Thang’kuh: An ancestral home

 

Written by Vishal Chamling

“You live in houses now, we lived in caves then. This was our home”, spoke a deep masculine voice out of a female body which sat in a calm meditative trance. It was like your grandfather telling you stories where you listened, attentive and in awe. This was the experience that I had when I first visited the caves of Thang’kuh in the year exactly ten years before.
Pic: Anil Rai

Located in an idyllic roadside village below  Pubong Fatak, enroute Sukhiapokhari, it is about 15 km south west of Darjeeling. It also goes famously by the name ‘Galdang-Guldung’ meaning ‘tumbling or to tumble’ , chiefly because of how the caves are formed, as if the big rocks have tumbled and formed them by landing on top of each other. The Ancestors, however, have a different tale to tell.

Yaboh Sam Sum Chu, the Supreme Ancestor of the five primordial ancestors, explains in an ancient oral discourse, Mundhum, that Yaboh Chendum carried the big rocks with his big bare hands and flew from “Himsekh”, the mountains to shelter the ancestors who had decided to rest here. They spent eons here until one day Yaboh Yanghayang – the Warrior and his consort Yangangini went into Samadhi in one of the caves to return to Sa’mah’yoh, the eternal world

Pic: Anil Rai

“They played here and they made merry, your clan”, continued Yaboh Sam Sum Chu as he stroked his beard from a feminine chin of the Numaang, Sabi Subba, who was still in a meditative state. The beard was invisible to us, a small crowd of believers, seated on the stony floor of the main cave but the stroking was unmistakably precise. I have a similar beard so I know.

“Oh, the playful, the mischievous Yaboh Chyapu would bother the quiet and wise Yaboh Pfapa Sangey”, he reminisced and suddenly exclaimed, “Sa’wa’la!”, signalling for the chöd drum and chöpen to be brought to him. Anil Rai, a long haired attendant of the Numaang,  rushed instantly with his head bowed in reverence and on his knees, to hand over the instruments to Yaboh Sam Sum Chu. The atmosphere inside the cave was that of an era that was not of this age. The serene forest cover and the clear blue sky outside complimented the astral experience.

Pic: Anil Rai

Almost abruptly the ringing of a mobile phone from the crowd brought me back to the millennium.

Yaboh Sam Sum Chu wasn’t perturbed by the ringing phone as he continued to sing the Mundhum with a perfect beat of the drums never missing the tempo.

Vishal Chamling 

An academic and travel organizer from Darjeeling with a deep interest in the Himalayan way of life. Vishal writes about the future of Himalayan indigenous culture, entrepreneurship, productivity and philosophies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yele Dong and Maghe Sankranti

Image
  Yele Dong and Maghe Sankranti  Written by Pradip Khambu Rai Every great civilization has experienced an intrinsic need to own a calendar. Sometimes this necessity isn’t just to document solar or lunar cycles, seasonal changes, and find appropriate dates. It is also because a calendar’s presence helps define the glorious history of a civilization and exhibit that history to the world. For the Kiratis, who have ruled the Nepal valley (Kathmandu) for over 1903 years and have found mention in countless manuscripts and chronicles across the world, a calendar commemorating their reign and history had become an important, albeit an exaggerated need. Hence, Yele Samvat (Yele Neri) was introduced a decade ago. Yele Samvat is the name of the Kirati calendar and Yele Dong, the New Year, means the year of Yalambar. It is named after the first Kirati King Yalam, who initiated the Kirati dynasty that lasted for almost two millennia. About a decade ago, Kirati Khambu Rai organizations from...
Read more

Mangpas Bijuwa/Nakhong Rai Shamans

Image
The culture of Rais is based on the tradition of their own Kirat religion. The child is named four days after birth, following which the Rai priest (Bijuwa or Ngopa) lifts the head of the mother and child after performing special ceremonies and gives a name to the child (Toba, 1992:19). During the initiation ceremony, the rope used for tethering cows is used. Love marriage with agreement between both partners is common. Whatever the type of marriage, however, those from the boy’s side have to go with alcohol and gifts (sagun) to the girl’s house and ask for their consent and offer apologies. The Rais do not marry their maternal uncle’s and aunt’s daughters, though there is a practice of marrying one’s windowed elder sister-in-law. The dead are buried, although some also cremate the dead or leave the body in a river to flow with the current. These customs vary among the different subgroups of Rais. After abstaining from eating three meals and from eating salt and oil for five meals, the...
Read more

The Kirat Khambo Rai of Sikkim, Their Lifestyle and Custom at a Glance

Image
ancestors. Mangpa A priest ( mangpa ) of the Rai Community Aritar Sikkim                                                                                    H.H. Risley in his book, “The Gazetteer of Sikkim (1884) while reflecting the total population of Sikkim, mentioned ‘Rai’ , ‘Khambu’ and ‘Jimdar’ as different communities but in reality these terms denotes for a single community which is now, popularly known as Rai community. Rai is and was also known as Kirata, Khambu and Jimdar . The term Kirata has a wider connotation and the term is also found in Puran, Upadnishad or the old vedhas and it covers Rai, Limbu, Sunwar, Gurung, Manger, Tamang and other but presently only Rai community uses this term. As per the census of Sikkim in 1884 , the total strength of Rai community was i...
Read more