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

Instead, the term .limindEir (meaning 'landowner/landlordl) reflecting the
status of the Yakha as kipat holders, became shortened to limr and was
used both within and outside the group.s'. This still seemed to be
popular amongst Yakha school children. Another ethnonym, which appeared
to be of declining importance during our fieldwork, was the term dewan
(Bista 1967:32).
What all this shows is the 'invention of tradition' in the wake of
the Gorkhali invasion. Caplan (1970) considered the kipat system to be
a fundamental part of Limbu identity, but while undoubtedly based on
some sort of pre-existing land tenure system, kipat and the system of
ma.ihi~Ei who controlled it were also a product of the political
machinations of the new Gorkhali rulers. Legislation has now largely
abolished the kipat system, although the ma.ihivEi in Tamaphok still
collected a token amount of land tax (m) from household heads each
year which they took to the district headquarters in Khandbari.
However, while there was still some prestige attached to the post
(reflected in the competition between two male cousins, both of whom
thought they had inheritance rights to a ma.ihi~5-ship) their role had
largely diminished to a ceremonial one. They expected a payment of
raksi (spirits) and 5 NRs (lop) from a bridegroom taking one of their
kinsmen's daughters away in marriage, for example, and it was their role
to perform the main sacrifice to Durga at the Dasai- festival each year
(see below),
Thus the old system had declined, but Yakha identity remained. To
understand the ways in which this identity was created and maintained,
it is necessary to understand a 1 i ttle of the subsequent history of the
Yakha and the formation of the social environment of which they were a