Kusunda
Encyclopedia
The Kusunda or Ban Raja known to themselves as the Mihaq or Myahq (< *Myahak), are a tribe of former hunter-gatherer
s of the forests of western Nepal
, who are now intermarried with neighboring peoples and settled in villages.
In 1968 American anthropologist Johan Reinhard located a few of the last surviving Kusunda near Gorkha in Central Nepal, and in 1969 and 1975 he found further members in Dang and Surkhet valleys in western Nepal, collecting basic linguistic and ethnographic data (see references below). The Kusunda mainly hunted birds resting in trees at night with bows and exceptionally long (ca. 160 cm) unfeathered arrows, which were poorly suited for the hunting of land animals. Their custom of eating only the meat of wild animals extended until recent times. The Kusunda are followers of animism
, though Hindu
overtones may be seen in their religious rituals. According to the 2001 Nepal census, there are a total of 164 ethnic Kusunda of whom 160 were Hindus and 4 were Buddhists. The Nepali
word Kusunda originally meant "savage", as the neighboring Chepang
and other groups traditionally thought of them as savages.
(2005) published a mid-sized grammatical description of the Kusunda language
, plus vocabulary, which shows that Kusunda is indeed a language isolate.Still they depend on Nepali language to communicate efficiently. The language is moribund
, with no children learning it, as all Kusunda speakers have married outside their ethnicity.
Reinhard, Johan and Sueyoshi Toba (1970) A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis and Vocabulary of the Kusunda Language. Kathmandu: Summer Institute of Linguistics/Tribhuvan University.
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s of the forests of western Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, who are now intermarried with neighboring peoples and settled in villages.
In 1968 American anthropologist Johan Reinhard located a few of the last surviving Kusunda near Gorkha in Central Nepal, and in 1969 and 1975 he found further members in Dang and Surkhet valleys in western Nepal, collecting basic linguistic and ethnographic data (see references below). The Kusunda mainly hunted birds resting in trees at night with bows and exceptionally long (ca. 160 cm) unfeathered arrows, which were poorly suited for the hunting of land animals. Their custom of eating only the meat of wild animals extended until recent times. The Kusunda are followers of animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, though Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
overtones may be seen in their religious rituals. According to the 2001 Nepal census, there are a total of 164 ethnic Kusunda of whom 160 were Hindus and 4 were Buddhists. The Nepali
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
word Kusunda originally meant "savage", as the neighboring Chepang
Chepang
Chepang is the commonly used name given to an indigenous ethnic group living in central and southern Nepal.The language is also known as Chepang but is called Chyo-bang by the people themselves. Some Bahun Chettri castes call these people the "Praja" meaning "political subjects"...
and other groups traditionally thought of them as savages.
Kusunda language
WattersDavid E. Watters
David E. Watters, Ph.D., was a Tibeto-Burman linguist and institute folklorist. He was adjunct faculty at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon and was a visiting scholar at Tribhuvan University from 2001 to 2006, Kathmandu, Nepal. Watters was the Director of the Oregon Summer Institute of...
(2005) published a mid-sized grammatical description of the Kusunda language
Kusunda language
Kusunda is a language isolate spoken by a handful of people in western Nepal. It has only recently been described in any detail.For decades the Kusunda language was thought to be on the verge of extinction, with little hope of ever knowing it well...
, plus vocabulary, which shows that Kusunda is indeed a language isolate.Still they depend on Nepali language to communicate efficiently. The language is moribund
Moribund
Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state of near-death.Moribund may also refer to:* "Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel which became better known for its rewritten English-language version, "Seasons in the Sun"...
, with no children learning it, as all Kusunda speakers have married outside their ethnicity.
Reinhard, Johan and Sueyoshi Toba (1970) A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis and Vocabulary of the Kusunda Language. Kathmandu: Summer Institute of Linguistics/Tribhuvan University.
External links
- Genetic evidence for origins of Ban Rajas (Kusundas) of Nepal
- Ethnologue reports the Kusunda language to be extinct.
- P. Whitehouse, T. Usher, M. Ruhlen & William S.-Y. Wang (2004): Kusunda: An Indo-Pacific language in Nepal, PNAS 101:5692–5695 (free access) attempts to link Kusunda to other languages, using old data.