 |
Charikot
and Dolakha - Trekkings |
|
 |
Different
in various rituals but not in essence are the practises af Newar Buddhists
who true to Mahayana tradition accept more than one road to Enlightenment. |
|
Incorported
into their social customs is the acceptance of caste, and their pantheon
of families is headed by the hereditary priests or Gubajus amongst whom
are scholars and ascetics of the highest order. |
It
is a feature of Mahayana that it accepts practises of the Lower
Vehicle as valid steps towards true Enlightenment, indeed, amongst
the Newar families there are some ceremonies that bear much similarity
to the Buddhist prartises of South-East Asian Hinayana Buddhists.
The
greatness of Mahayana lies in its allembracing quality, and the Buddhists
of Nepal have many gods in common with the Hindus, or more correctly, many
aspects of the re-incarnation of Buddha which correspond to Hindu deities.
They too are great believers in the Tantric arts. A favourite god
of both Hindus and Buddhists alike is the Red Macchendranath
or Red Avelokiteswara, a rain-god for Hindus whilst for Buddhists he
is Chenresig, the reincarnation of the Compassion of Buddha.
Finally,
we come to the Bon or animist religion which is neither of the above
two, although some aspects of Bon worship are similiar to them both and
old animists gods have often been accomodated in Hindu and Buddhist worship.
The animists rely on Jhankris to lead their worship. The Jhankris are priests and faith-healers who will declare spells to cure ailments
and enrich lands. At the same time they are skilfull healers with old remedies
and their medicine is not to be dismissed in a land where modern medical
facilities are not easily available. In fact their role is probably nearest
in kinship to that of the North-American tribal medicine man. They claim
neither to be Hindu nor Buddhist atthough they probabty mix a little of
the beliefs of each into their worship.
This
indeed is typical not only of this region but of Nepal as a whole. Worship
is life in a way that is difficult to visualise for those who come from
countries that are technologically a century or more ahead of ours. Hopefully
this brief will have given you a glimpse of the many aspects of belief
that make up religlon in Nepal, although you will have to take it on trust
that there is a certain unity in it all.
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|
Ethnic
Groups in Dolakha District |
|
| Name |
Probable
Racine Origine |
Religion |
Special
Facts of Interest |
| Brahim |
Indo-Aryan |
Hindu |
Referred
to as "twice-born". They have been the dominant priestly caste of Nepal
since Prithvi Narrayan Shah of Gorkha unified the states of Nepal into
a single Kingdom. Usually completely Arayan in feature, they believe that
they came to Nepal following their Kings and Lords druring the Moslem conquest
of India. They originate, so they believe, from Rajasthan and Kumaon. The
have preserved their orthodox life-styles and observe more traditional
"taboos" eg. menstrual pollution, mourning pollution etc. |
| Jirel |
Tibeto-Mongoloid.
It is believed that they may be descendants of original inhabitants of
Tibet and Tibetan tribes with whom they inter-married. |
Broadly
speaking Jirels have remained with a Buddhist tradition.
However,
they employ Hindu Brahmins for many rituals.
This
behavior may date back to the Rana rule, a Hindu dynasty. |
The
live in Jiri and the village nearby. They believe that their origin arose
because of trade between this region and the adjoining regions in Tibet.
At death ceremonies, a Buddhist traditiond prevail. However, for many domestic
ceremonies they call a Brahmin priest and adhere to the bramanical tadition.
This strange mixture can be explained by their mixed ethnis origins; and
the fact the sometimes amongst certain of the middle-hill peoples there
is no hard, dividing line. |
| Ksehtris |
Tibeto |
Hindu |
|
| Magar |
Tibeto-Burmans
with some Indo-Aryan mixture |
predominantly
Hindu but there are Buddhist clans too |
|
| Newar |
Tibeto-Burmese |
Hindu
and Buddhist |
|
| Sherpas |
Tibetans |
Bhuddhist |
|
| Tamangs |
Tibeto-Mongoloid |
predominantly
Buddhist |
|
| Thamins |
Unknown |
Animist |
|
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|
About
the People: Pictures |
|
