages. Linguistically, these words are of great importance; on the other hand there is uncertainty whether these words could have been borrowed from any other languages.
Knowing this group and saving them from extinction is the duty of every Nepalese. Of saving the Kusunda and preserving this tribal existence is the True_Beauty_of_Nepal!
The Kusundas are on the verge of extinction - most of us know this and it is not a pleasant fact. The Kusundas are getting ‘extinct’ - as it appears at the moment. But, there is a small hope that we could save this ethnic group of people provided we become committed and start working together, at once, for their welfare as there still live some Kusundas in the central hills of the country. And, the already ‘extinct’ Kusunda language could also be ‘revitalised’, since the Kusundas there speak their mother tongue. The Kusunda or Ban Raja ("people of the forest"), known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq are a tribe of former hunter-gatherers of the forests of western Nepal, who are now intermarried with neighboring peoples and settled in villages.
The Nepali word Kusunda originally meant "savage", as the neighboring Chepang and other groups traditionally thought of them as savages, but the Kusunda do not mind the term when speaking Nepali. The Ban Rajas reside in Gorkha, Kaski, Rolpa, Dang, Pyuthan and Tanahu districts of
Nepal. Various reports and stories have reported that Ban Rajas are currently living in these areas. According to the National Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, the Ban Rajas reside in jungles of Dhading, Gorkha, Tanahu, Kaski and Makwanpur to the districts of the Midwestern Region. According to the Nepal Population Reports 2002 the total number of Ban Rajas (Kusundas) existing are 164. Therefore Kusundas are the most endangered species of the aboriginal ethnic groups in Nepal.
Points to be taken:
The Kusunada language is now extinct - it is so believed. The Summer Institute of Linguistic-SIL has published a report stating the Kusunda language as extinct. An Austrian scholar Jhoan Reinhard had reported in mid-seventies that there were ‘only few speakers left alive, only two’ so he had urged to carry out a thorough research on the Kusunda language. Did Nepal's government listen to him then?
The Kusunda language is supposed to be dead before being well studied and classified. Professor Bandhu has this sort of belief. The SIL has already classified this language as falling in Tibeto-Burman family. Here's some tallied few words with other Tibeto-Burman family languages having common elements in them. For example: a banana is ‘mucha’ in Kusunda, ‘mocha’ in Magar and ‘moje’ in Tamang language. Kusundas say ‘tang’ for water, Shaukas say it ‘ti’ and Magars ‘di’ - there are alveolar ‘t and d’ present in these words. Millet is called ‘mangmi’ and ‘tu’ for a snake in Kusunda and the Sherpa people say them ‘manjya’ and ‘du’ respectively. Similarly, Magars say “langha’ for village, ‘dishya’ for fish and ‘bhokta’ for clothes whereas the Kusundas say for these words ‘langhai’ , ‘nsa’ and ‘bukta’ respectively. In Tamang language a crab is called ‘kakhare’ and in Kusunda it is called ‘Kakchi- there are other words too which have some similarities with other Tibeto-Burman languages. Linguistically, these words are of great importance; on the other hand there is uncertainty whether these words could have been borrowed from any other languages.
Knowing this group and saving them from extinction is the duty of every Nepalese. Of saving the Kusunda and preserving this tribal existence is the True_Beauty_of_Nepal!