Gurung Community
and some of their Customs and Traditions

Every tradition and culture of a community contains legends and ethos that provide sufficient evolutionary bases of that particular tribe or community.
Gurungs consider themselves as the descendent of King Gochan of the Surya Dynasty.

Instead of making his elder son, Lochan the king, King Gochan made his youngest son Rochan, his successor. So his elder son, in desperation, left the kingdom of his father with his wife, and some of the members of his family towards the Himalayas, as hermit to spend the rest of his days in meditation. This group consisted, among others, the priest (monk) Mukund Lamichaney and Kersingh Khawas. It is believed that from this group of people, formed four castes with sixteen subcastes of Gurung, in course of time and flourished. It is also assumed that Ghalay Maha Gurung became the King of Lamjung, Nepal who fought with Shahi King of Nuwakot, and suffered defeat and lost their title of Maharaja, and came to be called only Gurung. If this is the new point of a group of people, the other groups believe that from Guruhak, the special security guard of King Indra, descended a tribe and came to be known as Gurung later on.

It is also said that the reason for numerous subcastes of Gurung is because in the revolt of Mangrat, during the reign of Lichchhabi King Pala, the Khas Tribe too, had become refugees and were compelled to mix with Gurungs. So as a consequence. of this social conglomeration, many and varied subcastes formed the Gurung tribe.

Gurungs are either Buddhist or Hindus. The Lama is the purohit (priest) of the Buddhist Gurungs. He is entrusted with the responsibility of conducting all religious ceremonies of the tribe. Previously Gurung in Sikkim used to employ the services of Hindu Brahmins to conduct their religious ceremonies, and used to particle in all Hindu festivals but off-late they have shifted and taken to their original religion of Buddhism, and have curtained almost all or many of Hindu festivals from the list of their celebrations.

Besides Buddhist lamas, Gurungs use their communal witch doctors called Dhawabongs, to conduct their religious rites and ceremonies. The religious rites performed in odd months are called Argho by them.

Gurungs have their own dialect, and although, due to topographical differences there are slight differences in the dialects spoken at different places, the dialect spoken by the Gurungs of Lamjung and Kashki are understood by almost all Gurungs.

Gurungni are not only experts in their household chores, but also in playing musical instruments like binayo machunga, madal, & the flute. It is hard to find a Gurung house which does not rear sheep, deal in the business of wool and which does not possess implements like spinning wheels, bows and ttapkay, and other times which are important and necessary in spinning and weaving.

In ancient times, young Gurung and Gurungni would gather at a common place to carry out their business of wool, but with the passing of time, the very same place turned out to be a place for amusement and entertainment as well, and came to be called Rodhi Ghar. The young revelers who visit these Rodhi Ghars sometimes fall in love with each other and get married. Marriages, both arranged and eloped are recognized in Gurung
community.

The arranged marriage is solemnized, thus the father of the boy goes to the house of the girl, with two bottles of locally prepared liquor called pongs, along with a friend to ask for the hand of their daughter in marriage with his son. If the proposal is acceptable to them, then either the mother or the daughter herself distributes the pongs brought by the visitor, among the members present there who drink it as prasad. Those who do not drink smear a drop of it on their forehead as tika and return the rest to be consumed by the others.

When agreement is reached upon, an auspicious day is fixed for the marriage and a day before this auspicious day the groom and his party goes to the bride's house with all customary items like curd, beetle nuts, etc. It is handed over to the bride, who accepts them with due respect. On the next day, the marriage is consummated with much fun and amusement.

After three days of marriage, the bride and the groom return to her house, which is a customary trip called Durand, and decide upon the next customary trip, which is to be made either on the 16th or the 45th day of the marriage.

In case of an eloped marriage, the go between of the groom visits the house of the girl with two bottles of liquor, and inform the girl's parents about the whereabouts of their daughter, and again go to their house within either three, five or seven days with a sheep, liquor and other items considered obligatory by Gurung custom to settle the marriage of the eloped couple. This visit of the groom's party is called “Chor Ko Shor” in Nepali and 'Akaneth Boojawni' in Gurung. It is equivalent to plead guilty of having stolen a thing that should have been begged for and they, in reality, beg mercy of the parents for their misdeed, and very politely accept any kind of treatment given out to them unquestioningly and without any grudge. Only after the consummation of marriage at the groom's house, the date for 'rit bhoojawni' is finalized. In this matter the decision of the girl's parents is final and binding.

There are other customs which the Gurung are observing since time, immemorial and although many changes have come to them with the change of time, they are still the guiding factors in continuing the cultural heritage of their community.