THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN ...

Bahadur one day; "doesn't it smell like chicken shit? We all come from
chicken shit!"). Another man said 'Yakha' derived from the word yakhsa
('down there1). According to him, the first Yakha was an older brother
of the Limbu. The Yakha went away for a while, and when he returned
there was nowhere for him to stay. In response to the question "where
should I 1 ive?" his younger brother rep1 ied "yakhsa". Hence the origin
of the word ' Yakha' . Stories 1 ike these exempl if ied the Yakha sense of
histot-.ical and numet-.icai infet-.lot-.i ty.
A close historical relationship with the Limbu is further evidenced
by the fact that, when talking amongst themselves, the Limbu use a
similar autonym, Yakthuoba, (van Driem, 1987:xix). Das (1896:3!>
suggested that the autonym ' Ydk- thumba' meant ' yak-herd' . However, Van
Driem could not find any evidence to support this etymology amongst the
Limbu, and was unable to find anyone who could tell him the origin or
meaning of the term (1987:xix). Yakha in Tamaphok also recognized the
autonym yakthuoba as denoting both Limbu and Yakha people (although to
denote themselves they more often said yakhaba). It is quite iikely
that the autonym was egocentric, the name yakhaba also equating with
'mankind in general'. A 'person' in Yakha was ya'mi, although this word
never stood alone but was only used with a quaiif ier e. g, wempha ya'mi
(man>, and meca ya'mi (woman>,
'Kirtitai are spoken about in the Mahabharata, and whether or not
they are the same, there is no reason to doubt the long-term presence of
a group with the title Kiranti in eastern Nepal. Their influence may
even once have extended beyond the region since, at the apogee of their
power in the 11th century AD, a group called Kiranti is said to have