The Correlation Between Limbu Indigenous Knowledge System And Cultural Identity

Research Paper Presentation at National Federation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities(NFDIN)

ByRamesh Kumar LimbuMay 30, 2012

to document the Limbu indigenous knowledge system and Limbu culture, and show how they are correlated with their identity;

to find out how human biodiversity is shaped by Limbu indigenous knowledge system in order to construct Limbu cultural identities; and,

to recommend for appropriate policy and planning for safeguarding of indigenous knowledge in local, regional and national level inclusion endeavors.

The major objectives of this research are:

How is Limbu indigenous knowledge system on biodiversity (ecology, local environmental management, medicinal and ritual plants and their taxonomies, etc.) has great impact on their life activities?

What tangible and intangible cultural heritages that shape Limbu cultural identity do the Limbus possess?

How is human ecology (relationship between the natural and human world, where intangible cultural elements or cultural beliefs and values and all tangible cultural properties often regulate human behavior and actions, social cohesion, gender concepts and/or any other ethical aspect, etc.) determined by Limbu indigenous knowledge and cultural elements?

What kind of policies (e.g. regional or national, cultural, environmental or any other) should be planned and implemented to safeguard and promote Limbu indigenous knowledge and cultural identity? What policies can address the issues or problems and vice-versa?

Research Questions

Refers to an integrated body of knowledge which consists of many concepts “produced by and/or distinctive to a particular culture group or any loosely defined group of resource users in a given area” (Maden et al., 2008).

adaptation of biophysical environment, phenomena like local flora and fauna; indigenous methods of counting and quantifying, skill and experience of caring and curing in relation to human as well as animal diseases, traditional medicines and the uses of herbal remedies; knowledge and skill of farming, animal husbandry, fishing, hunting and gathering; safeguarding of soil, water, vegetation, ecosystem, public places, knowledge of handicraft, visual performing arts, weaponry, constructing and manufacturing of different things, and so on transmitted from past generations to the present generation;

Deep-rooted knowledge and skills of living a life, preserving and performing traditional culture, rituals, festivals, rite de passage, etc. It also encompasses various traditions, ceremonies and practices of the community. Such knowledge system provides us with a substantial idea about both tangible and intangible cultural heritages of indigenous people that helps recognizing themselves as a distinct community with distinctive identity.

Indigenous Knowledge System

a long practiced native episteme, and “the body of historically constituted knowledge instrumental in the long-term adaptation of human groups to the biophysical environment” (Purcell 1998: 260),

For Marc G. Stevenson (1996:278), the term “indigenous knowledge,” comprises traditional and nontraditional, ecological and non-ecological knowledge,

According to World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (2005: 4), IK is often referred to as Traditional Knowledge (TK) and “encompasses the content or substance of traditional knowhow, innovations, information, practices, skills and learning of TK Systems such as traditional agricultural, environmental or medicinal knowledge.”

According to Clause 2 of the Article 2, the ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ is manifested inter alia in the following domains:

o oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage;

o performing arts;o social practices, rituals and festive events;o knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;o traditional craftsmanship.

Indigenous Knowledge System (continued…)

Practice of indigenous knowledge system in Nepal is indeed since time immemorial as it is the home of diverse indigenous nationalities with myriad of folk lives and folklores, cultures, traditions, practices and belief systems.

Time-honored practice of different traditional systems, organizations and institutions such as Guthi of Newar (which the caste group also executed it later on), Dhikuri of the Thakalis, Posing of the Syangtan, Choho of Tamangs, Parma and Kipat Land system of Limbus, Nogyar, Ttho and Gola and Ro-Dhin (Rodi) of the Gurungs, Bheja of the Magars, Khyal and Chaatis Mauja Irrigation System of the Tharus, Mirchang of marphali Thakali and among others are found there.

But, apart from Hindu Guthis and some Newari traditional jatras, no other customary organizations and institutions and community-based organizations have been getting government fund and safeguarding measures. As a result, most of them are sustaining and many of them run the risk of dire crises.

Practice of Indigenous Knowledge System and Activities in Nepal

The governments prior to 1990 seemed reluctant to safeguarding and promoting such valuables of indigenous people’s IKs. Rather, they kept on preying upon those skills and knowledge, instead.

some government institutions got established like National Academy, National Archive, Central Bureau of Statistics, Vaidyakhana (Ayurvedic Pharmacy), Department of Medicinal Plants, etc. However, there is no government institution as such which specifically focuses on preservation, promotion, and study of indigenous knowledge system of Nepal.

The Ministry for Culture has been made as the hindmost part, and keeps on getting affixed to the back from one Ministry to the next over and over again.

After the Peoples’ Movement of 1990, we find, some of the organizations and institutions such as Janajati Bikas Samiti (Development of Indigenous Committee) which later renamed as National Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities (NFDIN), Nepal Janajati Mahasangh (Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities-NEFIN) and various other community-based organizations of each indigenous communities,

Some international organizations like World Bank, UNESCO, SNV-Nepal, etc. , and Nepali Folklore Society (NFS), established in 1995 as a non-governmental organization, have been involving on culture, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, folklore and folk life studies.

Practice of Indigenous Knowledge System and Activities (Continued…)

David Pearson (1996: 248) defines ‘culture’ as, “the ways that people in all societies draw upon a vast repertoire of knowledge to perform innumerable tasks, most of them so mundane that they take them for granted”, and ‘ethnicity’ as, “a specific form of cultural distinctiveness and boundary formation grounded in beliefs about social connectedness and descent that often shapes political discourse and action”.

Ethnic groups’ sense of sharing the same material and social prospects are more important than ethnic identity because identity is defined in the process of interaction- cooperation, competition, confrontation, even war- among groups (Markakis 1994: 236).

For Clifford Geertz (1973:89), culture is “a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their attitudes toward life”.

According to Fredrik Barth (1969), ethnic identity is a form of social organization that emphasizes cultural difference between groups whose symbolic and social boundaries have been established due to specific ecological, economic, historical or political situations.

Max Weber, defines ethnicity as a “subjectively felt sense of belonging based on the belief in shared culture and common ancestry”; cultural practices perceived as “typical” for the community, to myths of a common historical origin, or to phenotypical similarities.

Ethnic identity, thus, comprises various markers and boundary making elements such as culture, language, literature, tradition, religion, lifestyle, rite of passage, and so on.

Culture and Identity

The Limbu Kirantis, traditionally known as wanderers and hunters, hill and mountain dwellers, indigenous knowledge holders, users of medicinal herbs and spices, physicians and architects; nature worshipers and animists, and indigenous land owners; have very strong attachment to agro-pastoral tradition.

The Limbus designate themselves as Lungbongba Khambongbasa - meaning ‘the lineage emerged from the rock and the soil’ which confirms them being autochthons in the land of this country.

Chaitanya Subba (1995: 17) says, “Himalayan region was always a favorable abode of Kiratas since the remote past”. The government census 2001 has recorded 359,378 Limbus in Nepal that is 1.58 percent of the total population, and 333,633 Limbu mother tongue speakers.

As autochthons, the Limbus remained unconditionally autonomous in Limbuwan maintaining sovereignty over their territory for many centuries in the past. King Prithvi Narayan Shah formally recognized the Limbus’ autonomy when he signed a peace and conciliation treaty with Limbu Kings in 1774 in connection to unification campaign of Nepal.

Fundamental to “the indigenous Limbu people,” as Arjun Limbu (2004: 112) states, “is their right to their land, around which their survival and development revolve.”

Limbu Indigenous Nationalities

Limbu community possesses distinctive language, literature, culture, tradition, religion, rituals, folklore, folk- treatment and so on. They have their own mother-tongue known as Limbu language which they call Yakthungpan or Yakthungba-pan. Limbu language has the characteristics of pronominalization and falls under the rubric of the Tibeto-Burman subfamily of Sino-Tibetan family of languages.

Limbus are rich in folk literature that includes Mundhums, proverbs, folksongs like palams and khyali, cultural songs like hakpare, and riddles, various folk sayings, puns, charades, folktales, folk narratives, etc.

Kirant Limbu ritual (religious) narrative text or the Mundhum is a broad umbrella term that incorporates various entities such as legends, myths, folklores, prehistoric accounts, sermons and moral and philosophical exhortations in poetic language.

Limbus observe various ritual/religious activities through guidance of Mundhum, They perform ya?lang or paddy dance on various socio-cultural occasions of

various rituals like wedding ceremony, death rite, fair and on festivals. Elderly Limbus narrate various types of secular and supernatural stories, and many folktales. All these kinds of Limbu folk literature are integral parts to Limbu folklore.

Limbu Culture and Belief System

Universe of this research study is what the Limbu culture, biodiversity, traditional ecological knowledge, skills and tools of the Limbu dominated villages namely, Tiringe VDC of Taplejung and Yangnam VDC of Panchthar districts constitute.

Population and Household of Limbu and non-Limbu (Tiringe VDC)

Limbu people densely populate Yangnam VDC comprising 87.3 percent of the total population. Besides, there is 4.3 percent population of Brahmin and Chhetri, 7.6 percent of Dalit groups and 0.8 percent of other ethnic groups.

Universe of the Study

Ethnic/Caste Group

Limbu

Brahmin/Chhetri

B.K./Damai/Sarki

Total

Total Households

208 108 15 331

Population 1023 742 79 1844

Map of Tiringe VDC

Map of Yangnam VDC

In both of VDCs, Limbu communities possess distinctive IKs practicing from the time immemorial - mostly, involve in traditional agricultural occupation, cultivate the field and grow maize, paddy, millet, wheat, buckwheat, oat, potato, etc. and also grow various kinds of vegetables and fruits.

They are deeply-connected to various species of flowers as they love to grow at home and offer in every ritual observation. Limbus of these VDCs have their own farming calendar which they follow strictly.

Limbus abstain from entering and working in the field on special occasions, e.g., on the day of Saune Sakranti, Ubhauli and Udhauli, no moon’s day, etc. they do not plow and dig their field, do observe ritual activities and begin new work on the day that is thought to be auspicious ones, observe for auspicious days even for the harvest of crops, setting out for travel, starting new works, worshipping god and deities and so on thus they follow to both solar and lunar calendar.

Limbus do first offer their major produces to the Gods and other agrarian deities and then only they eat. They have such believe that anything which they get from the nature is a sort of gift received from those Gods and Goddesses, and thus they need to offer them first and then only they taste it.

Practice of offering to the nature deities known as chasok and thisok: Chasok refers to the offering of food cooked and thisok refers to the thi (liquor drinks) fermented from the initially harvested crops.

Limbu IK, Skill and Practice in Tiringe and Yangnam VDC

traditional ways of knowledge about processes of storage for long time preservation, separating, winnowing, storing, etc.

Preserve vegetables by making it dry so that it can be consumed during dry season. They also make gundruk by processing from the leaves of spinach and sinki from radish.

indigenous skills and knowledge of handicraft, weaving, agronomy, irrigation scheme, animal husbandry, beekeeping, honey hunting, fishing, hunting birds and wild animals, collecting and using local medicines, and so on.

knowledge of learning system, counting and quantifying, building use of tools, instruments, equipments, etc.

own customary traditional institutions, legal, economic and political system as their legacy.

Limbu IK, Skill and Practice (continue…)

Limbus have authentic knowledge about forests, medicinal herbs and skills of biosphere.

knowledge of natural phenomena, local flora and fauna, herbaceous practice or traditional medicines and the uses of herbal remedies in treatment of diseases, the locations of medicinal and ritual plants, the proper times for collection, the most useful parts and the methods for preparing and storing medicines.

making use of root, shoot, rhizome, fruit, seed, bark and leaf, and many other natural things such as algae, fungi, lichen, fern, soil, rock, and organism of insect and animals.

gastric, injuries, jaundice, parasites, pneumonia, skin

problem, ENT, women and children related problems, body pain, heart pain, chest pain, toothache, pyorrhea, headache, bruise, sprain, abscesses, cut wound, wound, burned, fractured, bleeding, dog bite, snake sting, etc. They also have knowledge of remedies for diarrhea, dysentery, digestive, indigestion, abdominal troubles.

Limbu Indigenous Medicinal Knowledge and Healthcare Practice

For instance, Calvatea gigantean for cut wound, Gonostegia hirta a herb known as chiple jhar, is used to treat fracture, cough and colds, and dandruff; Rubus ellipticus, known as ainselu, is used to treat in vomiting, pneumonia and urine infection. Swertia chirayita (sungkhingba) for various ailments like fever, headache and cold, etc. Valeriana jatamansi is used for cuts and wounds, cough and cold, musculo-skeletal problems, and respiratory problems.

Rajgante, is used to control bleeding. Cooking oil is also extracted from the seeds of kharane and khorakhori in Limbu community and they believe that such oil is beneficial for curing.

Khesung (yeast-cake) which is a

source of microorganisms of yeast, mold, and bacteria, has great importance in fermenting cereals in order to make thi and raksi in this community.

Calvatea Gigantea

Limbu Indigenous Medicinal Knowledge(Continue…)

Limbu indigenous food items are Mangdak/ le-pma, sigole, papanda, kinnema, yangben, sargyangma, warumchuruk/ wachipa and local or homemade alcoholic drinks are Thi and Raksi .

popular Limbu yangben dish comprises a mixed up of yangben (an edible species of lichen of thallophytic plant belonging to parmelia, ramalina and usnea group), minced pork meat, pork blood, egg, etc.

Limbu Indigenous Food and Beverage

Age:kma pз:t – summer/showery mushroom (small, white)

Age:ŋ pз:t – rainy/showery mushroom Khambak pз:tdu – round ball mushroom Khambudik pз:t – kalunge mushroom Chunjunneba pз:t – greasy mushroom,

smiling mushroom Chakma pз:t/Chawama pз:t – kanne

mushroom Chapchum/Chya:pchu:m pз:t – showery

mushroom/cluster mushroom Tumme:twa pз:t – black (mushroom growing

on tree) Nakthuk pз:t/nakyak pз:t – queen

mushroom (black) Hangma pз:t – queen mushroom (black) Pamik pз:t – small-leaf mushroom (growing

on tree) Phering pз:t – bamboo mushroom Makthappu pз:t – white big-sized mushroom

Meyalu pз:t – white large-sized mushroom growing on tree

Yarapma pз:t – line-up mushroom growing on tree

Yak-pз:t – mushroom growing at cliff (red, white, yellow coloured)

Washaruma pз:t – ground mushroom (turmeric coloured)

Washamu pз:t – ground mushroom (turmeric coloured)

Wage:k pз:t – summer/rainy mushroom Wawatadu pз:t – cock mushroom Waranglema pз:t – greasy mushroom Singmekhkho pз:t – deer like mushroom Sendangla pз:t – kanne (in Nepali)

mushroom Sendang pз:t – mushroom grown on the

horn of dead animal

Mushroom curry is one of the indigenous dishes in Limbu community. According to Bairagi Kanhila (2007: iii),twenty-four different species of mushrooms are classified:

Limbus can mainly be characterized through their pastoral life-activities. most of the day-to-day activities are closely linked to nature, vegetation, land, farming, art and craft, animal husbandry, and so on. They have unique knowledge and belief system in such activities.

knowledge of indigenous indicators to determine favorable times to prepare, plant, and harvest garden, land-preparation practices, land terracing, seed bed preparation, plowing, sowing, planting, weeding, collecting and threshing and storing.

Limbu Indigenous Life-activities and Indentification

animal breeding and reproduction, traditional fodder and forage species and their specific uses, their local taxonomic system of animal diseases and traditional ethno-veterinary medicines, and pasturalism.

knowledge of textile and other local crafts; building materials, indigenous tools, etc. ; wooden plough, vessels, mouse trap, bow and arrow, drums, and so on.

Limbu Indigenous Life-activities and Indentification

Limbus have their own mother tongue, folk culture, including folk literature, folk beliefs and practices, folk dance and music, folk art and artifacts, folk tools, folk games, folk food, clothing and housing, fair and festivals, and life cycle rituals, and traditional healing practices.

They possess very precious tangible and intangible cultural heritage that have been passed from one generation to another.

oral traditions/folklore such as Mundhums, proverbs, folk songs like palams and khyali; folkdances like Ya?lang, Kelang, etc.; cultural songs like hakpare, riddles, various

folk sayings, puns, charades, folktales, folk narratives, etc.

Limbu IK as Cultural Heritage

(Source: Adapted from Limbu 2011: 77 and 2010: 5)

Limbu Intangible Cultural Heritage

As Limbus are very intimate with various kinds of indigenous knowledge available there. Because of their in-depth knowledge of the land, vegetation and biosphere, Limbu people have particularly been playing important role in exploring and actively participating in such skills and knowledge.

Such implicit indigenous knowledge system in them proves that they are the autochthons of these territories. They were found closely connected to the space, ecological surrounding, vegetation and environment, and thereby formulating their deep-seated culture, tradition and way of life.

Therefore, they do have close

nexus between their Indigenous Knowledge and their identity. In other words, they are correlated and interlinked.

Even if there are great potentialities of indigenous knowledge for the broader system of knowledge nationally and globally, for sure, it can bring no positive results if it is misrepresented or misused due to impact of hegemonic nature of broader knowledge system and multinational corporate in the form of modernity and globalization.

Thus, Limbu Indigenous Knowledge System stands in need of urgent reinforcements and safeguarding for its sustainable development.

Conclusions

As Limbu indigenous knowledge system helps build their culture and their identity of community distinctive to others, its significance should be known by the Limbu community themselves first, and then they are to be encouraged in it from State and other stakeholders and participants.

All Limbu tangible and intangible cultural heritages should be protected, supported and safeguarded from all levels – local, national and international.

Broader knowledge system like the state, multinational companies and institutions should assist and take special initiatives for recognizing Limbu indigenous skills and knowledge, and make necessary efforts on its enhancement.

The broader knowledge holders should take free, prior and informed consent (PIC) of local and indigenous communities for any access to and use of their indigenous knowledge, skills and practices.

As Nepal has rectified UNESCO convention 2003 for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage in 2010, it should begin the works of identifying, inventorying, safeguarding, ensuring respect, raising awareness and providing various supports.

It is incumbent upon government, industries and multinational companies to recognize the knowledge and skills of Limbu indigenous people and incorporate their knowledge into policies, plans and programmes so as to mutually get benefit from it.

Recommendations

Thank you!