Tracing the origins of the Gurungs
New
research findings on Gurung genealogy will have definite repercussions on the
collective repositioning of various indigenous ethnic communities.
Mahendra P Lama
Published
at : November 27, 2019, Updated at : November 27, 2019 07:01
There are layers of identities attributed to the citizen of a
nation. It becomes more complex in a country where diverse communities live in
compartmentalised geographies with complicated existential methods and
competitive means of livelihood. For instance, a Bengali first carries the
identity of an Indian national, then a Bengali from West Bengal, and finally a
Sen or Mukherji or Das as a caste identity. Indian Gorkhas similarly carry in
them a three-layer identity. Then there is the genealogy-based assertion
connected to Aryan and Asiatic stocks; politico-sociological identities like
high and low caste, and finally administrative-development denominations like
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class.
At each layer of identity, the struggle for rights, privileges
and facilities change both in terms of structural forms and cyclical behaviour.
The context is inter-community competition between relatively underdeveloped
Indian Gorkhas and remarkably advanced communities like Bengalis, Maratahis,
Telegus, Assamese and Punjabis who have already achieved their own
geographically and ethnically configured provinces.
Identity assertion
However geographically scattered, politically fragile and
economically weaker Indian Gorkhas are, the identity assertion has remained
farcically quadrangular. For instance, to fully realise the Indian national
identity, there have been two rounds of violent movement by the Indian Gorkhas.
At the same time, to overcome community and geography-based discrimination and
development deprivation, demands to be categorised under various constitutional
categories like Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class
have been pretty intense. Intra-community caste assertion is fully exploited by
the political variables and institutions as seen in the formation of several
boards in the name of Magars, Chettri-Bahun, Tamangs, Rais, Limbus, Gurungs and
Sherpas in West Bengal.
There is a contrasting situation in Nepal and among the Nepalis
of Nepal. Unlike the Indian Gorkhas’ case of identity assertion vis-à-vis other
linguistic conglomerates like Tamils, Bengalis, Gujaratis and Biharis, in Nepal
it has been an identity reassertion within a broad spectrum of the Nepali
community and within a region. It is found at every stratum of dialect,
language and religion. Within the broad ‘caste groups’ constituting over 58
percent of the total population of 26.5 million (2011 census), ethnic groups
(35.8 percent) and others (5.8 percent), there has been steadily powerful
contextualisation and repositioning of the Adibasi Janajati (indigenous
nationalities) and Madhesis.
These distinct reorientations in both national discourse and
political mobilisation, rejuvenated by a decade-long Maoist movement, have
triggered newer varieties of actions among these communities. In this new game
of ethnic juxtaposition, conscious and concerted efforts are made to relocate
various indigenous nationalities in both the anthropological context and
sociological parlance. This has made a reinterpretation of history and
impregnation with newer findings literally inevitable.
One of the most far-reaching initiatives has come from the
Gurungs, who have always been at loggerheads with the ‘forced’ induction of
their genealogy from the south and inclusion of their clans in the orthodox
caste-based structure of char jata as ‘upper caste’ and Sora
jata as ‘lower caste’. This Hindu hierarchical genealogy was imposed
by the Shah rulers in the 15th century. Gurungs constitute 2 percent of Nepal’s
population. In a doctoral degree thesis entitled Understanding the
Ethnic History of Nepal: A Case Study of the Gurungs recently
submitted to Sichuan University in China, Tek Bahadur Gurung fascinatingly
finds the triangular zone consisting of the Kokonor and upper reaches of the
Yellow River, Lokha area and southwest China as the actual place of origin of
the Tamu Mai Gurungs in Nepal. These three angles had people with 26.63 percent
Mongolian DNA; 14.9 percent Tibetan DNA and 34.3 percent Naxi/Yi DNA
respectively.
Tek Gurung totally discards the wilful manipulation of the
historico-geographical origin of Gurungs and the mythification of their history
by artificially injecting a ‘divisive hierarchical genealogy’. This was made
part of Tharagotrapravaravali in 1855 just one year after the
implementation of Muluki Ain. His protracted efforts to substantiate
archaeological investigation done in Nepal that provided valuable evidence for
a northerly origin of Gurungs bore fruit only after he conducted sound
scientific supporting evidence like DNA testing. He found the ‘Tibetan-Yi
Corridor as a significant framework of migration for Gurungs as one of the
Tibeto-Burman peoples’.
Gurung did something that social science scholars would
generally hesitate to venture. He carried out a DNA analysis of eight Gurung
persons for their ancestry compositions and then overlay these DNA results on
the Tibetan-Yi Corridor to scientifically understand migratory origin of
Gurungs. He concluded that 'their original village is most likely located
around Kokonor which their mythology remember as Koko li mahrshyo'.
Oral traditions
Tracing the route of the migration, he concluded that 'their
primaeval ancestors migrated southwards from the upper reaches of the Yellow
River around eight thousand years ago. They reached the Yunnan area about six
thousand years ago. Apparently, they reached the Tibet or Lhoka (shannan) area
before one hundred BC. Finally, they reached the present parts of Nepal more
than two thousand years ago and it seems most likely that they were already
there at Kohla before the beginning of AD'. Tek Gurung
traverses a continuum of discourse and formidable frontiers of interpretations and
scholarly research. The oral traditions of Gurungs Pe Da Lhu Da and
cosmological and cultural belief systems as collected in the Kerlo are
very richly captured.
This new research finding will have definite repercussions on
the collective repositioning of various indigenous ethnic communities in Nepal.
Its cross-border connections in the entire Himalayan belt including Bhutan,
Darjeeling, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the north-eastern region
of India will be of both local and regional significance. This will be a vital
breakthrough instrument for the Gurungs in India who have been a highly
potential and deserving community to be in the list of Scheduled Tribes. Both
the offices of the Anthropological Survey and the Registrar General in India could
use this new finding as determining input to show the medieval migratory
character of this tribal group. For indigenous scholars in the Himalaya, Tej
Gurung’s innovative research methodology and imaginative interpretation should
bring a fresh puff of air in interdisciplinary research.
***
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Mahendra P Lama
Lama is a
Senior Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
