Like many other Himalayan tribes of the Mongoloid stock, the Gurungs celebrate and conduct quite a number of festivals and socio-cultural-religious rites and rituals. They seem to be influenced from the Nepalo-Indian calendar and make observers feel that Gurungs are wholly Hindus. However, this is just an indicative of the dominance of Hinduism where many indigenous Gurung festivals have been made facades for Hindu festivals, to further Hinduistic process or sanskritisation.

In spite of this, the rituals and rites of the Gurungs actually have remote connection to the traditional rituals observed in the Hindu areas of Nepal or in India. Sometime, these are purely Gurung; only the names and their dates are borrowed from the Hindu tradition due to Hindu State policies. They may also vary from one village to another and from one household to another. Normally, major festivals are celebrated by the village or the neighboring villages together, whereas smaller rites and rituals are carried out at the village or household levels.

An attempt is made here to describe some major life cycle rituals and major socio-cultural-religious festivals observed by the Gurungs.

Gurungs consult astrologers when a child is born and three days after the birth, a naming ceremony is held. On the sixth day the Chhaiti is held. It is to be noted that a married daughter is not permitted to deliver at her parent’s house, since the afterbirth (placenta) fallen within the premises is considered an ill omen. If such a situation occurs then the afterbirth is buried behind the house in consultation with the Tamu priest or astrologer. A great banquet is organised and the night is passed in singing and merry making.

ii) Navran

Nine days after birth, pollution is observed for a male and seven days after for a female child and it is only after these days are over that the new mother is purified. The purifying liquid used is called gaunth or mahar kyu in Tamu language. This is the holy water and comprises of gold, ghee, honey, milk or curd and water which is basically the urine of a cow. This is sprinkled on the woman’s body and on this day the navran is held. This purification brings the woman back into the social circle and simultaneously welcomes the newborn baby whose name is announced on this navran. In the case of a male child, his earlobes are pierced and if a female, then her earlobes and nostrils are pierced. This is then followed by a grand feast consisting of various types of foods and liquors (home brewed and imported).

iii) Weaning Ceremony (Rice feeding)

Weaning ceremony or rice feeding or kain koba in the Tamu language involves the child being fed his/her first grains. It is also called the bhat khuwai or pasni. This weaning ceremony occurs five months after birth for female children and six months after males. The astrologer is consulted prior to this ceremony, so as to set up an auspicious time and date. On the stipulated date different types of foods are prepared and possibly some meat must be included. The child is fed first by a virgin girl as a symbol of good omen. Everybody present puts a white tika on the child’s forehead, feeds him or her with a little of the foods laid out and makes a present of some money or clothes (mostly money is presented). It is only after this bhat khuwai that children are permitted to wear shoes and new dresses. A feast for kin, kindred, neighbours and guests is also given.

iv) Putpute (pulpule) ceremony

This ceremony is held only for the eldest male child and is said to mean that the child is reared in a very loving and obviously pampered environment. Putpute or pulple as it is known is held at the age of 2 years and conducted by the maternal uncle. The main theme of this ceremony is to offer worship to their patron god (clan god). The boy is blessed by the guests with gifts. There is much singing and dancing and the inevitable feast of foods and liquors concludes the ceremony.

v) Chhaewar

At the age of five, seven, nine or eleven, a Gurung boy has to go through a ritual called chhaewar or kra prehiba in Tamu language, meaning the initial hair cutting. The clipping of the boy’s locks must be done by his maternal uncle or if none exists another man is made his mother’s brother and this pseudo-maternal uncle carries out the task. A paindi, a Gurung astrologer is consulted for an auspicious day. The ceremony cannot take on an even month and even age. A boy is taken to a cowshed and part of his hair is cut off by his uncle (mother’s brother) by a pair of scissors and kept aside. After the ceremony the child is taken inside and put on white tika by parents and relatives, put on rupa and given a feast. For three days after the chhaewar, the child is not allowed to go outside the house, after which, leaving a tuft of hair, the rest is shaved off. After this ceremony, the child can participate in all the religious and social activities. The holding of a chhaewar ceremony indicates that the boy has become a socially, culturally and legally responsible person. He can now undertake all forms of social and cultural responsibilities that his community may demand.

vi) Gunyo-choli

Just a chhaewar is held for a boy, a girl child is given ‘gunyo’ and ‘choli’ and also called nea bimba in Tamu after she completes her 12 years of age (lohokor in the Tamu). The gunyo-choli represents a woman’s dress and signifies the coming of age of a young Gurung girl. The community recognizes that she has now become an adult and is able to bear social and cultural responsibilities. On this occasion, she is told a story of life cycle, as well as duties and responsibilities of a woman towards the family and society. Called hya kai in Tamu, it means the songs of life or psalm of life. This song is an illustration of different natural and environment that signify nature and nurture. At the end of the ceremony a feast is organized in the village and she is warmly greeted by all.

vii) Marriage

A Gurung marriage is clan exogamy and caste endogamy; one must marry outside his clan but within his caste. Marriages among the Gurungs are of two types: arranged marriage and marriage by elopement. Arranged marriage is done through a formal agreement between the prospective two families and in the second case, the couple elopes against their parents’ will. The traditional match for marriage is a cross-cousin marriage, where a boy marries his mother’s brother’s daughter (matrilateral) or the son marries his father’s sister’s daughter (patrilateral). A mediator plays the role of contacting either the prospective bride’s father and his lineage brothers or their own representatives. After receiving initial approval for the match from the bride’s side and having ascertained the horosocopic compatibility of the couple, the groom’s representative again approaches the bride’s side bringing a gift of liquor ‘pung’ and if this is accepted by the bride’s side, the match is formally assured and the betrothal is complete.

The marriage of a Gurung is taken as a contract between a man and woman and not as ‘donation’ or ‘kanyadan’ prevalent among the Hindus, where a daughter from her birth is considered as a ‘paraya dhan’; somebody else’s property or a burden to the family. This is not so in the case of Gurungs where a daughter occupies an equally an important position in her maternal home and later in her husband’s house after marriage.

The marriage in Gurung wedding has no religious significance. The ceremony is extremely simple. It marks the beginning of the legitimate conjugal life of a man and a woman. At the bride’s house, it entails putting on the white tika (rice mixed with curd) on the foreheads of the future couple and parents and relatives wishing them a happy life. They then wash their daughter’s feet and take a drop of water so used to their lips. Usually money is given to both the newly wedded couple by the parents and relatives. Similar ceremony takes place at the house of the groom. A wedding feast is a must during a wedding.

In an elopement marriage, the above formalities are forgone and instead of parental arrangement, the boy makes known to the girl of his intention directly and if the girl is agreeable, both of them go into hiding. Message is relayed to the parents of the girl. In a few days time, he sends his representative (and he himself may go) to the girl’s father to reason with him and request him to accept the new relationship putting aside the offence to his dignity and to cancel other arrangements that he may have made. If the bride’s father agrees, the new son-in-law comes with gifts of compensation and a ceremony takes place to accept the wedded couple.

Wedding ceremonies takes place usually only between mid-October and the beginning of April. However no rule forbids them taking place outside this period.

viii) Dead Rituals (Pae or Aarghun)

To the Gurungs, dead is a serious matter and funeral assume exceptional importance in the eyes of the Gurungs. The death memorial rite is an elaborate three-day post mortuary rite in the name of the deceased. The Gurung death ceremony is a much more elaborate than those of any of the other ethnic tribes.

The dead ritual of the Gurungs is very long and complex and performed in two stages – burial or cremation of the body and soul cremation which also indicates the end of mourning. The body cremation is called roho-waba and the soul cremation is called pae or arghun. The pae is performed for three days and nights by the Gurung priests of pachyu, gyabre and bon lama. It can start on the very day the body was cremated or after some days, months, year or even many years after. There is no specific stipulated time. The concept of completing a pae within 49 days is a Tibetan influence. To set an auspicious date and time the Gurung astrologer, paindi must be consulted. Pae is highly religious function presided by the traditional priests of the Gurungs and where animal sacrifices take place. During the pae the soul of the dead person is led towards the land of the dead. Lately, some Gurung are against animal sacrifices having influenced by the teaching of the Tibetan Lamaism which forbids any sort of animal sacrifices. The Gurung death rituals require the presence of their close relatives and they are clan members (Tahmai), family members (nehn mai), relatives from the maternal side (Ashonmai) and son-in-law and daughter (moho-chame mai). Many relatives of the dead person living in other villages also come to take part.

Significance of Rupa, the Holy Thread

All Gurungs wear a thread usually in yellow in colour, round their necks, called rupa or pahren ru in Tamu. It has nine strands and nine knots for male and seven strands and seven knots for woman in the name of nine and seven souls (plaha). It is significantly worn to ward of evil spirits, religious purification processes, and to basically thwart any general misfortunate on the person who wears the thread.