ABSTRACT
The Kulung – a small Himalayan population with an oral tradition – sometimes call in officiants from other groups for the performance of certain rituals.2 These may be Brahmins (so members of this specific caste), sometimes invited by households to carry out the rituals for driving away evil influences (graha-sânti N), or for more prestigious rites such as that of cow-giving (gâîko dân). They may be Sherpa Lamas, for some Kulung go to Buddhist temples so that the Lamas will enable their dead to obtain advantages. They may also be ‘shamans’ (jhânkri); we shall talk about the latter again. The other, by virtue of his specific ritual skills, is therefore sometimes physically present at Kulung rituals. However, in the attempt to present this aspect of Kulung religious life, which combines the management of misfortune with the management of alterity, it is above all the question of the other’s presence in the narration and the staging of the ritual – a presence which occurs via certain spirits3 connected to the other groups – which we should like to develop here. By showing the similarities between the ritual treatment of these spirits and the relations maintained with the groups from which they are said to come, we shall endeavour to show that the relationship with the other may be considered as being at the heart of Kulung ritual life. For the following observations to be properly understood, it is necessary to present certain data concerning the population about whom we are going to speak. The Kulung are a population of about 30,000 individuals. In their original settlement area they are divided into ten or so villages situated on the flat land of the Hongu valley, which opens onto the Everest massif, in eastern Nepal. They belong to the Rai ensemble, which consists of some twenty groups who tend to be endogamic, and each possesses its own territory and language (Thulung, Mewahang, Yamphu, etc.). Last, these various groups, along with the Sunuwar, the Limbu and a few other groups, are part of the Kirant ensemble. A former people of land-clearers and hunters, the Kulung today live off terrace cultivation of millet and corn and the rearing of poultry, pigs and cattle. Each village contains several localized clans, and though each localized clan is the main politicoritual unit and superior to the house, each household (mostly composed of one nuclear family) has a strong sense of independence.
