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

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to the mul-~har, The pigeons were used exclusively for sacrifice, and were cheaper than chickens to raise. According to a survey conducted by the Pakhribas Agricultural Centre, 43% of households in the Koshi Hills kept pigeons (PAC 1 ivestock officer, pers, comm. ) . A1 1 the domesticated birds were called together by Ama at feeding time with the characteristic "ah! ah! ah!'' sound heard all over Nepal. 2. Amongst the Kulunge Rai, M"Douga1 (1979:130ff.) suggests the formation of sub-divisions such as these was a necessary precursor of clan fission. Once there were more than seven generations separating them from a common agnatic ancestor, according to MDougal, a Kulunge man and woman could theoretically marry. This marriage would be regarded as h8DphorB (literally 'breaking the bone', the bone representing the male lineage as opposed to the 'blood' of the female line), and thereafter the two lineages would be regarded as separate, However, for the Yakha heDvhora marriage in this way was not even theoretically possible. The car bhai and pa-c bhhi, for example, were said to be the descendants of one father, but two sisters, an older and younger respectively. They already had a genealogical depth beyond the seven generat ions necessary for a marriage between the two to be acceptab 1 e. However, the i dea that two members of these sub-d iv is ions could marry was universally greeted with derision. The 'seven generation' rule was known, but was said to apply to marriages between members from the same matrilineal line (who would most often, therefore, be members of different clans), and was said to be less rigidly adhered to than in the past. Now, it was said, three generations at least had to elapse between such marriages. Members of the same chog, on the other hand, could never marry, The only contradiction to this rule we heard of was between the two divisions of the Limbuhim clan. The Chama (1 i teral ly ' food' ) Limbuhim were said to be able to marry members of the Menjama (literally 'non- food') Limbuhim, from whom they were geographically separate, Perhaps this was an example of 'clan fission' which had occurred in Ankhibhui, the village where the two were found. But since only Menjama Limbuhim were found in Tamaphok, it appeared that clan fission had not become an empirical challenge to Yakha there. The clan members were still all known as 'Limbuhim' in Tamaphok. It is an interesting question in the case of a widely dispersed group such as the Yakha, how hiiD~hord marriages (assuming they occur) can ever come to have more than local significance and be acknowledged as changing clan relations within the group as a whole, 3. This contrasts with the list of eighty presented by Morris (1933:114-5). Many of the clans in his list were still identifiable, and others may have been located elsewhere. The inclusion of a few, however, (such as the 'Mewiihh~', which is better regarded as a Rai group in itself - see Gaenszle, 1989) can be questioned. There are undoubtedly similar problems with my shorter list, particularly when the problems with groups such as the Mareki, with a more ambiguous Yakha identity (Chapter Three), are considered. 4, Hardman writes similarly about the Lohorung Rai, saying that "their society must be described as one which emphasizes the concept of a "person" in a particularly social manner'' (1981:161), This, she
suggests, is a trait shared by all the Kiranti, I would add that it might not be altogether absent from the caste Hindu conceptions of the person either, although more work would need to be done to confirm this. 5. For an analysis of the diachronic dimensions of two other Tibeto- Burman kinship systems , see Allen (1975; 1976b), 6, According to Jones & Jones, writing about the Limbu, "If a man hauls water, it signifies he is poor and/or lacks a family, Once, after an argument with our cook and housekeeper, Rex went to the fountain to fill the water jug for cooking. As he brought it back to the house, neighbor women ran out to meet him, insisting that they carry the jug because it was so degrading for a man to do women's work" (1976:25).
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THE YAKHA: CULTURE, ENVIRONMENT AND
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Dedicated to the memory of MART IN
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Without the funding of the ESRC it
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CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: Searching for
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CHAPTER SEVEN: Other Worlds: Inside
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List of Plates After Page P!ate 1:
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, Map I: Nepal, showing location of
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March 1989 and October 1990, in the
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to be social?", friends asked. "Enc
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people whom the project was designe
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was no reason why SEADD (who liked
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presence of institutions at the loc
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I did have the opportunity to under
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(Map 2). We decided to make Kathman
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felt I had scored a small victory o
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Chainpur (see Map 3). It was on the
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primary level teacher at the Tamaph
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quest ions concerned wi th language
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p 5: KHARDEP map of Tamaphok penchy
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to visit during the day. Our own da
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learn the Yakha language, our progr
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week into his palm to cover the ext
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make enquiries. I found out about a
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a research assistant after school.
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to collect a VSO (Voluntary Service
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towns). Demonstrations and strikes
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post-mortem exemfnations could be c
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Kathmandu and elsewhere, and there
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sending to Kathmandu, a lucky find
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Our return to Tamaphok after this w
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een his concern: ie there has been
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of the ncrude distinction between '
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with their environment' ) and ask w
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Notes: Chapter One 1. I should expl
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higher administrators in Europe, mi
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Chapter Two: Ecological Anthropolog
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despite long-term involvement in th
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This chapter looks at how many of t
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Poffenberger (1980) sees a direct a
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The major variable which Macfarlane
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the mindless instigators of denudat
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ather than regularities in the phen
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contradict ions" (Ellen, 1979b: 21,
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position which is too broad to be u
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Steward was predated by Meggers (19
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value of an ecosystemic approach in
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small population may be more adapti
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describes as ' mangeurs du bois' [e
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Rappaport thus argues for the need
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eing trivial and dealing only with
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What we have, then, is ecological a
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Others have suggested that there ma
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were unique is to deny an answer to
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1987:86>. Sometimes identity derive
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and funeral and other ritual obliga
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suggests. Varioari for the Yakha wo
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Plate 7: Yakha woman, Kami boy Plat
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Certainly Yakha identity, their sen
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Bahadur one day; "doesn't it smell
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inland, and came into contact with
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land amongst kinsmen and adjudicati
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part. We shall then go on to look a
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settlers was from a pattern of shif
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PanciWa t Ankhibhui Maml i ng Tamap
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At the local level, the figures for
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P6-c Khap~ar (1 it, 'Five Skulls' )
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etween the two tribes were to be ta
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greater extreme the Yakha of Kingri
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People did not seem unduly perturbe
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take food, and to whom one could gi
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However, despite the influence of c
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1979:53). We were told of two other
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circumspection, A particularly stro
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striking in terms of the dichotomy
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ut never eaten. It should be noted
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Dasai-, TihBr, S8un San.krBnti, M B
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splattered with whitewash, and it o
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its scrupulous egalitarianism in ap
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In preparation, a large square of c
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practitioner) stepped forward and d
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Tihtir, their distinctive smell bei
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Plate 12: The predh6n v6-c gives Ti
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marked, clockwise from top left, wi
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e honoured, and proceeding through
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would tend to make feeble excuses a
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ice and dahi which had been the mar
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also served. The house was speciall
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there was no simple 'melting pot' a
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not at the material level conceived
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although it has been observed among
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amongst the more sophisticated memb
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Yakha came into Tamaphok in search
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muntum were essentially the same, w
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Sagant (1976:58) admits that "in th
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There were few specific things mark
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arkhi had to be of a different chor
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Plate 16: Chambog dh6ri5 in the mid
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millet would be enough to satisfy a
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pointing down. The next stage was c
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The story of O'B'mi was told to us
Page 207 and 208: of Tenbe'na was recited as follows:
Page 209 and 210: such as me,ca cydtj, which were sai
Page 211 and 212: and Yasokeni, all played to in a ba
Page 213 and 214: y the religious practitioners who t
Page 215 and 216: 2. Cf, A1 len: "When I arrived in t
Page 217 and 218: 5.2 The Yakha House The house in wh
Page 219 and 220: whitewash in painting their houses,
Page 221 and 222: me Porch The porch (omphu) mediated
Page 223 and 224: in this. People would put small wov
Page 225 and 226: to a terrace (Plate 20) which overl
Page 227 and 228: 21). Ground level was part animal e
Page 229 and 230: clans, lineages and familial roles.
Page 231 and 232: clan. Yet one five-year old girl si
Page 233 and 234: Despite the origins of the relation
Page 235 and 236: are no women mentioned apart from K
Page 237 and 238: due, was to use their kinship term
Page 239 and 240: number of relationships covered by
Page 241 and 242: strife and tension. Quite often the
Page 243 and 244: situation was often only a temporar
Page 245 and 246: 5.4 The Household Economy The expec
Page 247 and 248: labourers'). Some distinction betwe
Page 249 and 250: kind of previously cooked snack foo
Page 251 and 252: parma workers was a source of extra
Page 253 and 254: een the collaboration of groups of
Page 255 and 256: Loans, Debts and Indigency We ident
Page 257: 'traditional' patterns were changin
Page 261 and 262: Kirsten Johnson and her col leagues
Page 263 and 264: karele variety grown lower down, an
Page 265 and 266: also said to keep plants such as du
Page 267 and 268: whereby people and goods came into,
Page 269 and 270: and September, before the rice plan
Page 271 and 272: few weeks ear!ier during Dasai-> to
Page 273 and 274: maize planting time in the beginnin
Page 275 and 276: y performing a pul to pokta cyao in
Page 277 and 278: when his parents died, was granted
Page 279 and 280: trees served as an important fodder
Page 281 and 282: valley). There was at that time no
Page 283 and 284: were said to be found where tigers
Page 285 and 286: causes of forest depletion. Many pe
Page 287 and 288: family we interviewed could remembe
Page 289 and 290: ecological basis of the societies i
Page 291 and 292: However, our over-r id ing impress
Page 293 and 294: 3. The surprise which some anthropo
Page 295 and 296: Chapter Seven: Inside-Out: Other Wo
Page 297 and 298: N.R. Shrestha, 1982, 1985a, 1985b;
Page 299 and 300: usinesses were located near them, T
Page 301 and 302: Plate 26: Walking through the fores
Page 303 and 304: Adding to the sense of Basantapur a
Page 305 and 306: Plate 28: Sansare Mude bazaar Plate
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Annual Fairs In addition to the reg
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verses, these were not generally kn
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8 Tapai- arth ffarnuhos (Promise yo
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problems, The fundamental importanc
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in the district. In our studies of
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clothing from abroad was much in ev
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friend of his. This annual military
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Pakistan war and remembered the con
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everyone, As potential wage labour
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service and bought land in the same
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money paid agents in Kathmandu who
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people concerned, and how the outsi
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and this, perhaps, made marriage ac
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jerked by the strings of broader so
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is ...p rimarily due to the growth
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Sanskritizat ion had been part of Y
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Plate 30: Listening to music Plate
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as a backwater, everyone agreed tha
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students coming from some distance
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For students in ward 9, Okhre-Bhote
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The teachers also administered a sc
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the school. The curriculum followed
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see the spatial relationship betwee
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King Mahendra in 1960 after he accu
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Plate 32: Pradhen P8-c issuing citi
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Outside, people started getting exc
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muscle with regard to its de jure c
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after festivals and somewhat lackad
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As well as the ANM, a students' ass
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Ths school was a central forum for
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of the po!itical struggle, despite
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the ambiguously regarded superpower
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of their shop with stout wooden pla
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section looks briefly at how these
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for individuals within the prevaili
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particular ward, Books and other me
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e overturned: the visiting BNMT wor
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wondered whether everyone was likel
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that, with his influence, a nascent
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Newang, President of the Front. (Hi
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I argued, are particu!arly pertinen
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Yakha, I have produced a text which
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Kathmandu where she enrolled in Eng
Page 395 and 396:
a'wa a a achia ach~ tamum ach~ tapu
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ha emabu bhasnik bhusudna ca came c
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dukka mene jogan duna duna du-ru Da
Page 401 and 402:
i , kma i , mma ka 'nir~o kacek kam
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leema lesnchi le.pma le,kma le*r]ma
Page 405 and 406:
Plate 35: The Maya Khola valley
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pha 'me phak pharog phamne pha* bu
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uc un ucumphakr]a uha uhaoma ukma u
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Appendix I1 Interview Schedule (The
Page 413 and 414:
Annual production: rice, maize, mil
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Adhikary, K. R, 1988,
Page 419 and 420:
Brown, C. H. 1984. Languages and Li
Page 421 and 422:
Doherty, V. S. 1975. Kinship and Ec
Page 424 and 425:
Hitchcock, J , 1961, A Nepalese hil
Page 426 and 427:
--- 1986b. Human Imapct on Some For
Page 428 and 429:
Orlove, B. S. 1980. Ecological Anth
Page 430 and 431:
Shrestha, K. 1984. Nepal i Names fo
Page 432:
White, L.A, 1959. TheEvolutfon of C
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