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

There were few specific things marking a person out as a dhgmi. One
might expect to find a shrine (maosuk) somewhere near their house (see
Plate 15). Bhim Bahadur's father (who was a dhgmi) had built one right
in the wall of the porch when he built his family a new house after the
earthquake. One interesting trend, it seemed to me, was for Yakha
dh6mis not to eat goat, The reason given was that the cyd~ might get
angry, Since this was the favoured and sanctioned meat of the Brahmins
and Chetris, it was tempting to see the prohibition as a symbolic
statement of contradiction to the norms and ideals of Indo-Nepalese
society. However, this analysis was not shared by Bhim Bahadur, who
argued that many of the Chetris shared the same cydg as the Yakha, and
yet ate goat.
4.4 Manipulation of the Spirit World
The religious practitioners described above had two related
functions: to maintain respect for the muntum, and to maintain good
relations with the spirit world. The former function was to the fore at
weddings, when a m8~s~bs would give a blessing (Eisik) to the groom alone
and then the married couple in which some of the elements of the muntum
relating to success in marriage were said to be revealed. The mGr]a~ba
was also responsible for supervising the Isgsn, a short ceremony which
took place at night in the bridegroom's house after he had returned with
his bride from the exchange of garlands in the fields beyond. The msOps
performed a pDla and killed two chickens near the main door of the
house, He used the blood to perform a divination, as the Limbu were said
to do; then the meat was cooked and eaten by the mdqagba. The bride and
groom, sitting near the hearth (the groom, supposedly, with his knee on